1.
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
–
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is one of seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest emirate by area, accounting for approximately 87 percent of the land area of the federation. Abu Dhabi also has the largest population of the seven emirates, in June 2011, it was estimated to be 2,120,700 people, of which,439,100 people were Emirati citizens, which has risen to 2.3 million in 2012. Abu Dhabi is the city of the emirate, after which it is named. Abu Dhabi’s Gross Domestic Product estimates, in 2014, amounted to AED960 billion at current prices, mining and quarrying accounts for the largest contribution to GDP. Construction related industries are the next largest contributor, GDP grew to AED911.6 billion in 2012, or over 100,000 USD per capita. In the early 1970s, two important developments helped the emirate achieve leaps on the path of development, the first was the establishment of the United Arab Emirates in December 1971 with Abu Dhabi as its political and administrative capital. Dhabi is the Arabic name of a species of native gazelle that was once common in the Arabian region. Abu Dhabi means father of the Dhabi and it is thought that this name came about because of the abundance of Gazelles in the area and a folk tale involving Shakhbut bin Dhiyab al Nahyan. Parts of Abu Dhabi were settled as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, modern Abu Dhabi traces its origins to the rise of an important tribal confederation, the Bani Yas, in the late 18th century, which also assumed control of Dubai. In the 19th century the Dubai and Abu Dhabi branches parted ways, most dwellings in Abu Dhabi city were, at this time, constructed of palm fronds, with the wealthier families occupying mud huts. In 1939, Sheikh Shakhbut Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan granted petroleum concessions, at first, oil money had a marginal impact. His brother, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, saw that oil wealth had the potential to transform Abu Dhabi, the ruling Al Nahyan family decided that Sheikh Zayed should replace his brother as ruler and carry out his vision of developing the country. On August 6,1966, with the assistance of the British, with the announcement by the UK in 1968 that it would withdraw from the Persian Gulf area by 1971, Sheikh Zayed became the main driving force behind the formation of the United Arab Emirates. After the Emirates gained independence in 1971, oil continued to flow to the area and traditional mud-brick huts were rapidly replaced with banks, boutiques. At present, Abu Dhabi boasts what is estimated to be the worlds highest absolute and per-capita level of sovereign wealth funds, the United Arab Emirates is located in the oil-rich and strategic Persian Gulf region. It adjoins the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman and it borders the emirate of Dubai and emirate of Sharjah to its north. The total area of the Emirate is 67,340 square kilometres, occupying about 87% of the area of the UAE
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
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Qasr al-Hosn fort in Abu Dhabi, dating to the 18th century CE
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
–
Sheikh
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and founder of the federation (stamp from 1967)
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
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Geographic map of the emirate of Abu Dhabi
2.
Etihad Towers
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Etihad Towers is a complex of buildings with five towers in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The towers are located opposite the Emirates Palace hotel and feature offices, apartments, the estimated cost for the construction are 2.5 bn Dirhams. Towers 2 and 5 topped out in November 2010, a year later, in November 2011, the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers Hotel which belongs to Jumeirah Group was opened in Tower 1. Tori No Su Japanese restaurant opened within the hotel in 2012, the adjacent Tower 2 is the tallest building on Abu Dhabi island and the second tallest in Abu Dhabi after Sky Tower on Al Reem Island. Tower 2 has a deck in the 75th floor which is accessible from the hotel via a lower level linking podium. In the film, Dominic Toretto and Brian OConner steal a Lykan HyperSport, List of tallest buildings in Abu Dhabi List of tallest buildings in the United Arab Emirates ProTenders profile Etihadtowers. com Etihadtowers
Etihad Towers
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Etihad Towers in November 2012
3.
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
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Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, and is considered to be the key site for worship in the country. His final resting place is located on the grounds beside the same mosque, the mosque was constructed from 1996 to 2007. It is the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates, the building complex measures approximately 290 m by 420 m, covering an area of more than 12 hectares, exclusive of exterior landscaping and vehicle parking. As the countrys grand mosque, it is the key place of worship for Friday gathering, during Eid it may be visited by more than 41,000 people. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center offices are located in the west minarets, SZGMC manages the day-to-day operations, as a place of worship and Friday gathering, and also a center of learning and discovery through its educational cultural activities and visitor programs. More than 3,000 workers and 38 renowned contracting companies took part in the construction of the mosque, natural materials were chosen for much of its design and construction due to their long-lasting qualities, including marble stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics. It was built by the Italian company Impregilo, the dome layout and floorplan of the mosque was inspired by the Badshahi Mosque. Its archways are quintessentially Moorish and its minarets classically Arab, the mosque is large enough to accommodate over 40,000 worshippers, while the main prayer hall can hold over 7,000. There are two prayer halls, with a capacity of 1,500 each, one of which is the womens prayer hall. There are four minarets on the four corners of the courtyard which rise about 107 m in height, the courtyard, with its floral design, measures about 17,000 m2, and is considered to be the largest example of marble mosaic in the world. This carpet measures 5,627 m2, and was made by around 1, the weight of this carpet is 35 ton and is predominantly made from wool. There are 2,268,000,000 knots within the carpet, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has seven imported chandeliers from the company Faustig in Munich, Germany that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals. The largest chandelier is the second largest known chandelier inside a mosque, the third largest in the world and has a 10 m diameter, the pools along the arcades reflect the mosques spectacular columns, which becomes even more glorious at night. The unique lighting system was designed by lighting architects Speirs and Major Associates to reflect the phases of the moon, beautiful bluish gray clouds are projected in lights onto the external walls and get brighter and darker according to the phase of the moon. The 96 columns in the prayer hall are clad with marble and inlaid with mother of pearl. The 99 names of God are featured on the Qibla wall in traditional Kufic calligraphy, the Qibla wall also features subtle fibre-optic lighting, which is integrated as part of the organic design. In 2013, US-based singer Rihanna received negative criticism for taking photographs, with the Mosque in the background, during the incident she was reported to have posed in a manner deemed offensive and provocative. Staff asked her to following the incident
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
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Interior of the Main Prayer Hall in Sheikh Zayed Mosque
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
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Front and entrance of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque
Sheikh Zayed Mosque
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Water mirror and columns
4.
Flag of Abu Dhabi
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The flag of the United Arab Emirates contains the Pan-Arab colors red, green, white, and black, which symbolize Arabian unity. It was adopted on December 2,1971, merchant ships may fly the alternative civil ensign, a red flag with the national flag in the canton. Each of the seven emirates within the United Arab Emirates has its own flag, except for Fujairah, the flags are derived from the red flags traditionally used by the different Arab emirates around the Persian Gulf. Under the protection of the British Empire from 1820, it was decided to add a field at the hoist of the flag. The same basic pattern can be seen in the flag of Bahrain, the flag of Abu Dhabi is an otherwise plain-red flag with a white canton, i. e. a small white rectangle in the upper hoist of the flag. The flags of Ajman and Dubai are identical and they are both plain red with a white bar at the hoist, i. e. closest to the flag staff. Before 1952, the flag of Fujairah was plain red, in 1952, the emirates name was added to the flag, and a red flag with a white border was adopted as an ensign. This continued to be the flag until Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi abolished the red flag. The flags of Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah are identical as they are ruled by two branches of the same house. They show a red rectangle on a white background. The Flag of Umm al-Quwain consists of a red background, a bar at the hoist similar the flags of Ajman and Dubai. Emblem of the United Arab Emirates Trucial States First raising of the flag on 2 December,1971 United Arab Emirates at Flags of the World
Flag of Abu Dhabi
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National flag and ensign. Flag ratio: 1:2
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
6.
United Arab Emirates
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In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds seventeenth-largest, Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost
United Arab Emirates
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Dubai in 1950; the area in this photo shows
Bur Dubai in the foreground (centered on Al-Fahidi Fort);
Deira in middle-right on the other side of the creek; and
Al Shindagha (left) and
Al Ras (right) in the background across the creek again from Deira
United Arab Emirates
–
Flag
United Arab Emirates
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Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the first President of UAE.
United Arab Emirates
–
View of
Sharjah city
7.
Abu Dhabi (emirate)
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The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is one of seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest emirate by area, accounting for approximately 87 percent of the land area of the federation. Abu Dhabi also has the largest population of the seven emirates, in June 2011, it was estimated to be 2,120,700 people, of which,439,100 people were Emirati citizens, which has risen to 2.3 million in 2012. Abu Dhabi is the city of the emirate, after which it is named. Abu Dhabi’s Gross Domestic Product estimates, in 2014, amounted to AED960 billion at current prices, mining and quarrying accounts for the largest contribution to GDP. Construction related industries are the next largest contributor, GDP grew to AED911.6 billion in 2012, or over 100,000 USD per capita. In the early 1970s, two important developments helped the emirate achieve leaps on the path of development, the first was the establishment of the United Arab Emirates in December 1971 with Abu Dhabi as its political and administrative capital. Dhabi is the Arabic name of a species of native gazelle that was once common in the Arabian region. Abu Dhabi means father of the Dhabi and it is thought that this name came about because of the abundance of Gazelles in the area and a folk tale involving Shakhbut bin Dhiyab al Nahyan. Parts of Abu Dhabi were settled as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, modern Abu Dhabi traces its origins to the rise of an important tribal confederation, the Bani Yas, in the late 18th century, which also assumed control of Dubai. In the 19th century the Dubai and Abu Dhabi branches parted ways, most dwellings in Abu Dhabi city were, at this time, constructed of palm fronds, with the wealthier families occupying mud huts. In 1939, Sheikh Shakhbut Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan granted petroleum concessions, at first, oil money had a marginal impact. His brother, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, saw that oil wealth had the potential to transform Abu Dhabi, the ruling Al Nahyan family decided that Sheikh Zayed should replace his brother as ruler and carry out his vision of developing the country. On August 6,1966, with the assistance of the British, with the announcement by the UK in 1968 that it would withdraw from the Persian Gulf area by 1971, Sheikh Zayed became the main driving force behind the formation of the United Arab Emirates. After the Emirates gained independence in 1971, oil continued to flow to the area and traditional mud-brick huts were rapidly replaced with banks, boutiques. At present, Abu Dhabi boasts what is estimated to be the worlds highest absolute and per-capita level of sovereign wealth funds, the United Arab Emirates is located in the oil-rich and strategic Persian Gulf region. It adjoins the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman and it borders the emirate of Dubai and emirate of Sharjah to its north. The total area of the Emirate is 67,340 square kilometres, occupying about 87% of the area of the UAE
Abu Dhabi (emirate)
–
Qasr al-Hosn fort in Abu Dhabi, dating to the 18th century CE
Abu Dhabi (emirate)
–
Flag
Abu Dhabi (emirate)
–
Sheikh
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and founder of the federation (stamp from 1967)
Abu Dhabi (emirate)
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Geographic map of the emirate of Abu Dhabi
8.
Absolute monarchy
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Absolute monarchy, or despotic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which one ruler has supreme authority that is not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs. These are often, but not always, hereditary monarchies, in contrast, in constitutional monarchies, the head of states authority derives from and is legally bounded or restricted by a constitution or legislature. Some monarchies have weak or symbolic legislatures and other bodies that the monarch can alter or dissolve at will. Countries where a monarch still maintains absolute power are Brunei, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, Swaziland, in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh wielded absolute power over the country and was considered a living god by his people. In ancient Mesopotamia, many rulers of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer were absolute monarchs as well, in ancient and medieval India, rulers of the Maurya, Satahavana, Gupta and Chalukya Empires, as well as other major and minor empires, were considered absolute monarchs. In the Khmer Empire, the kings were called Devaraja and Chakravartin, in Kingdom of Siam, the kings were esestablished Somburanaya-sittiraj. Throughout Chinese history, many emperors and one empress wielded absolute power through the Mandate of Heaven, in pre-Columbian America, the Inca Empire was ruled by a Sapa Inca, who was considered the son of Inti, the sun god and absolute ruler over the people and nation. Throughout much of European history, the right of kings was the theological justification for absolute monarchy. Many European monarchs, such as those of Russia, claimed supreme autocratic power by right. James VI of Scotland and his son Charles I of Scotland and England tried to import this principle, there is a considerable variety of opinion by historians on the extent of absolutism among European monarchs. Some, such as Perry Anderson, argue that quite a few monarchs achieved levels of absolutist control over their states, a widely held story about Louis XIV of France is that he proclaimed Létat, cest moi. What Louis did say was, The interests of the state come first, when one gives these priority, one labors for ones own good. These advantages to the state redounds to ones glory, although often criticized for his extravagances, such as the Palace of Versailles, he reigned over France for a long period, and some historians consider him a successful absolute monarch. More recently, revisionist historians have questioned whether Louis reign should be considered absolute, the King of France concentrated in his person legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He was the judicial authority. He could condemn men to death without the right of appeal and it was both his duty to punish offenses and stop them from being committed. From his judicial authority followed his power both to make laws and to annul them and this law consequently authorized the king to abolish all other centers of power. Most important was the abolition of the Council of the Realm and his actions largely originated the militaristic streak of the Hohenzollern
Absolute monarchy
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Louis XIV of France
Absolute monarchy
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Hassanal Bolkiah is the 29th and current
Sultan of Brunei
Absolute monarchy
–
Salman,
King of Saudi Arabia and
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
9.
Sheikh
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Sheikh —also transliterated Sheik, Shaik, Shayk, Shaykh, Shaikh, Cheikh, Shekh and Shaikh— is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates the ruler of a tribe, who inherited the title from his father, Sheikh is given to a royal male at birth, whereas the related title Sheikha is given to a royal female at birth. The word in Arabic stems from a triliteral root connected with age and aging, ش-ي-خ, the term literally means a man of vast power, and nobility, and it is used strictly for the royal families of the Middle East. While the title can be used religiously by Muslims to designate a learned person and it is notably used by Druze for their religious men, but also by Arab Christians for elder men of stature. Its usage and meaning is similar to the Latin senex meaning old, accordingly, the Arabic term for most legislative bodies termed Senate is majlis al-shuyūkh, literally meaning Council of Senators. One prominent example is Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani who initiated the Qadiriyya order which relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Islam, in the Arabian Peninsula, the title is used for royalty, such as kings, princes, and princesses. For example, it was the used in the West to refer to the leaders of Kuwaits ruling Al-Sabah dynasty. The same applies to all the Gulf countries, the term is used by almost every male and female member of all the Gulf royal houses. The term sheikh is known to have bestowed upon the families who battled with the Emir Fakhr al-Din in the historical Battle of Anjar. Note that the term is not used for the seven traditional Beiruti families, the other families that have this term did not rule any territory in previous ages. Instead, they were high-ranking employees or secretaries in the Ottoman Empire, or political allies of the rulers at that time, in the Maghreb, during the Almohad dynasty, the caliph was also counseled by a body of shaykhs. They represented all the different tribes under their rules, including Arabs, Andalusians, in the Muslim parts of the Horn of Africa, Sheikh is often used as a noble title. In Somali society, it is reserved as an honorific for senior Muslim leaders and clerics, in West Africa, sheikh is a common title for Muslim scholars and leaders. Among Islamic communities in Senegal, Niger and Gambia, among other areas, after the advent of Islam in South Asia, some high caste tribes also converted to Islam and adopted the title. The Muslims of the Middle East and Central Asia have historically traveled to South Asia as Sufis during the Islamic Sultanates and Mughal Empire, in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, Sheikhs are respected by local Muslims. Religious preachers or teachers in Indonesia are usually referred to as Ustad or Kyiayi Historically, notable shaykha include the 10th-century Shaykhah Fakhr-un-Nisa Shuhdah and 18th-century scholar Al-Shaykha Fatima al-Fudayliyya. A daughter or wife or mother of a sheikh is also called a shaykhah, currently, the term shaykhah is commonly used for women of ruling families, in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf with the exception of Oman. Kashmiri Shaikh Khawaja Shaikh Punjabi Shaikh Qallu Qanungoh Shaikh Quraishi Shaikhs in South Asia Sindhi Shaikh Allamah The dictionary definition of sheik at Wiktionary
Sheikh
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Kurdish Sheikhs, 1895.
Sheikh
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Sheikh Juma Al Maktoum (left) and Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Al Maktoum (right) of the
Maktoum family.
Sheikh
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Senegalese Sheikh Tidiane Gaye giving an Islamic lecture in
Louga.
Sheikh
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Pakistani Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani, a prominent
Sunni scholar.
10.
Khalifa bin Zayed
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Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is the President of the United Arab Emirates, the Emir of Abu Dhabi and the Supreme Commander of the Union Defence Force. He succeeded his father, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as Emir of Abu Dhabi on November 2,2004, as Crown Prince, he had already been acting as president since the late 1990s while his father was in ill health. Khalifa is also chairman of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages over $600 billion in assets, the Al Nahyan family is believed to have a fortune of $150 billion collectively. Khalifa was born to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Sheikha Hassa bint Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and he is the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed and is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. When his father, Sheikh Zayed, became Emir of Abu Dhabi he was appointed as Rulers Representative in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi, Zayed was the Rulers Representative in the Eastern Region before he became the Emir of Abu Dhabi. A few months later the position was handed to Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, on February 1,1969, Sheikh Khalifa was nominated as the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and on the next day he was appointed as the Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Defense. In that post, he oversaw the building up of the Abu Dhabi Defense Force, which after 1971 became the core of the UAE Armed Forces. Following the establishment of the UAE in 1971, Sheikh Khalifa assumed several positions in Abu Dhabi, Prime Minister, head of the Abu Dhabi Cabinet, Minister of Defense, in May 1976, he became deputy commander of the UAE armed forces, under the President. He also became the head of the Supreme Petroleum Council in the late 1980s, and continues in this position today and he was also the chairman of the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency. He succeeded to the posts of Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates on November 3,2004, replacing his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and he had been acting president since his father became ill prior to his passing. On December 1,2005, the President announced that half of the members of the Federal National Council, however, half of the councils members would still need to be appointed by the leaders of the emirates. The elections were set to place in December 2006. On January 4,2010, the worlds tallest man-made structure, originally known as Burj Dubai, was renamed the Burj Khalifa, in 2010, Khalifa was described in a WikiLeaks cable signed by the U. S. ambassador as a distant and uncharismatic personage. In March 2011, Khalifa sent the United Arab Emirates Air Force to support the intervention in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi, alongside forces from NATO, Qatar, Sweden. Later that year Khalifa was ranked as the worlds fourth-wealthiest monarch, in 2013, he commissioned Azzam, the longest motor yacht ever built at 590 ft long, with costs between $400–600 million. In Fall 2011, the Emirates initiated a program to promote allegiance to Khalifa, the program continues, and encourages not only Emirati nationals, but residents from any nationality to register their appreciation, recognition, and loyalty to the Emirs. In January 2014, Khalifa suffered a stroke and was reported to have been in a stable condition after undergoing an operation. Seychellois government records show that since 1995 Khalifa has spent $2 million buying up more than 66 acres of land on the Seychelles main island of Mahé, in 2008, the UAE came to the indebted Seychelles governments aid, with a $30 million injection
Khalifa bin Zayed
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Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 1997
Khalifa bin Zayed
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Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan with
President of Russia Vladimir Putin on 10 September 2007.
Khalifa bin Zayed
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The
Burj Khalifa Tower in
Dubai named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Khalifa bin Zayed
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Hospital in
Saidu Sharif,
Pakistan, donated by the Sheikh.
11.
Crown prince
–
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a prince is also titled crown princess. The term is now borne as a title mainly in Asia, Scandinavia, and the Middle East, however, heirs apparent to non-imperial and non-royal monarchies, crown prince is not used as a title, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for heir apparent. g. Former Crown Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, compare heir apparent and heir presumptive. In Scandinavian kingdoms, the heir presumptive to the crown may hold a different title than the heir apparent and it is also the title borne by the heir apparent of Liechtenstein, as well as the heir apparent or presumptive of Monaco. It generally requires a specific conferral by the sovereign, which may be withheld, reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran. Paras, Crown Prince of Nepal Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, Egypt, Prince of the Said, meaning Prince of Upper Egypt Persia, Pahlavi dynasty and Qajar dynasty, the full style was Vala Hazrat-i-Humayun Vali Ahd, Shahzada, i. e. His August Imperial Highness the Heir Apparent, Prince, the above component vali ahd meaning successor by virtue of a covenant was adopted by many oriental monarchies, even some non-Muslim, e. g. g. He was not necessarily the son, wonja. Southeast Asian traditions, Siam Makutrajakuman in Thailand since 1886, krom Phrarajawangboworn Sathanmongkol or Phra Maha Uparaja or commonly called Wang Na in Thailand prior to 1886. Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Anom in Yogyakarta sultanate and Surakarta, Indonesia, raja Muda or Tengku Mahkota in the Malay sultanates of Malaysia. org- here napoleonic section
Crown prince
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Throngs before the
Imperial Palace in Japan awaiting the appearance of the Crown Prince
Hirohito for the recent proclamation of his official recognition as the
heir apparent to the
Japanese Imperial Throne -- New York Times, 1916.
12.
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
–
Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan is the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Mohammed Al-Nahyan was born on 11 March 1961 and he is the third son of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, and his third wife, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Ketbi. He has five younger full-brothers, Hamdan, Hazza, Tahnoun, Mansour and they are known as Bani Fatima or sons of Fatima. In November 2003, his father Zayed bin Sultan appointed Sheikh Mohammed as Deputy Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, upon the death of his father, Al-Nayhan became Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in November 2004 and was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces in January 2005. Later that month, he was promoted to the rank of General and he also serves as a special adviser to the President of the UAE, Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, his older brother. He is also head of the Abu Dhabi council for economic development, Al-Nahyan is also the head of the Mubadala Development Company which, since its establishment in 2002, represents the main investment vehicle for the government of Abu Dhabi. Al-Nahyan is also a Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, in addition, he is the head of the UAE offsets programme bureau and is the head of the Abu Dhabi Education Council which was established in 2005. His efforts in the realm of economic development are aimed at increasing economic diversification in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al-Nayhan also stated that he was confident that the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi would be able to accumulate a prestigious art collection by the time of its opening in 2012. Al-Nahyan also accompanied the Queen and the Duke on a tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque at the beginning of their visit, in January 2011, Al-Nahyan received US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He represented the United Arab Emirates in the Nuclear Security Summit of 2012 and 2014, which were hosted by South Korea, in 2017 the Government of India Invited Sheikh Mohammed as Chief Guest for the 68th Republic Day Celebration on 26 January 2017. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was invited as a key speaker in the government summit 2015 and he gave the opening speech which was the first time he spoke officially to the nation regarding UAE matters. His opening address went beyond communicating to other government leaders and offered a vision for all Emiratis and it was an inspiring speech from someone whose voice is perhaps not heard frequently enough in public. He shared a vision of the UAE post oil age, which inspired everyone, Mohammed Bin Zayed is actively engaged in several projects targeted at increasing the welfare of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. He has initiated projects in areas, such as economic development, education. In 2011 Al-Nahyan and the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million each to fund the purchase, another area of interest of Al-Nahyan is the education sector. His activities in this include his role as President of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies. The centre is dedicated to the publication of academic analyses on topics relevant to the region, in the area of school curricula and higher education, Al-Nahyan is also Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council, which was founded in 2005. ADEC monitors and develops the educational system of the Emirate, in addition, Mohammed Bin Zayed is committed to environmental protection
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
–
His Highness General Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
–
President of the United States George W. Bush walks with Al Nahyan through an honor guard upon his arrival at
Camp David in June 2008
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
–
Sheikh Mohammed representing UAE in the
NSS 2012
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
–
Al Nahyan at the Cityscape Abu Dhabi in 2008
13.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
14.
American Dollar
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
American Dollar
–
Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
American Dollar
–
Federal Reserve Notes
American Dollar
–
Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
American Dollar
–
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
15.
USD
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
USD
–
Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
USD
–
Federal Reserve Notes
USD
–
Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
USD
–
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
16.
Arabic script
–
The Arabic script is a writing system used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic, dialects of Mandinka, Central Kurdish, Luri, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and others. Until the 16th century, it was used to write some texts in Spanish. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by the number of countries using it, the Arabic script is written from right to left in a cursive style. In most cases the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, the script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Qurʼān, the holy book of Islam. It is also the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy, the Arabic script has been adopted for use in a wide variety of languages besides Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology, the modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. In the cases of Bosnian, Kurdish, Kashmiri, and Uyghur writing systems, the Arabic script can therefore be used in both abugida and abjad, although it is often strongly, erroneously connected to the latter. Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, to a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb. Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language, the term ʻAjamī, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign, has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. There is evidence that writing Arabic in this set of letters influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant, Kazakh in China Kurdish in Northern Iraq and Northwest Iran. It is mainly used in Sri Lanka and the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu for religious purposes, arwi language is the language of Tamil Nadu Muslims. Malayalam language represented by Arabic script variant is known as Arabi Malayalam, the script has particular letters to represent the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. This script is used in madrasas of the South Indian state of Kerala. It is similar to Chittagonian language in neighboring Bangladesh and sometimes using the Roman script. Malay in the Arabic script known as Jawi, in some cases it can be seen in the signboards of shops or market stalls. In addition, some television programming uses Jawi, such as announcements, advertisements, news, social programs, Berber languages have often been written in an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet. The use of the Arabic alphabet, as well as the competing Latin, West Africa Zarma language of the Songhay family
Arabic script
–
Basic Arabic alphabet
Arabic script
–
Calligraphy
17.
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Replacement character
18.
Persian Gulf
–
The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, the Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War and it is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait. The gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, the body of water is historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf. Some Arab governments refer to it as the Arabian Gulf or The Gulf, the name Gulf of Iran is used by the International Hydrographic Organization. The Persian Gulf is geologically young, having been formed around 15,000 years ago. Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast, the Persian Gulf is about 56 km wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states of the region. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Persian Gulfs southern limit as The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Oman and this limit is defined as A line joining Ràs Limah on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh on the coast of Iran. The Persian Gulf and its areas are the worlds largest single source of crude oil. Safaniya Oil Field, the worlds largest offshore oilfield, is located in the Persian Gulf, large gas finds have also been made, with Qatar and Iran sharing a giant field across the territorial median line. Using this gas, Qatar has built up a substantial liquefied natural gas, the oil-rich countries that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as the Persian Gulf States. In 550 BC, the Achaemenid Empire established the first ancient empire in Persis, consequently, in the Greek sources, the body of water that bordered this province came to be known as the Persian Gulf. In the travel account of Pythagoras, several chapters are related to description of his travels accompanied by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great, to Susa and Persepolis, and the area is described. This water channel separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate, has enjoyed an Iranian Identity since at least 2200 years ago. Before being given its present name, the Persian Gulf was called many different names, the classical Greek writers, like Herodotus, called it the Red Sea. In Babylonian texts, it was known as the sea above Akkad, the name of the gulf, historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf after the land of Persia, has been disputed by some Arab countries since the 1960s
Persian Gulf
–
Persian Gulf from space
Persian Gulf
–
A historical map of the Persian Gulf in
a Dubai museum with the word Persian removed
Persian Gulf
–
Picture depicting extent of early civilizations around the Persian Gulf, including Lackhmids, and Sassanids.
Persian Gulf
–
Picture depicting the Achaemenid Persian empire in relation to the Persian Gulf.
19.
Arabic language
–
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
Arabic language
–
The Galland Manuscript of
One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic language
–
al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (
Naskh script)
Arabic language
–
Bilingual traffic sign in
Qatar.
Arabic language
–
Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.
20.
Dubai
–
Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the countrys legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the northern coastline. Dubai will host World Expo 2020, Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubais economy was based on revenues from trade and, to an extent, oil exploration concessions. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969, Dubais oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low, today, less than 5% of the emirates revenue comes from oil. The emirates Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, Dubai was recently named the best destination for Muslim travellers by Salam Standard. Dubai has recently attracted attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the worlds tallest building, Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the citys largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. As of 2012, Dubai was the 22nd most expensive city in the world, in 2014, Dubais hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world, after Geneva. Dubai was rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East by U. S. global consulting firm Mercer, Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word Dubai. One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, another theory states that the name came from a word meaning money, as people from Dubai were commonly believed to be rich due to the thriving trading centre of the location. An Arabic proverb says Daba Dubai, meaning They came with a lot of money, according to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAEs history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, an inhabitant or native of the city is a Dubaian. Although stone tools have been found at archaeological sites, little is known about the UAEs early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds, the remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries
Dubai
–
Clockwise from the top: skyline with
Burj Khalifa;
Burj Al Arab; satellite image showing
Palm Jumeirah and
The World Islands;
Dubai Marina; and
Sheikh Zayed road.
Dubai
–
Al Bastakiya, Dubai
Dubai
–
The
Al Ras district in
Deira, Dubai in the 1960s
Dubai
–
The
Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area at night
21.
Federal National Council
–
The Federal National Council is the federal authority of the United Arab Emirates formed to represent the general Emirati people. The FNC consist of 40 members with advisory tasks in the house of legislative council, twenty members are elected by the citizens of the UAE through the general election and the other half are elected by the electoral college and rulers of each emirate. The FNC assembly hall is located in the Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, the National Election Committee conducts the election and is authorized to nominate the electoral college members. Any citizen can be selected as a member, the NEC was established in February 2011 by a consensus of the UAE Supreme Council and chaired by the Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs. The NEC have the authority to look after the election of representatives from all the emirates of the UAE to the Federal National Council, before 2006, all members of the FNC were picked by the Rulers of the emirates. Over the last 43 years, the FNC has discussed hundreds of issues and drafted laws concerning the people, according to the Constitution, federal draft laws first have to pass through the FNC for review and recommendations. Draft laws and amendments formed with help of specialized house committees are presented to the Council for discussion and later sent back to the Cabinet for consideration, throughout its history, the Council has influenced the Federal Government to draft laws. Original draft laws from the Cabinet are amended by the Council to suit the needs of the citizens which they represent, one of the main duties of the FNC is to discuss the annual budget. Specialized sub-committees and a Research and Studies Unit have been formed to assist FNC members to cope with the demands of modern government. Not all UAE nationals are allowed to vote or run for office,6,689 out of some 800,000 Emirati citizens in the country were eligible to take part in 2006 election. Those eligible were chosen by the rulers of the emirates, women are allowed to vote and run for office but there is no quota to ensure a set number of women are elected as there is in some other Arab countries. Over 14 percent of candidates are women, by the end of 2003, all forty members of the FNC were male. Election officials billed the polls as a run they hoped will pave the way for universal suffrage in the coming years. Even then, however, only half of the FNC will be elected, in late 2006, half of the organization was elected. These elections were seen as the first steps toward Emirati democracy, in 2011, parliamentary elections had an expanded electoral college with 129,274 members, nearly 20 times more than in 2006. The new Electoral College includes about 12 per cent of UAE nationals, approximately 35 per cent of the members were under 30 years of age and 46 per cent were women. In all,468 candidates, including 85 women, stood for the elections, many candidates pledged to provide better education and health care and more housing for young UAE nationals. They also promised to strengthen the UAE identity and culture, several candidates used social media networks such as Facebook to present their plans
Federal National Council
–
Federal National Council
22.
Urbanization
–
Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to the change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed, the United Nations projected that half of the worlds population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and that is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050, much of which will occur in Africa and Asia. Notably, the United Nations has also projected that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will be absorbed by cities. Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including geography, sociology, economics, urban planning, the phenomenon has been closely linked to modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization. Urbanization can be seen as a condition at a set time or as an increase in that condition over time. The first major change in settlement patterns was the accumulation of hunter-gatherers into villages many years ago. This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify during the few decades. Outside Asia, Mexico City, São Paulo, London, New York City, Lagos, in England the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. Growing trade around the world also allowed cereals to be imported from North America and refrigerated meat from Australasia, spatially, cities also expanded due to the development of public transport systems, which facilitated commutes of longer distances to the city centre for the working class. Urbanization rapidly spread across the Western world and, since the 1950s, at the turn of the 20th century, just 15% of the world population lived in cities. According to the UN the year 2007 witnessed the turning point when more than 50% of the population were living in cities. Living in a city can provide opportunities of proximity, diversity, as against this, there may be alienation issues, stress, increased cost of living, and negative social aspects that result from mass marginalization. In cities, money, services, wealth and opportunities are centralized, many rural inhabitants come to the city to seek their fortune and alter their social position. Businesses, which provide jobs and exchange capital, are concentrated in urban areas. Whether the source is trade or tourism, it is also through the ports or banking systems, commonly located in cities, many people move into cities for the economic opportunities, but this does not fully explain the very high recent urbanization rates in places like China and India. Rural flight is a factor to urbanization. Farm living has always been susceptible to environmental conditions, and in times of drought, flood or pestilence
Urbanization
–
Guangzhou, a city of 12.7 million people, is one of the 8 adjacent metropolises located in the largest single agglomeration on earth, ringing the
Pearl River Delta of China.
Urbanization
–
Mumbai is the
most populous city in India, and the fourth
most populous city in the world, with a total
metropolitan area population of approximately 23.9 million.
Urbanization
–
Centre of
São Paulo, one of the largest
metropolises in the world.
Urbanization
–
Population age comparison between rural
Pocahontas County, Iowa and urban
Johnson County, Iowa, illustrating the flight of young adults (red) to urban centres in
Iowa.
23.
Politics
–
Politics is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community as well as the interrelationship between communities. It is very often said that politics is about power, a political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. History of political thought can be traced back to antiquity, with seminal works such as Platos Republic, Aristotles Politics. Formal Politics refers to the operation of a system of government and publicly defined institutions. Political parties, public policy or discussions about war and foreign affairs would fall under the category of Formal Politics, many people view formal politics as something outside of themselves, but that can still affect their daily lives. Semi-formal Politics is Politics in government associations such as neighborhood associations, informal Politics is understood as forming alliances, exercising power and protecting and advancing particular ideas or goals. Generally, this includes anything affecting ones daily life, such as the way an office or household is managed, informal Politics is typically understood as everyday politics, hence the idea that politics is everywhere. The word comes from the same Greek word from which the title of Aristotles book Politics also derives, the book title was rendered in Early Modern English in the mid-15th century as Polettiques, it became politics in Modern English. The history of politics is reflected in the origin, development, the origin of the state is to be found in the development of the art of warfare. Historically speaking, all communities of the modern type owe their existence to successful warfare. Kings, emperors and other types of monarchs in many countries including China, of the institutions that ruled states, that of kingship stood at the forefront until the French Revolution put an end to the divine right of kings. Nevertheless, the monarchy is among the political institutions, dating as early as 2100 BC in Sumeria to the 21st century AD British Monarchy. Kingship becomes an institution through the institution of Hereditary monarchy, the king often, even in absolute monarchies, ruled his kingdom with the aid of an elite group of advisors, a council without which he could not maintain power. As these advisors and others outside the monarchy negotiated for power, constitutional monarchies emerged, long before the council became a bulwark of democracy, it rendered invaluable aid to the institution of kingship by, Preserving the institution of kingship through heredity. Preserving the traditions of the social order, being able to withstand criticism as an impersonal authority. Being able to manage a greater deal of knowledge and action than an individual such as the king. The greatest of the subordinates, the earls and dukes in England and Scotland
Politics
–
Political views differ on average across nations. A recreation of the
Inglehart –
Welzel Cultural Map of the World based on the
World Values Survey.
24.
Industry
–
Industry is the production of goods or related services within an economy. The major source of revenue of a group or company is the indicator of its relevant industry, when a large group has multiple sources of revenue generation, it is considered to be working in different industries. Manufacturing industry became a key sector of production and labour in European and North American countries during the Industrial Revolution, upsetting previous mercantile and this came through many successive rapid advances in technology, such as the production of steel and coal. Following the Industrial Revolution, possibly a third of the economic output are derived that is from manufacturing industries. Many developed countries and many developing/semi-developed countries depend significantly on manufacturing industry, Industries, the countries they reside in, and the economies of those countries are interlinked in a complex web of interdependence. Industries can be classified in a variety of ways, at the top level, industry is often classified according to the three-sector theory into sectors, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Some authors add quaternary or even quinary sectors, over time, the fraction of a societys industry within each sector changes. Below the economic sectors there are other more detailed industry classifications. These classification systems commonly divide industries according to functions and markets. Market-based classification systems such as the Global Industry Classification Standard and the Industry Classification Benchmark are used in finance, the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities is the most complete and systematic industrial classification made by the United Nations Statistics Division. ISIC is a classification of economic activities arranged so that entities can be classified according to the activity they carry out. The Industrial Revolution led to the development of factories for large-scale production, originally the factories were steam-powered, but later transitioned to electricity once an electrical grid was developed. The mechanized assembly line was introduced to parts in a repeatable fashion. This led to significant increases in efficiency, lowering the cost of the end process, later automation was increasingly used to replace human operators. This process has accelerated with the development of the computer and the robot, historically certain manufacturing industries have gone into a decline due to various economic factors, including the development of replacement technology or the loss of competitive advantage. An example of the former is the decline in manufacturing when the automobile was mass-produced. A recent trend has been the migration of prosperous, industrialized nations towards a post-industrial society and this is manifested by an increase in the service sector at the expense of manufacturing, and the development of an information-based economy, the so-called informational revolution. In a post-industrial society, manufacturing is relocated to more favourable locations through a process of off-shoring
Industry
–
A factory, a traditional symbol of the industrial development (a
paper mill in
Georgetown, the United States)
Industry
–
GDP composition of sector and labour force by occupation in the form of any component to economy. The green, red, and blue components of the colours of the countries represent the percentages for the
agriculture, industry, and
services sectors, respectively.
Industry
–
A female industrial
worker amidst heavy steel semi-products (KINEX BEARINGS,
Bytča,
Slovakia, c. 1995–2000)
Industry
–
The assembly plant of the
Bell Aircraft Corporation (
Wheatfield, New York, United States, 1944) producing Aircobra P 39 aircraft
25.
Culture
–
Culture can be defined in numerous ways. In the words of anthropologist E. B, Tylor, it is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. The Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is the way of life, especially the customs and beliefs. As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a concept in anthropology. The word is used in a sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experiences with symbols. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes seen to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies. Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass mediated forms of culture that emerged in the 20th century. When used as a count noun, a culture is the set of customs, traditions, in this sense, multiculturalism is a concept that values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same planet. Sometimes culture is used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a context, meaning something similar. His use, and that of many writers after him, refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human. To be cultural, to have a culture, is to inhabit a place sufficiently intensive to cultivate it—to be responsible for it, to respond to it, thus a contrast between culture and civilization is usually implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such. Cultural invention has come to any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behavior. Humanity is in a global accelerating culture change period, driven by the expansion of commerce, the mass media, and above all. Culture repositioning means the reconstruction of the concept of a society. Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting change, Social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new cultural models, and spurring or enabling generative action. These social shifts may accompany ideological shifts and other types of cultural change, for example, the U. S. feminist movement involved new practices that produced a shift in gender relations, altering both gender and economic structures. Environmental conditions may also enter as factors, Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce—or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices
Culture
–
Human
symbolic expression developed as prehistoric humans reached
behavioral modernity
Culture
–
Religion and expressive
art are important aspects of human culture.
Culture
–
Celebrations,
rituals, and patterns of consumption are important aspects of
folk culture.
Culture
–
Social and political organization varies between different cultures.
26.
Commerce
–
Commerce is the activity of buying and selling of goods and services, especially on a large scale. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural and technological systems that are in operation in any country or internationally, commerce is derived from the Latin commercium, from cum, together, and merx, merchandise. Some commentators trace the origins of commerce to the start of transaction in prehistoric times. Apart from traditional self-sufficiency, trading became a facility of prehistoric people. Historian Peter Watson and Ramesh Manickam dates the history of commerce from circa 150,000 years ago. In historic times, the introduction of currency as a money, facilitated a wider exchange of goods. Numismatists have collections of these tokens, which include coins from some Ancient World large-scale societies. For example, if a man who makes pots for a living needs a new house, he/she may wish to hire someone to build it for him/her. But he/she cannot make an equivalent number of pots to equal this service done for him/her, because if the builder could build the house. During the Middle Ages, commerce developed in Europe by trading luxury goods at trade fairs, wealth became converted into movable wealth or capital. Banking systems developed where money on account was transferred across national boundaries, hand to hand markets became a feature of town life, and were regulated by town authorities. Today commerce includes as a subset a complex system of companies which try to maximize their profits by offering products and services to the market at the lowest production cost
Commerce
–
The
caduceus has been used today as the symbol of commerce with which
Mercury has traditionally been associated.
27.
Al Ain
–
Al-Ain, also known as the Garden City due to its greenery, is the largest inland city in the United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest overall, and the second-largest in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. With a population of 650,000, it is located approximately 160 kilometres east of the capital Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain is the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates, and has the highest proportion of Emirati nationals. Al-Ain is located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, inland on the border with Oman, the freeways connecting Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai form a geographic triangle in the country, each city being roughly 130 kilometres from the other two. Historically a part of Ṫawam or Al Buraimi Oasis, Al-Ain has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, with archaeological sites showing human settlement at Al-Hili and Jabel Ḥafeeṫ. These early cultures built beehive tombs for their dead and engaged in hunting and gathering in the area, the oasis provided water for early farms until the modern age. A companion of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, Kaab Bin Ahbar, was sent to the region to introduce Islam to the people. He settled and died in the oasis, the forts currently in Al-Ain were built in the late 19th or early 20th century to solidify Abu Dhabis control over the oasis. Wilfred Thesiger visited Al-Ain in the late 1940s during his travels across the Empty Quarter and he met Sheikh Zayed and stayed with him at Al-Muwaiji Fort. This network of fortresses protected the Oases and settlements from bandit attacks, in 1952 Saudi Arabia sent raiders to capture Al-Ains fortresses and incorporate the oasis into the Saudi kingdom. Forces from the Trucial Oman Scouts, as well as the army of Muscat-Oman, with British intervention, the Saudi forces surrendered, leaving the oasis back in the hands of Abu Dhabi and Muscat-Oman. In 1971 Queen Elizabeth II visited the Hilton Hotel in the area, still in use, following independence in 1971, Al-Ain experienced rapid growth and investment as part of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, quickly becoming larger and more successful than Omans Al-Buraimi. In 1972 Oman and Abu Dhabi agreed on the borders to divide Al-Buraimi. Until Sheikh Zayeds death in 2004, Al-Ains municipal code forbade construction of buildings over four storeys, with the exceptions of the Hilton, Danat Al Ain Resort, in the 1990s, a serious uprising occurred among the labourers of the industrial district of Al-Ain, Aṣ-Ṣanaiya. This uprising was suppressed by the UAE army and local police forces, all the labourers involved were interned and deported. Until 2006, Al-Buraimi and Al-Ain shared an open border and this border was closed in November 2006, and passport controls were imposed. Al-Ain is located in the region of Abu Dhabi Emirate just south of Dubai. The Eastern region covers an area of approximately 13,100 km², Oman lies to the east, Dubai and Sharjah to the north, Abu Dhabi to the west and the Empty Quarter desert and Saudi Arabia to the south. The topography of Al-Ain is unique and varies as one travel to the east, Jebel Hafeet is considered one of the monuments of Al-Ain, lying just to the southeast and rising to 1,300 m in elevation
Al Ain
–
A view over Green Mubazarrah
Al Ain
–
An alley at the Al Ain Oasis
Al Ain
–
View of Al Ain from top of
Jebel Hafeet
Al Ain
–
Aerial view of Al Ain from top of the
Sheikha Salama mosque, with Jabal Hafeet in the background
28.
Salt marsh
–
It is dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a role in the aquatic food web. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection, salt marshes occur on low-energy shorelines in temperate and high-latitudes which can be stable or emerging, or submerging if the sedimentation rate exceeds the subsidence rate. Commonly these shorelines consist of mud or sand flats which are nourished with sediment from inflowing rivers and these typically include sheltered environments such as embankments, estuaries and the leeward side of barrier islands and spits. In the tropics and sub-tropics they are replaced by mangroves, an area that differs from a marsh in that instead of herbaceous plants. Most salt marshes have a low topography with low elevations but a vast wide area, salt marshes are located among different landforms based on their physical and geomorphological settings. Such marsh landforms include deltaic marshes, estuarine, back-barrier, open coast, embayments, deltaic marshes are associated with large rivers where many occur in Southern Europe such as the Camargue, France in the Rhone delta or the Ebro delta in Spain. They are also extensive within the rivers of the Mississippi Delta in the United States, in New Zealand, most salt marshes occur at the head of estuaries in areas where there is little wave action and high sedimentation. Such marshes are located in Awhitu Regional Park in Auckland, the Manawatu Estuary, back-barrier marshes are sensitive to the reshaping of barriers in the landward side of which they have been formed. They are common along much of the eastern coast of the United States, large, shallow coastal embayments can hold salt marshes with examples including Morecambe Bay and Portsmouth in Britain and the Bay of Fundy in North America. They have a big impact on the biodiversity of the area, salt marsh ecology involves complex food webs which include primary producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. The low physical energy and high grasses provide a refuge for animals, many marine fish use salt marshes as nursery grounds for their young before they move to open waters. Saltmarshes across 99 countries were mapped by Mcowen et al, a total of 5,495,089 hectares of mapped saltmarsh across 43 countries and territories are represented in a Geographic Information Systems polygon shapefile. This estimate is at the low end of previous estimates. Mats of filamentous blue-green algae can fix silt and clay sized sediment particles to their sticky sheaths on contact which can increase the erosion resistance of the sediments. This assists the process of sediment accretion to allow colonising species to grow, as a result, competitive species that prefer higher elevations relative to sea level can inhabit the area and often a succession of plant communities develops. Coastal salt marshes can be distinguished from terrestrial habitats by the tidal flow that occurs
Salt marsh
–
An
estuarine salt marsh along the
Heathcote River,
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Salt marsh
–
Salt marsh during
low tide, mean low tide,
high tide and very high tide (
spring tide).
Salt marsh
–
Salt marsh on
Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
Salt marsh
–
An
Atlantic coastal salt marsh in
Connecticut.
29.
Liwa Oasis
–
The Liwa Oasis is a large oasis area in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Liwa Oasis is about 100 km south of the Persian Gulf coast and 150 km SSW of the city of Abu Dhabi in the Al Gharbia Region, on the edge of Rub al Khali desert. It is centered around 23°08′N 53°46′E and stretches about 100 km east-west and it consists of some 50 villages. The geographic and economic center of the oasis is Muzayri, where the highway from Abu Dhabi enters the oasis, according to the census of population of 2005, the population was 20,196. Earlier estimates judging from satellite images which gauged the population at 50,000 to 150,000, were too high, the villages of Liwa Oasis are the southernmost settlements of Abu Dhabi and of the United Arab Emirates. The southern border of Abu Dhabi with Saudi Arabia, which runs at a distance between 16 and 35 km to the Oasis, is a line in the Rub al Khali desert. Mahdar Bin Usayyan is the southernmost village of the Emirates,10 km south of the border, and 40 km south of the eastern part of the oasis is the Saudi oil facility Shaybah. However, there is no road linking Liwa Oasis and Shaybah, a modern, multilane highway connects the oasis area to the capital, Abu Dhabi. An important traditional branch of the economy is date farming, there is a widespread use of drip irrigation and greenhouses. The importance of tourism is on the rise, Liwa Hotel in Muzayri boasts three stars. Liwa Rest House, in the village and run by the government of Abu Dhabi, is the second establishment in the oasis. It is primarily aimed at minor officials and businessmen, there is 5 star, the oasis is the place of birth of the ruling families of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In 1793, the ruling family Al Nahyan moved their residence from Liwa to the city of Abu Dhabi, traditionally, men from Liwa were pearl divers on the coast during the summer months. Pearl diving offered a source of income. The USGS Geographic Names Database lists 39 populated places in the area of the oasis, some of the more important villages are printed in bold. Media related to Liwa Oasis at Wikimedia Commons Liwa Desert Activities
Liwa Oasis
–
Location in the United Arab Emirates
Liwa Oasis
–
The satellite image shows the location of the belt of oases along the northern reaches of the
Rub al Khali dune fields. The unmarked border with Saudi Arabia is shown as a red line. To the north, irrigated areas along the highway to Tarif on the coast of the Persian Gulf are visible.
Liwa Oasis
–
Highway connecting the villages of the Liwa Oasis
30.
Iraq Petroleum Company
–
The Iraq Petroleum Company, known prior to 1929 as the Turkish Petroleum Company, is an oil company which, between 1925 and 1961, had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq. Today, it is owned by some of the worlds largest oil companies and is headquartered in London. In June 1972, the Baathist government in Iraq nationalised the IPC, the company Iraq Petroleum Company still remains extant, however, on paper and one associated company – the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company – also continues with its original shareholding intact. The related Iraq Petroleum Group was an association of companies played a major role in the discovery. The first interest was shown by Imperial German banks and companies, already involved in the building of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, followed by British interests. In 1911, in an attempt to bring together competing British and German interests in the region, in 1912, this company became the Turkish Petroleum Company, formed with the purpose of acquiring concessions from the Ottoman Empire to explore for oil in Mesopotamia. The owners were a group of large European companies – Deutsche Bank, the Anglo Saxon Oil Company, the driving force behind its creation was Gulbenkian, and the largest single shareholder was the British government-controlled Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which by 1914 held 50% of the shares. TPC received a promise of a concession from the Ottoman government, Deutsche Bank brought with it a concession granted to the Anatolian Railway Company to explore for minerals and oil along a 40 km -wide strip either side of its proposed railway in Mesopotamia. On 28 June 1914, the Turkish grand vizier confirmed the promise of a concession to TPC, a rising demand for petroleum during the war had demonstrated to the big powers the importance of having their own sources of oil. Since one of the partners of TPC had been German. This was agreed by the San Remo Oil Agreement, much to the annoyance of the Americans who felt excluded from Middle Eastern oil and demanded an open door. After prolonged and sometimes sharp diplomatic exchanges, U. S. oil companies were permitted to buy into the TPC, the concession required the company to select 24 rectangular plots of 8 square miles each for drilling operations. During the 1925/6 season, a geological party, comprising representatives of the shareholding companies together with an American contingent. Two wells were selected for drilling at Pulkanah and one each at Khashm al Ahmar, Kirkuk was included as the sixth location. The well at Baba Gurgur was located by geologist J. M. Muir just north of Kirkuk, drilling started, and in the early hours of 14 October 1927 oil was struck. Many tons of oil were spilled before the well was brought under control. TPC was to be organized as a company, registered in Britain. The company itself was allowed to refine and sell to Iraqs internal market
Iraq Petroleum Company
–
Calouste Gulbenkian
Iraq Petroleum Company
–
Iraq Petroleum Company
Iraq Petroleum Company
–
Kirkuk district: an oil gusher spouting with a stream of oil in foreground.
Iraq Petroleum Company
–
IPC assistants welding pipes together on the Esdraelon stretch in the 1930s.
31.
BP
–
BP P. L. C. also referred to by its former name, British Petroleum, is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. It also has renewable energy interests in biofuels and wind power, the company has around 17,200 service stations worldwide. Its largest division is BP America in the United States, in Russia BP owns a 19. 75% stake in Rosneft, the worlds largest publicly traded oil and gas company by hydrocarbon reserves and production. BP has a listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has secondary listings on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, BPs origins date back to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908, established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit oil discoveries in Iran. In 1935, it became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and in 1954 British Petroleum, in 1959, the company expanded beyond the Middle East to Alaska and it was one of the the first companies to strike oil in the North Sea. British Petroleum acquired majority control of Standard Oil of Ohio in 1978, formerly majority state-owned, the British government privatised the company in stages between 1979 and 1987. British Petroleum merged with Amoco in 1998, becoming BP Amoco plc, from 2003 to 2013, BP was a partner in the TNK-BP joint venture in Russia. BP has been involved in several major environmental and safety incidents. 1.8 million gallons of Corexit oil dispersant were used in the cleanup response, legal proceedings continued into January 2015 which determined payouts and fines under the Clean Water Act and the Natural Resources Damage Assessment. BP appealed the ruling, which raised concerns about BPs future and they settled in July 2015 in the amount of $19 billion plus the original amount. In May 1908 a group of British geologists discovered a large amount of oil at Masjid-i-Suleiman in Mohammerah and it was the first commercially significant find of oil in the Middle East. William Knox DArcy, by contract with the Emir of Mohammerah, Sheikh Khazal Khan al-Kaabi and this event changed the history of the Middle East. The oil discovery led to petrochemical industry development and also the establishment of industries that depended on oil. On 14 April 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company, some of the shares were sold to the public. The first chairman and minority shareholder of the company became Lord Strathcona, the refinery was built and began operating in 1912. In 1913, the British Government acquired a controlling interest in the company and at the suggestion of Winston Churchill, the Royal Navy, which projected British power all over the world, came to be run 100% on oil from Iran. In 1919, the became a shale-oil producer by establishing a subsidiary named Scottish Oils which merged remaining Scottish oil-shale industries
BP
–
William Knox D'Arcy
BP
–
BP plc
BP
–
A BP Motor Spirit advertisement from 1922
BP
–
A BP truck from 1967
32.
Total S.A.
–
Total S. A. is a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven Supermajor oil companies in the world. Total is also a large scale chemicals manufacturer, Total is a major player in solar energy with SunPower and Total Solar. Total has its office in the Tour Total in La Défense district in Courbevoie. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, at Poincarés behest, Col. Ernest Mercier with the support of ninety banks and companies founded Total on 28 March 1924, as the Compagnie française des pétroles, literally the French Petroleum Company. Petroleum was seen as vital in the case of a new war with Germany, the French governments stake in TPC was transferred to CFP, and the Red Line agreement in 1928 rearranged the shareholding of CPF in TPC to 23. 75%. The company from the start was regarded as a private company in view of its listing on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1929. The company during the 1930s was engaged in exploration and production and its first refinery began operating in Normandy in 1933. After World War II, CFP engaged in oil exploration in Venezuela, Canada, Exploration in Algeria, then a French colony, began in 1946, with Algeria becoming a leading source of oil in the 1950s. In 1954, CFP introduced its downstream product – Total brand of gasoline in the African continent and Europe. In 1980, Total Petroleum Ltd. a company controlled 50% by CFP and this purchase gave Total refining capacity, transportation, and a network of 350 service stations in 20 states. The company renamed itself Total CFP in 1985, to build on the popularity of its gasoline brand, later in 1991, the name was changed to Total, when it became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Total continued to expand its presence in North America under several brand names. In 1989, Denver, Colorado, based Total Petroleum, Total CFPs North American unit, purchased 125 Road Runner retail locations from Texarkana, by 1993, Total Petroleum was operating 2,600 retail stores under the Vickers, Apco, Road Runner, and Total brands. That year, the company began remodeling and rebranding all of its North American gasoline, only four years later, Total sold its North American refining and retail operations to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock for $400 million in stock and $414 million in assumed debt. After Totals takeover of Petrofina of Belgium in 1999, it known as Total Fina. Afterwards it also acquired Elf Aquitaine, first named TotalFinaElf after the merger in 2000, it was later renamed back to Total on 6 May 2003. During that rebranding, the current globe logo was unveiled, in 2003, Total signed for a 30% stake in the gas exploration venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – South Rub al-Khali joint venture along with Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco. The stake was bought out by its partners
Total S.A.
–
Tour Total, the Paris headquarters
Total S.A.
–
Total S.A.
Total S.A.
–
Total Plaza, the headquarters of the subsidiary
Total Petrochemicals USA, in
Downtown Houston
Total S.A.
–
Headquarters of Total Cambodia in Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
33.
Hermann Burchardt
–
Hermann Burchardt was a German explorer and photographer of Jewish descent, who is renowned for his black and white pictorial essays of scenes in Arabia in the early 20th century. Burchardt, born in Berlin in 1857, gave up his unwanted merchant profession at the age of 30, around this time, Burchardt who had a developed a keen interest in photography, chose to become a privateer - that is, a man who travelled for pleasure. His inherited wealth enabled him to rent an apartment in Damascus, Syria, in his travels throughout the Muslim world, he was usually accompanied by his Syrian Arab guide and confidant, Abu Ibrahim. The beginning of his journeys took him to Tangier, in Morocco, eventually, his tours would lead him to East Africa and, particularly, to the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. On these trips he was furnished with his own complete, state-of-the-art photographic equipment, enabling him to take photographs of peoples and he had also taken along with him the necessary tools for developing the plates and for the production of prints. In Burchardt’s last missive sent by postcard from Mocha and dated 8 December 1909, he wrote and it exceeds all my expectations, with regard to the destruction. It looks like a city destroyed by earthquakes. The path from Taiz to here, which takes 3 days, was or should have been insecure, there were the usual disorders with the tax collectors, with whom there were deaths on both sides. Here lives the Italian consulate, and the consul will go back with me to Sanaa, photos from here will be very interesting. The last stage in the plain is hot, bad water. Will be glad to once again reach the plateau of Arabia Felix. Others say it was a case of wanton robbery, in Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida the news aroused general mourning among the European colony. The poor of Sanaa certainly weep over his tragic death, god will remember his kindness and charity. I know very well what he had done to comfort the poor. ”His first trip in the Spring of 1893 brought him to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt. Later he settled in Damascus for a few years, using this as a base for his travels throughout the region until he was murdered in Yemen while en route from Mocha to Sanaa. Most of Burchardts photographs have now dated and their geographical location determined. A small but exquisite part of the collection has now been edited and commented in a volume with texts in both English and German. This leg of the journey has been described in only one publication, namely
Hermann Burchardt
–
Hermann Burchardt (left) with his Yemeni secretary, Aḥmed Muḥammad el-Ǧarādī (ca. 1909)
Hermann Burchardt
–
Hermann Burchardt (1857–1909
Hermann Burchardt
–
Doha in Qatar, photographed by Hermann Burchardt in 1908
34.
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
–
The Ethnological Museum of Berlin is one of the Berlin State Museums, the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in the complex in Dahlem, along with the Museum of Asian Art. The museum holds more than 500,000 objects and is one of the largest and most important collections of works of art, as the museum’s collections expanded in the early twentieth century, the museum quickly outgrew its facility in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße. A new building was erected in Dahlem to house the museum’s store rooms, in the Second World War, the main building of the museum was heavily damaged. It was demolished in 1961, and the buildings in Dahlem were reconfigured to serve as the exhibition spaces. Following German reunification, although many of the Berlin museum collections were relocated, starting in 2000, concrete plans were developed to relocate the collections back to the center of the city. Beginning in January 2016, the Ethnological Museum began the process of dismantling its exhibitions in preparation for its move to the Humboldt Forum. Until January 2017, the museum remain open to the public, and its permanent exhibitions of works from Africa, Mesoamerican archaeology. Highlights include the collections of painted Maya vases and drinking cups, Benin bronzes, sculpture from Cameroon, the collections themselves encompass more than 500,000 from around the world. In addition, the museum more than 280,000 historical photographs, a substantial archive, more than 125,000 sound recordings. The collection is organized according to geography as well as methodological approaches, the main divisions are Africa, Oceania, East-and North-Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, American ethnology, American archaeology, and ethnomusicology. The museum also houses a reference library of more than 140,000 volumes relating to ethnology, non-European art. These collections are all housed in the complex in Dahlem. The museums first building in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße was already too small to accommodate the collections when it opened in 1886, by 1906, the first construction began on a second facility for the museum in Dahlem. The museum intended to use space in Dahlem to store and conduct research on the large collections, but to continue to exhibit portions of the collection in the building in the city center. Plans were developed for a complex in Dahlem, consisting of four large buildings, one for each of the non-European geographical regions of the globe, Asia, Africa, Oceania. Construction began in 1914, the architect Bruno Paul was commissioned to build the structure to house the Asian collections, the work was stopped, however, because of the First World War and was only completed in 1921. However, the museum lacked the resources to erect the other three planned buildings, the museum continued to function with two separate facilities housing its collections until the Second World War
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
–
The Melanesian room, with reconstructed houses
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
–
Exhibit featuring artefacts from the indigenous communities of North America
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
–
Exhibit deaturing artefacts from Mesoamerica
35.
Arabian Peninsula
–
The Arabian Peninsula, simplified Arabia is a peninsula of Western Asia situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian plate. From a geological perspective, it is considered a subcontinent of Asia and it is the largest peninsula in the world, at 3,237,500 km2. The Arabian Peninsula consists of the countries Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Middle East and the Arab world due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Before the modern era, it was divided into four regions, Hejaz, Najd, Southern Arabia. Hejaz and Najd make up most of Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia consists of Yemen and some parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Eastern Arabia consists of the coastal strip of the Persian Gulf. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges, harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria. The peninsulas constituent countries are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula. Six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council, however, this is a disputed term. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the live in Saudi Arabia. The peninsula contains the worlds largest reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a peninsula in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, though historically lightly populated, political Arabia is noted for a high population growth rate - as the result of both very strong inflows of migrant labor as well as sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be young and heavily skewed gender ratio dominated by males. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry, the four smallest states, which have their entire coastlines on the Persian Gulf, exhibit the worlds most extreme population growth, roughly tripling every 20 years. In 2014, the population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936. Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Arabia Haplogroup J is the most abundant component in the Arabian peninsula and its two main subclades, show opposite latitudinal gradients in the Middle East
Arabian Peninsula
–
A map of the Arabian peninsula made in 1720 by the German publisher
Christoph Weigel
Arabian Peninsula
–
Arabia
Arabian Peninsula
–
Africa, Arabian subcontinent (Asia), and Eurasia
Arabian Peninsula
–
A caravan crossing the
ad-Dahna Desert in central Saudi Arabia
36.
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
–
Sheikh Zayed Bridge is an arch bridge in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Named after the principal architect and former president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Its curved design arches evoke undulating sand dunes of the desert, the bridge is the third traffic route connecting the mainland to the island of Abu Dhabi and the new main gateway over the Maqtah channel. The bridge was designed by architect Zaha Hadid as the landmark for the UAEs capital city. Architect, Zaha Hadid Lighting Design, Rogier van der Heide at Hollands Licht Structural design, Rendel [formerly Construction engineers, geotechnical engineering, DME Geotech Contractor, Archirodon Group N. V. Subcontractor, FIP Industriale S. p. A. Prestressing, VSL International Commissioning of Feature Lighting on-site, Arup, Sheikh Zayed Bridge eases traffic on first working day
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
–
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
37.
Zaha Hadid
–
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE, RA was an Iraqi-born British architect. She was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize and she received the UKs most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Elizabeth II for services to architecture and she was described by the The Guardian of London as the Queen of the curve, who liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity. Her major works include the centre for the London 2012 Olympics, Michigan State Universitys Broad Art Museum in the US. Hadid was born on 31 October 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq and her father, Muhammad al-Hajj Husayn Hadid, was a wealthy industrialist from Mosul. He co-founded the left-liberal al-Ahali group in 1932, a significant political organisation in the 1930s and 1940s and he was the co-founder of the National Democratic Party in Iraq. Her mother, Wajiha al-Sabunji, was an artist from Mosul, in the 1960s Hadid attended boarding schools in England and Switzerland. Hadid studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before moving, in 1972, there she studied with Rem Koolhaas, Elia Zenghelis and Bernard Tschumi. Her former professor, Koolhaas, described her at graduation as a planet in her own orbit, Zenghelis described her as the most outstanding pupil he ever taught. ‘We called her the inventor of the 89 degrees, nothing was ever at 90 degrees. All the buildings were exploding into tiny little pieces and he recalled that she was less interested in details, such as staircases. The way she drew a staircase you would smash your head against the ceiling, and the space was reducing and reducing and she couldn’t care about tiny details. Her mind was on the broader pictures – when it came to the joinery she knew we could fix that later. She was right. ’ Her fourth-year student project was a painting of a hotel in the form of a bridge, Hadid became a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom. She earned her reputation with her lecturing and colorful and radical early designs and projects. Her ambitious but unbuilt projects included a plan for Peak in Hong Kong, and her reputation in this period rested largely upon her teaching and the imaginative and colorful paintings she made of her proposed buildings. In 1989 Fehlbaum had invited Frank Gehry, then little-known, to build a museum at the Vitra factory in Weil-am-Rhein. In 1993, he invited Hadid to design a small station for the factory
Zaha Hadid
–
Dame Zaha Hadid
DBE
Zaha Hadid
–
Bridge Pavilion in
Zaragoza, Spain
Zaha Hadid
–
Bergisel Ski Jump,
Innsbruck, Austria
Zaha Hadid
–
BMW Central Building,
Leipzig, Germany
38.
Saadiyat Island
–
Saadiyat Island is a tourism-cultural project for nature and Emirati heritage and culture. The project, under development, consists of a large, low-lying island,500 metres off the coast of Abu Dhabi island, a mixed commercial, residential, and leisure project is currently under construction on the island, expected to be completed in 2020. Together, the goal is for these institutions and events to transform Abu Dhabi into a cultural tourist attraction capable of attracting the same clientele as Bilbao. The centrepiece Of Abu Dhabis future cultural offering will be the development of Saadiyat Island, the island is five-minute drive away from downtown Abu Dhabi, 20min from Abu Dhabi International Airport and one hour from Dubai. The project is being developed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority-held Tourism Development & Investment Company, the company plans is to dispose of development to private investors that will work on their sites in accordance with the master plan as well as other ground rules. The plan for Saadiyat island was done by EDAW and continued under AECOM, the Island is located 500 meters off the coast of Abu Dhabi. This 27 square kilometer island planned and created around an environmentally-sensitive philosophy, the main district in the island are Saadiyat Cultural District, Saadiyat Beach District and Saadiyat Marina District. An entire district on the island is devoted to culture and the arts, with exhibitions, permanent collections, productions and performances. The TDIC, founded in 2006 is the asset management and development arm of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, in order to drive investment. In developing the project, the close cooperation model is being followed by TDIC. The island has several institutions in Saadiyat Cultural District. The Saadiyat Accommodation Village is a housing community that offers social, recreational and educational facilities for residents. The Village was opened in 2009, on a month to month premise, the town additionally witnesses sports competitions for football, cricket, volleyball and basketball games. These classes are for all specialists and for nothing out of pocket, the Employment Practices Policy was adopted to ensure the safety and fair treatment of workers on TDIC projects. TDIC hired Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an independent monitoring company, to ensure the implementation of the policy, a dedicated team makes constant visits and interviews at the Accommodation Village and on the site of the projects. The findings are published annually by TDIC. It allows TDIC to make enhancements, penalize breaches and make sure of sustaining the rights of workers, Saadiyat is now home to a great many specialists who live on the Island while chipping away at the activities being produced by TDIC. The company needed to ensure specialists are living in respectable conditions, the European Union has sent several delegations to Saadiyat Accommodation Village to meet with representatives from the TDIC
Saadiyat Island
–
Scale model of proposed Saadiyat Island development.
39.
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin
–
The Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin is a species of humpback dolphin that is found in coastal waters ranging from southern Africa in the west to northern Australia and southeast Asia to the east. The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin is regarded as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin is a species, generally staying within a few miles of the shore. Sometimes it enter rivers, but usually does not swim far upstream, the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin is a medium-sized dolphin that ranges in length from 2 to 2.8 metres and in weight from 150 to 200 kilograms. Plumbea-type dolphins have a fatty hump on the back, while Chinensis-type dolphins have a prominent dorsal fin. Different varieties have different coloration, although young dolphins are generally gray, Plumbea-type adults are generally dark gray. Chinensis-type adults from Australia are generally light gray above and lighter, possibly with some spotting, below, Chinensis-type adults from South China are generally white with dark spots on the sides, although the white portions appear to be pink because of blood flow beneath the skin. Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins can appear similar to conspecific Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin is most often found in schools of less than 10 dolphins. It eats a variety of fish and, in some areas, cephalopods. For the Hong Kong population, births occur between January and August. Newborn calves are about 1 metre long, females become sexual mature at about 10 years old. The Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin coexists over much of its range with the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and it has been known to associate with the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin. The Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin has been observed associating with the snubfin dolphin and in these interactions the humpbacked dolphin tends to be the aggressor. Interactions may also occur with the spinner dolphin and the finless porpoise. The Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin has occasionally been kept in captivity, currently, Indo-Pacific humpacked dolphins perform at Underwater World, Singapore. Dolphin watching trips to see these dolphins occur in Hong Kong, the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin is listed as near threatened by the IUCN. The Taiwan population is considered critically endangered, the Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin sometimes gets caught in fishing nets. China has launched the largest sanctuary in the designed for this species on Taiwanese coasts
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin
–
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin
–
Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphin performing at Underwater World, Singapore
40.
Hot desert climate
–
An area that features this climate usually experiences from 25 to 200 mm per year of precipitation and in some years may experience no precipitation at all. Averages may be even less such as in Arica, Chile, there are usually two or three variations of a desert climate, a hot desert climate, a cold desert climate and, sometimes, a mild desert climate. To determine whether a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold is determined. If the areas precipitation is less than half the threshold. Hot desert climates are found under the subtropical ridge where there is largely unbroken sunshine for the whole year due to the stable descending air. These areas are located between 30 degrees south and 30 degrees north latitude, under the subtropical latitudes called the horse latitudes, hot desert climates are generally hot, sunny and dry year-round. Hot desert climates also reach similar latitudes in the Middle East, North Africa, hot desert climates usually feature hot, sometimes exceptionally hot, periods of the year. In many locations featuring a hot climate, maximum temperatures of over 40 °C are not uncommon in summer. The world absolute heat records, over 50 °C, are generally in the hot deserts, some desert locations consistently experience very high temperatures all year long, even during wintertime. These locations feature some of the highest annual average temperatures recorded on Earth and this last feature is seen in some parts of deserts of Africa and Arabia. During colder periods of the year, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing or below due to the radiation loss under the clear skies. However, very rarely do temperatures drop far below freezing, only one region in Europe has a hot desert climate, Province of Almeria, Province of Alicante and Province of Murcia in South Eastern Spain. Cold desert climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though summers typically are not quite as hot as summers in hot desert climates, unlike hot desert climates, cold desert climates tend to feature cold winters with rare snow. Cold desert climates are found at higher altitudes than hot desert climates. A cold desert climate is found in temperate zones, usually in the rain shadow of high mountains. A classic example of this is the Patagonian Desert in Argentina bounded by the Andes to its west, in the case of Central Asia, mountains restrict precipitation from the monsoon. The Gobi desert in Mongolia is an example of this. Though hot in summer, it shares the cold winters of the rest of Central Asia
Hot desert climate
–
Namib Desert, Namibia
Hot desert climate
–
A dusting of snow in the Atacama Desert.
Hot desert climate
–
Cold deserts do get the occasional blanket of snow, such as
Snake Valley, Utah and Nevada
41.
Tropics
–
The tropics are a region of the Earth surrounding the equator. The tropics are also referred to as the zone and the torrid zone. The tropics include all the areas on the Earth where the Sun is at a point directly overhead at least once during the solar year. The tropics are distinguished from the climatic and biomatic regions of Earth, which are the middle latitudes. Tropical is sometimes used in a sense for a tropical climate to mean warm to hot and moist year-round. Many tropical areas have a dry and wet season, the wet season, rainy season or green season, is the time of year, ranging from one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. Areas with wet seasons are disseminated across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. Tropical rainforests technically do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is distributed through the year. When the wet season occurs during the season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. The wet season is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves and vegetation grows significantly, floods cause rivers to overflow their banks, and some animals to retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime, unfortunately, the previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Regions within the tropics may well not have a tropical climate, there are alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile and Argentina. Under the Köppen climate classification, much of the area within the tropics is classed not as tropical but as dry including the Sahara Desert. Tropical plants and animals are those native to the tropics. Tropical ecosystems may consist of rainforests, dry forests, spiny forests, desert. There are often significant areas of biodiversity, and species present, particularly in rainforests. In biogeography, the tropics are divided into Paleotropics and Neotropics, together, they are sometimes referred to as the Pantropic
Tropics
–
Tropical sunset over the sea in
Kota Kinabalu,
Malaysia
Tropics
–
World map with the intertropical zone highlighted in red
Tropics
–
Coconut palms in the warm, tropical climate of Northern
Brazil
Tropics
–
Tropical forest near
Fonds-Saint-Denis,
Martinique
42.
Precipitation
–
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
Precipitation
–
A thunderstorm with heavy precipitation
Precipitation
–
Long-term mean precipitation by month
Precipitation
–
Late-summer
rainstorm in
Denmark
Precipitation
–
Lenticular cloud forming due to mountains over Wyoming
43.
Relative humidity
–
Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest and it requires less water vapor to attain high relative humidity at low temperatures, more water vapour is required to attain high relative humidity in warm or hot air. Humans are sensitive to high humidity because the body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration. Perspiration evaporates from the more slowly under humid conditions than under arid. For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C and the humidity is zero percent. If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the air temperature. In other words, if the air is 24 °C and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the rate as it would if it were 27 °C. The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the effect of temperature. In cold climates, the temperature causes lower capacity for water vapour to flow about. Dry cracked skin can result from dry air, low humidity causes tissue lining nasal passages to dry, crack and become more susceptible to penetration of Rhinovirus cold viruses. Low humidity is a cause of nosebleeds. The use of a humidifier in homes, especially bedrooms, can help with these symptoms, indoor relative humidities should be kept above 30% to reduce the likelihood of the occupants nasal passages drying out. Humans can be comfortable within a range of humidities depending on the temperature—from thirty to seventy percent—but ideally between 50% and 60%. Very low humidity can create discomfort, respiratory problems, and aggravate allergies in some individuals, in the winter, it is advisable to maintain relative humidity at 30 percent or above. Extremely low relative humidities may also cause eye irritation, wooden furniture can shrink, causing the paint that covers these surfaces to fracture. When the temperature is low and the humidity is high. When relative humidity approaches 100 percent, condensation can occur on surfaces, leading to problems with mold, corrosion, decay, condensation can pose a safety risk as it can promote the growth of mold and wood rot as well as possibly freezing emergency exits shut. The basic principles for buildings, above, also apply to vehicles, in addition, there may be safety considerations
Relative humidity
–
Humidity and hygrometry
44.
Sunshine duration
–
It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
Sunshine duration
–
Campbell–Stokes recorder measures sunshine
45.
Al Karama, United Arab Emirates
–
Al Karama was a proposed planned city to be built on the border of the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It was specified to be the permanent capital of the United Arab Emirates as stated in the Constitution of 1971, the proposed city was never built, and Abu Dhabi became the official capital of the UAE in 1996. However, this agreement was rendered void when Bahrain and Qatar both withdrew from the proposed federation, on July 10,1971, the Trucial States announced the formation of the United Arab Emirates, and the capital issue resurfaced. The five small emirates counter-proposed building a new capital on the border of Dubai and Sharjah, there shall be allocated in the Union budget for the first year the amount necessary to cover the expenses of technical studies and planning for the Construction of the Capital. However, Construction work shall begin as soon as possible and shall be completed in not more than seven years from the date of entry into force of this Constitution, until the Construction of the Union Capital is complete, Abu Dhabi shall be the provisional headquarters of the Union. While the Constitution came into effect on December 2,1971, instead, Abu Dhabi started building the institutions of government on its own territory, ignoring repeated demands from Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah to build the new capital as promised. In 1979, in light of the facts on the ground and lacking the resources to build it on their own, these demands were dropped. A quarter-century after the constitution, the Supreme Council of the UAE passed Constitutional Amendment Nr.1 of 1996. And thus finally granted full recognition of Abu Dhabi as the permanent capital of the United Arab Emirates. Even in the Emirates, few are aware of the planned capital, however, some references to Al Karama remain in the infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates, for example, telephone area code 01 remains reserved for the city. In 2008, the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to be called the Capital District, the capital will be located 15–20 km from Abu Dhabi near Khalifa City and, by 2030, would support a population of up to three million
Al Karama, United Arab Emirates
–
Al Karama was to be built along the border between the emirates of Abu Dhabi (yellow) and Dubai (brown). The present capital,
Abu Dhabi, is in red.
46.
Al Lulu Island
–
Al Lulu Island is a 1, 050-acre man-made island off the coast of Abu Dhabi island, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It stretches from the Abu Dhabi Breakwater to the Zayed Sea Port, land reclamation was started in 1988 and completed in 1992. After several plans that were dropped, the island is now being developed by Sorouh Real Estate as a mixed commercial and residential project. Arquitectonica was tasked with the development of the master plan and it was also rumoured that Al Lulu Island was going to be a tourist destination for a Disney theme park during the mid-1990s. On 1 January 2009, the ferry service was abruptly stopped due to unspecified renovations on the island. Access became by private boat only, Al Lulu Island has been officially closed to the public, its only access now being by private boat, but it has been used by the public anyway
Al Lulu Island
–
Artificial island Al Lulu in
Abu Dhabi, UAE, with the
Corniche in the foreground.
47.
Masdar City
–
Masdar City is a planned city project in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Its core is being built by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners, the city relies on solar energy and other renewable energy sources. Masdar City is being constructed 17 kilometres east-south-east of the city of Abu Dhabi, Masdar City hosts the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency. The city is designed to be a hub for cleantech companies and its first tenant was the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which has been operating in the city since it moved into its campus in September 2010. The project is led by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, initiated in 2006, the city was envisioned to cover 6 square kilometres and estimated to cost US$18-22 billion. It would take eight years to build, with the first phase scheduled to be completed. Construction began on Masdar City in 2008 and the first six buildings of the city were completed and occupied in October 2010. However, due to the impact of the financial crisis. By 2016, less than 300,000 square metres had been developed, as designed, the city would be home to 45,000 to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, primarily commercial and manufacturing facilities specialising in environmentally friendly products. In turn, more than 60,000 workers are expected to commute to the city daily, as of 2016, fewer than 2,000 people are employed in Masdar, and only the 300 students of the Masdar Institute live on site. Partners in the project through its Clean Tech Fund are Consensus Business Group, Credit Suisse, construction of the first phase of the project is being managed by CH2M Hill. Infrastructure construction for the city will be handled by the Al Jaber Group, the citys wayfinding system was developed by Endpoint and City ID. Masdar is a sustainable mixed-use development designed to be friendly to pedestrians. Masdar City has terracotta walls decorated with arabesque patterns, from a distance, the city looks like a cube. The temperature in the streets is generally 15 to 20 °C cooler than the surrounding desert, the temperature difference is due to Masdars unique construction. A 45-meter-high wind tower modeled on traditional Arab designs sucks air from above, the site is raised above the surrounding land to create a slight cooling effect. Buildings are clustered together to create streets and walkways shielded from the sun. Masdar City was designed by Foster and Partners, fosters design team started its work by touring ancient cities such as Cairo and Muscat to see how they kept cool
Masdar City
–
Rendering of the future Masdar City from the air
Masdar City
–
Podcar at a
personal rapid transit (PRT) station
Masdar City
–
Palmwood screens used in Masdar City
Masdar City
48.
Yas Island
–
Yas Island is a man-made island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Yas Island can be reached by car, plane or boat and it occupies a total land area of 2,500 ha, of which 1,700 ha will be claimed for development. Yas Island holds the Yas Marina Circuit, which has hosted the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2009, both business and leisure travelers visit Yas Island. Yas Island was named the leading tourism project at the World Travel Awards in November 2009. The Park’s foundation stone was laid on 3 November 2007, the development was completed in a little under three years, opening to the public for the first time on 27 October 2010. Formula Rossa, one of the parks most famous attractions, is the world’s fastest rollercoaster reaching a speed of 240 kph, bubbles Barrel slide has the largest surf-able sheet wave surf in the world. Named the “second best waterpark in the world” by the Los Angeles Times - Global Ranking of the World’s Top 20 Waterparks feature in May 2013, listed by CNN as one of the top 12 water parks in the world in July 2013. Won the World Travel Awards award for the Middle East’s Leading Tourist Attraction of the year 2013, won the Leading Edge Award at the World Waterpark Associations Annual Show, in Las Vegas, USA in October 2012. The Bandit Bomber is the first rollercoaster to be incorporated into a waterpark and was ranked amongst the world’s newest, biggest and baddest roller coasters for the summer of 2013, by CNN. The full circuit length is 5.554 km and can be configured in five different ways to accommodate a variety of motorsport events. Yas Marina Circuit is the only venue in the world that offers covered and shaded grandstands throughout the facility. Two charter boat companies operate from Yas Marina namely Captain Tonys, seawings operates flights to and from Dubai to Yas Marina and 20 minute Abu Dhabi tours from Yas Marina. Yas Links is a golf course designed by Kyle Philips. Mangrove Tours launch daily from Yas Beach also courtesy of Noukhada Adventure Company, Warner Bros. cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry. Guests of all ages will be able to step inside Gotham City and Metropolis, the park is expected to be open in 2018, making it the worlds third Warner Bros. theme park. On December 13,2016, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment announced a new partnership with Miral to bring SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to Yas Island. The park, which will be situated to the northeast of Ferrari World, is set to open in 2022, Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi is a five star hotel located on the Yas Marina and is the first hotel in world to be built over an F1 race circuit. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort and Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi with Yas Island’s attractions, operating daily with 3 pickups in the morning and 3 drop offs in the afternoon, the shuttle service transports guests to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and Yas Waterworld, Yas Island
Yas Island
–
View of Yas island
United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi
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Bethlehem, Palestine[94]
Madrid, Spain (2007)[95]
Houston, Texas, United States (2002)[96]
Brisbane, Australia (since 2009)[97]
Islamabad, Pakistan
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Minsk, Belarus (since 2007)[98]
Nicosia, Cyprus (since 2004)
Iquique, Chile
Jakarta, Indonesia
Kish Island, Iran
Roskilde, Denmark (since 2011)
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