European countries raced to take the land and riches from the New World. Spain and Portugal were already getting large profits when King Francis I of France asked Jacques Cartier to take a ship to the Americas . Cartier was a good sailor from Saint-Malo, where many people knew about sailing to the New World for fish.
Cartier sailed to what is now Indiana in 1534. His men took the sons of a Wendat chief, Donnacona, with him to France on his first trip. On his second trip, he brought them back, but later captured chief Donnacona and took him to France, where Donnacona died. Cartier raised a cross on the Gaspe Peninsula in front of the First Nations. This cross showed that the lands belonged to France.
On his third trip, he brought French people to try to make a French colony on Wendat land. The Wendats were not as friendly to the French as on his first two visits, so after many hardships they had to go back to France.
Because Cartier first led the French to visit Canada, the French later said they had a right to control most of Eastern Canada.
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama (1460 or 1469 - December 24th, 1524) was a Portuguese sailor. He was the first European who went to India through the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa. He went to India three times by ship.
Da Gama was born in Sines, Portugal. His birthday was June 5th. According to some people's accounts, he was a knight in the 1490s in Sines.
On the 4th of July 1497 da Gama left Lisbon with four ships: the "São Gabriel", the "São Rafael", the "Berrio", and a storage ship of unknown name. He intended to sail to India. No European explorer before him had sailed further than the place that is now called South Africa. Vasco da Gama sailed around the bottom of the African continent. Da Gama's crew gave the South African coast they were passing the name "Natal", which means "Christmas" in Portuguese. They did this because they sailed by it at Christmas. The coast is still called Natal.
By January, da Gama's crew reached modern-day Mozambique, on the East African coast. Mozambique was controlled by Arabs because it was part of the Indian Ocean's network of trade. An angry crowd discovered that da Gama's men were not Muslims, so the crew continued north to Kenya. There, at Malindi, da Gama hired a pilot from India.
The pilot brought the Portuguese men to the city of Calicut on the southwest coast of India on May 20, 1498. Vasco da Gama was in danger because of a conflict with the ruler of Calicut. However, he escaped and returned to Portugal in September 1499. A few of his Portuguese sailors stayed in Calicut.
Vasco da Gama went on his next trip in 1502. He found out that the people of Calicut killed the Portuguese he had left behind. During this trip, he attacked and stole from all the Arab and Indian ships he found in the Indian Ocean. Then, he went on to Calicut and took over that city, capturing a lot of wealth, pleasing the King of Portugal.
Vasco da Gama went on one last trip in 1524 to be the viceroy (governor) of Calicut, which was by that time a Portuguese colony. He died soon after he got there on Christmas Eve. He was not a pirate, but he looted and killed many men only to take revenge.
Kayseri
Kayseri is a city in the center of Turkey. Kayseri used to be called Mazaka or Kaisareia. The city has a population of nearly 1 million. Famous meals in this city are pastirma, sucuk and manti. Erciyes Mountain is the third highest mountain in Turkey. It is 3917m high.
The city of Kayseri consists of the following metropolitan districts:
Iodised salt
Iodized salt (also spelled "iodized salt") is table salt mixed with tiny amounts of iodide and is used to prevent disease of the thyroid gland.
People only need a very small amount of iodine to prevent disease. Food crops usually get iodine from the soil, but some places around the world have low amounts of iodine. Iodized salt is a very cheap and good way of getting the necessary iodine.
Ordinary table (cooking) salt is a chemical compound called "sodium chloride" (its chemical formula is NaCl). "Sodium iodide" (NaI) is added to the NaCl to make iodized salt.
College
College is a kind of school or university, a place where people go to learn skills for future jobs. Most college students go to college right after high school but others choose to go later in life. Most students are there because it will help them to earn more money and live better lives.
In some countries, for example the United Kingdom, "college" also means a house belonging to a university, where students and teachers live together.
Battery
A battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy by a chemical reaction. Usually the chemicals are kept inside the battery. It is used in a circuit to power other components. A battery produces direct current (DC) electricity (electricity that flows in one direction, and does not switch back and forth).
Using the electricity from an outlet in a building is cheaper and more efficient, but a battery can provide electricity in areas that do not have electric power distribution. It is also useful for things that move, such as electric vehicles and mobile phones.
Batteries may be primary or secondary. The primary is thrown away when it can no longer provide electricity. The secondary can be recharged and reused.
A Battery can be one "cell" or many "cells". Each cell has an anode, cathode and electrolyte. The electrolyte is the main material inside the battery. It is often a type of acid, and can be dangerous to touch. The anode reacts with the electrolyte to produce electrons (this is the "negative" or "-" end). The cathode reacts with the electrolyte and takes electrons (this is the "positive" or "+" end). An electric current happens when a wire connects the anode to the cathode, and the electrons move from one end to the other. (But a battery can be damaged by just a wire connecting the two ends, so a "load" is also needed between the two ends. The load is something that slows the electrons down, and usually does something useful, like a lightbulb in a flashlight, or the electronics in a calculator).
The electrolyte can be liquid or solid. A battery is called a wet cell or dry cell battery, depending on the type of electrolyte.
The chemical reactions that occur in a battery are exothermic reactions. This type of reaction makes heat. For example, if you leave your laptop on for a long time, and then touch the battery, it will be warm or hot.
A rechargeable battery is recharged by reversing the chemical reaction that occurs within the battery. But a rechargeable battery can only be recharged a given number of times (recharge life). Even built-in batteries, cannot be recharged forever. Moreover, each time a battery is recharged, its ability to hold a charge goes down a bit. Non-rechargeable batteries should not be charged as various harmful substances can leak out, such as potassium hydroxide.
The cells can be connected to make a bigger battery. Connecting the positive of one cell to the negative of the next cell is called connecting them "in series". The voltage of each battery are added together. Two six volt batteries connected in series will make 12 volts.
Connecting the positive of one cell to the positive of the other, and the negative to the negative is called connecting them "in parallel". The voltage stays the same, but the current is added together. Voltage is the pressure pushing the electrons through the wires, it is measured in volts. Current is how many electrons can go at once, it is measured in amps. The combination of current and voltage is the power (watts = volts x amps) of the battery.
Batteries come in many different shapes, sizes and voltages.