For the SLO on minerals, I decided to switch things up a bit. For my previous SLO I geared it more towards describing as much as I could about plate tectonics. In this SLO I plan to shift my focus and talk more about minerals used throughout history by focusing on a few different societies and the impact of minerals on these societies.

Bronze isn't necessarily a mineral itself, it is technically classified as an alloy. But, it is primarily composed of Copper which is a mineral, so I will allow it. When it comes to bronze, it was a major step forward for civilization. The Sumer civilization was the first to take full advantage of bronze, it was a major improvement over stone tools. "Ancient Sumer may have been the first civilization to start adding tin to copper to make bronze"(History.com). Thanks to the development of bronze tools, we started to see actual civilizations develop for the first time in history such as the Minoans in the medditeranean and the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. So, although bronze isn't necessarily a mineral, without copper it wouldn't be possible and who knows if we would be here today.

Again, lead itself is not a mineral, however, lead can be extracted from certain minerals and put Rome a major step ahead of other empires during their reign. "Extracted from galena ore..."(Uchicago) Out of all of the ancient civilizations, China and Rome were the most advanced. Romans extracted lead from galena ore, and after refining it, they would use it for a multitude of things. The Romans used lead in their construction on things such as their water pipes, and helped them develop some of the first modern irrigation that you can still see in Italy today. However, upon doing research, I found out that lead is actually extremely toxic, and the Romans had no idea about this. There is an ongoing debate in the historical community on whether lead poisoning contributed to the fall of the Roman empire, but we're here to talk about minerals, not the fall of Rome. I find it also very interesting to mention that the Romans also dabbled in other minerals, such as silver and copper. After defeating the Cartheginians in the second Punic War, Rome took over the Riotinto mines in Spain. "With the technical knowledge of Rome's military engineers and the availability of slave and convict labor, the Roman operations at Riotinto grew colossally, peaking from A.D. 70 to 180."(Factsanddetails). Galena allowed for the Romans to get lead so they could work on pipes and other construction, while silver and copper mines made them insanely rich. We also can't forget about one of the most important minerals that the Romans really got some use out of, Halite. Good old table salt. "In Roman times, and throughout the Middle Ages, salt was a valuable commodity, also referred to as "white gold." This high demand for salt was due to its important use in preserving food, especially meat and fish." (Hordijk). In fact the use of salt was so important that the Romans would use it to pay their soldiers, and thus the name salary would eventually arise. This minerals was so important that it's namesake is still seen in society today. So, minerals played a huge part in creating what is widely regarded as one of the most powerful empires in human history.

I mentioned in my previous section about Rome, that they were arguably one of the strongest empires in ancient times. However they did have a strong rival in China. Chinese civilization has been around for a very long time under different dynasties and the one that I am going to mention when it comes to minerals is the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty took place some time after the collapse of the Roman empire it does not make them any less important. With the Song dynasty we really begin to see a mineral that still has a major impact on our society to this day. Whats this magical mineral? Iron. The Song Dynasty took full advantage of creating steel and using iron, with some estimates saying that China was producing 125,000 tons of iron a year. "Iron production reached around 125,000 tons per year in 1078 CE, a sixfold increase over the output in 800 CE." (AFE). They would go on to use that iron and newly made steel in things such as nails and suspension bridges. Aside from the construction uses of this iron, the Song Dynasty was able to beef up their military and give them iron tipped arrows as well as make iron armor that came in multitudes of sizes. It sure didn't help when the whole dynasty got overthrown by nomadic mongols, but it sure was neat.

Now, being a history major, gold is super important to me, because it has effectively changed the course of human history. Gold has been a standard of currency for thousands of years, and people have always done everything they could to get their hands on more gold. But at the start of the 16th century, things hit an all new high. In pursuit of more gold, explorers such as Christopher Columbus, began to set to the high seas in search of more gold. Eventually, they would indeed find gold, in the New World. "He told of the innumerable peoples he had encountered; of birds, trees, exotic fruits, and plants; of the rivers that contained gold; and of mines for gold and other metals." (Jones). Once gold was discovered in the Americas everyone was off. Countries flocked to this new world in hopes of getting an early stake in the money, settlers came from England, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Ireland, and many other places in search of this rare and valuable mineral. They all said that the exploration was in pursuit of God, Gold, and Glory. And because of this gold, life of earth would forever be changed as we know it. America, which we all live in, rose from this philosophy of searching do gold, the world was able to become connected in a way like never before, and civilization was able to reach new heights as a worldwide economy formed and we were all linked in our search for wealth.

Asia for Educators, Columbia University. “China in 1000 CE.” The Song Dynasty in China | Asia for Educators, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/songdynasty-module/econ-rev-iron-steel.html.

Hays, Jeffrey. “Mining and Resources in Ancient Rome.” Facts and Details, 2018, https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub408/item2050.html.

History.com Editors. “Bronze Age.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 Jan. 2018, https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/bronze-age.

“Lead Poisoning and Rome.” Lead Poisoning and Rome, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html.

Jones, Julie. “Gold of the Indies.” Metmuseum.org, Oct. 2002, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ingd/hd_ingd.htm.

Hordijk, Wim. “From Salt to Salary: Linguists Take a Page from Science.” NPR, NPR, 8 Nov. 2014, https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/11/08/362478685/from-salt-to-salary-linguists-take-a-page-from-science.