Tag: Inquiry

Land Wars

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Task description: This week during Inquiry, we are learning about the land wars. Did you know that our preferred name therefore is for the Land Wars, given that (in our view) the wars happened because of a contest for land; and, for Māori, defending land was all about defending historic landscapes and communities as well as defending sovereignty and te tino rangatiratanga which were integral to the land. After that I completed the task, and I posted it on our blog. I enjoyed this task very much, and I hope to do more like this soon. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment; thank you for visiting my blog.

Chocolate history

Who invented chocolate?
Chocolate’s 4,000-year history began in ancient Mesoamerica, present day Mexico. It’s here that the first cacao plants were found. The Olmec, one of the earliest civilizations in Latin America, were the first to turn the cacao plant into chocolate. They drank their chocolate during rituals and used it as medicine.

Chocolate reaches Spain
No one knows for sure when chocolate came to Spain. Legend has it that explorer Hernan Cortes brought chocolate to his homeland in 1528. Cortes was believed to have discovered chocolate during an expedition to the Americas. In search of gold and riches, he instead found a cup of cocoa given to him by the Aztec emperor.
Chocolate seduces Europe
The Spanish kept chocolate quiet for a very long time. It was nearly a century before the threat reached neighbouring France, and then the rest of Europe.
In 1615, French King Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of Spanish King Phillip III. To celebrate the union, she brought samples of chocolate to the royal courts of France.