Years ago, in Western Africa, they made a discovery that chanegd their lives forever; Iron. The first discovered iron  when they mixed different types of metals together. Finally they created a material that was useful, and used in many ways. They used iron for farming and created a plow. A plow, is a rake-like object that is used to churn and mixed the soil up. Iron was also used for weapons, such as a spear. With a spear, they were able to catch animals. Iron is a material that is important to us to this day, without it, we wouldn't have objects such as poles and bars to use today. Iron wasn't the only discovery, but it was considered the most important. Iron was a vital part of their life, as it is ours. They used the iron for food and farming. 
               If we didn't have metal today, we would not have advantages as we would now. Iron was also used in West africa to cut down trees for precious materials. They could create carvings with the wood. Arrows were another benifit from iron. The aroow allowed them to target far away places and kill prey without going to close to the animal. Becoming close to the animal would be to dangerous and risky.

           Africa has four major regoins; the desert, the sahel, the rainforest, and the savannah. Out of the four regoins, I believe that the desert would be hardest to live in. The very hot weather, and shortage of water might make it unhabitable. Some animals might take shelter there, but most humans pass by if they want to travel from place to place. The Sahara in Africa takes up most of  Africa. The Sahara is a specific desert in Africa, some I am asuming that the weather is mostly hot and dry over there. However there is a rain forest but it only tales up a portion of Africa.
           The African deserty must be very hot and sandy, like most deserts. I'm not exactly sure how they can surpass the extreme heat. The winter time over there must be very cold and the summer must have it's extreme hotness. The desert doesn't have big water source and that is partially the reason why it is so dry. Therefore I believe that the desert is hardest to live in.

       As most of us know this is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. This dramatic incident occurred in 2001, and by then most of us were fairly young to remember any of it. I now understand the incident and we still grieve or those who were killed or gravely injured. My father had really no clue or understanding o this event until his friend informed him. The bombing of 9/11 was huge and all over the news. The event was even put in the newspapers, and many people still write books about it to this day. Some scientist and philosophists had been theorizing that the bombing was caused by extraterrestrial beings. Before the plane crashed into the tower, there was a glint or some kind of refection of light. If you look at the footage of the crash closely, you might spot the glint.
         Most of us try not to remember the incident, but it still remains in our history. 

            During the simulation, we reinacted the fall of the Roman Empire. I, myself, was an Angle barbarian, so my task was to conquer Britain. After I had defeated britain I could dwell into Rome, and steal there goods as well. This task had seemed very simple, but I wanted to get the feel of being able to trade with Rome as well. It felt nice to be a barbarian and conquer something. I wanted to be a trader instead of a barbarian, because some of the traders still had items left even after the attack from the barbarians. I also wanted to play the role of a Roman that traveled east to protect themselves from the attacks. The Romans that traveled to the east didn't know of the attacks until there was nothing left of western Rome.
            

        July 23, 356

  Today I was outside lying on the grass, when suddenly I could hear the distant footsteps of camels. I looked to me left and I was a hoard of camels droning towards me. I quickly got up on my feet and stood there in total awe, staring at the the back humped animals. The group pulled off to the side and out came my uncle! I was thrilled to see him and I quickly ran inside to tell my parents about it. They jumped up from thier seats and ran outside to greet my uncle. My dog, Sunny, followed me around. "Guinevere!" my parents called to me. I ran outside, Sunny at my heels. "Guess what?" my uncle Ralph asked me."I want you to come with me on this caranvan" I knew my parents would disagree but I said yes anyway.

         July 25, 356

   I said farewell to my cammrads and left exactly at dawn. I am a bit excited not knowing what will be expected from such a trip. Convincing my parents was not easy but they still don't approve. I somehow wonder how I got away from my parent's overprotective ways.

             One of the greatest known individuals in our history is Muhammad. Muhammad was around 40 when he was told that he was a prophet by the angel Gabriel. He was a bit frightened at first, but with the support of his wife, Khadija, he went out to preach to others. His teachings are well known and have been passed down to this day. Others might have taken interest in him, because he was a prophet, and he spoke to word of god. Not many Arabians were happy with him. Riots began to build up, so he decided to move from Mecca to Medina. Years later Medina begged Muhammad to come back, so he did, and by then he had many followers. He still has many followers today, and many of their beliefs derive from Muhammad. Muhammad was greatly inspired through the years. He was the one who created the religion of Islam, and many of the followers are referred to as Mulims.
           Muhammad was not part of the greatest family, he actually worked for Khadija as an agent, but grew to be a great prophet.

            The Muslims have to abide by the five pillars known as The Five Pillars of Islam. The Hajj or fasting in my opinion, is the hardest pillar to abide by. The must fast for at least on month on the holy month, Ramadan. They eat a very big meal i the morning, then they fast for the rest of the day, until sunset when they eat another big feast. Children are epected to fast as well, but they must be a certain age. They wouldn't want to starve infants. Children my age are already fasting, and yet I probably wouldn't be able to fast. They must follow this rule, because it is indeed part of the Five Pillars of Islam. whenever they don't follow this rule they will probably be punished.
             In this holy month of Ramadan, they aren't just fasting, but they are expected to throw stones at a large  pillar. This is simblized as stoning satin. Fasting now is not that hard for many people, but you would lose energy very quickly throughout the day. In my opinion fasting is probably the hardest pillar.

            The religion of Islam had spread fairly quickly, as we all know. One of the most important factors of growing, was the trade. The merchants were the ones who had traded with others and spread the word. Merchants also traveled to other places such as: Europe, Asia, and Africa to spread the word of Islam. Merchants traded items such as: silk, gold, fabrics, food, materialistic items, etc. When they traded with each other they told others, who told others, and so on, until Islam had grown to be one of the biggest religions. People had not liked the fact of the religion at first, but then slowly began to change their minds and finally grew to like it.
           So, merchants had played a very important role in their society, but they weren't the only ones who played an important role.