Waching daily Nov 30 2018

Kevin Durant 3-Pointer From Logo Leaves Drake Stunned (VIDEO) | Heavy.com

The Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors are mixed up in an intense matchup on Thursday night.

And to the enjoyment of all the fans in attendance, the Kevin Durant vs.

Kawhi Leonard battle has taken center stage.

There's been a whole lot of back-and-forth between the two stars but Durant caught fire in a big way at one point, leaving fans in awe.

When the third quarter of the game had wrapped up, Durant had already poured in 38 points while going 14-23 from the field with seven rebounds and five assists.

The Warriors were still trailing, though, largely thanks to an impressive showing from Leonard, who had 33 points on 12-19 shooting for his own red-hot three-quarter stretch.

Kevin Durant's Impressive Stretch Without Two Key Teammates.

While the Warriors have been playing without both Stephen Curry and Draymond Green as of late, the heavy lifting has fallen on Durant and he's held up his end of the bargain.

Even prior to this big game against the Raptors, the 30-year-old posted back-to-back 40-plus point games in two wins.

The first of the two came in the form of a 44-point, 13 rebounds, even assist showing against the Sacramento Kings.

Durant followed that up by racking up 49 points with nine assists and six boards in a win over the Orlando Magic.

Most importantly, the Warriors moved to 15-7 thanks to a three-game winning streak ahead of this game against the Raptors.

Just prior to that win streak, Golden State had lost four straight and five of six.

Fortunately, both Curry and Green are expected to return soon, so reinforcements are on the way.

READ NEXT: LeBron James Says He Wants to Play in NBA With Son Before Retiring.

For more infomation >> Kevin Durant 3-Pointer From Logo Leaves Drake Stunned (VIDEO) | Heavy.com - Duration: 3:06.

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Key Concept 2.2 Video - Duration: 5:15.

Welcome to Leilani and the Wilsons

and today we are going to discuss

the development of states and empires in North Africa and Middle East

In the previous video we discussed the Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions

In some ways, religion and culture created and helped unify civilizations.

As we already know, states form when people of similar cultural backgrounds unite together

As cities impose their rule and conquer surrounding land, the city gets bigger and becomes an empire.

However, this process is not as easy as it seems

The most known empire in the Middle East was known as the Persian Empire.

The Persian Empire is the name given to a series of dynasties centered in modern-day Iran.

there were a lot of steps

and I mean A LOT of steps

until they could reach that status of wealth and fame

Before all of this, the land was conquered by

Indo-European nomads known as the Medes and Persians.

These groups were skilled in many things

but their main skill was archery

No not like that

more like this

even while riding horses these nomads were always able to hit their target

As they continued to conquer using their skills

they gained power and launched the start of the Persian imperial venture

The start of this venture was due to Cyrus the Great

and he didn't get this nick name for nothing

His conquests laid the foundation of the first Persian Empire

the Achaemenid empire

that lasted from around 558-330BCE.

The Achaemenid empire was known for its wealth and power

however, in return for its success

the empire experienced many battles

including the famous battle against Lydia

but Cyrus never let an enemy waiting

From the conquering of Lydia to the seizing of Babylonia

Cyrus was able to conquer the land between India and Egypt

His son eventually conquered Egypt but he didn't seem to do anything else important enough to discuss.

Unfortunately, all things come to an end

Cyrus was sadly injured in battle

and placed in a tomb in his home town, Pasargadae

However, this did not stop the Achaemenid Empire

After Cyrus' death, a new king quickly took lead and reunited the empire

His name was the one and only DARIUS

Although he was able to make the empire larger bring even more money

he is most known for his administrative strategies

During his reign, Darius divided his land into twenty three satrapies

administrative and taxation districts governed by satraps

Darius chose the 23 strongest and most trusted men as the satraps to govern the districts

These satraps would report any news back to Darius that would be of his concern

However, to check on the power of a satrap, Darius also introduced spies.

Spies served as the eyes and the ears of the king

as they conducted surprise audits in provinces

Similarly to satraps, These *SPIES* report back any news to the emperor.

This allowed Achaemenid rulers to have control over the huge empire.

Like many other emperors, Darius instituted tax levies

In order to receive payment, he issued standardized coins

Because of their newly established currency, trade increased dramatically

This new found wealth allowed the government to become stronger and even more wealthy.

However, like I said before, good things never last long

After Darius passed away, a new ruler named

Xerxes

came into power

Unlike the previous Achaemenid rulers

Xerxes believed that everyone should be like him

This way of ruling created many rebellions within the empire

The Persian Wars, war between Xerxes and Greeks

put a strain on the empire

Although the Greek army was small, they were very skilled

Eventually, this caused the empire to fall to the Greeks

Ending the empire

After the Achaemenid empire fell the Seleucid, Parthians, and Sasanids came after that.

Each of these empires had their own conflicts and attempts

however, the outcomes were the same.

Each empire eventually fell.

As we can see from this pattern, creating an empire is not so easy and it does not last forever.

However, with some factors such as trade and communication

the empire is more likely to be stable and last longer

We will go more in depth with that in the next video.

This was Leilani and the Wilsons and we will see you later.