People use electronic spreadsheets to manage numbers quickly and easily. You can use a spreadsheet any time a problem involves numbers that you can arrange in rows and columns.
Learning the Skill A spreadsheet is an electronic worksheet. All spreadsheets follow a basic design of rows and columns. Each column (vertical) is assigned a letter or a number. Each row (horizontal) is assigned a number. Each point where a column and row intersect is called a cell. The cell's position on the spreadsheet is labeled according to its corresponding column and row—Column A, Row 1 (A1); Column B, Row 2 (B2), and so on.
Spreadsheets use standard formulas to calculate the numbers. You create a mathematical equation that uses these standard formulas, and the computer does the calculations for you.
Skill Practice
Suppose you want to compare the number of births in the three most highly populated nations—China, India, and the United States—over the past five years. Use these steps to create a spreadsheet that will provide this information:
1. In cells B1, C1, and D1 respectively, type the name of each of the three countries listed above.
In cell E1, type the term total.
2. In cells A2-A6, type each year, starting with the most recent year for which statistics are available.
3. In row 2, enter the number of births that occurred in each nation for the year listed in A2. Repeat this process in rows 3 through 6.
4. Create a formula to calculate the number of children born for the first year on the spreadsheet. The formula for the equation tells what cells (2B + 2C + 2D) to add together.
5. Copy the formula down in the cells for the other four years.
6. Use the process in steps 4 and 5 to create and copy a formula to calculate the total births for each of the three countries over a five-year period.
Malaysia Malaysia is another developing Asian country that has gone through revolution and successfully built a cooperative government since World War II. Following riots in 1969 between the Malay and the Chinese, the country has become peaceful. With a prospering economy, it lies in a major shipping crossroads of the Pacific Ocean. Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus live together, giving Malaysia its cultural richness. The three major ethnic groups of the country—Malays, Chinese, and Indians—cooperatively share power and resources.
Independence in Africa World War II helped African nationalism grow. During the war, many Africans served in the armies of the European colonial powers. They were sent to fight in many different places around the world. The soldiers saw new sights and learned new skills. When they returned to Africa, they were not content with conditions there and wanted self-rule.
Nationalism grew quickly among educated Africans who worked for independence in different ways. They formed politi-
Meaningful Names
Once they won freedom, many African nations took new names with deep historical meaning. Zimbabwe, for example, refers to the 1,000-year-old city of Great Zimbabwe. Massive, protective stone walls gave the city its name, which means "stone enclosure.”
WA Reading Check
K'm What type of farming is done by subsistence farmers? What are some of Africa's most important cash crops?
Cal parties and bargained with government leaders. They also boycotted goods from colonial countries. In some cases, violence broke out.
In 1960, 17 African countries became independent. The year became known as the "Year of Africa.” Other African colonies freed themselves from European rule in following years.
At first most newly independent African countries set up democratic governments. Many did not last, however, and today most have one-party governments or are ruled by a military leader.
Many African countries—including Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique (mc) zam beek'), Nigeria, Rwanda (roo ahn' duh), Somalia, Sudan, Zaire (zlhr), and Zimbabwe (zim bahb' wa)— have suffered from civil war since they became independent. When Europeans originally drew colonial boundaries in Africa, they often put groups that had been fighting one another for hundreds of years in the same colony. Fighting often broke out among these groups.
Farming About 70 percent of all African workers make their living from farming. In the past, most farmers were subsistence farmers. They produced only enough food for their families. Today much of the land is used to grow cash crops, or crops that are sold in regional or world markets. In fact, more than half of Africa's income results from selling such crops as cacao (kuh ka' o), coffee, cotton, peanuts, rubber, and tea.
Rural and Urban Africa Many Africans still live in small rural villages, such as the one in Zaire shown here (left), and hold onto their traditional ways. Africa also has many large, modern cities. What differences face villagers who move to the city?
UNIT 12 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY TO TODAY
In recent years, because of poor farming methods, drought, disease, lack of fertilizer, and the increased growth of cash crops, there have been food shortages in Africa. Many African nations must buy food from other countries. Often this food is expensive and not plentiful. African governments have begun to teach farmers better farming methods, but progress is slow. The United States has sent advisers also.
Large parts of Africa, however, are rich in energy resources. Coal, natural gas, oil, and hydroelectric power are plentiful. The continent also has large mineral deposits, such as copper, tin, iron, manganese, gold, and diamonds. To make full use of these resources, however, more money and skilled workers are needed. More roads and railroads are also needed to move the resources to market.
Ways of Life Life has been changing in Africa since the 1960s. Most people still live in rural villages, where they belong to extended families. These are made up of parents, children, and other close relatives who live together in one house. Most houses in Africa consist of several buildings surrounded by a wall or fence. Rural village houses are often made of mud, clay, or tall grasses and might not have running water, electricity, or indoor plumbing. Large African cities, however, are modern, active centers of growth and progress.
Children in rural areas may receive little or no formal schooling, but they have knowledge of and pride in their group's culture. Many leaders of emerging African nations have encouraged the pride each group within a nation shows in its heritage. Writers, musicians, artists, and scholars of African nations are recognized all over the world for their talent and achievements.
African heritage is also seen in the special body markings and certain colors and kinds of clothing and jewelry African groups display. For example, the Fulani (fu lah' ne5) of West Africa wear royal blue, red, and yellow. The Masai (mah' s!) women of Kenya wear huge collars of brightly colored beads.
In recent years, many Africans have left their home villages and moved to the cities in search of jobs and better housing and education. Some high schools and colleges in the cities offer training in higher-level occupations and technology. They hope trained young people will return to the villages to improve their way of life. Lack of education, however, is a serious problem.
Foreign Influence in Latin America Even after gaining independence, most Latin American countries remained under foreign control. Industrial nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United States organized businesses there. They produced such goods as bananas, sugar, coffee, metals, and oil which were sold in markets overseas.
Reading Check
T jfl What are extended families?
Photograph of Housing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Latin American nations benefited from foreign investments. Wages rose, and there were more jobs. Foreign business interests also built roads, railroads, and ports. They set up telephone systems and electric plants.
Still, there were problems. The economies of most of the countries depended on only one or two products. If the price of these products dropped, their incomes did too. Also, food, clothing, household goods, and other such items had to be brought in from other countries at high cost. In addition, Latin American nationalists who wanted their countries to be free of outside influence resented foreigners.
Reading Check
K ll What are haciendas?
How do the campesinos earn a living?
LATIN AMERICAN FARMING Although Latin America is primarily an agricultural region, wealthy landowners hold much of the land in large ranches. These haciendas are worked by peasants with few modern techniques or tools. Here, a Mexican farmer plows behind a team of oxen. Why do most hacienda owners have little or no desire to modernize their farms?
Domestic Changes in Latin America Since World War II, most Latin American countries have been trying to industrialize. They have greatly increased their production of such goods as steel, chemicals, oil, and automobiles. Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico are now fairly well-industrialized. Yet even they do not produce enough to meet the needs of their growing populations.
The Latin American economy depends on farming. Most land is held in haciendas (ah sei en' duhz), or large ranches. These are owned by a few very rich families. Most work on the haciendas is done by peasants known as campesinos (kam puh se' nos).
UNIT 12 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY TO TODAY
Campesinos usually live in villages. Their small houses are made of wood, mud, sun-dried brick, or stone. Larger villages have a church and a few stores and hold open-air markets once a week. People meet there to exchange news as well as to buy and sell food and hand-made goods.
The campesinos farm the land in the same way their parents and grandparents did. They are not encouraged to learn new ways. Peasant labor is cheap, so most hacienda owners have no wish to modernize or reform the economic system. Often the result is that the land is poorly managed and crops are small.
The hacienda system holds back economic progress. Many Latin Americans would like to end it. They believe that farm production will rise if campesinos are allowed to own land and learn new ways of farming. In recent years, peasants in several Latin American countries have started revolutions for land reform. This reform has been opposed by the governments and wealthy landowners. Some of the worst violence has taken place in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Peru. The demand for a voice in their governments by Latin American people, however, has increased.
Latin American cities have also grown larger in recent years. Poor farming methods, drought, warfare, or drops in farm prices have forced millions throughout Latin America off the land and into the cities. There are not enough jobs in the cities to go around, however, for all of these people.
World History
