HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Tohono O’odham

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The Tohono O’odham people resided in the desert region of Southern Arizona and Northern parts of Mexico for years and years. They are also known as the desert people, which is what Tohono O’odham means. The desert people were peaceful and kept with their traditions and beliefs and where not trying to start conflict by any means. Although things went a little south in 1853, this event is known as the Gadsen Purchase. This changed the borderlines, which basically split the Tohono people up. Meanwhile the Apache warriors were stealing the natives to use as slaves where they resided in Mexico.

 

Now to answer the question whether or not I think they were adequately compensated for their loses? In a way I could see why you can argue that they were compensated for their loses. Although they did get an education and degrees from the University of Arizona, they also volunteered for the military service during World War II. That to me isn’t compensation for their losses that is rewarding them for their service in World War II.To go with that the Tohono O’odham nation was granted much of the ground in the Santa Cruz River Valley. This was known as the Winters Doctrine. During this time where this forgotten doctrine was being ignored the Tohono O’odham could not compete with Tucson because Tucson was purchasing land to secure the water rights. As this kept happening the Tohono O’odham people started to lose out on their water, which resulted in their farmers going out of business.

 

On the other hand the Tohono O’odham people were able to establish the Papago Tribe of Arizona. On top of that they were able to govern them selves electing a legislative council with representatives and all. This is the part of me where I can understand they were compensated to an extent. They were doing their own thing on their reservation and not causing any trouble to the outside governments in Arizona.

 

All in all in the big picture, I think they should have been compensated a little more than what they got. Yes, they did attend churches and got degrees at universities. They were able to establish the Papago Tribe and have their own reservation. But I do not think that is efficient enough for their losses. We do live in a world where life can sometimes not be fair. When their farmers are going out of business because a doctrine was being ignored and Tucson was purchasing land and taking the water. If that were to happen to anyone of us now I can assure you that you wouldn’t feel like you were compensated enough. At least in my eyes I would feel that way. Even though they settled this altercation it still was wrong that the doctrine was ignored. Legally, I think the government should have helped to protect them during this time. Instead they came in to help a little bit after the Gadsen Purchase happened and the results were already set. Yes, the Tohono O’odham people are well off now with their way of life. I do think they should have been compensated more for their losses overall.

Water Woes

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If I were to travel back into time to talk about these water problems that Syria is having I would go directly to them. First off reading the article and knowing that Syria, Iraq, and Iran are losing water the fastest. Also it is a known fact that 117 million acre-feet stored freshwater vanished due to the lack of leadership and policies. Farmers from Syria had to abandon their land because of the lack of water that was needed in Syria. I few things that I would try to do to help this issue of losing water is first look for a leader that would take action and look for a change. Second off I would implement strategies that would make it harder to waste water, and cut down on the amount used each day. Lastly, instead of having these fights with other people and countries. I would advise and create a plan of action that would allow countries to come together to help conserve water and sharing a water source so that people aren’t likely to hoard water such as Turkey did. According to religion and beliefs, I think they need to disregard that for now. Water as we all know is needed in life. Without water people are going to die off. Yes, religion and beliefs are important but in this case we need people to realize that and take charge bringing people together and on the same track of conserving water.

 

It’s hard to say if there is anything that I would keep the same because it seems as if everyone is having troubles conserving water. I would say this Jordanians seem like they did a decent job as conserving water although on the other hand there has been people fleeing to them. Water will eventually run out therefor yes, they do a good job conserving it but at the same time they are going to need some changes to bring in more water to compromise all the people coming in.

 

I think the leaders wouldn’t view my recommendations because I may not be credible to them. I’m not one of them and they may not like an outsider coming in and telling them what to do. At the same time if the water crisis go bad enough I think any changes that I brought up is something that all the leaders may think about regardless if its what they want to hear.

 

History needed:

 

What kind of policies is there if any are these countries using?

How much rain are the countries getting and catching for water?

How much water are these countries going through on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis?

 

Great place that I would go to for this information would be the BSU library and get something that might bee peer reviewed. These are always a really good source for a research paper. Any article that has credibility would be a huge plus just to show these leaders of these countries that you have some credibility so they might put some thought into your action plan.

Machu Picchu Concept Map

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Machu Picchu concept map

 

My concept map is over the Machu Picchu, I found it pretty amazing that the Incas were able to design a working city that is on a mountain. I tried to keep my map simple and easy to follow therefore I broke it down into the design. From there I divided it into the agriculture sector and the urban sector. In the urban sector there are three parts to it which are: Sacred District, Popular District, and the Royalty District. What is interesting about this is that in the sacred district they have all of the temples and places to worship for the Inca’s. This is an area that I feel like different people such as the Aztecs had their own version of temples or places of worship. I found it interesting seeing the difference and connecting how the Machu Picchu and other cultures incorporated their places of worship. The popular district is where the lower class or the common people lived. In the royalty district the priest and wealthy people lived, which as you could imagine the houses were a little bit bigger and nicer than the popular district. Switching gears and going into the agriculture sector this is where they grew food and crops. This area is divided into a lower and upper level. They had a well thought out irrigation system that worked. They also had a way to prevent erosion for when it rained and it did quite a bit in Peru where the Machu Picchu is. Basically the Incas had built a working city that is on top of a mountain with all the needs of life. They were very hard working people as we can see in the Machu Picchu. This place isn’t the only culture that has done something like this. Most cultures have their own towns and the ways of doing things. Machu Picchu just seem to interest me more since it is well thought out and built on a mountain.