Essay on Madagascar

We were standing in the airport in Aruba, and at that moment I had no idea how we got into that mess. Our clothes were drenched; each one of our faces exhibited emotional distress.

My cultural ancestry comes from a Cuban and Mexican decent. I have chosen to write about my Cuban side because I can relate to them more than I could with my Mexican side. I was raised around my Cuban family and would occasionally see my Mexican side due to them living so far away. I have spent a lot more time associating with Cubans and have adapted to more of their habits.

There are many religions throughout the world today. Although there are several different religions, many individuals are not educated about the other beliefs besides there own. Religions today do have differences but are also very much the same. This is demonstrated between the religion of Yoruba, and Christianity. The Gods that the people in these religions worship are different but have the same purpose throughout the lives of each individual. Each individual’s purpose and goal in these religions also display similarities. Furthermore the rituals that are done throughout these religions are done for directions and to improve the relationship between the individual and their god. There are various differences and similarities between

     Guatemala’s culture is a unique product of Native American ways and a strong Spanish colonial heritage. About half of Guatemala’s population is mestizo (known in Guatemala as ladino), people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Ladino culture is dominant in urban areas, and is heavily influenced by European and North American trends. Unlike many Latin American countries, Guatemala still has a large indigenous population, the Maya, which has retained a distinct identity. Deeply rooted in the rural highlands of Guatemala, many indigenous people speak a Mayan language, follow traditional religious and village customs, and continue a rich tradition in textiles and other crafts. The two cultures

Angola, formerly Portuguese West Africa, is the seventh largest country in Africa. The country can be divided into three major regions: the coastal plain, a transition zone, and the vast inland plateau. Angola has a tropical climate with its vegetation including tropical rain forests, savannas, grasslands, palm trees and even deserts. A great variety of animal life ranging from elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, and even crocodiles can also be found in this African country (Microsoft 1).

Between the years 1492 through 1750 a new world was discovered that was before unknown to the eastern hemisphere. New contacts were formed in the Atlantic world due to the discovery and colonization of the Americas and later African slave trade, which were both very major events of this time. These interactions mainly affected Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas, whose economies were broadened and social structures further developed and altered as a result.

These African religions are extremely important to many who wish to recognize their “roots.” In earlier centuries these “foreign” practices were banned by slaves attempting to hold on to their culture, and over the years they have come to represent a sense of liberation and freedom to be African (Brereton, A History of Modern Trinidad). Overall nowadays the country's differing religious groups coexist and generally respect each other's beliefs and practices. People of one faith openly participate in celebrations of another faith [www.state.gov.htm].

For centuries, Africans and their belief systems have been derided. Instead of being studied as “valid and meaningful responses to the universal terms of human existence,” African religions have often been considered “exotic objects… peculiar and incomprehensible or repellent.” For many Europeans, Christianity was by far the superior religion, and they strove to convert Africans. One kingdom where they seemed to enjoy success was Kongo. By 1704, the people living there had been Catholic “for six generations – nearly two centuries.” The Kongolese took great pride in this, believing that it made them “superior” to their neighbours. Moreover, both the Kongolese and the Church took pride in the fact that Christianity “had come to Kongo not through conquest and forced conversion, but through the voluntary conversion of João I.” Despite this achievement, though, the Church more – the Kongolese had to practice Catholicism exactly as the Europeans did. With the coming of Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, who claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony, this conflict would become more apparent than ever before. Though the Capuchins succeeded in having Dona Beatriz burnt at the stake, they failed in their ultimate goal of fully converting the Kongolese to their form of Catholicism.

Like in any religion the people have certain beliefs. In the african religions there is no single religion. Researchers try to identify similarities in world views and ritual processes across the african boundaries. African Religions are polytheistic; which means they believe in more than one god. They believe in one overall god, but also ancestral spirits. Most African religion’s creation story reveal the creation of humans more than

Kongolese was attracted to Christianity because the Portuguese explorers helped changed their religion believes to Christianity. The Kongolese people believed in their own religion. Their religion was similar to Christianity due to their belief in god. Holy and spirit derived from their worship in their god called Nzambi. God, holy, and spirit or soul, was the

The authors goals in the book as stated in the book Made in Madagascar (Walsh, 2012, p. 103) “is to offer a distinctive perspective on the global systems and processes that shape so much of the world”. The author achieves his goal by breaking down the world within Madagascar by going in depth of the different industries such as sapphire mining and trade and ecotourism. Furthermore, Walsh explains his explains the evaluation of Madagascar from being a small island with a small population to a much larger population mainly due to the mining of Sapphires to the population decreasing once the area was over mined and the prospectors left the island due to lack of opportunity. The author clearly describes in the book that the ecosystem is unlike any in the world and how it was on the verge of being destroyed by people looking for opportunity by extracting the areas sapphires and other natural resources (Walsh, 2012, p. 3).

Haiti was once the first black independent republic in the world and the richest island in the Caribbean. Today Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world. What could have happened to Haiti in almost two hundred years of history? The country experienced repeated civil war and foreign intervention. Haiti is not isolated from the international world. Thus, it was not out of concern for ordinary Haitians that the United States intervened in Haiti. It was out of concern for profit and stability within the United States' own backyard. The purpose of this paper is to show the negative aspect that the United States had played in the government of Haiti.

Question one is what is the African diaspora? (Who should be considered in the African diaspora? How is this like the black Atlantic and how is it different?). Students should use the Colin Palmer piece to answer this question.

Haiti has long been known for its major export of Haitian migrants in search of a better way of life. It is an exodus that goes back several decades, however with recent times the numbers have increased dramatically. In fact, that numbers of Haitians fleeing Haiti in the early 1990's far exceeds the numbers recorded in earlier years. Between 1972- 1979, some 8,000- 10,000 Haitians arrived in the United States. Compare this number with the 14,443 Haitians interdicted between September 30, 1991 - January 1, 1992. By early 1994, this number totaled over 41,000 (Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, 1994). Economic deprivation has always been the predominant influence for the migrating of Haitians, yet in the

On a cold wintery 10 degrees day in December Blaize decided he was going to go on a cruise ship with his friends to the Bahamas where the weather has been 75-80 degrees . Blaize and his friends Seth, Matt, Leonard, and Cameron all enjoy many of the same things. The cruise was to visit the Bahama islands and Cuba. On our way to the Bahamas we went through some extremely rough waters. The captain came over the loudspeaker and we were all told to “go to your rooms and stay in them until told otherwise” in a firm frightened voice. We all thought, “why, what is happening but we did as we were told. After sitting in our room for over an hour Seth, Cameron, Leonard, Matt, came up with the idea to explore the ship. When we opened the