Nagasaki Heroine

Slavery in America began when African slaves were first brought to the North American colony in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to assist in the production of profitable plants such as tobacco. Slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped to build the economic foundations of the new nation. The discovery of gin (cotton seed separator) cotton in 1793 established the importance of the center of slavery for the Southern economy. In the mid-19th century, America's westward expansion, together with the abolition of the growing right in the North, sparked a huge debate over slavery that would trigger the American Civil War (1861-1865). Although the Union's victory liberated 4 million nations from slavery, the legacy of slavery continued to influence American history, from the tumultuous years of Reconstruction (1865-1877) with the civil rights movement that emerged in 1960, a century after emancipation. Backgr...

The US States That Produce the Most Oil A boom in oil production is profoundly changing the U.S. economy and impacting worldwide energy markets. As of 2015, 90% of U.S. oil production, excluding federal offshore drilling, comes from eight states: Texas, North Dakota, California, Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming. The surge in U.S. output is due in large part to the wide use of horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as new technologies give drillers access to some of the largest oil deposits in the world that were once too tight to exploit. Fracking is controversial as some believe the chemicals injected into the wells lead to extensive pollution of the water supply. Some also argue the unconventional horizontal drilling awakens dormant faults, causing earthquakes. With domestic crude oil production averaging 9.4 million barrels a day over the first six months of 2015, the United States bypassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer of crude oil...