Posted
on October 1, 2013
Today
is Day 2 of a huge agricultural and trade fair in Nairobi, the
capital city of Kenya in Africa. It's the largest trade show in
Eastern Africa.
I
read that farmers are really proud to be chosen to display their
prize cattle or cabbages in this show. The Facebook page for the show
features photos of carnival rides as well as crops and farm critters.
One
of the most interesting things about the geography of the city is
that it is near the Great Rift Valley. This valley is part of the
East African Rift System, in which one of the rocky plates that cover
the Earth is literally splitting apart—making two new plates. As
lava rises to fill the gap caused by the plates moving apart, new
land is formed, earthquakes shake the area, volcanos arise and erupt,
and even lakes form—long, skinny, shallow rift-like lakes that
often become more and more alkaline.
The
rift system not only pulls apart rocky layers, it also exposes
fossils from long ago creatures. That is the main reason that
scientists have found so many fossils of early hominids, ancestors to
modern humans, there.
We
are all African...
There
is evidence of several different sorts that modern humans evolved in
East Africa and then immigrated to all the “corners” of the
world. Interestingly, one bit of evidence is that the native peoples
of Eastern African are very, very diverse. They are tall and short,
dark-skinned and light-skinned, round-faced and narrow-faced. They
have more genetic and mitochondrial variation than other
similarly-sized areas of the world.
 |
| Some of the varied peoples of East Africa |
Of
course, we are used to diversity these days. Here in America, for
example, most areas are “melting pots” of peoples from Asia,
Africa, Europe, and the Americas. However, the diversity we are
discussing in Eastern Africa is among peoples who have lived in that
area for centuries or millennia.
And...
I
mourn for those affected by the tragic shopping mall attack in
Nairobi this week. I wonder if the attack has affected the planned
trade show and wish everybody in the city well.
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for October holidays, October birthdays, and
historical anniversaries in October.
And
here are my Pinterest boards for November holidays, Novemberbirthdays, and historical anniversaries in November.
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