Social Studies: Why was a Treaty needed in NZ (essay)

In the 1830s, there were 100,000 Māori and 200 Europeans living in New Zealand. The behaviour of the Whalers, the Missionaries’ desire to help protect Māori rights and the Musket Wars were reasons that a treaty was needed. The Declaration of Independence was another contributing factor to the need for a treaty.

Firstly, one of the reasons why a treaty was needed was because of the Whalers. But what are ‘Whalers’ exactly? Whalers is the name given to the group of people of European settlers who came to NZ in the late 1920s. Who behave freely and lawlessly in the Bay of islands of New Zealand. Although it wasn’t just European settlers, Maori people eventually joined them and sinned with them. The following behaviour of Whalers was the key cause that entered the British crown and Māori into the treaty. Starting with the optimistic side, it was a place for them Whalers to stop by, restock and refresh. On the negative side, they spent most of their time partying, drinking and hooking up. Moreover, the fact that NZ wasn’t a civilised undeveloped country by then, only encouraged more sealers and whalers from around the world to go to NZ. It wasn’t acceptable. In fact, NZ was given the name ‘Hell hole of the Pacific.’ In contrast to that, the area is presently known as Korareka in Maori and Russell in English. With this whole thing happening, a treaty was needed at all costs. Obtaining a treaty would make things clear and have rules and boundaries around the country and lawless behaviour prevented.

Another reason that a treaty was needed was to defend Māori rights. One group that felt strongly about this was the missionaries. Missionaries came to New Zealand at the Bay of Islands in 1814. They established one primary goal in mind at first. It was to convert Māori people into Christianity. The missionaries have taught Māori modern effective ways of gardening and farming skills encouraging them to convert to Christianity. Interestingly, the first Māori people were only converted to Christianity not until 6 years later during the 1820s. However, with the arrival of European settlers or Whalers, they began to grow worried on behalf of Māori with all the number of sins being committed, lands being sold and the violation of their rights in their own country. Therefore, they decided on another goal, which was to keep the law and order among the European settlers. To achieve this, they promoted the treaty of the Waitangi to help strengthen the missions and protect their Māori converts from undesirable European influence. Overall, with the desire of Missionaries to protect Māori converts and Māori rights, a treaty was definitely needed.

Another reason that a treaty was needed was the Musket Wars. During the 1800s to late 1820s, the rivalry between Māori tribes began creating conflict. Those conflicts led to Musket Wars. Māori demanded muskets to give them a massive advantage and power. Therefore, they traded with the European settlers for potatoes in exchange for muskets. These muskets generated an impact that has led to thousands of bloodshed. It was estimated that 20,000 Maori were killed during the musket wars. Land borders also changed during this war.

Lastly, what's the final reason? The final reason that a treaty was the existence of the Declaration of Independence. On 28th of October 1885 is the date of the Declaration of Independence in New Zealand. The declaration states the sovereignty that existed in 1835 and was designed to promote and protect the rights of Maori. About 34 chiefs have approved the Declaration of Independence. It had provided a portal for the Treaty of Waitangi negotiations. It, in addition, gives them freedom because if it breaks down they would have the Crown as a backup plan as the king would gain possession if anything had gone wrong. This would boost the relationship between the Crown and Maori. This was tremendous for the treaty signing.

In conclusion, this essay has demonstrated that a treaty was needed because it improved relations between the Crown, the Maori and the Missionaries. The treaty also ended the muskets wars and improved the Declaration of Independence. It allowed them to form a government, enact laws/regulations and promote new connections with other nations.

Social Studies: Treaty

These past few days in Social studies, we are learned about the different kinds of treaties. We had to pick one treaty from a textbook and do research about it and turn it into a presentation of your choice answering the four main questions about the treaty. Here's my presentation:

Courtesy:

The Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi Learning book

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwsrd2p/revision/5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom#:~:text=On%201%20May%201707%2C%20the,so%20unite%20the%20two%20kingdoms.&text=British%20imperial%20ambition%20turned%20towards%20Asia%2C%20particularly%20to%20India.

Social Studies: Line Graph Population

Today in Social Studies we are making a line graph.

What does the graph show:

The graph shows the population of Maori and Europeans throughout 1836 - 1901

Why do you think the number of Maori changed?
I think the population of the Maori decreased due to the introduction of a fatal disease at that time and as well as all the bloodshed of the outcomes of the war with Europeans.

Why do you think the numbers of Europeans changed?
I think the population of the Europeans due to lands being sold to them led them into NZ growing their population over the years. 

Social Studies: Mihi/Pepeha

In class, we are learning about our Mihi/Pepeha. It's a traditional way how you would introduce yourself in Te Reo. Here's mine. 

Ko Aoraki toku maunga
Ko Waimakariri toku awa

Ko Canterbury toku rohe   

Ko Elisha Mae toku ingoa

Social Studies: God Poster Activity

Today in Social Studies we've been learning about the Gods in Maori mythology and their deities. As well as their similarities compared to other gods in other cultures such as Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and so on. We had to create a poster about it. I chose the god of the earth which is Papatuanuku in Maori mythology. She shares the same similarities of the greek god Gaea, who is also a mother-earth figure. 

Social Studies: Estimation Deaths (Bar Graph)

Greetings! In Social Studies in my previous blog, we had to create a map of where the locations of these death camps. Now we have to make a bar graph showing the estimation of deaths in those locations.

Here's my bar graph:

Social Studies: Re-Creating The Past

Within the clips from an American miniseries called 'Brand of Brothers', the soldiers discovered the Nazi's concentration camps where they commit the mass murder of thousands of innocent lives of Jews due to the extreme prejudice of Hitler. The soldiers were shocked in terror at what they are witnessing. We see Jews with weak pale abnormal skinny body shapes walking around. They were all malnourished and some were in critical condition, on the verge of their own deaths due to starvation. The atmosphere of the area was dull and gloomy. Many have lost hope. Their body was almost like a skeleton with their ribs popping out. They were all wearing the same clothing with the yellow star of David sewn in it and bald cuts. When the soldiers approached them, they all clung to the fences with the visible misery on their faces willing to be saved and escape. We can also see the desperation of the Jews to live when the soldiers offered them food. It was beyond inhuman how Jews were treated during this era. It was traumatizing. The impact this discovery have on soldiers is the feeling of guilt and pity seeing what these innocent Jews have to suffer through and die without justice. 

Social Studies: The Einsatzgruppen

 Hi. This week in Social Studies we are looking at the "Einsatzgruppen" basically meaning "The cleanup squads" in Geman. No, they weren't environmental cleaning up. Those were the combat soldiers that was tasked to kill the Jews around Europe, especially those with wealth and power during WW2 under Hitler's command. The worst massacre occurred in Kiev, where 33,771 Jews were killed in a single operation.

Now the task is to locate the countries that were involved in WW2, as well as the location of the death camps, where they executed countless Jews. 

Here's a picture of my map: 

Now if you look closely, most death camps were located in Poland. This may be due to because Hitler doesn't want the blood-shedding happening in his country. And as always, thanks for viewing my post. 

Social Studies: Kristallnacht

1.) What is meant by the term “Kristallnacht”?
The Night of Broken Glass.

2.) When did this event occur?
This event occurred on November 9th and 10th 1938.

3.) How many synagogues did the programme claim were burned?
267 were burned and destroyed.

4.) How many Jews were claimed to have died as a result of this event?
91 were murdered.

5.) How many were said to have been sent to concentration camps?
30,000

6.) What was the reaction of the German people to this event?
They forced the Jews to pay off the cost of the event. Furthermore, they would be disowned and deported and banned from attending schools. The Germans put the blame on the Jews as they believed that it was the Jew's fault.

The Kristallnacht event was planned out in advance.

Evidence of this statement is the detailed document that was sent out on the 8th of November 1938 (the day before the event occurred). Within the document, it states what the officials can and cannot do. 

An example of this is:

“Particular care is to be paid in business sections and surrounding streets” 

“Non-Jewish businesses are to be protected from damage under all circumstances".
“Officials are to arrest as many Jews, especially wealthy ones.”

In conclusion, the event of the night of the broken glass was planned by the Germans. This document was signed by Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking German SS and police officer during the Nazi era.

Social Studies: THE NUREMBERG LAWS

Greetings. Today with the subject mentioned in the title, we looked at the Nuremberg Laws and answered 5 questions relating to them. Nuremberg Laws are basically the official rules that the Nazis passed to protect the German blood and honour pure in 1935. My answers are the ones highlighted this time. 

1.) Provide two examples of ways in which the Nuremberg laws affected the rights of German Jews.
They have prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or German-related blood and Jews were taken off their rights to vote and could not hold public office.

2.)What other actions were taken that discriminated against Jews in Germany? (Remembering)
Their rights were taken off them such as Jewish patients in the hospital were no longer admitted to municipal hospitals in Düsseldor and Jews university students were not allowed to sit for doctoral exams and Jewish officers were expelled from the army etc.

3.)Why do you think that the Nazis passed these laws? (Understanding)
Nazis passed these laws because they believe that Jews want to dominate Germany and lower their ‘pure’ German blood. Therefore, they prohibited them from marrying or having any sexual relationships of their kind to Jews to keep the German blood pure uncontaminated.

4.) If a New Zealand government passed a law that provided for different treatment of a named racial group in New Zealand, what do you think the reaction of most New Zealand people would be? Why do you think this might be the case? (Applying)
If such laws would exist, it would anger some netizens and certainly find it unfair. It is because people in NZ believes in and promotes equality. In worse case scenarios, it could be the cause of the country's downfall. 

5.) Do you think these Nuremberg laws were racist? Explain your point of view. (Evaluating)
I definitely think these Nuremberg laws are racist.  I think the reason for my opinion should be pretty self-explanatory. All of these rules violate most human rights. It is prejudiced, biased and discriminatory rules. I don't think these even should exist in the first place.

Resources: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/anti-jewish-legislation-in-prewar-germany

Social Studies: What did Hitler actually say about Jews?

Greetings, In Social studies we looked at specific statements that Hitler wrote from his book called the Mein Kampf (My Struggle) during his imprison times in 1923 after attempting to seize power by force in what became called the “Munich Putsch”. Our task was to provide two quotes, one from each statement, which shows Hitlers anti-semitism and explaining how these statements represent anti-semitism.

“The Jews were responsible for bringing negroes into the Rhineland with the ultimate idea of bastardising (lowering the quality of) the white race which they hate''.

“The Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end...spying on the unsuspicious German girl he plans to seduce.....he wants to contaminate her blood and remove her from the bosom of her people. Jews might dominate".

These two quotes describe Hitlers anti-semantic thoughts. He is prejudice towards Jewish people. He thinks Jews hates the white race and wanted to dominate them and lower their cultural/political level in their own country. Before the wars even started, we can tell that Adolf Hitler already has a conflict of prejudice towards Jewish people.

Social Studies: The Great Depression

In Social Studies, we began looking at the topic of The Great Depression. We were set a research task about it and answering the 3 questions in our blog using the Lawyer paragraph.

Research Task:
Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?

Germany was seriously affected during the great depression because the American stock market in 1929 took an economic downturn. Wall Street crashed. It led them to take action to call in all the foreign loans at short notice. Those are signed and agreed upon under the Dawes Plan. Dawes Plan was an international agreement signed in 1924 (after WW1 ended) for Germany to pay the reparations (that resolved WW1) loans from the USA banks. Therefore, without the loans provided by the US for Germany to pay the reparations, the German industry would (did) collapse. After the US calls in the loan, the German production loses its finance, lowers production, and lays off workers. Many people were unemployed due to the industrial revolution and further low production. There were about 2 million people unemployed because of this. Prices soon dropped, the demand fell and made the industry lose more money. As a result, the country was seriously affected by the great depression.

Resources: Link

Explain what Germany had to agree to by signing the Treaty of Versailles?
The Treaty of Versailles is a national peace agreement signed by the victorious Allied powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States) and Germany. Germany had to agree to the terms and conditions written in the Treaty of Versaille. The Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and forced (by law) harsh penalties in terms of loss and destruction of land areas and territories. Furthermore, the massive reparation payments cost 132 billion gold marks ($33 billion US dollars) which took 92 years to pay off (1919-2010) because of the Great Depression. Lastly, they also took action to reduce the number of Germany’s military forces. The purpose is to take ‘power’ off Germany. These terms and conditions seemed unfair to Germany as they believed that they didn’t start the war and shouldn’t be the only one to hold accountable for all of it. Therefore, this only caused more conflict and soon was the reason for the start of WW2.

Resources: Link

How was NZ affected by the depression?
When the great depression occurred, New Zealand wasn’t really affected at first by the depression. The effects of the crash were not immediately seen or obvious. However, from 1930, export prices began to quickly drop, falling 45% by 1933. To a country almost completely dependent on farming-based exports, this was terrible and destructive. By the end of 1930 city-based businesses and manufacturers were feeling the flow-on effects. Moreover, the national income dropped by 40%. Thankfully, George William Forbes as prime minister (1930-1935) has led NZ out of the harsh economy of the 1930s Great Depression.

Resources: Link

Social Studies: Anti-Rubbish Poster

 Hi, Today in Social Studies we are creating posters about rubbish in general and what we could to help reduce it. I am working with Anneleise on this poster and I think we've done a pretty great job in a short amount of time. I hope you like it and have a great day =)

Social Studies: Greenpeace

Hello! Today in Social Studies, we have started a new task. We were tasked to conduct a mini-research about Green Peace and answer 3 questions in our blog. 

Who is Greenpeace?
Greenpeace is a worldwide independent organization doing a series of actions to reach a goal that uses peaceful protest-- to spread awareness and expose the global Earth problems and as well as to help increase solutions that are extremely important to maintain a green and peaceful future.

What have they done to make positive change?

With their constant campaigning through centuries, they have spread awareness and spoken out about the actual environmental issues that are happening on Earth, influencing the decision-makers out there.  

What are they doing now to help protect our oceans?

Greenpeace has helped to protect our oceans by working with scientists and researchers across the globe to help come up with better solutions. They have started by creating "sanctuaries" that would be out of bounds to potential destructive construction. 

The 3 links: Link   Link   Link

Social Studies: Eco-Tourism

សួស្តី (Hello in Cambodian) This week in Social studies, we began learning about 'Eco-Tourism'.

What is Eco-Tourism?

Eco-Tourism first began in 1980s by an academic adventurer, Clause-Dieter. The first general accepted definition of Eco-Tourism is to travel relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals. However, more recent definition of this is has broadened the original concept. Today's definition of Eco-Tourism is also responsible to travel to the natural areas and protect the health of the Earth/the surroundings conditions. Also to decrease the damage being done to the ocean and aquatic animals that illegal fisherman targets. As well as improving the local communities around.

Why is it a growing trend?

Eco-Tourism is a growing trend because it is sustainable and produces better results for the environment as well as improving the lives of local communities. It is both profitable and sustainable. It has raised individual awareness and conserves the natural habitats and aquatic species. It also gives the benefits of building a stunning breathe-taking natural tourist-attractions destinations for people to enjoy. 

How tourism help our oceans?

Eco-Tourism helps our ocean by protecting the species that lives in there, decreasing the damage being done by illegal fishermen. Basically just helping it to produce a better-quality ocean waters along with preventing such species to become instinct etc. 

Recource: Link  Link  Link

Social Studies: Over-fishing Paragraph

Today, we were tasked to write a Lawyer paragraph stating the two long term negative impacts of over-fishing. Here's the lawyer paragraph I've written:

Over-fishing is an ongoing issue for decades that has brought many negative impacts on the world. Firstly, it can cause the overpopulation of other species. Due to over-fishing, some species may erode and eventually lead to extinction. For example, in one of the South American inlets, sharks were over-fished. Because of this, the population of jellyfish increased, causing the water to become unsafe for both the other aquatic animals and humans. Another example of a negative impact of over-fishing is that it affects the ecosystem. Over-fishing can disrupt the order of the food chain. This is because taking too many fish from the water disrupts the food chain, other creatures that depend on seafood have to change a little and get better and change their surrounding conditions (features/ qualities/ traits).  Animals may be forced to travel to distant areas to survive. When that happens, they can be hunted down or forced out of the place for not being in their natural home/place. For these reasons, we need to urgently address this issue of over-fishing. 

Social Studies: Prezi Sustainable Fishing

Hello everyone. Today I have finished one of my task in Social studies which is to create a Prezi presentation about sustainable fishing. This presentation includes 4 main sections; Commercial Fishing, By-catch, Dolphin safe labels, and Sustainable ways of fishing. Click on the little boxes on the presentation to view information for each section. That is all. I hope you like it and have a nice day. 

LINK TO MY PREZI PRESENTATION

Social Studies: Sustainable Fishing

Hey everyone! This time in Social Studies we are looking at Sustainable Fishing. Our task was to answer these two questions based on the readings and videos we have watched. 

Is Sustainable fishing even possible?

I don't think sustainable fishing would be possible soon. A large shocking amount of aquatic animals are being killed each year. For instance, the Dolphins population has decreased 50% over three generations. Unfortunately, this is all because of human fishing activities. Analysing the result, scientists have stated that many aquatic species are becoming endangered. Well, the demand for seafood and new technologies being invented, have led the fishing practices more accessible, resulting in a drastic change in the fish population. If this continues, there might be no hope for the future. Resulting in, end of the world. 

How is commercial fishing a threat to dolphins and birdlife (bycatch)?

Commercial fishing is an obvious threat to dolphins and birdlife. Why? It is because gears like Purse seining, longlining and many other types of fishing gears, can result in a lot of bycatch. The definition of bycatch is when you catch species that weren't purposely targeted. Commonly, most bycatch species that were accidentally caught are dolphins, birdlife and many other species. There is about 40% of bycatch in fishing. Most of those bycatch doesn't go back to the water. Instead, they get killed and produced on the market. Over-fishing is also one of the major problems why it could be a threat to aquatic animals. Fishermen have terribly frequently have taken species of fish per hour--resulting--species not having enough time to reproduce. Which is what over-fishing is all about. We need to put an end to this as soon as possible, however, commercially won't be possible. 

Social Studies: Shark Finning

 Hi everyone! Today in Social Studies we are looking at Shark Finning. What is Shark Finning? Shark Finning is a gruesome practise of cutting off a live shark's fins and throwing the rest of the animal to the sea. It is used in a traditional Chinese dish that exists 1000 years before and it is called Shark-fin soup. It is considered a rare delicacy consumed by only the Chinese high class back in the day. Definition of Delicacy is something rare or expensive that is eaten during special occasions. 

How is this impacting our ocean? If Sharks go instinct and disappear. The food chain cycle would collapse and the ecosystem would be broken. Especially, Sharks are top of the food chain. Therefore, we must put a stop to this problem. However, there is a new problem rising which is where humans are looking at how they could make a dish out of shark meat. With that in addition, it will likely reduce the population of sharks even further. Let's just hope in the future it won't be too late. 

Recourse:
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/fish/what-is-shark-finning-and-why-is-it-a-problem/

Social Studies: Starfish Poem

Hello! Today in Social Studies we have read a poem as a class taking turns. It is called the "Starfish Poem". Our task was to blog about the poem and answer the following questions.

"THE STARFISH POEM"

Once upon a time, there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead, he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along with it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."

What is the main message of this poem?
The main message of this poem is that one small action can make a difference.

Give evidence for this.
A young man was throwing back Starfish back to the ocean so it could continue living. The highlighted lines above in the poem is evidence for this.

Include an image