History

rice terraces of the philippineS

Banaue Rice Terraces is in the northern part of Luzon, nestled deep in the heartland of the Cordillera. Considered to be the 8th wonder of the world, the Banaue Rice Terraces was constructed with bare hands and some crude implements some 2000 years ago by the Ifugao tribal people.

The terraces rise to an altitude of about 5,000 feet above sea level and encompassing 4,000 square miles. It transformed the barren stone mountains of the Cordillera into arable ledges where rice can grow. The length of the terraces, if connected end-to-end, would encircle half the globe or would be 10 times the length of the Great Walls of China. Banaue is 8 to 9 hours car ride from Manila.

THE GREAT WALL

The Great Wall of China stretches more than 6,400 kilometers, or nearly 4,000 miles through northern China. China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, began constructing the wall in the 3rd century BC to protect the northern borders of his empire.

Pyramid of Egypt

The pyramids epitomize ancient Egypt, yet the biggest were constructed during a short span of time early in a civilization that was to last almost three millennia.  The first large Egyptian pyramid was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built during the third dynasty of the Old Kingdom to protect the body of the king Djoser who died around 2649 BCE.  It was this feat that heralded the short but remarkable age of the gigantic stone pyramids of ancient Egypt.

The greatest achievements of the pyramid builders were the Pyramids of Giza, built near the capital city of Memphis for the fourth dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure who ruled through 2589-2504 BCE.   But pyramid building soon waned as the power and prosperity of the kings of Egypt weakened with the end of the Old Kingdom.