Islamic Teachings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Islamic Teachings - Essay Example Islam being a diverse religious, has crossed many cultural boundaries where people of various regions have been influenced by its doctrines and rituals and have adapted it to their specific contexts (Bassiri, 1997, p. 43). Islam, is a religion of peace that promotes equality and justice to humanity, and unlike what it is perceived in many cultures as 'a religion of spirituality', Islam has no room for the spiritual dimension. In fact, Islam teaches discipline and a balance in worldly affairs and believes in rationality. This has been the major distinction to what Islam is and what it is perceived in many countries, particularly Islam in South Asia. Similarly, the problem also arises with the discrimination factor of the religion. Koran says, to be one nation, believe in one God and do not discriminate. This notion is never followed, because there are two main sects in this religion, 'Sunnis' and 'Shiites'. Thus, the problem between Islamic teachings and practice is that it varies according to different cultural perceptions and practice. Such variation also occurs for the reason that since Koran is in Arabic, Muslims, who are unaware of Arabic language, often make a distinction between the Koran and a translation of the Koran. This variation has always been considered normal for the main teachings that Muslims are aware of, are commonly practiced in every region and culture. However, difference lies in their interpretation, due to distinct cultures and variations in practices. Translations into the local languages of the Islamic world, are not independent books, but rather interlinear commentaries on the meaning of the text and aids to make the teachings of Islam more simpler to understand. Islam - a monotheist religion recognizes the significance of correct practice, as this is what makes people Muslims and that, for most people, correct belief rests upon correct practice (Murata & Chittick, 1994, p. 9). This study centers around how Islam entered into cultural settings, and how it is perceived and to what extent the teachings are variated in countries like United States, Britain, Middle East, India and Pakistan, along with comparisons from Christianity and Judaism. To what degree Islamic teachings as perceived in various cultural settings contrast with other and what are the ways to assess the interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims communities Islam in the United States and Great Britain Islam in the U.S and UK reflects not only the values and particularities of indigenous cultures of the West, but also of almost all the Islamic communities of the world. By the turn of the fifteenth century, Muslims throughout the peninsula were forced to choose among the unfortunate alternatives of conversion to Christianity, emigration, or death. Many who chose the first, continued to practice their faith in secret, maintaining a hidden conclave of Islam for centuries. Others, when tried openly to rebel suffered through expulsion from the

Homework 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Homework 2 - Essay Example It can as well be noticed in the records that Saudi Arabia had the highest percentage of contribution while Comoros had the lowest percentage of contribution to the sum total of the Gross Domestic Product of the 22 Arab League members (Vijay 2012). The GDP was as well compared with that of the various countries. The first country that was compared with that of the 22 Arab League members was United Kingdom. From the records, it was clearly seen that in the year 2012, the GDP of the country was 2440 billion US dollars. This was slightly higher than that of the 22 countries in question. It was later followed by Germany that had a GDP of 3600.8 billion US dollars in the same financial year, 2012 (Vijay 2012). The GDP of France and U.S were the highest compared to all the computed GDP of the other countries. In the year 2012, the GDP of France was found to be 2.613 trillion US dollars. This was many times the GDP of the 22 Arab countries in hand. The leading country in terms of the GDP was US that had a GDP amounting to 15.68 trillion US dollars (Vijay

Balanced scorecard is strategic planning

Balanced scorecard is strategic planning INTRODUCTION Balanced scorecard is strategic planning and management system used for business and industry, government, non profit organizations worldwide. it is used for business activities like vision and strategy of organization to improve internal and external communication to monitor organizations performance against goals. Balanced scorecard is designed by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton for performance measurement in their series of articles in Harvard Business review. It is designed for executives and managers to get balanced view of organizational performance. In early balanced scorecard was only used for simple performance measurement system. The new system transforms an organizations strategic plan from attractive document into marching orders for organizations on a daily basis. The balanced scorecard system is totally works on:- -Companys Mission Companys Strategic Plan -The financial status of organization The level of expertise in the organization. -Customer satisfaction level. In the past, the organizational growth was measured in financial measures only, which were not adequate to measure the performance. However, to look into future with great value, companies must have to invest through customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology and innovation. The balanced scorecard has emerged as a effective tool in the process to allow organizations to implement different strategies successfully. Organizations all around the globe has benefited by balanced scorecard like increased financial returns, employee alignment in with overall growth, improved collaboration and focus on strategy. BALANCED SCORECARD PERSPECTIVES Balanced scorecard divided into mainly four perspectives. Learning and Growth Perspective The Business Process Perspective The Customer Perspective The Financial Perspective VISION AND STRATEGY LEARNING AND GROWTH FINANCIAL CUSTOMER INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESSES BALANCED SCORECARD PERSPECTIVES 1. LEARNING AND GROWTH PERSPECTIVE:- This perspective mainly includes training and growth of employee potential as well as their practical skills. Now days, there is a rapid changes in new Technologies, so the employee must be in the continuous learning mode, so that they can learn new technologies and apply it. In this perspective, it is searched that, is there correct level of expertise for the job? Employee turnover ratio analyzed in this perspective, so that job satisfaction among the employees can be measured and corrective action can be taken. The learning and growth perspective concentrate on learning rather than training, because it includes tutors and mentors in the organization so that there will be easy flow of communication and problems can be solved within organization. 2. THE BUSINESS PROCESS PERSPECTIVE:- This perspective consists of internal business processes. By using this perspective managers can know that how well their business is running, whether its products meet to customer needs and demands or not. The process alignment is checked that it is right department. The process should carefully design to meet standards of product that meets customer requirements. 3. THE CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE:- In recent studies, it has been seen that customer satisfaction and customer focus are important for success of any business. If customer is not satisfied then they will find any other supplier who satisfies their needs. These will surely the failure of the business that doesnt meet to the customer needs. Delivery performance, quality performance, customer satisfaction, customer percentage in market and customer retention rate are some of the important aspects of customer perspective. 4. FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE:- Financial perspective is very important to measure success of any company. When financial objectives reached, only then organization can exist successfully in the long run. This perspective expressed in the terms of budget and target achievements. This perspective focuses on the quarterly or yearly financial results, return on investment, cash flow, etc. Q. 1. Why change and how balanced scorecard approach different? The business environment in now days is very competitive in terms of product quality, market share, customer satisfaction and volatile than ever been. In order to survive in the market, organizations need to be far more efficient in the use of their resources, should understand needs of their customers, should organize their internal system and procedure, and have employees who have a far level of interpersonal skills than in the past. The financial system was mainly backward looking, focusing upon reporting achievements rather than upon the attainment and pursuit of objectives. The financial system was paying attention to fulfill short term objectives rather to fulfill long term objectives. This system need to in corporate data capture and analysis of non-financial measures, such as customer profiles, customer satisfaction, employee performance, employee satisfaction, product quality, service quality, organizational transformation and development. So, organizations need to think beyond the historical perspective of their traditional financial reporting systems. The financial system has limitations because of considering limited factors. To improve performance evaluation, there was a need to change old financial system with the more balanced and which bridges strengths of the traditional financial measures of past performance with the benefits of measuring factors that impact upon or drive future performance. Q.2) Discuss in general terms the information which would be required by a manager to implement this approach to measuring performance. The balanced scorecard approach is mainly consists of four approaches: financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth. The balanced scorecard focuses mainly towards common goal. The process of developing balanced scorecard gives an organization a clear picture of future and path to reach there. To implement balanced scorecard, manager need to implement its four perspectives and also needs information of its key elements as follows:- Financial perspective: Financial objectives are used to represent long term goals of organization. In this perspective of balanced scorecard, a manager need to identify financial objectives of an organization and develop measures that indicate how successful the organization achieving those objectives. In this aspect of balanced scorecard, manager needs information of following measures: return capital employed return on net assets Bad debts of company Account receivables Gearing rate. Customer perspective: The customer perspective is designed to measure how well the company is meeting the demands of customers and market. The major goal of an organization is to supply for the demands of customers. In todays environment company must provide a quality product, and also timely delivery, and customer service following the sale. There are some more information which also to be considered like, The very important price of the product Customer satisfaction Customer retention Increasing customer base Delivery times Rate of goods returned by customers Customer relationship. The Internal business processes perspective: This perspective focuses mainly on internal processes to deliver the goals of customers and shareholders. This aspect works within the company. The information needs is related to: Quality control rejection rate Production lead times Level of production capacity utilization. Learning and growth perspective: This perspective identifies human relations and works to improve the Skills of employees, infrastructure and innovation. Employees are very important part of the organization and key to innovation. re Sources must be allocated to educate them on the processes of company and mission of company. This education should be coupled with the motivation. This starts with autonomy to employee so that they can suggest changes in organization. The manager should know information of this aspect: Employee capabilities Information system capabilities Level of spending per head on employee training Employee absenteeism rate Staff turnover rate Range of products This information is very important to implement the balanced scorecard approach within the organization. By having this information, manager can implement this approach in the organization to measure performance. Q.3) Comment on three specific examples of performance measures which could be used in service industry. 1. Balanced scorecard in the Hotel industry: The balanced scorecard derives its name primarily from the way it provides a structured focus upon the main organizational performance dimensions: the financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth. Balanced scorecard thinks far beyond the traditional financial system, so that hotel appears the appropriate setting for implementation of the balanced scorecard. The first step in developing a balanced involves is determining a mission or vision. A vision outlines the purpose of an organization. After vision, we need to determine what strategy will be employed to achieve the mission. After strategy we need to translate this strategy into specific strategic objectives. If the strategic objective of staff is to be regarded among most friendly, appropriate performance measures could include: hours s pent to train staff on politeness and friendly customer engagement, customer survey ratings with respect to perceived friendliness of staff. As strategic objectives and performance measures would need to be developed for each of four balanced scorecards key perspectives. a] Financial perspective in hotel: The financial perspective contains strategic objectives that are developed from shareholders perspective. Kaplan and Norton suggest these objectives can be developed by answering the question: To succeed financially, how should we appear to our shareholders! Once these objectives have been developed, a set of financial measures generated. The financial measures includes departmental cost, cost of providing a room night, hotel profit, profit of market segment, revenue per available room, share price, revenue growth compared to budget, sales mix, operating profit compared to prior year, ROI, etc. b] Customer perspective: This comprises strategic objectives that are developed by customer point of view. To achieve our objectives, how should we appear to our customers! Once these objectives developed, a set of customer related performance measures can be developed. This includes: customer loyalty, proportion of returning customers, customer complaints, customer profitability, new customer acquisition, market segmentation, market share etc. These factors are considered while measurement of customer related performance. c] Internal process perspective: This perspective concerns the development of process related objectives that are consistent with achieving financial and customer objectives. These objectives can be developed by responding to question, to achieve our internal objective which types of processes should we undertake! A set of performance related measures are: customer billing errors, time taken to check-in, restaurant service errors, workplace safety, customer database availability, internal control practices, etc. d] Learning and growth perspective: This perspective concerns the development of organizational capability goals that are consistent with achieving financial and customer objectives. Possible learning and growth measures includes: training investment per employee, absenteeism, employee motivation index, employee satisfaction, personal growth of staff, internal promotion levels, staff retention, staff empowerment, frequency of training, etc. The balanced scorecards group-wide application has greatly increased opportunities to use the achievements of best practice hotels. Balanced scorecard provides focused approach towards the common objectives of a hotel. By using above all performance measures, we can use balanced scorecard successfully in the hotel. Refrence online book:- Accounting essentials for hospitality managers by Mr. Chris Guilding 2) Balanced scorecard in the Insurance sector:- Now days insurance sector is very competitive industry among the service industries. There are different types of insurance like car insurance, general insurance, medical insurance, etc. this sector is totally customer oriented sector and totally depends upon needs of customers. The performance Measurement of this sector by balanced scorecard is consists of measurement of its four perspectives. The mission and strategy of an insurance company is determined by board of director of company. After the strategy, the objectives and targets are set by management for the particular period of time. Then the company operates to fulfill those objectives. The measures of the insurance sector according to four perspectives are as follows: 1. Financial perspective:- The major financial perspective in the insurance sector is the share holders perspective because share holders are the important part to provide capital for the business. The measures contain cost of employees, incentives as percentage of salary, annual salary, increase in training cost, the cost per insurance, total profit earned, operating costs, total sales, share price, Etc. 2. Customer perspective:- Customer perspective focuses totally towards customer satisfaction and customer retention. Customer is leading indicator in the insurance sector, if he satisfied then only company can earn profit. The customer perspectives measures are number of referrals generated from the customers, number of customer focused products developed, decrease in customer complaints, and percentage of upgraded policies, etc. 3. Internal process perspective: This perspective works totally on developing internal processes to meet customer needs and demands, so that customer can be satisfied with the service. It improves on negative aspects of the internal system and try to improve it. The possible measures can be percentage of renewed policies to the number of policies sold, number of sales targets achieved, percentage of decrease in employee turn over, types of insurance policies generated. 4. Learning and growth perspective:- This perspective works on the employee development and corporate cultural attitudes related to both company and self improvement. It works on improving sales efficiency of the sales force. The possible measures comes under this perspective can be number of training sessions, number of brain storming sessions, number of motivational sessions, number of quality feedback from the employees, etc. 3) Balanced scorecard in the banking industry:- Balanced scorecard received a wide range of use and promotion by global business organizations and some international banks have successfully implemented this approach to measure and increase their performance. In response to different problems faced by the global banking industry like the recession of the year 2008, balanced scorecard research helps to solve those problems effectively and results in the profit. In the rapid innovation and development of financial sectors, the banking industry facing intense competition. The measures of banking Industries according to the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard are as follows:- 1. Financial perspective:- Balanced scorecard is not only indicator of appraisal system but also strategic management tool. The balanced scorecard breaks the traditional financial measurement system. It adds future value to the financial measures. The measures of the financial perspective can be improvement of product quality, time to complete orders, productivity, new product development, customer satisfaction into increased sales, reduction in operating cost, economic value, added bank profits, the per capital profit, net interest income, marketing cost, income ratio, office expenses, labor costs, loan, etc. 2. Customer perspective:- Due to intense competition, customer has become very important aspect of the banking industry. Attracting customers towards bank is very important so that the strategy of the bank should be customer focused. The possible measures of bank performance according to customer perspective can be: Market share, customer retention rate, rate of new customer, customer satisfaction, customer profitability level, customer complaints, etc. 3. Internal processes perspective:- In order to retain target customers and to meet the requirements of shareholders about financial returns, managers need to focus on customer satisfaction and improve internal processes and establish measurable indicators. In this perspective balanced scorecard not only paying attention to a simple process to improve but also confirms request of customers and shareholders as a starting point to satisfy both customers and shareholders. Measures are: product and service innovation, new product and service revenue, the new loan rate and increasing rate, the number of internal regulations, responsibility of accidents, etc. 4. Learning and growth perspective:- It includes an investment which the organization must be carried out to achieve long term performance in the future, like ability of employees, organization information system, employee satisfaction, staff violation rate, pass rate of status examination, professional development program, staff training sessions, etc. These are measures of a bank for performance measurement on the basis of the balanced scorecard approach. We can evaluate the performance of the bank by using these measures. Refrence: www.academypublisher.com REFRENCES:- www.google.com ( google books ) Magna Cara College online Library University of Wales online library Frank Wood and Alan Sangster Business Accounting 2 Chris Guilding Accounting essentials for Hospitality Managers www.magnacartacollge.org (moodle) www.academypublisher.com ( article)

Inherit The Wind Essay -- English Literature Essays

Inherit The Wind Rachel’s Quest for independence I think Rachel was looking for the ways for her independence and willing to protect Bert during the trial. Rachel believed that Bert was innocent. Rachel was in love with Bert, she knew that Bert was not a criminal and she wanted him to confess the court and the town’s people that he had done wrong, and it was all a joke and he was sorry for that. Rachel said to Bert, â€Å"Bert, why don’t you tell `em it was all a joke? Tell `em you didn’t mean to break a law, and you won’t do it again.† This clearly shows that she was worried about him and wanted to help him. But she knew that what he had done was bad. And she was also quite sure that he would not win the trial against the mayor. Her father was a powerful man. The townspeople liked him and appreciated what he had done and was doing for them. Rachel soon found that she could not convince him to confess because he did not believe that he had done something wrong. As all he had told the pupils were the quotations from the book Hunter’s Civic Biology and from Chapter 17, Darwin’s origin of species. He learned from the books, â€Å"That man was not stuck here like a geranium in a flower pot; that living comes from a long miracle, it didn’t just happen in seven days.† All this shows that his thoughts and ideas were based on scientific facts, but her father only trusted the Bible. Rachel has been always scared of her father. When she was little she used to have bad dreams. She ...

Gertrude’s portrayal suggests Ophelia Essay

At the beginning of Hamlet, Hamlet is reprimanded by Claudius because of grieving for his father, King Hamlet. Claudius calls Hamlet unmanly ‘Of impious stubbornness, ‘tis unmanly grief. ’ Claudius’ use of the word ‘Unmanly’ suggests Hamlet is frail like a woman, this shows in Hamlet not just women are weak in this play but men also display forms of frailty. Claudius’ use of the word ‘unmanly’ surely suggests Hamlet is feminine, and if Hamlet is feminine surely as a man, that also makes him weak. The phrase ‘Frailty, thy name is woman,’ appears in Hamlet’s first soliloquy. Here Hamlet condemns Gertrude, his mother, for having a swift remarriage to his uncle, Claudius. In ‘Hamlet’ Shakespeare presents women as the weaker sex, used for the purpose of men’s satisfaction sexually. For a woman to consider, or commit a sexual deed, it is seen as corruption. Today, a modern audience may see Hamlet’s, Polonius’ and Laertes’ actions toward Gertrude and Ophelia as a form of sexual abuse. Women were the victims of a Patriarchal society, corrupted by sex and hated by misogynistic men. Patriarchy describes a social structure where the behaviour and ideas of men and boys are overriding over those of women and girls. This situation of male authority is reflected in correlative unfairness throughout the society and in the play ‘Hamlet’. The Shakespearean era was a patriarchal society where women were seen as powerless to the extent that in the time that Shakespeare wrote his plays; women were not authorized to act on stage, which meant that boys were required to dress up as the female characters in plays. Frailty can be a condition of being frail, whether it is being mentally frail, physically or morally. ‘Frailty, thy name is woman,’ is a statement, which at the very least could infuriate a feminist critic who may view Shakespeare’s opinion of women misogynistic because he frequently displays women as being dependant on men. Hamlet criticises his mother for incestuous relations with his uncle, Claudius. He says, ‘Almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother. ’ Hamlet believes his mother to be morally frail as she has an apparent refusal to control feelings to how a woman should be and has committed a sexual rebellion ‘Rebellious hell. ’ Hamlet’s disgust towards his mother’s ‘incestuous’ relationship comes to a climax ‘Stew’d over corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty! ’ Here, Hamlet refers his mother making love over a pig sty, once again referring to women as victims of sexual corruption and as dirty as pigs. Hamlet stated ‘Frailty, thy name is woman,’ he refers to by his mother, Gertrude, being a woman, she displays moral frailty in being vulnerable to the act of seduction by Claudius. This provides the audience with a model of women’s infidelity in Hamlet. For Gertrude to give into this, Hamlet felt his mother was morally frail. An audience would believe Gertrude was frail to a degree from giving into her brother in law and accepting his hand in marriage. To a Shakespearean audience, Gertrude disobeys patriarchal boundaries by marrying her brother in law, so soon after her husband’s death would be frowned upon. Henry the VIII married his brothers widow, Catherine of Aragon, because this was frowned upon in the Tudor times, he used it as an excuse when he later wanted to divorce her. Hamlet says ‘But two months dead,’ the essential association of incestuous desire takes place between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude, Hamlet appears fixated on the disgust of his mother’s sexual welfare with Claudius, from this Hamlet appears to become cynical about women in general and perceives a connection between the female sexuality and moral frailty. The concept of misogyny continues to occur throughout the play and is a significant constraint in Hamlet’s relationships with his mother and Ophelia. Hamlet also refers to his mother’s incestuous sexuality with Claudius in Act One Scene Two; Hamlet says ‘O most wicked speed! To post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets! ’ suggesting Gertrude moved into bed with Claudius too quickly. A theme of incest is repeated several times throughout the play and is frequently insinuated by Hamlet and the ghost, who says ‘So to seduce! – won to his shameful lust to the will of my most seeming-virtuous queen. ’ Referring to how Claudius won Gertrude over with his lustful charm. Gertrude is the mouthpiece for the description of Ophelia’s death to Laertes and Claudius, at the end of Act four Scene seven. An audience may see by Gertrude being the representative for this description, as solidarity and uniting of women. She was ‘As one incapable of her own distress and indued unto that element. ’ Her description is full of pathos, reflecting Ophelia’s innocence and beauty. Gertrude’s portrayal suggests Ophelia was one with nature and native to the water. This suggests her death could have been caused by physical frailty ‘incapable of her own distress’, Gertrude explains how Ophelia was ‘Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death. ’ Her ‘Melodious lay’ suggests to the reader, she was calm and at ease around the water. When Gertrude says ‘Her clothes spread wide, and awhile they bore her up,’ which shows the reader a powerful image of Ophelia struggling and drowning and eventually dying, it suggests due mourning over her father and the love of Hamlet, she became physically weak enough to let life defeat her therefore Ophelia is presented as a weak victim. If Ophelia’s death was suicide, it could suggest Ophelia was morally frail to want to take her own life, going against what was right. Today, a modern audience would look upon victims of suicide, supposedly Ophelia, with empathy for the desperation that must have preceded their demise. An Elizabethan audience however saw suicide to be such a hideous form of murder. Ophelia in Act four Scene five says ‘We must be patient. But I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him I’th’ cold ground. ’ Ophelia appears mad and weak over Hamlet’s misogyny, the death of her father and rejection of her. Ophelia goes into a double realm of remorse, believing herself to be to blame for both Hamlet’s madness and her father’s death. Ophelia here is showing an appearance of being physically and mentally frail. Ophelia sings songs concerning chaos, death, and unrequited love. As she is singing Claudius and Queen both try to reason with her, but she replies only incomprehensibly. Claudius says ‘Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song? ’ Ophelia’s rogue line breaks of poetry, disrupts the prose of the other characters in the scene, the audience is distracted by Ophelia’s deep thoughts, emotions and feelings.

Environmental Factors Leading to Civilization Along the Nile Essay

A. ) The two most significant environmental or physical geographic factors that contributed to the development and expansion of the United states had to be the Gold Rush, and the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish potato famine was devistating to Ireland and laid waste to it’s population, but ended up spurring Irish immigration to the United States, leading to both growth and expansion. The gold rush that took hold in the United States was one of the biggest factors that pushed people west and lead to a greater settlement of the west coast and all areas between. These two major events helped to shape the country that we know today. The Irish Potato Famine was one of the most significant environmental factors that helped develope and expand the United States because it not only lead to a population swell, but contrubuted to our work force due to the large number of immigrants that came to the U. S. as a result of it. Before the famine, the Catholic Irish peasents lived a very poor lifestyle and were constantly under fear of being evicted by their land lords as their farms were downsized and their rents were raised. They grew potato crops in the fertile Irish soil and used those crops to pay their rents and feed their families. This was many families’ sole source of income and nutrition. When the potato famine began in September of 1845, the potato crops failed universaly in Ireland, something that had never happened before. The poor Irish had been acustomed to a bad crop in a spot or two and they always had adjusted to circumstances before, and there was little loss of life over this previously. From 1845 and for the next 4 years, the crops would fail repeatedly and this caused wide-spread death, from both starvation and opportunistic infections such as typhus, that mowed people down by the thousands in their hunger weakend condition. There were many theories about just why the crops failed, both superstitious and religious, but we know now that it was the fault of a fungus, carried on the winds from England where it had been brough over by the North American ships. This fungus, phytophthora infestans, florished in the damp cool climate of Ireland and consistently ruined the potato crops. By 1847, two years into the Irish Potato Famine, people began to seek greener pastures either as a result of eviction, or the promise of a new and better life in the United States. There had been Irish imigration prior to this, but 1847 was really the first year where major waves of Irish families began to come to the United States. This lead to a population explosion on the eastern coast of the United States and the Irish immigrants who lived through the voyage found little welcome, often being taken advantage of and stolen from. The Irish immigrants brough with them new ideas about culture and religion and provided laborers for road work and other tasks that helped expand the United States. The Civil War is another event in wich the Irish took part. The immigrants joined the Union Army in droves and some atribute the northern victory in that war to the seemingly endless supply of Union troops, composed largely of the immigrant population flooding into the United States at that time. How different would our country be had the famine not happened and the immigrants not come? The other major event that contributed to the expansion and developement of the United States was the California Gold Rush. The Gold Rush was an exciting time in the history of the United States. It lead to a huge amount of expansion and settlement of the western-most poritions of the United States that were largely under-explored wilderness at that time. In May of 1848 gold was found along the banks of the American River near Sacramento, California. By August of that same year the New York Herald published an article about these findings, and so the Gold Rush was born! Men flocked to California to seek their fortunes in the hopes of a better life for themselves and thier families. They left their wives and children and came over land and by sea via Panama. Prospectors seeking to strike it rich brought with them their American ideals and values, and are a big part of the reason that California became a state in 1850. The California gold fields were an exciting and dangerous place to be, with few laws and really no way to inforce those that they had. Prostitution and drunken brawls and shootings were common place and many-a-fortune was won and lost in gambeling at camp. Most prospectors did not, in fact, strike it rich and left disallusioned to either go back to their families, or to settle the area around San Francisco. As a result of the Gold Rush, California’s population swelled from just 25,000 people to well over 220,000, when all was said and done. The population increase helped to settle the area and made San Fransico a major trade port for the Western United States as well as a gateway of sorts for travel and immigration. The influx of interest and travel in the west also paved the way for industries such as mining for silver in Nevada and the building of a transcontinental railroad to the west. The Gold Rush played a huge part in the expansion and development of the United States in that it had such an impact on California and the west. California and the west coast as a whole just wouldn’t be what they are today had the Gold Rush not taken place. B. ) The most significant environmental or physical geographic factor that contributed to the development of Egyptian society was the Nile river. The area in question is made up of harsh, sandy desert and mountains. The river Nile flows down through this area and, due to the run-off from melting snow in the mountains each spring, carries with it rich, fertile soil that is really the only soil in the area suitable for crop production. The people in the area could use this fertile soil to plant crops and, based this new-found dependability, begin to settle and build permanent dwellings and villages. Since the villagers could count on two harvests per year, in most years, this would create and excess of product that could then be used for trade. The area near the Nile river is the only area that is very suitable for a sustainable way of life. That is why civilization grew up there due to the ability to grow crops, domesticate animals, and build permanent dwellings. People no longer had to be nomadic and search out food, they could grow and raise their own! The Nile also had a big impact on the religion of the time. Egyptian religion was ploytheistic and Egyptians worshiped many gods, usually based on nature. They had a sun god, a water god, an earth god, and so-forth. Each year when the Nile river flooded, this encouraged the belief in such gods and their devine will. The destruction that the flooding could cause was thought of as punishment for wrong doing and people created rituals to ward off the anger of their gods. A good crop grown from the soil brought down by the flooding was considered a sign of the gods’ pleasure with their people. The Nile’s influence could also be felt in it’s natural ability to be a trade route for Egypt. The arid desert climate makes it anything but an ideal area to travel through, and many found the river was a swift and cool route over wich to do business. The waters brought not only fertile soil for farming, but a measure of wealth and prosperity that contributed hugely to the growth and developement of the civilization. B1. One example of cultural diffusion is the relationship between Egypt and Rome. After being defeated by Rome, Egypt prospered as a province and was the main residence of Augustus Ceaser. This had a huge cultural impact on Egypt because Augustus began to rule the city under Roman laws and this was a whole new way of doing things. There are also the effects on Rome to look at. Egypt was a boon to the Roman Empire due to the trade routes through the desert, the abundant desert minerals that could be mined and later used to make statues and ornaments, and the glass that could be found in Egypt as well. One would have to wonder how different Grecian art would have been without the natural contributions that were made by Egypt. There was a natural diffusion that took place simply by co-existence with people of a different culture and background. The depictions of Egyptian people and gods began to look more Roman in dress and features and, likewise, the Egyptian architecture such as Obelisks became popular in Roman art and architecture.