Citations for Essay

1.      1. Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic studies and culture. “History of the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic Nation where Jews Lived.” 2004. http://www.sephardicstudies.org/ottoemp.html

2.       2.BBC. “Ottoman Empire (1301-1922).” Last updated 2009, 09, 04. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml

3.      3. Panzac D. “Panzac D. (1992) Maritime trade of the Ottoman Empire in the 1700s.” Last modified November 10, 2009. http://premodeconhist.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/panzac-d-1992-maritime-trade-of-the-ottoman-empire-in-the-1700s/

4.       4.About.com “Age of Exploration.” Last modified May 5, 2010. http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/ageexploration.html

5.     5.  Donald Edgar, Pitcher. An historical geography of the Ottoman Empire from earliest times to the end of the sixteenth century. Turkey: Leiden Brill, 1973

How Did Geography Affect Trade? Ottoman Empire

      The Ottoman Empire began 27 July, 1299. It was a Turkish empire which lasted a lot of time. Constantinople was its capital city that helped in expansion, which I will be talking later on. It was found by Osman 1. It was one of the longest lasting empires in all empire in their period of time.

     The Ottoman Empire traded with a lot of countries. Like France, England, and other countries. Their place on the map really helped in their trade routes. For example they went from Algeria all the way to Russia. Geography and trade helped in getting money. That's why they had high economics.

      The Ottoman Empire trading with Europe was good or balanced. What they got from Europe were crops like, paper, wood, sugar, coffee. In around the 1700's trade grew with Western Europe. It can be estimated up to 100 million dollars. This trading that happened with Europe and other countries is because of its place on the map.

      The Ottoman Empire expanded in a lot of places. They expanded to the Middle East, The Balkans, and other places that are well known today. Also the Ottoman Empire expanded to Asia. As everyone knows, Asia has one of the most and valuable products. Turkey was between Asia and Europe so there place on the map helped the expansion.

     Seas in the Ottoman Empire were very important in trading. It was surrounded by two great seas, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. There were also rivers that surrounded the Ottoman Empire. These cities and rivers helped in trading, because trading threw ships was easier than land.

       All the travelling that happened in the Ottoman Empire was to find new trading routes. When people traveled, they found new techniques to trade and explore. When the Ottoman Empire was its best it traded a couple of things. For example wheat, copper, cumin, salt, and sugar. This was important because countries from the entire world traded with them.

     The Ottoman Empire lasted for a long time. In the end everything comes to an end. The Ottoman Empire expanded more than any other empire in the world. Finally, it ended October 29, 1923.        

introduction to essay

The Ottoman Empire began in July 27, 1299. Geography in the Ottoman Empire really affected trade. The sea in their period of time helped them in a lot of things in trade which I will be talking about in the essay. All they wanted were trade routes. For example when they controlled eastern Mediterranean Sea, Europe had problems with Asia in trading.

     There were lots of countries in Europe that the Ottoman Empire trade with. Countries like France, Turkey, and England. The most important sea that helped them in trading is the Red Sea. Their place on the map really helped in trade routes. For example, they went from Russia all the way to Algeria.   

Essay Layout

Question: How did geography affect trade?
Introduction: When did the Ottoman empire begin? How was the trade in the ottoman empire?
Paragraph1: Seas in the Ottoman empire.
Paragraph2: What did they trade?
Paragraph3: Other continents that helped in trade and was close to the Ottoman empire
Paragraph4: The expansion of the Ottoman empire (geography)
Paragraph5: Problems faced in geography
Conclusion: Background
-Essam ElFarra

Aztec's Diary

     I am an Aztec. I am white and awesome. Everyone in my ethnic group rides deer, and not horses. We still have homes from stones, we don't have amazing stone buildings but we will try. We made this group because we are here for revenge. Did I tell you that I am feeling great that I am an Aztec. We are the ones who found cocoa bean and made chocolate. One more thing, I am Mexican.
     We made sticks that spit out fire. As a group we are a polytheistic, so we believe in more then one God. We are nice people, we don't kill innocent people. Actually, we sacrifice to Gods. All ethnic groups in Mexico shared the same culture, we are on of them.
      Its great being an Aztec. You get to do a lot of things. We are also an empire that was ruled by indirect means. We also have a single system government.

The politics of Reformation

The politics of Reformation

      "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's", the argument that Luther use to support the power of princes. He also appealed to the German princes. No one did what Luther did. People also left the catholic church to go to Lutheranism.
      First, the catholic was wrong. Jesus was not the pope. Other people were the popes, which people disliked it and it was sinful. The other thing was indulgences or people pay other people so there sins will be removed was sinful. Since indulgences were sinful poor people didn't want to stay in the church.
      Lutheranism was better then the Catholic Church. Lutheranism's bible was in its mother language. Unlike the catholic church, it was in Latin so only popes could read it. Also you can't buy your way to heaven. In the Catholic Church you could do it. There might be bad things in Lutheranism, but there is a lot of good things good in it.
       Last thing why Lutheranism was better then the Catholic Church. many believed that the catholic church had surrended its ideals and become too greedy and corrupted. Its practice of handing out indulgences for money and sales of everything from pictures of saint to advance holy relics.
       Lutheranism had a lot of good things. The Catholic Church really changed, there was bad things in it. Being greedy, all they think was money. In the end, everything comes to an end.

Crusaders in Europe

     There were many Changes in Europe as a result of the crusades. The crusaders had a lot of impact on Europe. There were a lot of things to talk about but I am just going to talk about the three important for me.

     First, the impact on the Catholic Church. It’s important because it increased the wealth of the church, so there was more money going into the church. Many of the rich people joined Christianity after the return of the crusades. Also what made the Catholic Church a great church is the pope was the leader of Christendom or the kingdom of Christianity. The crusades really changed the Catholic Church.

     Also another important impact was intellectual development. First, they liberalized the minds of crusades. They also came back with ideas from middle-east. Europe was changing, the crusades opened up a new world. Science and learning of the east was brought from the crusades, so they helped in education.

     The last, maybe the most important was commerce. Crusades helped commerce in transportation of men and supplies. There was also many middle-eastern products were transported to Europe. They also encouraged ship-building.

     The crusades had an impact on Europe. They changed their whole life. Everything was turning into something better and useful.