MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE ON EARTH

Here’s what was happening elsewhere on the planet about the time someone was making wine at the church at Hippos about 600 CE*:

o The Olmec people of what now is Mexico carved huge stone heads weighing up to 16,300 kilograms** and standing 2.7 meters high.

o Islam (iss LAHM) began as a religion. Its followers, Muslims (MUH slims), believe that in about 610 CE a man named Muhammad (muh HAM mahd) began to receive messages from Allah, or God, in the country that now is Saudi Arabia.

o The first windmills were built in the country now called Iran.

o Aksum (AHK soom) was a powerful kingdom in East Africa in what now is Eritrea, northern Ethiopia and parts of Sudan and Djibouti.

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The information is from World Book Encyclopedia and other sources.

* CE means “common era.” It’s the same as AD or “anno Domini,” Latin for “in the year of our Lord.” BCE or before common era is the same as BC or “before Christ.”

** To change from kilograms to pounds and to make other metric conversions, you can use this site from the state of Washington: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Metrics/factors.htm