GOLD RUSH

In 1849, one word sent thousands of people scrambling on a dangerous journey to California: GOLD! A worker at John Sutter’s sawmill in California’s Sacramento Valley discovered gold there in January 1848. The word spread across the country like wildfire. The news flew to faraway China and Europe. The gold rush was on!

HOW PEOPLE GOT TO CALIFORNIA

The journey west to California wasn’t easy in those days. Many Forty-Niners, as the gold seekers were called, traveled by boat. Some sailed around the tip of South America (called Cape Horn) and up to California. A large number of ships sank on this dangerous voyage. Others sailed to Panama, traveled on land to Panama City, and then hopped on another boat to San Francisco.

But most people walked or rode on horseback several thousand miles to the California gold fields. Gold seekers followed such routes as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail across the Great Plains. People faced harsh conditions: burning heat, rain and snow, lack of water, and steep mountains to cross. Cholera and other diseases killed thousands of Forty-Niners before they ever reached California.

People braved these hazards because they dreamed of striking it rich. The promise of gold lured over 200,000 people to California in just a few years.

HOW THE FORTY-NINERS FOUND GOLD

Word of the Gold Rush spread slowly at first. The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California or people who heard the news from ships on the fastest sailing routes from California. The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand Oregonians who came down the Siskiyou Trail Next came people from the Sandwich Islands, and several thousand Latin Americans, including people from Mexico, from Peru and from as far away as Chile, both by ship and overland. 

By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California.Only a small number (probably fewer than 500) travelled overland from the United States that year. 

Some of these "forty-eighters", as the earliest gold-seekers were sometimes called, were able to collect large amounts of easily accessible gold—in some cases, thousands of dollars worth each day.

Even ordinary prospectors averaged daily gold finds worth 10 to 15 times the daily wage of a laborer on the East Coast. A person could work for six months in the goldfields and find the equivalent of six years' wages back home. Some hoped to get rich quick and return home, and others wished to start businesses in California

Most Forty-Niners were men. They crowded into muddy mining camps, sleeping in flimsy shacks or tents.

Miners spent their days digging for gold. In the early days of the gold rush, a man could pocket $300 or $400 in gold before supper—a fortune at the time! Miners also panned for gold in streams and rivers, gathering dirt and rock in metal pans. Water washed away the dirt and left the heavier gold in the pan.

Not everyone found gold. In fact, most people’s dreams of quick riches never came true. In 1851, mining began shifting into a business run by companies.

HOW THE GOLD RUSH CHANGED AMERICA

Gold fever brought a huge wave of people into the West. New Western settlements sprang up almost overnight. Some became abandoned ghost towns after the gold rush, but others survived. These early settlers helped California grow in its first years of statehood. 

The gold rush also pumped billions of dollars into the United States economy. This money helped build railroads and factories, establishing America as a nation of industry.

Can u Guess the Most Dangerous Animals in the World...?

Top 10 Most Dangerous Animals in the World

  Let us now take a look at the 10 most dangerous animals in the world

10. The Shark

As children, we were all raised to be scared of sharks. From the blood and teeth in the movies, we would hate them. Well, sharks aren’t as bad as they are in the movies but they sure are nasty killers.

Fatalities per year: About 100

9. The Jellyfish

Jellyfish are interesting but extremely scary creatures. From big and annoying jellyfish to extremely small, deadly ones, jellyfish make their way to #9. When making contact, the jellyfish’s tentacles can paralyze a human and manifests itself as cardiac arrest.

Fatalities a year: About 100

8. The Hippopotamus

Mostly found in Africa, the hippopotamus is a large ruthless animal that lives in water and land. Its mouth can open up to 4 feet and can crush like a sledgehammer. With these characteristics, it is bound to make it into the #8 spot.

Fatalities a year:100-150

7. The Elephant

Despite their friendly appearance and cleverness, elephants have been known to attack without warning, sometimes killing zookeepers whom they’ve known for 15 years. With their size and huge tusks, it is easy to imagine why the elephant made it to spot #7.

Fatalities a year:300-500

6. The Crocodile

Mostly found in Africa and Australia, the crocodile is one of the world’s most deadliest animals. The crocodile has an amazing speed and bone-crushing jaw force. One meal will last it a while so it can wait under water to plan it’s next attack.

Fatalities a year: 600-800

5. Big Cats

Animals such as lions, tigers and jaguars all fall into #5. With outrageous speeds, you are sure to be caught if you take the risky chance and run(if you do ever fall in to that situation, do not turn and run and rather look it in the eyes and open your coat to make you look bigger).

Fatalities a year: About 800

4. The Scorpion

Though much smaller than most of the creatures behind it, the scorpion has a venomous sting. The scorpion most likely causes more fatalities than recorded due to the fact that the attacks occur in isolated places as it is their habitat.

Fatalities a year:800-2000

3.Venomous snakes

More than 450 species of snakes are venomous and 250 capable of killing a man enlarging the chance of a snake you encounter to be extremely dangerous. Attacks occur mostly in Africa, Asia and North America. Humans are a great prey for venomous snakes due to the bloodstream. Once injected with venom, it runs through your whole body.

Fatalities a year:50-125,000

2. The Mosquito

I bet you were expecting the most vicious most scary animal but the biggest killer in the whole world… is the mosquito. Thanks to its ability to spread diseases with an alarming efficiency, the mosquito makes its way into #2. Best known for spreading Malaria, mosquitoes also spread elephantiasis, yellow fever and West Nile Virus.

Fatalities a year:2-3 million (wow)

AND THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…….

1.    The Human Being

image source : www.earthify.in

                                                     NO EXPLANATIONS.....  

                            JUST WATCH THIS BRILLIANT VIDEO U WILL REALISE.

Neptune

The surface of Neptune is known to be the most dynamic and active place in the Solar System. Neptune is one of the planets that hold a lot of energy and heat. If you look at a picture of Neptune, you see this pretty blue-green surface. That surface looks solid, but it is actually not solid. It is made out of gas. So what we actually see in the picture is not the surface of Neptune, but it is the top of the clouds of Neptune. You might want to walk or stand on Neptune but this is impossible. 

In ancient times, people didn’t even know the planet Neptune existed. Astronomers, scientists who study space, didn’t discover the big blue planet until the 1840s.

Neptune is usually the eighth planet from the Sun. So far as astronomers know, only the planet Pluto is farther from the Sun. However, Pluto’s orbit sometimes brings it closer to the Sun than Neptune is, making Neptune the planet farthest from the Sun. This happens every 248 years.

HOW DID WE FIND NEPTUNE?

Astronomers found Neptune by watching the planet Uranus. Uranus wobbles as it orbits the Sun. A British astronomer and a French astronomer used math to figure out that the gravity of another planet was making Uranus wobble. A German astronomer finally saw Neptune through a telescope in 1846. Astronomers named the newly found planet Neptune after the ancient Roman god of the sea.

STUDYING NEPTUNE

It took astronomers a long time to learn anything about Neptune because the planet is so far away. Neptune is about 2.8 billion miles (about 4.5 billion kilometers) from the Sun. That’s 30 times as far as Earth is from the Sun! It takes Neptune almost 165 years to go around the Sun once.

Looking through telescopes, astronomers can tell that Neptune is a big planet. It is about four times larger than Earth. They call Neptune a giant planet. It is the smallest of four huge planets made mostly of gas. Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are the other gas giants.

Astronomers learned most of what they know about Neptune from a spacecraft named Voyager 2. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft that has visited Neptune. It flew past in 1989. It took pictures and made measurements of Neptune.

Astronomers also study pictures of Neptune made by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble orbits high above Earth.

WHAT IS IT LIKE ON NEPTUNE?

You could not breathe on Neptune, and the fierce winds would blow you away. Even without the winds, you could not walk on Neptune because the planet has no solid surface.

A thick layer of clouds surrounds Neptune. The clouds are part of the planet’s atmosphere. An atmosphere is made of gases. Neptune’s atmosphere is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gases. Some methane gas high in the atmosphere gives Neptune its bluish color. You could not breathe the gases in Neptune’s atmosphere. You need to breathe oxygen in order to live. There is no oxygen in Neptune’s atmosphere.

Surface of Neptune 

Blowing clouds make striped patterns around Neptune. Sometimes there are spots in the clouds. The spots are storms. Neptune has the fastest winds in the solar system. The winds on Neptune can blow at 1,200 miles per hour (2,000 kilometers per hour).

Scientists have made guesses about what the inside of Neptune is like. Scientists think the planet’s thick atmosphere blends into an ocean of water. The core (center) of Neptune may be made of ice and rock.

DOES NEPTUNE HAVE MOONS?

Astronomers have found 13 moons around Neptune. The biggest moon is Triton. Triton is mostly made of ice. There may be some rock in its core. Triton is one of the coldest spots in the solar system. The temperature there can drop to -390° Fahrenheit (–235° Celsius).

Triton once had volcanoes. Its volcanoes did not shoot out melted rock as volcanoes on Earth do. Triton’s volcanoes shot out slushy, half-melted ice.

Astronomers also have found four rings around Neptune. The rings are dark and hard to see, even in pictures from Voyager 2. They may be made of dust and rocks.

HOW DID NEPTUNE FORM?

Astronomers think the Sun and all the planets formed from a disk of gas and tiny particles of rock, metal, and ice. The rocky planets closest to the Sun formed mainly from rock and metal. The planets farthest from the Sun formed mostly from gas and chunks of ice.

MAYA CIVILIZATION:                  

The ruins of spectacular stone cities still watch over parts of Mexico and Central America. A Native American people called the Maya built these ancient cities more than 1,000 years ago.

The Maya created a brilliant civilization. They built massive stone pyramids and carved beautiful sculptures. They made great advancements in astronomy and math. The Maya recorded their history and discoveries using hieroglyphics, a form of picture writing.

A LONG HISTORY

Records of the Maya go back nearly 4,000 years. But the Maya civilization reached its peak from about 300 AD to 900 AD. During this time, the Maya controlled lands in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Today, descendants of Maya people still live in parts of Mexico and Central America. Many still wear traditional clothes and speak their ancient languages.

INDEPENDENT CITIES

The ancient Maya lived in independent cities. Each city was ruled by its own king. Cities governed the villages and farmland around them. The biggest cities were Palenque, Tikal, Copán, and Chichén Itzá.

At the center of every Maya city was a large square, or plaza. Huge stone buildings bordered the plaza. These included tall pyramids with temples on top, palaces, and courts for playing a sacred ball game. Priests walked up steps of the pyramids to perform religious ceremonies in the temples. The Maya covered the walls of their buildings with brightly colored paintings.
       

                                                                                                          

  

Maya cities were home to many skilled workers. They included architects, weavers, potters, feather workers,  and stone carvers. Merchants brought valuable goods to the cities from distant lands. Maya merchants traded jaguar pelts, jade, green parrot feathers, dyes, cloth, wax, honey, tools, and many other goods.

                                                                                                                     

EXPERT FARMERS

Outside the cities, farmers lived in small villages near their fields. They were expert farmers and grew many different crops. The most important crop of all was maize (corn). Women ground the maize into a meal and baked it into flat cakes.

Other important crops included beans, squash, avocados, chili peppers, sweet potatoes, melons, and papayas. The Maya also grew cacao beans to make a chocolate drink. The Maya prized cacao beans. They traded the beans as a form of money.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

The Maya worshipped many different gods. Among the most important gods were Itzamna, the sky god, and Yum Kaax, the maize god. The Maya held many religious ceremonies in their city centers.

In some ceremonies, the Maya made sacrifices to the gods. They might sacrifice the life of a dog, turkey, or other small animal. Sometimes, for a very important ceremony, the Maya sacrificed a person. The victim was often painted blue and then sacrificed by a priest on top of a pyramid.

A GAME OF LIFE AND DEATH

The Maya played a sacred ball game on long courts in their city centers. The game involved two teams of players and a solid rubber ball. Players tried to hit the ball through a stone ring with their hips. They were not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or feet. The game was fast and dangerous. Players wore special padded clothing to protect them.

The ball game was not just a sport. It was also a sacred religious event. On certain occasions, the players who lost the game would be sacrificed to the gods.

ASTRONOMY AND MATH

The Maya developed astronomy and math to a high level. Maya astronomers carefully observed the positions of the planets and stars. Based on Earth’s orbit around the Sun, they learned that a year was 365 days long.

The Maya invented a system of math based on the number 20. Using this system, Maya astronomers designed a calendar that divided the year into 18 months of 20 days each. To these 360 days, the Maya added 5 “unlucky” days at the end of the year.

MAYAN CALENDAR

The Maya calendar was complicated and could only be read by people with special training. But for many centuries, the Maya calendar was the most accurate calendar in the world!

KEEPING RECORDS

The Maya developed an advanced form of writing using picture signs called hieroglyphics. They kept records of their myths, history, discoveries, and religious beliefs. They carved these records on buildings and on stone monuments called stelae.

The Maya also made books from long folded sheets of bark paper. Folded books like these are called codices. Only four Maya codices still exist. They cover subjects such as astronomy, the calendar, and religious ceremonies.

THE END OF THE MAYA

In about 900 AD, the Maya abandoned the cities of Palenque, Tikal, and Copán. No one knows why the Maya left these great cities, all located in the Guatemalan lowlands. Some scientists believe a long drought (lack of water) drove the Maya out.

EARLIER CIVILIZATION

Some Maya people moved north into the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico. There, they built the cities of Chichén Itzá and Mayapán. In the early 1500s, the Spanish invaded Mexico and conquered the remaining Maya.

TODAYS RUINS

MUMMIES

Mummies have fascinated people for centuries. In folklore, mummies are portrayed as mysterious, magical, and even dangerous. People have removed mummies from their tombs and displayed them in museums. Mummies have even starred as villains in horror films!

PRESERVED BODIES

A mummy is a human body that has been preserved for a long period of time. Mummies are found in many places, from Alaska to China. But the world’s best-known mummies come from ancient Egypt. The Egyptians began making mummies more than 5,000 years ago. Over the next 3,500 years, they made millions of them!

Some mummies are accidental. They occur when bodies are accidentally preserved. That usually happens in areas where decay happens slowly. Most accidental mummies are found in very hot or very cold places with dry climates. But they are also found in muddy peat bogs and even frozen in ice. Accidental mummies can last for thousands of years.

WHY DID EGYPTIANS MAKE MUMMIES?

The ancient Egyptians made mummies for religious reasons. They believed in life after death. They thought that people were reborn after they died and needed a body in order to live in the afterlife. The Egyptians took special care to preserve the bodies of wealthy, important people.

Egyptian Carving

HOW WERE EGYPTIAN MUMMIES MADE?

Making a mummy was complex and took about 70 days. First, mummy makers removed the body’s internal organs and placed them in special containers. They also took out the brain. But they usually left the heart in place. They believed a dead person’s soul remained in the heart. The heart spoke for a dead person in the afterlife, during judgment before the gods.

Next, mummy makers applied chemicals to the body to dry it and remove moisture. Then they perfumed the body and wrapped it in bandages made from linen cloth. They placed lucky charms between the wrappings, for spiritual protection.

Coffin

Once prepared, they laid the mummy in a wood or stone coffin. After about 2000 bc, mummies were often put in human-shaped coffins. The coffins might be painted with a portrait of the dead person along with pictures of the gods. Sometimes the coffins were made in sets that nested one within another.

AT HOME IN THE TOMB

Finally, the mummy was carried to its tomb. There, priests performed a ceremony called the Opening of the Mouth Ritual. They believed this ceremony brought the dead person’s senses back to life so they could live in the next world. Family members put useful items and food in the tomb to keep the mummy’s spirit alive.

MUMMIES IN OTHER CULTURES

Other people of the world also made mummies. Like the ancient Egyptians, they practiced mummification for religious reasons.

The people of the Inca Empire in Peru are famous for making mummies. During the 1600s and 1700s, Inca mummy makers preserved bodies with smoke in the cold, dry climate of the Andes Mountains. A prepared mummy was placed in a large clay jar with jewelry, clothing, food, and other items.

MUMMY FOLKLORE

Frightening tales about the magical powers of mummies have been told for centuries. By the 1700s, storywriters warned of the terrible curses that would befall anyone who disturbed a mummy. Modern horror films have kept this theme alive by portraying disturbed mummies as violent and dangerous.

The ancient Egyptians looked at mummies very differently. For them, mummies were a soothing reminder that their loved ones had passed on to a carefree existence with the gods.

JELLY FISH

They have no brains and no spines. You can often see right through them. But they can cause painful, sometimes deadly stings. Some can even glow in the dark! Scientists know them as medusas, but most people call them jellyfish.

Adult jelly fishes

WHAT ARE JELLYFISH?

Jellyfish are not really fish. They are invertebrate animals. This means that unlike fish or people, they have no backbones. In fact, they have no bones at all.

Jellyfish have stomachs and mouths, but no heads. They have nervous systems for sensing the world around them, but no brains. They are made almost entirely of water, which is why you can look through them.

Most jellyfish live in salt water, apart from a few types that live in fresh water. Jellyfish are found in oceans and seas all over the world. They live in warm, tropical seas and in icy waters near the North and South poles.

Box Jellyfish

BELL-SHAPED BODIES

Adult jellyfish are shaped like an open umbrella or a bell. Tentacles dangle down from the edges of a jellyfish’s body. At the center of a jellyfish’s body, where it is widest, is the mouth.

The ends of the tentacles have stinging cells on them, which jellyfish use to paralyze and catch their prey. The sting from a jellyfish can be very painful. Some jellyfish, such as the sea wasp, have powerful enough stings to kill people.

WHAT DO JELLYFISH EAT?

Most jellyfish eat fish, tiny creatures called plankton, and even other jellyfish. Once a jellyfish stings and paralyzes its prey, it takes the prey to its mouth and swallows it.

MANY SIZES AND COLORS

Some jellyfish are very small, no larger than a marble. Others are quite large. The largest jellyfish can grow to about 7 feet (about 2 meters) across and weigh hundreds of pounds! Jellyfish may be blue, orange, pink, yellow, purple, and other colors.

HOW DO JELLYFISH MOVE?

Jellyfish use their bell-shaped bodies to move themselves through the water. They expand their bodies and then squish their sides together. This pushes water out behind them, propelling them along. Most jellyfish swim very slowly. They do most of their moving by riding on ocean currents.

THE LIFE OF A JELLYFISH

Life for a jellyfish begins as an egg. Adult jellyfish release thousands of eggs into the water. The eggs develop into larvae. These larvae attach to rocks or other objects on the ocean floor and grow into a polyp. Polyps usually grow in colonies, or groups. They look like plants because they attach to the ground and grow upwards.

The polyps grow taller until they look like tall stacks of saucers. The saucers gradually detach themselves from the polyps and swim free. These free-swimming saucers are young jellyfish.

The jellyfish then grow into adults, lay eggs, and the life cycle begins a new.

JELLYFISH THAT GLOW

Some jellyfish can glow in darkness by making their own light. The light is made by a chemical reaction inside the jellyfish. Scientists believe jellyfish glow for several reasons. For example, they may glow to scare away predators or to attract animals they like to eat.

Glowing Jellyfish