Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 square kilometers. It covers 20 percent of the Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area, it separates the "Old World" from the "New World". The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, the Americas to the west; as one component of the interconnected global ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, the Southern Ocean in the south. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean at about 8°N. Scientific explorations of the Atlantic include the Challenger expedition, the German Meteor expedition, Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the United States Navy Hydrographic Office; the oldest known mentions of an "Atlantic" sea come from Stesichorus around mid-sixth century BC: Atlantikoi pelágei and in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC: Atlantis thalassa where the name refers to "the sea beyond the pillars of Heracles", said to be part of the sea that surrounds all land.
Thus, on one hand, the name refers to Atlas, the Titan in Greek mythology, who supported the heavens and who appeared as a frontispiece in Medieval maps and lent his name to modern atlases. On the other hand, to early Greek sailors and in Ancient Greek mythological literature such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, this all-encompassing ocean was instead known as Oceanus, the gigantic river that encircled the world. In contrast, the term "Atlantic" referred to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast; the Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of millions of years ago. The term "Aethiopian Ocean", derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century. During the Age of Discovery, the Atlantic was known to English cartographers as the Great Western Ocean; the term The Pond is used by British and American speakers in context to the Atlantic Ocean, as a form of meiosis, or sarcastic understatement.
The term dates to as early as 1640, first appearing in print in pamphlet released during the reign of Charles I, reproduced in 1869 in Nehemiah Wallington's Historical Notices of Events Occurring Chiefly in The Reign of Charles I, where "great Pond" is used in reference to the Atlantic Ocean by Francis Windebank, Charles I's Secretary of State. The International Hydrographic Organization defined the limits of the oceans and seas in 1953, but some of these definitions have been revised since and some are not used by various authorities and countries, see for example the CIA World Factbook. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies; the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. To the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe: the Strait of Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean; the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border.
In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean. The Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays and seas; these include the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Labrador Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea all of the Scotia Sea, other tributary water bodies. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23.5% of the global ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23.3% of the total volume of the earth's oceans. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3; the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench, is 8,486 m.
The bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S; the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2,000 m along most of its length, but is interrupted by larger transform faults at two places: the Romanche Trench near the Equator and the Gibbs Fracture Zone at 53°N; the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the othe
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running 1,120 kilometres from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and the Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul. It is navigable for about half that length; the river is associated with The Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa, which consists of little more than the downstream half of the river and its two banks. From the Fouta Djallon, the river runs northwest into the Tambacounda Region of Senegal, where it flows through the Parc National du Niokolo Koba is joined by the Nieri Ko and Koulountou before entering the Gambia at Fatoto. At this point the river runs west, but in a meandering course with a number of oxbows, about 100km from its mouth it widens, to over 10km wide where it meets the sea. Near the mouth of the river, near Juffure, is Kunta Kinteh Island, a place used in the slave trade, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the banks of the river, the Kaira Konko Lodge, a scout camp, is located there.
The aquatic fauna in the Gambia River basin is associated with that of the Sénégal River basin, the two are combined under a single ecoregion known as the Senegal-Gambia Catchments. Although the species richness is moderately high, only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. Oysters are harvested from the River Gambia by women and used to make oyster stew, a traditional dish in the cuisine of Gambia. Media related to Gambia River at Wikimedia Commons Gambia River Information & Photos
Plymouth-Banjul Challenge
The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge or unofficially the Ultimate Banger Challenge and known as the Plymouth-Dakar Challenge, is an annual car event for charity. It is not a competition as its website states, it was first run in 2003 since 2005 to Banjul. It roughly follows the route of the more famous Dakar Rally, visiting many of the same countries. Participants starting in Europe must go to Tarifa in Southern Spain; the course runs through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and into the Gambia. The entrants must be driving a car worth £100. Participants in the challenge are on their own, meaning that no assistance is rendered to motorists in case of a car breakdown or if they become stranded. Mechanical reliability is the main obstacle to completing the course given that such vehicles are ordinary road cars and are at the end of their useful lifetimes. Many cars cope well until they have to go through the desert and almost all suffer a great deal due to high temperatures and dust. Once the cars make it to Banjul in Gambia they are auctioned for, or donated to, charity.
Amongst the many notable cars that have taken part in the challenge was the fine Peugeot 505 family estate that went on to be auctioned at the end of the rally for several times the amount of money it would have commanded back in the UK. The 2006 rally included a 1983 BMW 732i which appeared to be incapable of making it out of England but in fact did complete the course. In addition a number of 4x4 vehicles enter ranging from quite reasonable vehicles that'bend' the entry rules to vehicles over 40 years old rebuilt from wrecks just for the challenge; the 2004 event had one team, The Idiots Abroad, tow a trailer with two motorbikes on it through the desert - the challenge has now been laid down for another team to get a trailer through the desert and in 2006 two ambulances made it across. In the 2004/2005 event, a Swiss Team drove a Mercedes Van and a 125cc motorbike from Switzerland to Bangul; the Bike was reached Banjul where it was donated to the local police. There are people who cannot drive taking part with one half of a Fiat Uno team learning to drive in the desert where he managed to crash it into a Welsh Ambulance and two Canadians who bought a manual car in France and spent the next few weeks learning to drive it.
Since 2007, the rally has a group of cars continuing on to Bamako, Mali. The 2009/2010 Banjul Challenge was called off by its organiser Julian Nowill due to Mauritanian security concerns, but two teams from group 1 and three teams from group 3 pushed on regardless. Team midlifecrises and team homesick from group 1 made it all the way to Banjul in the Gambia. Only 5 teams from three groups, made it that year. Many teams have completed the challenge more than once, including the "Artful Bodgers", Roger Bruton and Richard Freeman, who entered in January 2006 as an official entrant in the "Plymouth-Banjul Challenge" and again in January 2007 as independents, running alongside the official teams. Managing to source both vehicles for less than £100 and converted by the team from RHD to LHD. Neither vehicle broke down at all and both were donated to charity in the Gambia. Charity rally Banger rally Budapest-Bamako Mongol Rally Official website Down2Dakar Team Website 2009–2010 Plymouth to Banjul Challenge – successful team INTO Banjul Challenge 2009
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, was a High Tory, High Church Pittite from the end of the Second Empire. For thirty years an MP and whence ennobled one of the government's main stalwarts on Colonial policy. Not a good speaker in debates, he was a competent administrator. If rather dull, he remained intensely loyal and at the centre of government for longer than all his contemporaries. A personal friend of William Pitt the Younger, he became a broker of deals across cabinet factions during the volatile Napoleonic era. After the Napoleonic Wars, Bathurst was on the'conservative' wing of the Tory party, he came round towards arbitrating on a less than harsh colonial regime. Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena Scawen, daughter of Thomas Scawen, he was educated at Eton from 1773 to 1778 and up to Christ Church, Oxford. The college was always considered the most academic, he went up with his closest companions at Eton William Wyndham Greville, Lord Wellesley and Canon Bathurst, his cousin.
The influences on his strong, but affable character were aristocratic, whiggish at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a time of great social upheaval. Britain gained a larger empire in the Far East. Affable man of character and wit, Bathurst was known in society for a gentle sense of humour, he was a trait which he inherited from his parents. It was however his mother, more business-like, from her he learnt some cunning, he was a good father to his children. Not religious or church-going, Bathurst was worldly and intelligent. Aged sixteen he matriculated at Christ Church on 22 April 1779, his father was overjoyed, from 1790 he bought a living at Sapperton, where the family farmed the estate, a stall in Christ Church cathedral. In 1781 he decided to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe. Without taking a degree, Bathurst left Oxford for Germany. From Switzerland he went before moving north to Paris. On hearing that William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne's government was challenged by a Fox–North coalition, Bathurst headed back to London in February 1783.
On entering politics he admired the patriotism and oratory of a youthful garrulous drinker William Pitt. Bathurst refused to join his frequent bouts. Pitt was tall and slender from a Navy family; the beauty aesthetic rendered Bathurst more sensitive and scholarly towards departmental duties. The strongest quality he possessed was loyalty to his friends: he was the only society family that would entertain Lady Wellesley, one account concludes she was illegitimate; when appointed head of the Gloucestershire Militia and it "embodied" he owed it to Wellesley, a born soldier in 1798 who made his name in India. High Anglicanism meant antiquarian attitudes to assiduous recording of letters and correspondence, of which a sizeable proportion survives; this was how he came to the conclusion that slavery was cruel, but was wary about voting for a franchise extension. But when Joseph Pitt of Cheltenham wanted a seat Cricklade was found at the other end of the Cotswolds; the Prime Minister's £1,000 was contributed towards his debts.
It was through the ultra Tories Pitt and Wellington that he helped to gain recognition for the independence of Spain and Portugal. On he would support Canada and Australia to establish'white' dominion status, a legacy of what one historian has noted was the significant tenure of Secretary of War and Colonies before Palmerston in the 19th century; this fact is overlooked since Bathurst was far from being a radical. The social diarist Maria Edgeworth alluded to by Jane Austen, wrote that he was an "old school dog" and Bathurst was clubbable. A "formalist", she thought, "very much from that class", it was under Pitt's ministry. The wars produced a rising population in London which reached one million by 1800. Bathurst was a conciliator by nature, able to write and concisely; when the Prime Minister resorted to alcohol, he would be hard at work in his office. Lord Apsley was member of the British Parliament for Cirencester from July 1783, when he was elected the moment he turned 21, but he refused to serve with the Whigs owing to a friendship with Tory William Pitt.
A maiden speech bravely opposing the East India bill was sufficiently impressive to bring down the government. On New Year's Eve 1783 the "mince pie" administration was without the young lord, called away to Cirencester, he was a junior civil lord of the admiralty from 1783 to 1789 adhering to the Pittites. At Carshalton a by-election missing voter agents Bathurst sent a former employee to aid Pitt's party cheering on his friends to help; the department included five lords, of whom all the others were MPs with 20 clerks and a secretary, Paul Stephens. He was assisted at the Navy Board by a "hard-working" Captain Charles Middleton. Apsley contested the General Election in 1790 in his father's interest at Cirencester. Granted the reversion in 1786 from Lord Hardwicke to the tellership sinecure worth £2,700 per annum in the Commons as a lord of the treasury to 1791. A cousin Richard Hopkins vacated a junior post at the Treasury on 10 August 1789, he was therefore responsible for counting the government's
Bangui
Bangui is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. As of 2012 it had an estimated population of 734,350, it was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi River. The majority of the population of the Central African Republic lives in the western parts of the country, in Bangui and the surrounding area; the city forms an autonomous commune of the Central African Republic, surrounded by the Ombella-M'Poko prefecture. With an area of 67 square kilometres, the commune is the smallest high-level administrative division in the country, but the highest in terms of population; the city consists of 16 groups and 205 neighbourhoods. As the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui acts as an administrative and commercial centre, it is served by the Bangui M'Poko International Airport. The National Assembly, government buildings, foreign enterprises and embassies, hotels, main markets and the Ngaragba Central Prison are all located here.
Bangui manufactures textiles, food products, beer and soap. Its Notre-Dame Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bangui; the city is home to the University of Bangui, inaugurated in 1970. Bangui has been the scene of intense rebel activity and destruction during decades of political upheaval, including the recent rebellion; as a result of political unrest, the city was named in 1996 as one of the most dangerous in the world. Archaeological studies in and around Bangui have yielded at least 26 ancient Iron Age sites that contain many metallurgical tools and objects, illuminating the pre-European history of the city and surrounding area; the archaeological sites were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 11 April 2006 in the Cultural category. The site closest to Bangui is Pendere-Sengue, 800 metres from Independence Avenue, where archaeologists and conservation agencies have carried out studies, it is a paleo-metallurgical site where several thousand shards of ceramics, iron tools, an iron spatula weighing 9 kilograms have been unearthed.
Its dating, compared with similar sites in Nigeria and Sudan, could be close to the 9th century BC. Bangui was founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac on 26 June 1889, in what was the upper reaches of the French Congo, the present-day Congo; the original site was 6 miles south of the Ubangi rapids. Its territory was organized first into the territory of the Upper Ubangi and as the separate colony of Ubangi-Shari; the initial capitals of these areas were at les Abiras and Fort de Possel further upstream, but the rapids at Bangui blocked them from direct communication along the river and caused the settlement there to grow in importance until, in 1906, it was chosen as the new headquarters for the French administration. Bangui retained its importance as a military and administrative centre when the colony was folded into French Equatorial Africa and under both Vichy and Free French control during World War II; the French operated a radio transmitter in Bangui, described in 1932 as "the most remote radio station in Africa".
The colony of Ubangi-Shari received its autonomy in 1958 as the Central African Republic and this became independent from France in 1960. In 1970, President Jean-Bédel Bokassa inaugurated the University of Bangui, he established the national airline Air Centrafrique the following year and ordered the construction of two new luxury hotels in Bangui. With tensions mounting between Bangui and Paris as a result of Bokassa's uncontrollable expenditures, western banks refused to lend him any more money. Relations with the French worsened still further in April 1974, when Brigette Miroux's body was discovered in a hotel room in Bangui, it was reported in the French media that she had been Bokassa's mistress and that he was responsible for her murder. As a result, Bokassa banned imports of French newspapers and assumed control of the Agence France-Presse office in Bangui. By 1975, Bangui had a population of 300,723. In March 1981, widespread violence took place in Bangui following elections, after Operation Caban led the French to drop Bokassa, replaced him with David Dacko.
Opponents of the President were forced to flee the country. After returning voluntarily to Bangui in the autumn of 1986, Bokassa went on trial. Faced with the death penalty, in February 1988 he was instead sentenced to life imprisonment, his successor was General André Kolingba, army chief of staff of Decko’s army, who took over control from the local French military on 1 September 1981 under the pretext that the country was heading towards civil war. Although he attempted to combat corruption and control the national economy, he was unable to achieve his reforms. By the middle of the 1980s the country’s economic situation had deteriorated as 80% of the revenue went towards meeting the salaries of the staff. Under pressure from France and other western countries, Kolingba restored democracy in the country in 1991 with a multiparty government but elections could be held only three years in August 1994. During the elections, Ange-Félix Patassé was elected to the post of president. Since he was from northern CAR, the southern group of Kolingba started a rebellion during 1996.
In May 1996, about 200 soldiers of the Central African Republic mutinied in Ban
Wet season
The monsoon season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. The season lasts at least a month; the term "green season" is sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the 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. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters and dry summers. Dry and rainy months are characteristic of tropical seasonal forests: in contrast to tropical rainforests, which do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is distributed throughout the year; some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season, when the intertropical convergence zone or monsoon trough moves to higher latitudes in the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during a warm season, or summer, precipitation falls during the late afternoon and early evening.
In the wet season, air quality improves, fresh water quality improves, vegetation grows leading to crop yields late in the season. Rivers overflow their banks, some animals retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients erosion increases; the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures in tropical areas. Some animals have survival strategies for the wet season; the previous dry season leads to food shortages in the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. In areas where the heavy rainfall is associated with a wind shift, the wet season is known as the monsoon. Rainfall in the wet season is due to daytime heating which leads to diurnal thunderstorm activity within a pre-existing moist airmass, so the rain falls in late afternoon and early evening in savannah and monsoon regions. Further, much of the total rainfall each day occurs in the first minutes of the downpour, before the storms mature into their stratiform stage. Most places have only one wet season, but areas of the tropics can have two wet seasons, because the monsoon trough, or Intertropical Convergence Zone, can pass over locations in the tropics twice per year.
However, since rain forests have rainfall spread evenly through the year, they do not have a wet season. It is different for places with a Mediterranean climate. In the western United States, during the cold season from September–May, extratropical cyclones from the Pacific Ocean move inland into the region due to a southward migration of the jet stream during the cold season; this shift in the jet stream brings much of the annual precipitation to the region, sometimes brings heavy rain and strong low pressure systems. The peninsula of Italy has weather similar to the western United States in this regard. Areas with a savanna climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, Eritrea and Botswana have a distinct rainy season. Within the savanna climate regime and South Texas have a rainy season. Monsoon regions include the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, northern sections of Australia's North, Central America and southern Mexico, the Desert Southwest of the United States, southern Guyana, portions of northeast Brazil.
Northern Guyana has the other in early winter. In western Africa, there are two rainy seasons across southern sections, but only one across the north. Within the Mediterranean climate regime, the west coast of the United States and the Mediterranean coastline of Italy and Turkey experience a wet season in the winter months; the wet season in the Negev desert of Israel extends from October through May. At the boundary between the Mediterranean and monsoon climates lies the Sonoran desert, which receives the two rainy seasons associated with each climate regime; the wet season is known by many different local names throughout the world. For example, in Mexico it is known as "storm season". Different names are given to the various short "seasons" of the year by the Aboriginal tribes of Northern Australia: the wet season experienced there from December to March is called Gudjewg; the precise meaning of the word is disputed, although it is accepted to relate to the severe thunderstorms and abundant vegetation growth experienced at this time.
In tropical areas, when the monsoon arrives, high daytime high temperatures drop and overnight low temperatures increase, thus reducing diurnal temperature variation. During the wet season, a combination of heavy rainfall and, in some places such as Hong Kong, an onshore wind, improve air quality. In Brazil, the wet season is correlated with weaker trade winds off the ocean; the pH level of water becomes more balanced due to the charging of local aquifers during the wet season. Water softens, as the concentration of dissolved materials reduces during the rainy season. Erosion is increased during rainy periods. Arroyos that are dry at other times of the year fill with runoff, in some cases with water as deep as 10 feet. Leaching of soils during periods of heavy rainfall depletes nutrients; the higher runoff from land masses affects nearby ocean areas, which are more stratified, or less mixed, due to stronger surface currents forced by the heavy rainfall runoff. High rainfall can cause widespread flooding, which can lead to landslides and mudflows in mountainous areas.
Such floods cause rivers to submerge homes. The Ghaggar-Hakra River, which only flows during India's monsoon season, can flood and damage local
Textile
A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibers. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, cotton, hemp, or other materials to produce long strands. Textiles are formed by weaving, crocheting, knotting or tatting, felting, or braiding; the related words "fabric" and "cloth" and "material" are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile. However, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. A textile is any material made of interlacing fibres, including carpeting and geotextiles. A fabric is a material made through weaving, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is a piece of fabric, processed; the word'textile' is from Latin, from the adjective textilis, meaning'woven', from textus, the past participle of the verb texere,'to weave'. The word'fabric' derives from Latin, most from the Middle French fabrique, or'building, thing made', earlier as the Latin fabrica'workshop.
The word'cloth' derives from the Old English clað, meaning a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one, from Proto-Germanic kalithaz. The first clothes, worn at least 70,000 years ago and much earlier, were made of animal skins and helped protect early humans from the ice ages. At some point people learned to weave plant fibers into textiles; the discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests textile-like materials were made in prehistoric times. The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been altered beyond recognition by industrialization and the introduction of modern manufacturing techniques. However, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for containers such as bags and baskets. In the household they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, coverings for tables and other flat surfaces, in art.
In the workplace they are used in scientific processes such as filtering. Miscellaneous uses include flags, tents, handkerchiefs, cleaning rags, transportation devices such as balloons, kites and parachutes. Textiles are used in many traditional crafts such as sewing and embroidery. Textiles for industrial purposes, chosen for characteristics other than their appearance, are referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for automotive applications, medical textiles, agrotextiles, protective clothing. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met. Woven of threads coated with zinc oxide nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of "self-powering nanosystems" using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body movements. Textiles are made from many materials, with four main sources: animal, plant and synthetic; the first three are natural. In the 20th century, they were supplemented by artificial fibres made from petroleum.
Textiles are made in various strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest microfibre made of strands thinner than one denier to the sturdiest canvas. Textile manufacturing terminology has a wealth of descriptive terms, from light gauze-like gossamer to heavy grosgrain cloth and beyond. Animal textiles are made from hair, skin or silk. Wool refers to the hair of the domestic sheep or goat, distinguished from other types of animal hair in that the individual strands are coated with scales and crimped, the wool as a whole is coated with a wax mixture known as lanolin, waterproof and dirtproof. Woollen refers to a bulkier yarn produced from carded, non-parallel fibre, while worsted refers to a finer yarn spun from longer fibres which have been combed to be parallel. Wool is used for warm clothing. Cashmere, the hair of the Indian cashmere goat, mohair, the hair of the North African angora goat, are types of wool known for their softness. Other animal textiles which are made from hair or fur are alpaca wool, vicuña wool, llama wool, camel hair used in the production of coats, ponchos and other warm coverings.
Angora refers to the long, soft hair of the angora rabbit. Qiviut is the fine inner wool of the muskox. Wadmal is a coarse cloth made of wool, produced in Scandinavia 1000~1500 CE. Sea silk is an fine and valuable fabric, made from the silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells. Silk is an animal textile made from the fibres of the cocoon of the Chinese silkworm, spun into a smooth fabric prized for its softness. There are two main ty
Gambia
