Nicola S World History Civilization

Nicolatopia
THE ANSWER TO WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL

CIVILIZATION
Nicola Shanks
Shanks, Nicola Monday, June 2, 2014 2:57:00 PM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:b0:0d:71
SECTION 1
The humid, isolated environment
of the swamp is a harsh habitat to
live in, even if it doesnt seem like it
at the rst glance. Icy cold water lls
up the entire base of the swamp, leav-
ing not even a little patch of land to
walk on. Towering green trees are
scattered in groups around the
damp swamp. A shimmering reec-
tion of the clear, blue sky dances on
It is in this beautiful, damp environment where the civilization of Nicolatopia will live and thrive.
Introduction
1
the top of the murky water, while
bugs buzz and hum in the distance.
The trees are covered in rough bark
that feels like scratchy sandpaper.
Gray moss hangs from the branches
of the trees and reaches down to-
wards the water. Half of the swamp
is engulfed in shade, while the other
half is ooded with sunlight. A bro-
ken branch sways in the wind, hang-
ing on to the tree by just a small strip
of bark. The air smells crisp, but hu-
mid, like a forest right after it rains.
Tiny green plants poke up through
the surface of the water, giving the
plain, muddy water a burst of life.
Deadly animals lurk in the unforgiv-
ing darkness of the muddy swamp,
waiting to strike.
The quiet, conned swamp is a beauti-
ful, yet dangerous place.
It is in this unfavorable geo-
graphic environment that the civili-
zation of Nicolatopia will be founded.
It is a civilization whose design takes
its inspiration from the study of past
civilizations such as the Arabs, the
Aztecs, the Greeks, the Mayans, the
Mesopotamians, and the Romans,
among others. This book will docu-
ment the necessary steps to take in
order to create a successful civiliza-
tion.
2
Humans are children of their environments.
- Sinichi Suzuki
CHAPTER 1
3
Modifications
Part I Analysis of the Problem
The rst step in building a successful
civilization is to secure basic human
needs such as food and water. Due to
its geography, the major challenges
the civilization of Nicolatopia faces
in achieving a basic food and water
supply include the following:
This is the canal in the civilization of Nicolatopia
Human Changes to the Land
4
1. One of the most difcult factors of
living in the swamp is having a stable
food supply. Because there is no land,
farming would be very challenging so
the people of Nicolatopia would have
to live off of whatever animals they
could nd. There are not many large
animals that live in the swamp, and
the ones that do are dangerous and
hard to catch. The people of Nicolato-
pia also couldnt raise any animals
like cattle or goats for food because
there is no land, so the people would
stave to death
2. Water is also a very troublesome
part of living in the swamp. There is
a lot of water and it is very dirty and
the people of Nicolatopia could get
sick and die from drinking the un-
sanitary water, and that would lead
the civilization dying off. People
could drown in it if they dont know
how to swim. Also, it would be very
hard to stay dry, and if the people of
Nicolatopia are always wet, it would
lead to diseases and infections. There
would be no place to sleep either be-
cause there is no ground to lie on.
Floods are also a possibility, and that
would kill many people as well.
Part II Proposed Solutions
If the civilization of Nicolatopia is to
survive, environmental modica-
tions and adaptations must be made
so that the civilization has access to
a stable food supply and a steady wa-
ter source. Environmental modica-
tions are physical changes that a liv-
5
ing organism does to the environ-
ment to better suit themselves, such
as cutting down trees or making
roads. Adaptations are changes or-
ganisms make to themselves so they
can better t into the environment
they are in, such as changing the
way they dress or what they eat.
Adaptations and modications play a
huge role in a successful civilization
because without them, people would
probably die because they cant cope
with the situation they are in. The
people of Nicolatopia will need to
make many adaptations and modi-
cations so that they can survive in
the harsh environment of the
swamp.
Getting food is probably the most dif-
cult part of living in the swamp, be-
cause there is little land to farm. The
Aztecs had the same problem with
land as the civilization of Nicolato-
pia. The Aztecs solved this by creat-
ing Chinampas or oating gardens.
The people of Nicolatopia would built
6
These are Chinampas that were created by the Aztecs. The people of Nicolato-
pia built these as well.
http://midwestpermaculture.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/china
mpasImage.jpg
these to plant crops on. As stated by
Frey, First [the Aztecs] reclaimed
the land from the lake by sinking tim-
bers into the water to serve as walls
and lling in the area between the
timbers with mud, boulders, and
reeds(274). The people of Nicolato-
pia would do this as well, but slightly
altered because of their different re-
sources. The people of Nicolatopia
can't live off of only plants, so they
would have to nd a way to catch ani-
mals. They could create weapons and
out of the trees by breaking off
branches and make armor out of
trees and vines so that animals like
alligators can't hurt them.
Water is also a extremely hard part
about living in the swamp. The water
is highly unclean and there is a lot of
it. The people of Nicolatopia could x
this by ltering the water through
vines that have been weaved to-
gether very tightly and run the clean
water through canals to all over the
7
This is a canal that the people of Nicolatopia built to transport water
around the civilization.
http://www.canalsoffrance.com/images/canalcruising-home.jpg
civilization. They could also stabilize
the amount of water by creating
raised-earth platforms, like the
Mayans. As stated by Frey, "In the
swampy lowlands, the Maya con-
structed raised-earth platforms sur-
rounded by canals that drained off
extra water"(268). The people of Ni-
colatopia could x the lack of land by
cutting down trees and tying them to-
gether with vines. After they did
this, they could lay them over the wa-
ter and make houseboats on top of
them. This would also provide them
a place to sleep and walk. Floods are
also a dangerous part of living in the
swamp, but the civilization of Nicola-
topia could x this by building dams
so that the swamp cant ood, but it
is always a possibility that the dam
could break, but the people of Nicola-
topia would make them exceedingly
strong and make multiple, so that if
one breaks, the other one would stop
the water before it could reach the
civilizations.
8
The peoples good is the highest law.
-Cicero
CHAPTER 2
9
Law & Government
Type to enter text
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Maccari-Cicero.jpg/1024px-Maccari-Cicero.jpg
SECTION 1
Lessons On Democracy
Lesson #1: Avoid Having Oligarchs
There are many important les-
sons that should be learned from
the Greek city-states, but the most
important lesson is to avoid having
oligarchs. In 800 B.C.E., most of
the greek city-states were ruled by
oligarchs. Oligarchs consist of a
group of wealthy men that were
Figure 2.1
Maintaining Civil Order
10
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bHYSTRmEP1c/SwfRfMX_h_I/AAAAAAAAAH0/zodrfU_sH6A/s1600/cicero.jpg
mostly aristocrats, but some where
wealthy merchants. The oligarchs
had chariot races and parties while
the poor people had to work in the
elds all day. As stated by Frey,
The hardworking poor saw the dif-
ference between their lives and the
easy lives of the wealthy, and they
thought it was very unfair (225).
Under the rule of the oligarchs, the
rich got richer and the poor got
poorer. Eventually the poor got so
upset that they gathered their sol-
diers and threw the oligarchs out of
power. The civilization of Nicolato-
pia wants to avoid oligarchs be-
cause they dont want the citizens
to rebel so they will try not to have
harsh and uncaring rulers, and oli-
garchs tend to be in that category.
Lesson #2: Have an Age Limit
An important lesson to learn
from Athens and Sparta is having
an age limit on the people allowed
to vote and participate in govern-
ment decisions. Both Athens and
Sparta did this and it worked out
well for them because no one too
young and uneducated could make
laws for the entire civilization that
didnt make any sense. The Athe-
nian government put an age limit
on the people allowed to join the
Council of 500, and the Spartan
11
government put an age limit on the
people allowed to join the Council
of Elders. As stated by Frey, To be
elected to the Council of Elders,
men had to be at least 60 years old
and from a noble family (265). The
civilization of Nicolatopia think
that is a good idea to have the age
limit for becoming part of the gov-
ernment is about twenty because
they have life experience and they
are educated. If the civilization
puts the age too low, the govern-
ment ofcials will be recently edu-
cated, but they could ruin their civi-
lization by not thinking about
whats best for the people, because
when people are younger they
think more about themselves than
they think about other people. They
also wouldnt have very much life
experience. If the people put the
age too high, the government of-
12
This is a painting of the Athens council of 500
http://www.welcometohosanna.com/PAULS_MISSIONARY_JOURNEYS/A
thensImages/aeropagusMeeting.jpg
cials will have lots of life experi-
ence, but they wont remember
much of what they learned in
school. Its also better to have the
age limit a little bit lower because
not all of the government ofcials
will be that young because older
people can join the Senate and be-
come government ofcials as well.
Also, younger people are much
more easily inuenced and people
could pay them to vote for who they
want to win. Twenty is the perfect
age because the government of-
cials will have a good amount of life
experience and recent schooling,
and thats better than having more
life experience like Spartas Council
of Elders or more recent schooling
like Athenss Council of 500.
Lesson 3#: Let Citizens Have the
Power to Veto
The most important lesson to be
learned about political power and
equality from the Romans is the
power to veto. The people of Nicola-
topia think this is a good law be-
cause if a group of people think that
there is a unfair law, they can de-
cide to reverse it. The citizens Nico-
latopians got this idea from the ple-
beians and the patricians. In 494
B.C.E. during the Conict of Or-
ders, the plebeians rebelled against
13
the patricians. This went on for a
while until the patricians decided
to give the the plebeians some politi-
cal rights by letting them have the
power to veto and have the Council
of Plebs. As stated by Frey, Later
they gained the power to veto, or
overrule, actions by the Senate and
government ofcials that they
thought were unfair (320). If the
people didnt have power to veto,
then the Senate might make rules
that the citizens didnt like and the
people wouldnt be able to do any-
thing about it so they would proba-
bly rebel like the plebeians did
against the patricians.
Code of Law
The main threats for the civiliza-
tion of Nicolatopia is having limited
clean water, theft, lack of land,
trade, and health. The civilization
14
This is a drawing of the Council of Plebs
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Secessio_plebis.JPG
of Nicolatopia would need a law
about not taking to much water be-
cause if someone takes a lot of the
limited supply of clean water, other
people will not have enough and the
citizens might die of dehydration.
Nicolatopia also needs a law con-
cerning theft, because the citizens
of Nicolatopia dont want theft and
robbing going on in their civiliza-
tion. They will also need a law
about not taking up to much space
because the civilization of Nicolato-
pia and there is a limited amount of
land and the citizens dont want
one person to have a huge house
while an large family has to be
cramped in a small house. The civili-
zation of Nicolatopia will also need
a law relating to trade because the
people of Nicolatopia dont want the
shopkeepers to lie and cheat their
customers. The civilization will also
need a law about heath people the
civilization wants to keep the peo-
ple heathy so the people will have
long and prosperous lives.
It is written that all people shall
follow these laws:
I. If a family takes more than three
gallons of water per day they will
not get water for 1.5 days.
II. If a shopkeeper cheats their cus-
tomer, they must give them back
15
double what the item they cheated
was worth, and they must give
them the item.
III. Anyone who is convicted of rob-
bing must pay whoever they robbed
twice what they took from them
and give them back their belong-
ings.
IV. Each family is allowed to have
one reasonable sized room per per-
son living there. If someone thinks
that ones house it to large, the prob-
lem will be brought to the Nicolato-
pian government.
V. If a person gets sick, they shall
be conned to their home for the
next week or until they get better
and if they refuse, they will be put
in the prison until they are better.
These laws about limited clean
water, theft, lack of land, trade, and
health will help make for a success-
ful civilization because they solve
most of the civilizations problems.
The penalties for disobeying the
laws arent to harsh, but the punish-
ments get worse for the seriousness
of the law they are disobeying. The
penalties denitely arent to laid
back. If they were too harsh, people
would want to live there anymore
and they would either leave or re-
bel, and if they were to laid back
the city would crumble because
16
these laws are the building bricks
for the civilization and the people
will build the entire civilization
around them. Hammurabis Code
had very harsh punishments, but
Hammurabi told the people that
they were from the Gods and that
he didnt make them. The people be-
lieved him and followed the laws,
but if he hadnt told them that they
probably would have rebelled.
Political Leadership from Julius
Caesar
An important lesson that the gov-
ernment for Nicolatopia should
learn from Julius Caesars success-
ful political leadership is that the
government needs to pay attention
17
This is a picture of Hammurabis Code
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/ARTH200/politics/ha
mmurabi_det.jpg
to all different groups of people, not
just the rich or just the poor. For ex-
ample, Julius Caesar held gladiator
contests that the poor could watch
for free. He also gave work to many
Romans by creating new projects to
make roads and buildings. He
halted the extensive use of slavery
in rural areas and provided jobs for
poor people by passing a measure
requiring that a third of the ranch
laborers be Roman citizens (Politi-
cal Leadership of Julius Caesar). Ju-
lius Caesar also limited the amount
of slaves that people could have so
the poor people of Rome were able
to nd more jobs. Additionally, Cae-
sar started Roman colonies by giv-
ing land to peasants and soldiers
who had fought along side him. In
the areas that Rome conquered,
Caesar chose responsible new gover-
nors so that the old governors
couldnt take any more extra
money from the people. Julius Cae-
sar also reduced taxes and made
tax collections more fair so that peo-
ple with little money could spend
more money on things like food, wa-
ter, and clothing. Julius Caesar was
a great leader, and there are many
lessons to be learned from him, but
the most important is that the gov-
ernment should pay attention to
the needs of all their citizens, not
just one group of people.
18
An important lesson that the gov-
ernment for Nicolatopia should
learn from Julius Caesars unsuc-
cessful political leadership is that
the government shouldnt act like
kings or gods because the people
will think that they are misusing
their power. Julius Caesar wore
royal purple, put his statue in the
temple, and stamped his name on
coins. He stamped his name on
coins so that everyone would know
that he was the ruler of Rome. Ju-
lius Caesar acted like a king, and
the Senate did not approve. The
aristocrats of Rome and many Sena-
tors feared that if Caesar's power
continued, the republican govern-
ment would never be restored and
Caesar would hand down his leader-
ship to an heir (Political Leader-
ship of Julius Caesar). Julius Cae-
sar decided to make the civil of-
cers and judges his appointees, and
19
This is a picture of a coin that Julius Caesar stamped with his
face and name.
http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/caesardictquart_bosto
n.jpg
by doing that he took power away
from the Senate. On March 15, 44
B.C.E., Julius Caesar walked into
the Senate building and about sixty
Senators ambushed him. He was
stabbed 23 times bled to death next
to the door of the Senate building.
Although Julius Caesar acted like a
king, and some people didnt like
that, he was still a great leader and
every great leader has their aws.
The civilization of Nicolatopias
government will learn from the suc-
cessful political leadership of Cae-
sar Augustus by not acting like roy-
alty. The political leaders of Nicola-
topia will not refer to themselves as
kings, but as higher class citizens
just like Augustus did. Augustus
didnt want to be referred to as king
because he didnt want people to
fear his power like the way people
fear the power of a king. Instead,
he referred to himself as First Citi-
zen (Political Leadership of Cae-
sar Augustus). The political leaders
20
This is a photo of Julius Caesar getting stabbed to death at the door of the Senate
building on March 15, 44 B.C.E..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Cesar-sa_mort.jpg
of Nicolatopia will try not do any-
thing to suggest that they are
kings, but they will need to have a
small group of people from the
army to protect them. Augustus
also had a guard called the Praeto-
rian Guard. He had nine special
units made up 500 to 1,000 people
from the army that protected him.
The political leaders will have a
guard like this, but with not as
many people. The civilization of Ni-
colatopia will learn from the suc-
cessful reign of Caesar Augustus by
not acting like kings so that the civi-
lizations political leaders can have
have a long and successful reign.
Lessons from the Decline of Rome
The main reason that led to the
decline of Rome is a decline of mor-
als and values. A decline in morals
and values like those in the Roman
Empire make for an unsuccessful
civilization because people forget
the real value of life and not care
about what happens in the future.
In Rome, they staged gladiator con-
tests frequently, and this probably
inuenced a lot of the population
and made them more violent. Any-
one could go to see them even if
they were poor because they were
free. Gladiator contests are held in
a large arena where two people
21
ght each other to the death. As
gladiators fought, vicious cries and
curses were heard from the audi-
ence (Decline of the Western Ro-
man Empire). Gladiator contests
werent the only malevolent thing
going on in Rome. At one point
there were almost 32,000 prosti-
tutes in Rome, and that denitely
did not help families stay together.
Most of the streets in the larger cit-
ies were unsafe because many peo-
ple committed violent crimes. The
emperors like Nero and Caligula
did nothing to help the ever-
declining empire. They wasted
Romes money on extravagant par-
ties for themselves where guests
ate and drank until they were sick.
It is clear that the decline of morals
and values is the main reason for
the overall downfall of the Western
Roman Empire.
Another important reason for
the decline of Rome is the increas-
ing unemployment rate. The people
22
This is a painting of a gladiator contest, in which the victor is
standing over the person he fought.
http://sbceo.org/~vms/carlton/Rome/gladiators5.jpg
of Rome didnt have many job oppor-
tunities because the majority of
farming was done on large proper-
ties that were owned by wealthy
landowners. Farmers that hired citi-
zens to work instead of slaves pro-
duced goods that were more expen-
sive than the wealthy landowners.
Because of this, most farmers had
to sell their land, leaving the farm-
ing jobs to slaves and making a
large portion of the city unem-
ployed. According to "Decline of the
Western Roman Empire", These
people were not only a burden but
also had little to do but cause trou-
ble and contribute to an ever in-
creasing crime rate. The people
without jobs didnt have much
money to buy food, water, and
clothes, so most of them were
forced to turn to crime. In conclu-
sion, the rising unemployment rate
played a key part in the decline of
the Western Roman Empire.
The civilization of Nicolatopia
will learn from the mistakes that
led to the decline of the Western Ro-
man Empire by making sure that
most of the population have jobs
and their morals and values are
still good. The rst step that the
Senate of Nicolatopia will take is to
gure out some of the talents that
people have and put them to good
use, like painting, sculpting, sing-
23
ing, and playing musical instru-
ments. Another thing they will do is
start new projects like repairing old
temples and making new ones.
They will make the projects take a
while and be very detailed so that
they will have jobs for a longer pe-
riod of time, but they wont be
overly hard so that normal citizens
couldnt do them. To make sure
that the citizens morals and values
stay good, the civilization of Nicola-
topia will have a different type of en-
tertainment than a gladiator con-
test, like a theater where the actors
will not be allowed to display any
violent actions. In conclusion, the
civilization of Nicolatopia will not
make the same mistakes as the
past by making sure that the major-
ity of the population have jobs and
that their morals and values are
still reasonably good.
24
As a [person] believes, so will the person act.
-Sam Harris
CHAPTER 3
25
Belief Systems
SECTION 1
Importance of Belief Systems
Having a belief system is critical
to a successful civilization. When a
civilization has a belief system, peo-
ple have better morals and values,
big decisions are made easier and
more efcient, and citizens agree
with each other more often. With-
out a belief system, citizens
wouldnt know right from wrong,
Figure 3.1
This is the Temple of Nicolatopia that was built to encourage religious actions in the citizens. There is also a school for all people on the top level.
Impact of Belief Systems
26
important government decisions
would be harder to make, and peo-
ple wouldnt feel a need to be kind
or helpful to other people. Laws and
government alone cant make peo-
ple kind, helpful, and law-abiding
citizens. People need some kind of
belief system like Buddhism, Hin-
duism, and Confucianism so that
they get rewards for being nice and
they will have something to look for-
ward to. A civilization must have a
belief system to help guide its peo-
ple in having kind thoughts, ac-
tions, and deeds if its going to be
successful.
To better understand the role of
belief systems within a civilization
and how they can inuence the ac-
tions and decisions of a person, con-
sider the following moral dilemma:
Judy is a twelve-year-old girl.
Her mother promised her that she
could go to a special rock concert
coming to their town if she saved
up her baby-sitting money to buy a
ticket to the concert. She managed
to save up the fteen dollars the
ticket cost plus another ve dollars.
But then her mother changed her
mind and told Judy that she had to
spend the money on new clothes for
school. Judy was disappointed and
decided to go to the concert any-
way. She bought a ticket and told
her mother that she had only been
27
able to save ve dollars. That Satur-
day she went to the performance
and told her mother that she was
spending the day with a friend. A
week passed without her mother
nding out. Judy then told her
older sister, Louise, that she had
gone to the performance and had
lied to her mother about it. Louise
wonders whether to tell their
mother what Judy did.
In this situation, if Louise were a
Confucianist, she would denitely
decide to tell their mother that
Judy went to the concert without
her permission. This is because ac-
cording to Confucius, all people
must listen to their elders, like
their parents. Louises mother is
above her, so if she didnt tell her
about Judy some people would in-
terpret that as being disrespectful.
28
This is the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who was the foun-
der of Confucianism.
http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Proles/C/Confucius-9254926-2-40
2.jpg
As stated by Frey, All people must
respect and obey those above
them (208). Confucius also taught
the people that they should be kind,
honest, wise, and faithful, and if
Louise didnt tell her mother then
that would be dishonest and she
would not be following Confuciuss
teachings. A civilization needs a be-
lief system like Confucianism be-
cause without one, people would
never listen or respect their par-
ents and none of the parents would
care about their kids. It is the right
moral decision for Louise to tell her
mother that she went to the con-
cert, and Confucianism helped her
make the right decision. If Louise
were a Confucianist, she would un-
doubtedly tell her mother what
Judy did.
If Louise were a Buddhist in this
situation, she would decide to tell
her mother that Judy went to the
concert without her permission.
This is because Buddhism teaches
people many important lessons in
the Eightfold Path and the Four
Noble Truths. According to the
Eightfold Path, people must have
the Right Action. As stated by Frey
in the Eightfold path, Do not kill,
steal, or lie (159). If Louise didnt
tell her mother about Judy going to
the concert, it would be considered
lying. If Louise wants to reach en-
29
lightenment, she cant lie and she
must follow the Eightfold Path and
the Four Noble Truths. Buddha
found that when someone nds
pleasure, it doesnt last forever, and
one suffers when it is lost. The only
way to end suffering is to live life ac-
cording to the Eightfold Path. The
Eightfold Path teaches people that
to reach enlightenment, people
must live a life of love, selessness,
and nonviolence. A civilization
needs a belief system like Bud-
dhism so that the people make the
right moral decisions in difcult
situations. Louise made the correct
moral decision by going through
the Eightfold Path and the Four No-
ble Truths. Buddhism helps people
become enlightened in the true
meanings of things and teaches peo-
ple how to live life in the best way.
In conclusion, if Louise were a Bud-
dhist, it is extremely likely that she
30
This is the symbol of the Eightfold Path because there are
eight spokes on the wheel.
http://www.clear-vision.org/Images/chakra.jpg
would tell her mother that Judy
went to the concert.
It is vital to a successful civiliza-
tion that they have a belief system
like Hinduism, Buddhism, or Confu-
cianism. Civilizations need belief
systems because the citizens need
to have good morals and values.
Laws and government can help
with that, but they cant do it all on
their own. Belief systems give peo-
ple rewards for being good and it
gives them something to look for-
ward to after they die.
Role of the Catholic Church and
It's Belief System in Medieval
Europe
The Roman Catholic Church in
Medieval Europe grew in both eco-
nomic and political power after the
collapse of the Western Roman Em-
pire in 476 C.E. The church grew in
economic power because it was al-
lowed to collect tithe, or taxes from
the citizens. As stated by Frey,
Each person was expected to give
one tenth of his money, produce, or
labor to help support the church
(33). The church got most of their
money from collecting these taxes.
The church also was the largest
landholder in Europe because some
31
monarchs and wealthy lords gave
them land as gifts. Sometimes the
church had to take land by force.
The church had a lot of political
power because church ofcials were
trusted advisors for monarchs and
kept records for them because they
were the only people that could
read and write Latin. The largest
reason for the churchs political
and economic power is that every-
one wants to achieve salvation, or
entry to heaven, so they do every-
thing that the church ofcials tell
them to do. When Pope Gregory VII
started to make big changes in the
way that the church ran, the Holy
Roman emperor Henry IV got an-
gry. He gathered the bishops and
told them that Gregory was no
longer pope. Gregory replied to this
32
This is a drawing of an old Roman Catholic
Church.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Old_Saint_Peter's_
Roman_Catholic_Church,_Manhattan,_New_York.jpg
by excommunicating, or throwing
out Henry from the church so that
he could no longer gain salvation,
which means that he wouldnt go to
heaven. There was a lot of war dur-
ing the middle ages and the citizens
did not have the best living condi-
tions, so everyone wanted more
than anything to go somewhere bet-
ter when they die, and that is called
salvation. Salvation is the saving of
a persons soul after they die. When
Henry heard the news, he immedi-
ately begged for forgiveness and
Pope Gregory let him regain entry
to the church. The Roman Catholic
Church had the most power in both
political and economic power dur-
ing the collapse of the Western Ro-
man Empire.
The Catholic Church inuenced
the peoples thoughts and deeds
during the Middle Ages when Pope
Urban gave his speech about the
crusades in 1095. When Pope Ur-
ban became Pope, he decided that
something needed to be done about
33
This is a picture of three crosses. These crosses represent salvation, because you can
only get salvation when you follow the church, and the churchs symbol is the cross.
http://northvalleynews.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/What-Is-Salvation-560x374.jpg
the Seljuks and their ever-
increasing empire. The way the Sel-
juks were going, the Christians
Holy Land, Jerusalem, was being
threated and they feared that they
wouldnt be able to visit it any
more. Pope Urban decided to call to-
gether a council and give a speech
telling them that if they went on a
journey to ght the Seljuks, they
would be granted salvation, or en-
try to heaven. All who die by the
way, whether by land or by sea, or
in battle against the pagans, shall
have immediate [cancellation] of
sins (Speech at Council of Cler-
mont). This means that no matter
what, the citizens will get into
heaven. These journeys would later
be called the crusades. Pope Ur-
bans speech was extremely inuen-
tial because it encouraged almost
30,000 people to leave their home-
34
This is an artists interpretation of what it was like during the cru-
sades.
http://mrbrunken.happykidsschool.com.tw/_/rsrc/1351870892047/middleschool/news/amapassignmen
tthecrusades/Crusades%201-4%20map.jpg
land and their families to walk al-
most 2,500 miles. This speech was
given to everyone, not just knights
or nobles, so peasants and crafts-
men could also go on the Crusades
and get salvation. The First Cru-
sade lasted through 1096 to 1099.
During the First Crusade, they had
an army of almost 30,000 crusad-
ers. With his speech, Pope Urban in-
uenced many people to go on the
Crusades so they could gain salva-
tion.
Belief System of Nicolatopia
In an effort to create a success-
ful civilization, the people of Nicola-
topia have established their own be-
lief system. It shares similar relig-
ious beliefs and teachings with
other world religions and helps the
people of Nicolatopia to be honest,
kind, respectful, and law-abiding
citizens. Here are some examples.
35
This is a map of how far the people had to walk on each crusade.
http://www.historyofjihad.org/crusades17.jpg
The rst tenet that the people of
Nicolatopia have created for their
belief system is called Pinocchio.
Pinocchio stands for honesty and it
emphasizes the peoples ability to
be trustworthy and honest even in
difcult situations. To practice
Pinocchio, the people must visit the
temple at least once a week and con-
fess to one of the priests of their
crimes. They have to talk about
what they did, what they could
have done differently, and what
they will do next time. In their
daily life, they must try to avoid ly-
ing and gossiping about other peo-
ple. The citizens must not cheat
shopkeepers of their money or pos-
sessions. The tenet Pinocchio is also
similar to the Buddhist Eightfold
Path and Right Speech. As stated
by Frey, Be careful and truthful in
what you say. Do not lie or gossip
(159). There are eight sections of
the Eightfold Path and they are:
right understanding, right purpose,
right speech, right action, right way
to earn a living, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentra-
tion. Buddha made the Eightfold
Path and he found that even when
one nds pleasure, it does not last
forever, and one suffers more when
it is lost. The Eightfold Path and
Pinocchio are similar because they
both cover not lying and gossiping.
36
Pinocchio helps make for a success-
ful civilization because everyone
can be trusted and no one lies or
gossips about other people.
Another tenet that the people of
Nicolatopia made is called Bubble.
Bubble represents kindness and it
places an emphasis the peoples abil-
ity to be kind to other people in
their civilization. To practice Bub-
ble, each citizen must give 3 per-
cent of his or her yearly earnings to
charity. They also must try to com-
plement at least 3 people a day and
try not to say mean things about
other people or make fun of them.
Every day, all citizens will gather in
the temple at noon and share a
meal in groups of family and
friends. If anyone ever gets in a
ght, they must work it out before
they go to bed so they do not go to
bed angry at each other. Bubble is
similar to the Islam belief of Zakat.
As stated by Frey, Muslims must
share about one fortieth (2.5 per-
cent) of their income and posses-
sions with their poorer neighbors
37
This is the temple where the citizens will gather for a meal together.
(98). Zakat is the third pillar of the
Five Pillars of Faith. The word
Zakat means purication and it is
believed that wealth becomes pure
by giving some of it away. Zakat
and Bubble are similar because the
both ask all citizens to give a por-
tion of their money to poor people.
The tenet Bubble helps make for a
successful civilization because the
charities can use the donated
money to build hospitals, orphan-
ages, and it can also be used to pay
for teachers and children who cant
afford to go to school.
The third tenet for the civiliza-
tion of Nicolatopia is called Zeppe-
lini. Zeppelini represents respect
and it emphasizes the peoples abil-
ity to respect other people, the gov-
ernment, and the environment of
Nicolatopia. To practice Zeppelini,
38
These are the Five Pillars of Faith for Islam.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1nRiq_esh4A/UClr9F42NZI/AAAAAAAAAFY/w4h
FkHS8_sM/s1600/5-pillars-OF+ISLAM.jpg
the citizens of Nicolatopia must
care for their environment by not
littering and taking care of their
plants. They must also listen to
their parents and care for them
when they get sick. The people
must live by the motto Treat oth-
ers the way you want to be
treated. Zeppelini is similar to the
Confucianism teaching of the ve
basic relationships. As stated by
Frey, According to Confucianism,
there are ve basic relationships:
ruler and subject, husband and
wife, father and son, older sibling
and younger sibling, and friend and
friend (183). In each of the ve ba-
sic relationships there is a superior,
except for friend and friend. Confu-
cianism is based on the teachings of
Confucius, who was a famous phi-
losopher in Chinese history. Confu-
cianism and Zeppelini are similar be-
cause they both tell people to re-
spect people above you. The tenet
Zeppelini helps make for a success-
ful civilization because everyone re-
spects each other and they respect
the environment so they have a nice
place to live.
The last tenet that the people of
Nicolatopia have created for their
civilizations belief system is called
Lawson. Lawson represents follow-
ing the laws and it emphasizes the
peoples ability to respect authority
and the laws of Nicolatopia. To prac-
39
tice Lawson, you must follow all
laws and never steal, cheat, mur-
der, or commit adultery. The citi-
zens must never say anything bad
about the government ofcials or Ni-
colatopia in general. Lawson is simi-
lar to Christian and Jewish Ten
Commandments. As stated by Frey,
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not
commit adultery, thou shalt not
steal. The Ten Commandments
were given to Moses on Mount Si-
nai from God. They are engraved on
two tablets that Moses got from the
mountain. The rst four command-
ments are about the peoples rela-
tionship with god and the rest are
about the peoples relationship with
others. The Ten Commandments
and Lawson are similar because
they both tell people to follow the
rules and to be good. Lawson helps
make for a successful civilization be-
cause everyone follows the laws
and respects the government.
The Aqueduct
The Government Build-
ing
The Temple
Interactive 3.1 View of Nicolatopia
40
A person may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
- John F. Kennedy
CHAPTER 4
41
Ideas
SECTION 1
The humanist mindset promoted
new ideas during the Renaissance
by challenging the Catholic
Church and its teachings and also
changing the ideas of social stand-
ings. The humanist mindset was a
mindset that taught people that
everyone has dignity and worth.
Figure 4.1
http://rappingmanual.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BrightIdea.jpeg
Power of Ideas
42
Humanists strongly believed that
everyone, if they worked hard,
could achieve greatness. The hu-
manists challenged the church by
saying that they should question
everything, while the church
taught people to follow them with-
out question. The Catholic Church
also taught that people should focus
more on life after death, rather
than focus on their daily life. As
stated by Frey, For the church, life
after death was more important
than life on Earth (321). Some-
times humanists went to far and di-
rectly challenged some of the Catho-
lic Churchs most cherished teach-
ings. Some of these extreme human-
ists, like Giordano Bruno, were
punished for challenging the
church by being burned at the
stake. The humanist mindset also
43
This is Giordano Bruno, a humanist from the renais-
sance.
http://www.lovely.com/photos/bruno.gif
promoted new ideas during the Ren-
aissance by changing the ideas of so-
cial standings. Humanists also
showed people that everybody is
the same, no matter what class
they come from, which is a big
change from medieval Europe. Dur-
ing medieval Europe, you always
stayed the same class that you
were born into, and there was no
way you could change it. As stated
by Frey, If someone was born a
peasant, he or she would always
have less status than a noble
(321). This provided people with
new hope and inspired them to
work hard to become great. Human-
ists taught people to question old
ideas and this created a lot of new
and improved ideas within the civili-
zation. In conclusion, Humanism
helped Europe grow and improve
during the Renaissance period by
challenging the churchs teachings
and changing the ideas of social
standings.
44
This is the symbol for humanism.
http://unitedcor.org/sites/default/les/dynamic/ucor-large-imag
e-view-c6def0132b67da4aed24aa912cefec12.png
During the Middle Ages, the Catho-
lic Church was the only major
source of religion in Western
Europe, but during the 1300s, more
and more people started to ques-
tion the Catholic Churchs teach-
ings. One of the reasons that they
started to question the Catholic
Church was because many spiritual
leaders, like priests, monks, or
nuns, started to break their vows of
not getting married, not having chil-
dren, and following Christian mor-
als and values. Also, church of-
cials started selling indulgences.
An indulgence was a grant by the
Catholic Church that forgave people
of their sins. Church ofcials used
indulgences as a way of gaining
money for the church. The selling of
indulgences made people think that
45
This is a old Catholic Church.
http://unitedcor.org/sites/default/les/dynamic/ucor-larg
e-image-view-c6def0132b67da4aed24aa912cefec12.png
as long as they could pay the
church, then they could be forgiven
of any sin. Another thing that weak-
ened the Catholic Church was that
they started practicing simony, or
the selling of leadership positions
in the church. Lots of people did
this because they could get paid
even more, and most people didnt
even show up to do their work. As
stated by Frey, By the 1300s,
many Catholics felt that the church
had become to worldly and cor-
rupt (348). All of these practices
made people question the churchs
teachings even more. The church
had become very weak from lack of
support from the people because of
all the corruption within the
church. In conclusion, the church
became weak from all of the human-
ist people questioning their prac-
tices and teachings.
46
This is a visual to show how humanists
started questioning the Catholic Church.
https://breakingintowallstreet.com/biws/wp-content/the
mes/Anatta-Theme/images/question.jpg
The ideas and questions of Reform-
ers like Martin Luther differ from
the traditional teachings of the
Catholic Church because he ques-
tioned their old ideas and made
new ones. Martin Luther believed
that the Bible was the main source
of religious authority within the
church, not the pope or the other
church ofcials. This brought him
into conict with the church be-
cause the church said that the pope
is the ultimate source of religious
authority in the church. He also
thought that there were only two
true sacraments: baptism and
Eucharist. The church also said
that there were seven sacraments
and you had to follow all of them to
get salvation. He thought that all
Christians and priests should study
47
This is Martin Luther, the monk that started Lu-
therism.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Lucas_
Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Martin_Luther,_1528_(Veste_Cobu
rg).jpg
the Bible for themselves, not just lis-
ten to what the pope said. Another
thing that he thought was that eve-
ryone will gain salvation as long as
they have faith in God. As stated by
Frey, In the eyes of the church
leaders, Luther was attacking fun-
damental truths of the Catholic re-
ligion (353). Due to this, Luther
was excommunicated from the
church and threatened with his life.
The Roman Emperor also declared
him a heretic and forbid him from
printing or writing any more. Al-
though they tried, Luthers ideas
couldnt be stopped. Luther was de-
clared a hero by many Germans, so
he decided to continue to further de-
velop his ideas. He eventually cre-
ated a new denomination of the
Catholic Church called Luther-
anism. Martin Luther was brought
into disagreement with the church
because of his new ideas that con-
icted with their traditional teach-
ings.
48
This is the symbol for Lutheranism.
http://www.internetmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/lutheran-rose.
jpg
An individual with a humanist
mindset would likely change many
things within the civilization of Ni-
colatopia. A humanist would
change the rule that if you have an
idea that doesnt work you would be
sentence to death or deported be-
cause they would think that even if
you had a bad idea, you were still
thinking and looking for new ideas
to improve the civilization. In the
civilization of Nicolatopia, if a citi-
zen comes up with a good idea, they
will go to the government ofcials
and test it together. If it works, the
government will help spread and ad-
vertise the new invention. If it
doesnt work and the test causes
major damage to someone or some-
thing, then they will be sentence to
death. If it doesnt work and the
test doesnt do major damage to
anyone or anything, the citizen will
be deported. If the test needs to be
run on a person, then the govern-
ment will offer a sum of money to
whoever is willing to let them run
49
This is a visual to show how humanists will
help come up with new a in Nicolatopia.
http://deniseleeyohn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ide
a-lightbulb.jpg
the test on. The more dangerous of
the test, the more money is offered
to the citizen who volunteers. This
strategy will help make for a suc-
cessful civilization because people
wont come up with really risky
ideas, but they still wont be afraid
to share their new ideas. In conclu-
sion, a humanist mindset in the civi-
lization of Nicolatopia would help
create new ideas and challenge old
and outdated ideas.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian physi-
cist, mathematician, engineer, as-
tronomer, and philosopher who
played a big part in the scientic
revolution, which took place be-
tween the 1500s to the 1700s. In
1609, Galileos began his big project
that would change the world: the tele-
scope. Although he didnt make the
rst telescope, he improved it by a lot
by making the moon and other planets
This is Galileo Galilei, the Italian physicist.
http://todayinsci.com/G/Galilei_Galileo/GalileiGalileo-Cresti300px.jpg
50
more clearly visible. This improve-
ment led to the discoveries that the
moon is not smooth, that Jupiter has
four moons, and that Venus goes
through phases, just like the moon. All
of these new discoveries contradicted
many past ideas. As stated by Frey,
For example, Aristotle had taught
that the moon was completely smooth.
Galileo saw that it wasnt (392). Also,
many of his ideas conicted with what
the church taught. Galileo discovered
that Earth wasnt the center of the uni-
verse, and the church saw this idea as
dangerous. They thought that this the-
ory might lead to the people doubting
the churchs teachings and traditions.
This would make Nicolatopia more suc-
cessful because Nicolatopia doesnt
have any science incorporated in their
civilization and this would help the
people advance in their thinking and
understanding. In conclusion, Galileo
would help advance the civilization of
Nicolatopia in scientic and deep think-
ing.
51
This is the inside of the market of Nicolatopia, where the citizens gather
and share their ideas.
Gallery 4.1 The Gathering Places of Nicolatopia

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Nicolatopia

THE ANSWER TO WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL

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