The llama was domesticated about 5000 years ago. It was and is used for carrying things, and for wool. The llama was very important for the Incan people. Even today, llamas are used for similar reasons, but will more commonly be used as domesticated pets.
The llama's close relative is the alpaca, who is a more demure, petite animal in comparison to the llama. Llamas have three related cousins - the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña. The llama is the national symbol of Bolivia.
Llamas spit, and travel together. Llamas also have a high content of hemoglobin which causes their blood cells to be oval and not circular.
1840s
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War took place between 1846 and 1848 between United States and Mexico.
When Mexico got independence from Spain in 1821, Texas was part of Mexico. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle there.
After many settlers came to Texas, disputes led to the Texas Revolution in 1836, when Texas became independent. Mexico refused to recognize the Republic of Texas, as an independent country. Texas soon asked to join the United States.
The United States moved quickly to annex Texas after the 1844 election of James K. Polk. In his campaign, Polk had called for the "re-annexation" of Texas and the "re-occupation" of the Oregon Territory. Polk also wanted California and the rest of what is now the Southwestern United States.
In 1845, the United States annexed Texas. However, Mexico still did not recognize its independence or recognize the annexation. The US offered to buy from Mexico the land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean, but Mexico wanted to keep the vast area.
In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican–American War began. After offering to buy the territory, Polk moved US troops into a place that Mexico said was not in Texas but in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The Mexican army attacked them.
The main cause of the war was the westward expansion of the United States. In the 19th century Americans believed it was their right to expand westward. They believed they could take over the people already living on the land and have it for the United States. Southerners wanted to have more slave states.
Antonio López de Santa Anna became president again. Many Mexicans hated him and did not want to follow him into war. Many Americans, including the young Abraham Lincoln, also disliked the war since they thought that it was to expand slavery.
In addition to small units sent to California and New Mexico, the US sent two major armies into Mexico under the commands of General Winfield Scott and future US President General Zachary Taylor.
After the US had entered Mexico, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna took command of the Mexican soldiers in early 1847. The US forces fought Santa Anna near Monterrey and Buena Vista. After Buena Vista, the Mexican army had many problems, including starvation, disease, and desertion. The Mexican government was unstable.
In March 1847, Scott landed at Veracruz. His force included future Civil War Generals Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson and George G. Meade as well as Commodore Perry. Scott took Puebla in May and took Mexico City in September after the Battle of Chapultepec.
When American soldiers came to California, the Bear Flag Revolt was happening. Some Californians were trying to leave Mexico and to form their own country, as had happened in Texas. In July and August 1846, American soldiers captured Monterey, Yerba Buena, and Los Angeles. After a counterattack by the "Californios", the Americans had taken much of California by 1847. The Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico, left the state.
The US won the war, and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which gave the US the area that would become the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million US dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.
The slavery debate in the United States became more intense with the addition of the new territory and the question of whether slavery would be legal in the new territories. Also, many of the officers who would lead troops in the American Civil War fought in the Mexican-American War would use their experiences.
Nevada and California became part of the US with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Before then, Nevada was part of Alta California, which is now California, Baja California, Utah, about a quarter of Colorado, parts of Arizona, Wyoming and New Mexico.
The Act of Congress establishing California as the 31st state was part of the Compromise of 1850.
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848 were a series of revolts in Europe. In some places they are called Spring of Nations or the Year of Revolution.
These revolutions started in January with a Palermo republican uprising. The larger French Revolution of 1848 in February was followed in March by several other revolutions amongst them the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. In Ireland, the rebellions began because of famine conditions in their country.
People in the various countries tried to take over their governments.
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg (born 15 June 1843 Bergen, Norway; died 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the Romantic period. He is Norway’s most famous composer. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor and for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt", which includes movements called "Aubade" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King". He wrote many pieces for piano, including a collection of 66 pieces called "Lyric Pieces". He also wrote songs to Norwegian and to German words.
Grieg was born in Bergen on 15 June 1843. His ancestors were Scottish people who had moved to Norway around 1770. The original family name was spelt "Greig".
Grieg came from a musical home. His mother was his first piano teacher. He went to several schools, and started composing when he was young. He used to take his compositions to school, but the teacher did not show much interest in them.
In the summer of 1858 Grieg met the great Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, who was a friend of the family, and whose brother was married to Grieg's aunt. Bull noticed the 15-year-old boy's talent and persuaded his parents to let him go to Leipzig in Germany to study music.
Grieg enrolled in the conservatory, concentrating on the piano, and enjoyed all the concerts and recitals given in Leipzig. He did not like the discipline of the conservatory course of study, but he still got very good grades. The first piano recital he gave was in Sweden. In 1862 he finished his studies in Leipzig and went back to Bergen where he gave another recital.
In 1863 Grieg went to Copenhagen, Denmark, and stayed there for three years. He met the Danish composers J. P. E. Hartman, and Niels Gade. Gade told him to go and write a symphony. Grieg did not feel happy writing a long symphony although he did try. He also met the Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak who had composed the Norwegian national anthem. Nordraak showed Grieg how wonderful Norwegian folk music was. Grieg had hardly heard any Norwegian folk music until then. When Nordraak died, Grieg composed a funeral march in his honour.
On 11 June 1867, Grieg married his first cousin Nina. The next year their only child, Alexandra, was born. The following summer, Grieg wrote his Piano Concerto in A minor while on holiday in Denmark. Edmund Neupert gave the concerto its first performance on 3 April 1869 in the Casino Theater in Copenhagen. Grieg himself was unable to be there because he was conducting in Christiana (now called “Oslo”).
In the summer of 1869, Grieg's daughter Alexandra became ill and died, at the age of 13 months.