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Many people and organizations want peace. One organization that was set up to bring peace among the nations and try to make war a thing of the past was the League of Nations after World War I. When it did not stop World War II, it was replaced by the United Nations which tries to make the world peaceful. This means that if any member is attacked or invaded by another country without attacking that country first, the other members will come to help the country that was attacked first. This idea was used by the United Nations to defend both South Korea and Kuwait when they were attacked. |
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in a letter he sent from the Birmingham jail that, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice." In other words, Real peace is more than just problems being gone: there must be fairness to have peace. |
Alfred Nobel created an annual award, the Nobel Peace Prize, for the person who had done the most to bring peace to the world. |
Buddhists think that peace can be gotten once all suffering ends.To get rid of suffering and get this peace, many try to follow a set of teachings called the Four Noble Truths |
Jews and Christians believe that true peace comes from a personal relationship with God. Jesus Christ (also called the "Prince of Peace" in the Book of Isaiah) said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." () |
Inner peace (or peace of mind) refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of stress. Being "at peace" is considered by many to be healthy and the opposite of being stressed or anxious. Peace of mind is generally associated with bliss and happiness. |
Peace of mind, serenity, and calmness are descriptions of a disposition free from the effects of stress. In some cultures, inner peace is considered a state of consciousness or enlightenment that may be cultivated by various forms of training, such as prayer, meditation, Tai chi chuan or yoga, for example. Many spiritual practices refer to this peace as an experience of knowing oneself. |
A movement that seeks to get ideals such as the ending of a particular war, minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Means to achieve these ends usually include advocacy of pacifism, non-violent resistance, conscientious objector, diplomacy, boycotts, moral purchasing, supporting anti-war political candidates, demonstrations, and lobbying to create legislation on human rights or of international law. |
Many different theories of "peace" exist in the world of peace studies, which involves the study of conflict transformation. The definition of "peace" can vary with religion, culture, or subject of study. |
Peace is a state of balance and understanding in yourself and between others, where respect is gained by the acceptance of differences, tolerance persists, conflicts are resolved through dialog, people's rights are respected and their voices are heard, and everyone is at their highest point of serenity without social tension. |
Quebec |
Quebec ( or ; ) is a province in the eastern part Canada situated between the Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is the largest of Canada's ten provinces by size. It also has the second-highest number of people, after Ontario. Most of Quebec's inhabitants live along or close to the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Not many people live in the north part of the province. |
Unlike the other provinces, most people in Quebec speak French (Canadian French) and French is the only official language. There is a strong French-language culture, which includes French-language newspapers, magazines, movies, television and radio shows. Their culture and language, though, is different from that of France mainly because of anglicisation, having words that come from the larger English-speaking parts of Canada. |
The government of Quebec has its offices in the capital, Quebec City, which is one of the oldest cities in North America. But the city with the most people in the province is Montreal, which is also the second-largest city in all of Canada. |
Quebec has many natural resources that are used to create jobs. Quebec also has many companies that create products for information and communication technologies, aerospace, biotechnology, and health industries. It has also developed close relations with the Northeastern United States. |
Quebec was part of New France until 1760, then under British control. Quebec became a province in the Canadian Confederation in 1867. Since then, some people in Quebec have wanted to leave Canada. Since Quebec is a mainly French-speaking province, most of the people there feel that it is very different from the rest of Canada, and want to keep it that way. Some feel that for this to happen, Quebec must leave Canada and become its own country. However, the people of Quebec are still divided as to its place in Canada. |
Quebec held democratic votes in 1980 and 1995 to decide whether to leave Canada. In 1995, the people of Quebec chose to stay in Canada by a 1% margin. |
Aboriginal people and Inuit groups were the first peoples who lived in what is now Québec. These Aboriginal people lived by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Some of the Aboriginal people, called Iroquoians, planted squash and maize. The Inuit fished and hunted whales and seals for fur and food. Sometimes they warred with each other. |
Vikings came in longboats from Scandinavia in 1000 AD. Basque whalers and fishermen traded furs with Aboriginal people throughout the 1500s. |
The first French explorer to reach Quebec was Jacques Cartier. He sailed into the St. Lawrence River in 1534 and established a colony near present-day Quebec City. |
Samuel de Champlain came from France and traveled into the St. Lawrence River. In 1608, he founded Quebec City as a permanent fur trading outpost. Champlain signed trading and military agreements with the Aboriginal people. Voyageurs, coureurs des bois, and Catholic missionaries used river canoes to explore the interior of the North American continent. |
After 1627, King Louis XIII of France made a rule that only Roman Catholics could go to live in New France. Jesuit clerics tried to convert New France's Aboriginal people to Catholicism. New France became a Royal Province of France in 1663. The population grew from about 3,000 to 60,000 people between 1666 and 1760. Colonists built farms on the banks of St. Lawrence River. |
In 1753 France began building a series of forts in the British Ohio Country. Britain asked the French to remove the forts, and the French refused. By 1756, France and Britain were at war. In 1758, the British attacked New France by sea and captured the French fort at Louisbourg. |
In 1759, British General James Wolfe defeated General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm outside Quebec City. France gave its North American land to Great Britain in 1763. In 1764, New France was renamed the Province of Quebec. |
In 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act, giving recognition to French law, Catholic religion, and French language in the colony. The Quebec Act gave the Quebec people their first Charter of rights. The Quebec Act made American colonists angry, so they launched the American Revolution. A 1775 invasion by the American Continental Army was stopped at Quebec City. In 1783, Quebec gave the territory south of the Great Lakes to the new United States of America. In 1867 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, which brought most of the provinces together. |
The conservative government of Maurice Duplessis dominated Quebec politics from 1944 to 1960 with the support of the Catholic Church. The Quiet Revolution was a period of social and political change. During the Quiet Revolution, English Canadians lost their control over the Quebec economy, the Roman Catholic Church became less important, and the Quebec government took over the hydro-electric companies. |
In 1963, a terrorist group that became known as the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) began doing bombings, robberies and attacks on government offices. In 1970 the FLQ kidnapped James Cross, the British trade commissioner to Canada. The FLQ also kidnapped and assassinated Pierre Laporte, Minister of Labour and Deputy Premier of Québec. Laporte's body was found in the trunk of Paul Rose's car, on the South Shore of Montreal on October 17 1970. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, and 497 people were arrested. |
The Quiet Revolution was so named because it was not marked by protests or violence. |
In 1977, the newly elected Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque introduced the Charter of the French Language. Often known as Bill 101, it defined French as the only official language of Quebec. |
The government is based in the provincial capital, Quebec City. The government is led by a lieutenant-governor (pronounced "lef-") who represents the Crown. As of 2019, he is Michel Doyon. The political leader of the province is the premier. He is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir de Quebec (CAQ), elected in 2018. |
Reading |
Reading is what we do when we understand writing. |
More fully, it a cognitive process of understanding information represented by printed or written language. It is a way of getting information and insights about something that is written. Reading involves understanding the symbols in that language. It can only be done if one knows the language. Reading and hearing are the two most common ways to get information. Information gained from reading can include entertainment, especially when reading fiction or humor. |
"Proofreading" is a kind of reading that is done to find mistakes in a piece of writing |
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity is a method which aims to develop better reading. |
Religion |
A religion is a set of beliefs that is passionately held by a group of people that is reflected in a and in expected beliefs and actions (which are often ritualized). |
There are many different religions, each with a different set of beliefs. The beliefs are about the world and the people in it, about how they came into being, and what their purpose is. These beliefs according to some religious sects, are often linked to supernatural beings such as God, a number of gods or spirits. They may also be linked to an idea such as a path that the spirit of each person should take towards goodness, truth and duty. This they called spirituality. |
Each religion has different ideas about these things. Each religion also has a "moral code" which is a set of beliefs about how humans should act. Each religion usually has their own type of "devotions" when people worship or pray. They often have rituals (special things that are always done in the same way) for certain times of the year or certain times of a person's life. Other words that are used for religion are "faith" and "belief system". Altogether, followers of religion can be known as 'believers', or 'the faithful'. Few people follow more than one religion at a time. |
The largest religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism, Judaism and Jainism. There are many other religions. People who do not believe in any gods are called atheists. People who say that there is no evidence are called agnostics. |
In many religions, one of the main beliefs is that there is a "deity" (or god) who is a great creator spirit. In many religions, there is just one deity that the people believe in. In other religions, there are many deities who each have different roles in the universe. In many religions, there are other types of spirits. These may include angels, devils and other such things which can be both good and bad. |
Giving honour to God, the gods or the spirits is an important part of most religions. While this may often be done privately, it is also often done with gatherings of people and rituals. These rituals are often based on old traditions, and may have been done in almost the same way for hundreds, or even thousands of years. |
Another main belief is that humans have a "soul" or spirit which lives on after their body has died.And they believe that they must kill thou to any one in the earths name. The person's spirit is on a journey through life that continues after death. Most religions believe that what a person does during their lifetime will affect what happens to their spirit in the afterlife. Many religions teach that a good person's spirit can reach a special place of peace and happiness such as Heaven or Nirvana, and that a bad person's spirit can travel to a place of pain and suffering such as Hell. Still other religions believe in reincarnation - that instead of going either to Heaven or Hell, spirits of the dead return to earth in a new body. |
"Morals" are the way a human behaves to other humans. Most religions make rules about human morals. The rules of how people should act to each other are different in different religions. |
For some religions, following a "path" of goodness, truth and duty is very important. This is called Tao in China. In the teachings of Judaism, people were told to "love your neighbour as yourself". In the teachings of Jesus, people were told to think of every single person as their "neighbour" and treat them with love. |
Not every religion teaches people to be kind to all other people. In many religions, it has been common for people to believe that they have to act kindly only to some people and not to others. In some religions, people believed that they could please a god by killing or sacrificing another person. |
A religion is passed on from one person to another through teachings and stories (which are often called "myths") which may be written down like the Bible, or told from memory like the Dreamtime stories of Australian Aboriginal people. In many religions, there are people who take the role of "priest" and spend their lives teaching others about the religion. There are also people who take the role of "pastor" and spend their life caring for other people. A person may be both a priest and a pastor. They are called by different names in different religions. |
Symbols are used to remind people of their religious beliefs. They are also used or worn as a sign to other people that the person belongs to a particular religion. A symbol might be something that is drawn or written, it might be a piece of clothing or jewellery, it might be a sign that a person makes with their body, or it might be a building or monument or artwork. Picture symbols for different religions are shown in the box in the introduction to this article. |
In many religions, it is thought important that people should show other people that they are following a particular religion. This might be done in a general way by wearing a symbol or a type of clothing. Many people believe that it is important to tell other people about their religion, so that they can believe as well. This is called "witnessing". |
There are many ways to witness. A young person might simply say to their friends "I do not use drugs or get drunk because of my religion". This is a witness. A person may tell their classmates, workmates and friends about their beliefs. A person might go to other people's houses and talk about their beliefs, or invite the people to join in the rituals of the religion, such as going to church or to a religious festival. A person might have printed material such as books or leaflets that they give to other people to read. A person might travel to a different country to teach, to work in a health service or to help people in some other way. (People who do this are called "missionaries".) These are different ways that people witness to their religion. |
When a person hears a witness and decides that they will join the religion, this is called a "conversion". Usually a person decides to join a religion because they like what they have read or been told, and they believe that they are hearing the truth. They join the religion because they choose. However, throughout history there have been many times when people have been forced to join a religion by violence and threats. This is still happening today. |
In most countries of the world, people are free to belong to whatever religion they choose. This is generally thought of as a basic human right. However, there are parts of the world where it is illegal (against the law) to witness to any religion except the one accepted by the government of the country. People who belong to other religions may be threatened, put in jail or murdered. |
Rituals are an important part of the tradition of many religions. In many religions, it is the tradition for people to meet for a celebration on one day in every week. There are also major celebrations that may be held only at certain times of the year, for example, on the birthday of a person who is honoured in that religion. Some religions have celebrations for different seasons of the year, or when the sun or moon is in a certain part of the sky. |
In nearly every religion, the important stages of a person's life have a religious celebration. Birth, naming, reaching an age to think for oneself, reaching adulthood, marriage, childbirth, sickness and death are all celebrated by some religions. Having a celebration or special traditions when a person dies is very common. |
It is the traditions that are about death that give the earliest evidence of religious beliefs. Scientists have discovered that 120,000 years ago, Neanderthal people started burying their dead. Early Homo sapiens put tools and other things into graves with the bodies, as if they could use them in the afterlife. From 40,000 years ago, many of the objects in graves are small artworks. Scientists believe that these objects were put there for religious reasons. |
An institution is one name for an organization. Many religions have organizations that manage the way that people who follow the religion are to act. The organization might employ religious leaders, educate people into the ideas of the religion, manage money, own buildings and make rules. Many religions have sub-groups which are called denominations. In Islam, for example, there is Ahmadiyya, Sunnism, Shi'ism and Sufism. |
Most religions have special buildings where people meet. They are often called temples. In Judaism, they are called synagogues. In Christianity, they are called churches. In Islam, they are called mosques. In Buddhism there are pagodas, temples and monasteries. In Hinduism they are called Mandirs. People often try to make their religious building as beautiful as possible. Some religious buildings are great works of architecture. |
People often make artworks that are about their religion, or that are used in religious celebration, or are put in a religious building. Religious art comes in all shapes and sizes, from tiny pieces of jewellery to huge statues and paintings. Artworks often give important clues to historians about different ancient religions that are not well understood. |
Music is often important in religious celebrations. Singing, chanting and playing musical instruments are often part of regular religious gatherings of people. Special music is often used on special occasions. Many famous composers have written religious music. The words of songs that are 3,000 years old are used every day in Christian churches and Jewish synagogues. |
Roman |
Roman or Romans may refer to: |
Rudyard Kipling |
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an British author and poet. He was born in Bombay, India. He wrote children's fiction, like "Kim", "The Jungle Book" and "Puck of Pook's Hill". He also wrote the well-known poems, "If —" and "Gunga Din", and many short stories set in India. He was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature. He spent part of his life living and writing in New England with his American wife but returned to England to live in Sussex. |
Kipling died of a perforated duodenal ulcer in Fitzrovia, London in 1936 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, London. |
Recreation |
Recreation or fun is a person's time of refreshing his or her body and mind. |
There are many different forms of recreation which are shaped by individual interests and by environment; a few examples being reading, playing or listening to music, watching movies or TV, gardening, hunting, hobbies, sports, studies, and travel. These activities are just some of a wide variety of recreation activity available in day to day life. |
Public places such as parks and beaches are very important for many recreational activities. Tourism profession has recognized long ago that many of their clients are specifically attracted by recreational offerings. |
Red |
Red is the color that is on the outside edge of the rainbow. It is one of the three primary colors, along with blue and yellow. Red light has a wavelength between 630-740 nanometers. |
It is sometimes used to mark things that are wrong, important or dangerous. |
Red is also commonly used as a warning to stop. |
Raw food |
Foods are raw when they are not cooked. |
Most things are good to eat raw, but some can be poisonous. |
There's currently no solid evidence to suggest that raw food is more healthy than cooked food. |
Raw food can sometimes make people sick because of bacteria which would otherwise be destroyed by cooking. |
Ram |
Ram can mean: |
Roman Empire |
The Roman Empire was the largest empire of the ancient world. Its capital was Rome, and its empire was based in the Mediterranean. The Empire dates from 27 BC, when Octavian became the Emperor, or Augustus, until it fell in 476 AD, marking the end of the Ancient World and the beginning of the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages. |
The empire was the third stage of Ancient Rome. Rome was first ruled by Roman kings, then by the Roman Republic, then by an emperor. |
Augustus Caesar ruled the Roman Republic and Roman Empire so Rome was a republic before it was an empire. |
Tiberius Caesar ruled Rome as also and appointed Pontius Pilate. |
Many modern lands were once part of the Roman Empire, for example Britain (not Scotland), Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, Levant, Crimea, Switzerland, and the north coast of Africa. The main language of the Roman Empire was Latin with Greek as an important secondary language, especially in the Eastern provinces of the Empire. |
The western half of the Roman Empire lasted for about 500 years till the barbarian general Odoacer deposed its final emperor Romulus Augustus. On the other hand, the eastern half, consisting of the Balkans, Anatolia, The Levant and Egypt, continued for about a thousand years more (the Levant and Egypt were lost to the Arabs in the 8th century). The eastern part was called the Byzantine Empire. Its capital was Constantinople, now called Istanbul. |
In order to control their large empire, the Romans developed important ideas about law and government. They developed the best army in the world at that time, and ruled by force. They had fine engineering, and built roads, cities, and outstanding buildings. The Empire was divided into provinces, each with a governor plus civil and military support. Letters, both official and private, would constantly go to and from Rome. |
Trade was most important for Rome, a city of more than a million people, by far the largest city in the world. They needed, and got, wheat from Egypt, tin from Britannia, grapes from Gaul, and so on. In return, the Romans built provincial capitals into fine cities, protected them from raids by barbarians, and provided education and career opportunities for young people in the provinces, such as jobs in the Roman Army. |
In principle, emperors had absolute control, and could do as they pleased. In practice, they faced many difficult problems. They had a staff of what we call 'civil servants' and the advice of the Roman Senate. The emperor had to decide what were the most important issues facing the Empire, and what should be done about them. Most of them tried to do two sorts of thing. One was to do things to improve the life of Romans in peacetime. The other was to fight and defeat Rome's enemies. A wealthy empire always has enemies. |
With kings and emperors, a big problem is the order of succession. Kings were sometimes followed by their eldest son, if he was capable of ruling. For Roman emperors, more often it would be an adopted son. It worked like this. The emperor would notice an outstanding young man from one of the best families. He would adopt him as his son. Before he died he would make clear whom he thought should succeed him, by making him a Roman consul, or by stating in his will that the younger man should succeed him. Sometimes this worked; sometimes it did not. Every now and then there would be a civil war between claimants to the throne. |
An adopted son or two gave the emperor more choices. Some emperors had no son; some had sons who did not survive. Later on, emperors grew so weak that the Roman army would just pick one of their generals to be the next emperor. This often led to civil war. The life stories of the emperors can be found in List of Roman emperors. |
The Romans fought many wars against other countries, and enjoyed watching violent sports. They enjoyed watching races between chariots pulled by horses, and fights between men using weapons (gladiators). Unlike in modern sports, the fighters were often killed in fights. Romans enjoyed these shows in the Colosseum. |
The Romans had great civil engineering. They built many large public buildings and villas, aqueducts to carry water, stone bridges and roads. Some of these things can still be seen today. Many famous writers were Romans, including Cicero and Virgil. |
The New Testament of the Bible tells about the Romans in the life of Jesus Christ. During Jesus' life, the Romans, who were pagans, ruled his country. Later, several emperors tried to destroy Christianity but they did not succeed. By 312 the emperor Galerius allowed people freedom to follow Christianity, and the next year, a general, Constantine, became emperor and converted to Christianity. |
The city of Rome was taken over several times by barbarians, notably in 410 when the Goths sacked the city (looting). The last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, resigned in 476 . The Roman Empire would last another 1,000 years as the Byzantine Empire in the east. |
The main coin of the Roman Empire was the silver denarius. Later denarii were smaller. |
Various reasons have been given for the fall of Rome. Edward Gibbon wrote "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" in which he investigated various ideas. Chief among them was (in his opinion) was the effect of Christianity on the ability of the Empire to defend itself militarily. |
Other historians blame the unstable system of leadership. In a 50-year period, only 2 out of 22 emperors died a natural death. Most of the emperors were assassinated. |
Regime |
A regime is the leader and other people who run a government of a sovereign state. |
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