.... and a formal name (Zhoghi). Confucius's father died shortly after Confucius's birth. His family fell into relative poverty, and Confucius joined a growing class of impoverished descendants of aristocrats who made their careers by acquiring knowledge of feudal ritual and taking positions of influence serving the rulers of the many separate states of ancient China. Confucius devoted himself to learning. At the age of 30, however, when his short-lived official career floundered, he turned to teaching others. Confucius himself never wrote down his own philosophy, although .....

.... still wander. The major non-Arab minority are the Nubians. They originally lived in villages along the Nile in northern Sudan and the very bottom of Egypt, called the Nubian Valley. When the Aswan High Dam was constructed in the 1960’s, it forced the Nubians to move higher up on the Nile. Arabic is the official language of Egypt. Regional Arabic dialects have their own variations of sounds and words. The most widely used dialect is that of Cairo’s. The Bedouin dialect is different from the settled residents of the Nile Valley. Some people in desert villages even sp .....

.... Revolution popularized the idea that the world is a knowable place, people were confidant that they could prosper on their own, and therefore Britain was full of entrepreneurs out to make money. Before the Industrial Revolution, Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, which encouraged individual accomplishment as well. The entrepreneurs took advantage of the trade routes' expanding. Because of the Agricultural Revolution, the population in Britain was growing and getting wealthier, and thus demanded more and better goods. Commercial expansion was supported by technica .....

.... of blockades under the Berlin and Milan decrees, confiscating vessels and cargoes in European ports if they had first stopped in Britain. Collectively, the belligerents seized nearly 1500 American vessels between 1803 and 1812, thus posing the problem of whether the United States should go to war to defend its neutral rights. Americans at first prepared to respond with economic coercion rather than war. At the urging of President Thomas Jefferson, Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807, prohibiting virtually all U.S. ships from putting to sea. Subsequent enforcement measu .....

.... distances, sparse population, and limited capital. Americans had to learn to build railroads for their own country by actual experience; they could not copy English methods. The first American railroads started from the Atlantic ports of Boston, Mass.; New York City; Philadelphia, Pa.; Wilmington, Del.; Baltimore, Md.; Charleston, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga. Within 20 years four rail lines had crossed the Alleghenies to reach their goal on the "Western Waters" of the Great Lakes or on the tributaries of the Mississippi. Meanwhile other lines had started from west of the mountains, .....

.... Spanish and not English, contrary to popular belief. The three main conquistadors were Cortes, Columbus and Pizarro. Probably the most ironic part of that new age of discovery is that when Columbus original departed from Spain his mission was to find a quicker trade route to Asia than the Portuguese. Columbus found the America's by accident. At first he thought that he had come upon the Islands southeast of India. But it was not until some other Spanish explorer climbed a huge mountain in Central America and saw there was an even bigger ocean on the other side. Thi .....

.... the large middle class did not assert democratic leadership, there was no social militancy in the working class ranks, and the people found order preferable to disarray. Batista could no longer legitimize his regime . Failure in the elections of 1954 showed the discontent of the people, and failure in communications with the United States illustrated its discontent. Finally, opposing forces confronted Batista's power: there were street protests, confrontations with the police, assault, sabotage, and urban violence. This began the revolution in Cuba. America, w .....

.... powers to the individual states. The North also wanted internal improvements sponsored by the federal government. This was more roads, railroads, and canals. The South, on the other hand, did not want these projects to be done at all. Also the North wanted to develop a tariff. With a high tariff, it protected the Northern manufacturer. It was bad for the South because a high tariff would not let the south trade its cotton for foreign goods. The North also wanted a good banking and currency system and federal subsidies for shipping and internal improvements. The S .....