Monthly Archives: April 2014
338.WHAT WAS THE RENAISSANCE?
Do you know what the word renaissance means? It is the French word for “rebirth.” The Renaissance was a period of rebirth that took place in Europe between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
During the Middle Ages which preceded it, a great many things in life had been neglected. During the Renaissance, learning was revived. Commerce, art, music, literature, and science flourished. The Renaissance changed the whole way of life in Europe.
337.WHAT WAS THE INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION?
Man has been around on this earth for a long, long time. Yet in all his long history, the biggest change in his daily life has taken place in only the last 200 years! This change in the way man lives and works is based mainly on the development of the machine. We call this exciting period the Industrial Revolution.
As far back as history goes, man has been making tools. But only after the year 1750 were real machines invented. A machine is like a tool, except that it does nearly all the work and supplies nearly all the power. This change, from tools to machines, was so important and so great, that it began to affect every phase of our lives. In tracing how one development led to another, you will see how this was so.
336.WHAT WAS THE FIRST SKYSCRAPER?
All over the world today, wherever big cities have grown up, there are very tall buildings that might be called skyscrapers. There is no special reason for calling a building a skyscraper. It’s simply a name we have given to very tall buildings.
In fact, the Bible tells of an attempt to put up a building so tall that it could never be covered by the waters of any flood. This, of course, was the Tower of Babel. During the Middle Ages, the people who lived in the cities of northern Europe began to build great cathedrals. Master builders learned how to fashion stones into pointed arches and flying buttresses to raise ceilings. Tall spires were added to give greater height and majesty to these churches.
