World Literacy Rates

Hmm probably should have thought about the topic more before i decided upon using it as a blog... what to write, what to write... Ah i know, world literacy rates. Its geography and writing related plus mildy interesting.

Wow, i just found out that there is 7 countries with a 100% literacy rate. Who knew?! Theses countries are Andorra, Finland, Georgia, Greenland, Liechtenstein (never heard of that country before.. I'll look it up) Luxemberg and Norway. Ireland is ranked number 11 with 99% of the population literate.

On a side note , Liechtenstein is a very small country inbetween Switzerland and Austria.

At the other end of the scale, the country with the lowest literacy rate is Mali with a shocking 26.2% literacy!! That's incomprehensible to me. I can't imagine not being able to read or write.

Facts on illiteracy

Thanks to the International Literacy Day website for these facts. I'll post a link below.

1.) There are 1 billion illiterate adults in the world.
2.) Women make up two thirds of all illiterates.
3.) 98 percent of all non-literates live in developing countries.
4.) In the least developed countries, the overall illiteracy rate is 49 percent.
5.) 52 percent of all non-literates live in India and China.
6.) Africa as a continent has a literacy rate of less than 60 percent.

Here's a link to the website.

http://www.sil.org/literacy/LitFacts.htm

Also I found a video on the causes and consequences of illiteracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XoolVbIIg

Impact of Writing

Since it was invented writing became of utter importance to the ruling class. The use of writing made it easy to keep track of supplies, who was producing what, who owned what.

Because only a small amount of people learn to read and write, they became the elite. writers gained access to the lives of common people and kings alike.

Since the invention of the printing press, books became cheaper. In the past books were very expensive as they had to be wrote by hand. This step allowed more people to purchase books and learn to read and write.

The use of writing has become common in modern times. However 15% of the worlds population cannot read and write. However i found that answer on wiki answers so it could be a bit dodge... The figures of illiterate women is much higher then men. This is because parents in third world countries may decide to send their sons to school and keep their daughters at home.

Writing implements

Pencils:

Pencils used to be made out of lead which is a highly toxic subject and can cause major health problems. Now a days pencils are made out of graphite.


Graphite is a metomorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks are ones which have been metamorphosed (changed). They are originally igneous or sedimentary rocks but due to the application of high levels of heat and pressure, they changed. The high heat was from contact with magma and the pressure usually in the formation of fold mountains.


I found this link which goes into a lot of detail about how pencils are made.


http://www.wisegeek.com/how-are-pencils-made.htm




Paper:

Paper is made from trees (as if you didn't know...) Trees are sent to a paper mill where they are ground up with water and chemicals which forms a liquid. This liquid is fed through a series of machines which flatten the mixture and keep it flat whilst it dries into paper.

The Origins of Writing

How did writing start? The first form of writing was called cuneiform and is thought by archaeologists to be used as a way to keep track of supplies in the community It is possible that it dated as far back to 8000 BC.

In the Fertile Crescent land of Sumer, small clay triangles, spheres, cones, and other tokens were molded to represent sheep, measures of grain, jars of oil, and other goods.

Around the same time as Cuneiform the ancient Egyptians began to use a similar writing system called hieroglyphics. Their pictures and symbols represented ideas and words. Egyptians also wrote on clay tablets or carved hieroglyphics on the stone walls of monuments and tombs. They also painted them on a paperlike material called papayrus. This was made from river grasses.

The first real alphabeat was founded in 1000BC by the greeks. The word alphabeat is derived from the first two letters (alpha + beta).

This quickly developed into the Etruscan alphabeat which dates back to around 600 BC.

The latin alphabeat soon followed, which has devolped into the alphabeat we use today however a few variations have been added. 

I found this pretty interesting link which visually shows the development of writing and alphabeats to what it is today today.

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~rfradkin/latin.html

Introduction

Hi my name is Kate and welcome to my first ever blog! I decided to write this blog on the geography behind writing, the origin, how writing impliments are made, how writing has and continues to develop... You get the point. I hope post once a week. Wish me luck!