1.
Afar Region
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The Afar Regional State is one of the nine regional states of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people. Formerly known as Region 2, its new capital as of 2007 is the recently constructed city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash–Assab highway. The Afar Triangle, the part of which is the Danakil Depression, is part of the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia. It has the lowest point in Ethiopia and one of the lowest in Africa, the southern part of the region consists of the valley of the Awash River, which empties into a string of lakes along the Ethiopian-Djibouti border. Other notable landmarks include the Awash and Yangudi Rassa National Parks. 32% of the population, with an estimated area of 96,707 square kilometers, this region has an estimated density of 14.38 people per square kilometer. Ethnic groups include Afar, Amhara, Argobba Tigrinya people, Oromo, Welayta,95. 3% of the population is Muslim and 4. 7% is Christian. In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the population was reported to be 1,106,383 of whom 626,839 were men and 479,544 women. The major ethnic compositions were the Afar, Amhara, Argobba, Tigrayans, Oromo, Welayta, in the urban areas, the Amhara ethnicity were the most numerous, placing the Afar in second place, followed by Tigrinnya, Oromo, Argobba, and Welayta. 95. 6% of the population were Muslim,3. 9% Orthodox Christians,0. 4% Protestants, Afar is predominantly spoken in the region and is the working language of the state. Other languages with a significant number of speakers in the state include Amharic, Tigrinnya, Argobba, Wolaitigna, and Oromifa. According to the CSA, as of 2004,48. 57% of the population had access to safe drinking water. Afar Depression, Erta Ale active volcano, Awash National Park, Yangudi Rassa National Park, Hadar, the hot springs, Afar culture and cultural games are other attraction areas. In 2005, a giant rift was formed in just a few days, the rift opened when the Dabbahu Volcano, situated in the north of the region, erupted. The crack forming is thought to be part of the process in which the Arabian Plate and African plates are moving apart. This new crack,500 metres long, and 60 metres deep, opened when the lava from the volcano flowed underground. The Afar Depression, a tectonic triple junction is found in the Afar Regional State. This geologic feature is one of great active volcanic areas. Due to this activity the floor of the depression is composed of lava
2.
Ethiopia
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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
3.
Bosra
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According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Bosra had a population of 19,683 in the 2004 census. It is the center of the nahiyah of Bosra which consisted of nine localities with a collective population of 33,839 in 2004. Bosras inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims, although the town has a small Shia Muslim community and it continued to be administratively important during the Islamic era, but became gradually less prominent during the Ottoman era. It also became a Latin Catholic titular see and the see of a Melkite Catholic Archeparchy. Today, it is a archaeological site and has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The settlement was first mentioned in the documents of Thutmose III, Bosra was the first Nabatean city in the 2nd century BC. The Nabatean Kingdom was conquered by Cornelius Palma, a general of Trajan, under the Roman Empire, Bosra was renamed Nova Trajana Bostra and was the residence of the legio III Cyrenaica. It was made capital of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, the city flourished and became a major metropolis at the juncture of several trade routes, namely the Via Traiana Nova, a Roman road that connected Damascus to the Red Sea. It became an important center for production and during the reign of Emperor Phillip the Arab. The two Councils of Arabia were held at Bosra in 246 and 247 AD, by the Byzantine period which began in the 5th-century, Christianity became the dominant religion in Bosra. The city became a Metropolitan archbishops seat and a cathedral was built in the 6th-century. Bosra was conquered by the Sassanid Persians in the early 7th-century, Bosra played an important part in the early life of prophet Muhammad, as described in the entry for the Christian monk Bahira. The forces of the Rashidun Caliphate under general Khalid ibn Walid captured the city from the Byzantines in the Battle of Bosra in 634, throughout Islamic rule, Bosra would serve as the southernmost outpost of Damascus, its prosperity being mostly contingent on the political importance of that city. Bosra held additional significance as a center of the pilgrim caravan between Damascus and the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the destinations of the hajj pilgrimage. Early Islamic rule did not alter the general architecture of Bosra, as Bosras inhabitants gradually converted to Islam the Roman-era holy sites were utilized for Muslim practices. In the 9th-century Yaqubi wrote that Bosra was the capital of the Hauran province, after the end of the Umayyad era in 750, major activity in Bosra ceased for around 300 years until the late 11th-century. In the last years of Fatimid rule, in 1068, a number of building projects were commissioned, with the advent of Seljuk rule in 1076, increasing focus was paid to Bosras defenses. In particular, the Roman theater was transformed into a fortress, with the coming to power of the Burid dynasty in Damascus, the general Kumushtakin was allotted the entire Hauran plain as a fief by the atabeg Tughtakin
4.
Syria
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Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
5.
Jordan Rift Valley
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The Jordan Rift Valley, also called the Syro-African Depression, is an elongated depression located in modern-day Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. The Jordan Rift Valley was formed millions of years ago in the Miocene epoch when the Arabian Plate moved northward. One million years later, the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan Rift Valley rose so that the sea water stopped flooding the area, the outcropping formations around the basins represent alternating deposition and erosion phases. The lowest point in the Jordan Rift Valley is in the Dead Sea, the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest land on earth, at 400 meters below sea level. Rising sharply to almost 1,000 meters in the west, and similarly in the east, the valley north of the Dead Sea has long been a site of agriculture because of water available from the Jordan River and numerous springs located on the valleys flanks. The plate boundary which extends through the valley is called the Dead Sea Transform or Dead Sea Rift. The boundary separates the Arabian Plate from the African Plate, connecting the divergent plate boundary in the Red Sea to the East Anatolian Fault in Turkey, the DST fault system is generally considered to be a transform fault that has accommodated a 105-km-northwards displacement of the Arabian Plate. GPS data give similar rates of movement of the Arabian Plate relative to the Africa Plate. It has also proposed that the fault zone is a rift system that is an incipient oceanic spreading center. Geography of Israel Geography of Jordan
6.
Camel Caravan
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Camel Caravan was a musical variety radio program, sponsored by Camel cigarettes, that aired on NBC Radio and CBS Radio from 1933 to 1954. Various vocalists, musicians and comedy acts were heard during the 21 years this show was on the air, including such talents as Benny Goodman, Georgia Gibbs, Anita ODay and Vaughn Monroe. It debuted December 7,1933, on CBS as a showcase for Glen Gray, deane Janis was the vocalist and Walter OKeefe supplied the comedy along with Stoopnagle and Budd. Broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it continued until June 25,1936, a Los Angeles Times picture caption notes that Gladys Swarthout was the guest artist on the initial broadcast. Shilkret left the show on September 22,1936, jack Oakies College was added to the hour on December 29,1936. While this aired on Tuesdays on CBS until June 20,1939, eddie Cantor starred in another CBS Camel Caravan broadcast from March 28,1938 to June 26,1939. The NBC show was taken over by Bob Crosby on June 27,1939
7.
Camel
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A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. Bactrian camels take their name from the historical Bactria region of Central Asia, the term camel is derived via Latin and Greek from Hebrew or Phoenician gāmāl. Most of the camels are dromedaries while Bactrian camels and wild Bactrian camels make up only 6% of the total camel population. Camel may also be used broadly to describe any of the seven camel-like mammals in the family Camelidae. The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years, a full-grown adult camel stands 1.85 m at the shoulder and 2.15 m at the hump. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h in short bursts, Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg. For instance, the speed for the one humped camel is about 40 km/hour while the two humped camel has around 27.2 km/hour. The male dromedary camel has in its throat an organ called a dulla and it resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind, the male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session. Camelids are the ungulates to mate in a sitting position. Camels do not directly store water in their humps as was commonly believed. In hot and dry environments, within 8 to 10 days only the dromedary camels might consume water which during this period the third of their bodys weight may be reduced due to the dehydration. When this tissue is metabolized, it more than one gram of water for every gram of fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration, overall, Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water. Unlike other mammals, their red cells are oval rather than circular in shape. Camels are able to withstand changes in temperature and water consumption that would kill most other animals. Their temperature ranges from 34 °C at dawn and steadily increases to 40 °C by sunset, in general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1. Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49 °C, any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat, the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat
8.
North Africa
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North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa. The United Nationss definition of Northern Africa is, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb, which is the Arabic word for sunset. Egypt lies to the northeast and encompasses part of West Asia, while Sudan is situated on the edge of the Sahel, Egypt is a transcontinental country because of the Sinai Peninsula, which geographically lies in Western Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, the Canary Islands and Madeira in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland are included in considerations of the region. From 3500 BC, following the abrupt desertification of the Sahara due to changes in the Earths orbit. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa is a major part of the Muslim world. Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as the point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the mountain system that also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert, the sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old. Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile Valley and Delta, a wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits, the Nile Valley is particularly fertile, and most of the population in Egypt and Sudan live close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve yields on the desert margins. The inhabitants of Saharan Africa are generally divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa, the Maghreb, the Nile valley. The edge of the Sahel, to the south of Egypt has mainly been inhabited by Nubians, Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber, as well as Nubians from the south. They have contributed to the Arabized Berber populations, the official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak Berber languages and several varieties of Arabic, the Arabic and Berber languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afroasiatic language family. The Tuareg Berber languages are more conservative than those of the coastal cities. Over the years, Berbers have been influenced by contact with cultures, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Europeans
9.
Arabian Peninsula
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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
10.
Bedouin
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The term contrasts against Hathar which refers to the city or town dwellers in the Arabic language. Bedouin means Badiyah dwellers in the Arabic language, as Badyah means literally the visible land, the Bedouins identify themselves as Arabs or by the names of their tribes. City dwellers in Arabia who descended from known tribes refer to themselves as Bedouins to recognize their origin to Arabia. Bedouin territory stretches from the vast deserts of North Africa to the sands of the Middle East. They are traditionally divided into tribes, or clans and share a culture of herding camels. The Bedouin form a part of, but are not synonymous with, Bedouins have been referred to by various names throughout history, including Qedarites in the Old Testament and Arabaa by the Assyrians. They are referred to as the Araab in the Koran, traditions like camel riding and camping in the deserts are also popular leisure activities for urbanised Bedouins who live within close proximity to deserts or other wilderness areas. The term Bedouin derives from a form of the Arabic word badu. The Arabic term badu literally translates in Arabic as Badiyah dwellers, the word bādiyah means visible land such as plain or desert. The term Bedouin therefore means those in bādiyah or those in the desert, in English usage, however, the form Bedouin is commonly used for the singular term, the plural being Bedouins, as indicated by the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition. The term Bedouin also uses the root word as the Arabic noun for the beginning, بداية. The Arabs believe the Bedouins to be the predecessors to the settled Arabs, disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this frame, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility. The individual family unit typically consisted of three or four adults and any number of children, when resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum. These groups were linked by patriarchal lineage, but were just as likely linked by marriage, acquaintance, or no clearly defined relation. The next scale of interaction within groups was the ibn ʿamm or descent group, whilst the phrase descent group suggests purely a lineage-based arrangement, in reality these groups were fluid and adapted their genealogies to take in new members. The largest scale of tribal interactions is the tribe as a whole, the tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor—as mentioned above. The tribal level is the level that mediated between the Bedouin and the governments and organizations. Distinct structure of the Bedouin society leads to lasting rivalries between different clans
11.
Trans-Saharan trade
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Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century, the Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, herding of sheep and goats, large settlements, cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara from 4000 to 3500 BC. Remarkable rock paintings, in places which are very dry, portray vegetation. As a desert, Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the Niger basin, as Fernand Braudel points out that crossing such a zone is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and danger. The Sahara has always been home to groups of people practicing trade on a regular, Trade, beginning around 300 CE, was conducted by caravans of camels. These camels would be fattened for a number of months on the plains of either the Maghreb or the Sahel before being assembled into a caravan. According to Ibn Battuta, the explorer who accompanied one of the caravans, the caravans would be guided by highly paid Berbers who knew the desert and could ensure safe passage from their fellow desert nomads. The survival of a caravan was precarious and would rely on careful coordination, in the middle of the 14th century Ibn Battuta crossed the desert from Sijilmasa via the salt mines at Taghaza to the oasis of Oualata. A guide was sent ahead and water was brought on a journey of four days from Oualata to meet the caravan, Ancient trade spanned the northeastern corner of the Sahara in the Naqadan era. Predynastic Egyptians in the Naqada I period traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the Western Desert to the west, many trading routes went from oasis to oasis to resupply on both food and water. They also imported obsidian from Ethiopia to shape blades and other objects, Ancient cities dating to the First Dynasty of Egypt arose along both its Nile and Red Sea junctions, testifying to the routes ancient popularity. It became a route from Thebes to the Red Sea port of Elim. Records exist documenting knowledge of the route among Senusret I, Seti, Ramesses IV and also, later, later, Ancient Romans would protect the route by lining it with varied forts and small outposts, some guarding large settlements complete with cultivation. Described by Herodotus as a road traversed, in forty days, it became by his time an important land route facilitating trade between Nubia and Egypt, and subsequently became known as the Forty Days Road. From Kobbei,40 kilometres north of al-Fashir, the route passed through the desert to Bir Natrum, another oasis and salt mine, the Darb el-Arbain trade route was the easternmost of the central routes. The westernmost of the three routes was the Ghadames Road, which ran from the Niger River at Gao north to Ghat. Next was the easiest of the three routes, the Garamantean Road, named after the rulers of the land it passed through
12.
Silk Road
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While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products, though silk was certainly the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, as well as religions, syncretic philosophies, and various technologies. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Routes, in addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. The main traders during antiquity included the Chinese, Arabs, Turkmens, Indians, Persians, Somalis, Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Georgians, Armenians, Bactrians, in June 2014, UNESCO designated the Changan-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site. The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative Eurasian silk and horse trade, the German terms Seidenstraße and Seidenstraßen were coined by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872. The term Silk Route is also used, although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century. The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938, the fall of the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain in 1989 led to a surge of public and academic interest in Silk Road sites and studies in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Use of the term Silk Road is not without its detractors and he notes that traditional authors discussing East-West trade such as Marco Polo and Edward Gibbon never labelled any route as a silk one in particular. From the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand, some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in Ancient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade. This style is reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade. The tomb of a Scythian prince near Stuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chinese silks. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, soghdian Scythian merchants played a vital role in later periods in the development of the Silk Road. By the time of Herodotus, the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km from the city of Susa on the Karun to the port of Smyrna on the Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire and had postal stations, by having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance in nine days, while normal travellers took about three months. The next major step in the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great into Central Asia and this later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus, there are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between [China and the West around 200 BCE
13.
West Africa
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West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of Africa. Early human settlers from northern Holocene societies arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B. C, sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B. C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 1500 B. C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of productivity. Northern tribes developed walled settlements and non-walled settlements that numbered at 400, in the forest region, Iron Age cultures began to flourish, and an inter-region trade began to appear. The desertification of the Sahara and the change of the coast cause trade with upper Mediterranean peoples to be seen. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundance of prosperity for many of the following empires. Also, based on the archaeology of city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem, the Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao, in the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Sonni Ali, further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in the present-day southeastern Nigeria, the Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, the Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, established in the 15th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade. The Benin Empire was an empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo and it should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the hinterland of West Africa. Olfert Dapper, a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa and its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion, in the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa
14.
Tuareg people
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The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic confederation. They principally inhabit the Sahara desert, in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages, which belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, the Tuaregs have been called the blue people for the indigo-dye colored clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. A semi-nomadic Muslim people, they are believed to be descendants of the Berber autochthones of North Africa, the Tuaregs have been one of the ethnic groups that have been historically influential in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region. Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation, the Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes, and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial era. The origin and the meaning of the name Tuareg have long been debated and it would appear that Twārəg is derived from the broken plural of Tārgi, a name whose former meaning was inhabitant of Targa, the Tuareg name of the Libyan region commonly known as Fezzan. Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi, the term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh, the term for a woman Tamajaq. Spellings of the appellation vary by Tuareg dialect, however, they all reflect the same linguistic root, expressing the notion of freemen. As such, the endonym strictly refers only to the Tuareg nobility, not the artisanal client castes, the English exonym Blue People is similarly derived from the indigo color of the tagelmust veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath. Another term for the Tuareg is Imuhagh or Imushagh, a cognate to the northern Berber self-name Imazighen, the Tuareg today inhabit a vast area in the Sahara, stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Their combined population in these territories exceeds 2.5 million, with a population in Niger of around 2 million. The Tuareg are also the majority group in the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali. The Tuareg traditionally speak the Tuareg languages, also known as Tamasheq, Tamachen, Tamashekin, Tomacheck and these tongues belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. According to Ethnologue, there are an estimated 1.2 million Tuareg speakers, around half this number consists of speakers of the Eastern dialect. The exact number of Tuareg speakers per territory is uncertain, the CIA estimates that the Tuareg population in Mali constitutes approximately 0. 9% of the national population, whereas about 3. 5% of local inhabitants speak Tuareg as a primary language. In contrast, Imperato estimates that the Tuareg represent around 3% of Malis population, in antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the Tafilalt region into the Sahel under the Tuareg founding queen Tin Hinan, who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th century. The matriarchs 1,500 year old tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Hoggar Mountains of southern Algeria. Vestiges of an inscription in Tifinagh, the Tuaregs traditional Libyco-Berber writing script, have found on one of the ancient sepulchres walls
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Chadian Arabic
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Chadian Arabic is one of the regional colloquial varieties of Arabic. It is the first language for one million people, including town dwellers. The majority of its speakers live in southern Chad and its range is an east-to-west oval in the Sahel, about 1400 miles long by 300 miles north-to-south. Nearly all of this territory is in the two countries of Chad and Sudan and it is also spoken elsewhere in the vicinity of Lake Chad in the countries of Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger. Finally, it is spoken in slivers of the Central African Republic, in addition, this language serves as a lingua franca in much of the region. In most of its range, it is one of local languages. This language does not have a name shared by all its speakers. It arose as the language of nomadic cattle herders. Around 2000, the term Western Sudanic Arabic was proposed by a specialist in the language, in the era of British colonialism in Africa, colonial administrators too used the Sudan to mean the entire Sahel. How this Arabic language arose is unknown, in 1994, Braukämper proposed that it arose in Chad starting in 1635 by the fusion of a population of Arabic speakers with a population of Fulani nomads. During the colonial era, a form of pidgin Arabic known as Turku was used as a lingua franca, there are still Arabic pidgins in Chad today, but since they have not been described, it is not known if they descend from Turku. The majority of live in southern Chad between 10 and 14 degrees north latitude. In Chad, it is the language of the national capital, NDjamena, and its range encompasses such other major cities as Abéché, Am Timan. It is the language of 12% of Chadians. Chadian Arabics associated lingua franca is widely spoken in Chad, so that Chadian Arabic, in Sudan, it is spoken in the southwest, in southern Kurdufan and southern Darfur, but excluding the cities of al-Ubayyid and al-Fashir. The number of speakers in Niger is estimated to be 150,000 people, in Nigeria, it spoken by 10% of the population of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, and by at least 100,000 villagers elsewhere in Borno. In 1913, a French colonial administrator in Chad, Henri Carbou, wrote a grammar of the dialect of the Ouaddaï highlands. In 1920, a British colonial administrator in Nigeria, Gordon James Lethem, wrote a grammar of the Borno dialect, in which he noted that the language was spoken in Kanem
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Hassaniya Arabic
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It has almost completely replaced the Berber language originally spoken in this region. Although clearly a dialect, Hassānīya is relatively distant from other North African variants of Arabic. Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga-Berber and Wolof, there are several dialects of Hassaniya which differ primarily phonetically. Today, Hassaniya is spoken in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, the phonological system of Hassānīya is both very innovative and very conservative. All phonemes of Classical Arabic are represented in the dialect, as in other Bedouin dialects, Classical /q/ corresponds mostly to dialectal /ɡ/, /dˤ/ and /ðˤ/ have merged into /ðˤ/ and the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ have been preserved. In common with most Maghrebi Arabic varieties, the equivalent of Modern Standard Arabic /d͡ʒ/ is realised as /ʒ/, however, there is sometimes a double correspondence of a classical sound and its dialectal counterpart. Thus classical /q/ is represented by /ɡ/ in /ɡbaðˤ/ to take, similarly, /dˤ/ becomes /ðˤ/ in /ðˤəħk/ laugh, but /dˤ/ in /mrˤədˤ/ to be sick. Some consonant roots even have an appearance, /θaqiːl/ heavy vs. /θɡiːl/ heavy. Some of the forms are easily explained as recent loans from the literary language or from sedentary dialects in case of concepts pertaining to the sedentary way of life. For others, there is no obvious explanation, etymological /ðˤ/ appears constantly as /ðˤ/, never as /dˤ/. Nevertheless, the status of /q/ and /dˤ/ as well as /ɡ/ and /ðˤ/ appears very stable. Somewhat similarly, classical /ʔ/ has in most contexts disappeared or turned into /w/ or /j/, in some literary terms, however, it is clearly preserved, /mət. ʔal. lam/ suffering. Hassānīya has innovated many consonants by the spread of the distinction emphatic/non-emphatic, in addition to the above-mentioned, /rˤ/ and /lˤ/ have a clear phonemic status and /bˤ fˤ ɡˤ mˤ nˤ/ more marginally so. One additional emphatic phoneme /zˤ/ is acquired from the neighbouring Zenaga Berber language along with a palatal series /c ɟ ɲ/ from Niger–Congo languages of the south. At least some speakers make the distinction /p/–/b/ through borrowings from French, all in all, the number of consonant phonemes in Hassānīya is 33, or 39 if you count the marginal cases, too. On the phonetic level, the classical consonants /f/ and /θ/ are usually realised as voiced, the latter is still, however, pronounced differently from /ð/, the distinction probably being in the amount of air blown out. In geminated and word-final positions both phonemes are voiceless, for some speakers /θ/ apparently in all positions, the uvular fricative /ʁ/ is likewise realised voiceless in a geminated position, although not fricative but plosive. In other positions, etymological /ʁ/ seems to be in free variation with /q/, vowel phonemes come in two series, long and short
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Toubou people
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The Tubu or Toubou are an ethnic group inhabiting not only northern Chad but also southern Libya, northeastern Niger, and northwestern Sudan. The majority of Toubou live in the north of Chad around the Tibesti mountains and they speak the Tebu languages, in the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Numbering about 0.5 million, they are Muslims, Toubou live either as herders and nomads, or as farmers near oases. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures, the Toubou people are also referred to as the Tibu, Tibbu, Tebu, Tubu, Tebou, Todga, Todaga, Toda, Tuda and Tudaga people. Many of Chads leaders have been Toubou, including presidents Goukouni Oueddei, the Toubou people have historically lived in northern Chad, northwestern Niger and southern Libya. The Toubou people are distributed across an area in the central Sahara. They are particularly found north of the Tibesti mountains, which in Old Tebu means Rocky Mountains and their name is derived from this. The Toubou people have sometimes been called the black nomads of the Sahara, the Toubou are studied in two groups, the Teda and the Dazagra. They are believed to share an origin, but speak now two distinct if clearly associated languages called Tedaga and Dazaga, both Nilo-Saharan languages. Of the two, the Daza found to the south of the Teda are the most numerous, being 358,000 persons, the northern group or Téda are found primarily in the Sahara regions around the borders of southeast Libya, northeast Niger and northwestern Chad. They consider themselves a warrior people, live towards the Sahel region, spread over much of northcentral Chad. Both the Teda and Daza consist of numerous clans, for example, some major clans of the Dazagara or Gouran include the Anakaza, Dazza, Donza, Gaida, Kamaya, Karra, Kokorda, Kounouma, Mourdia, Sagarda, Wanja, Yarah. The ancient history of the Toubou people is unclear and they may be related to the Africano Libyans mentioned by Herodotus in 430 BCE, as a people being hunted by Garamantes, but this is speculative states Jean Chapelle. In Islamic literature, their earlest mention as Tubu people is perhaps along with the Zaghawa people in an 8th-century text by Ibn Qutaiba, the 9th century al-Kuwarizmis mentions the Daza people. Toubou life centers on raising and herding their livestock, or on farming the scattered oases where they cultivate dates and grain and their herds include dromedaries, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep. The livestock is a part of their wealth, and they trade the animals. Literacy rates among the Toubou is quite low, as nomadic pastoralists, many Toubou move. Those who prefer a life, typically live in palm-thatched
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Hausa people
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The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. The largest population of Hausa are concentrated in Nigeria and Niger, most Hausa, however, live in small villages or towns in Africa, where they grow crops, raise livestock including cattle, and engage in trade. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group, the Hausa aristocracy had historically developed an equestrian based culture. Still a status symbol of the nobility in Hausa society. Daura city is the origin of Hausawa, Hausa people, the town predates all the major Hausa towns in tradition and culture. A table of Hausa ethnic population by country, Daura, in northern Nigeria is the oldest city of Hausaland. The Hausa of Sokoto, also in northern Nigeria, speak the oldest surviving classical vernacular of the language, historically Sokoto was the centre of Hausa Islamic scholarship. Migrants from these areas were introducing Islam to many of the Hausa by the 14th century, all of these groups live in the Sahel, Saharan and Sudanian regions, and as a result have influenced each others cultures to varying degrees. Today some Fulani people cannot be distinguished from Hausa people in northern states of Nigeria, due to inter-marriage. In Agadez and Saharan areas of central Niger, the Tuareg and Hausa groups are indistinguishable from each other in their traditional clothing, but the two groups differ in language, lifestyle and preferred beasts of burden. Islamic Shari’a law is loosely the law of the land in Hausa areas, well understood by any Islamic scholar or teacher, known in Hausa as a mallam, mallan or malam. This pluralist attitude toward ethnic-identity and cultural affiliation has enabled the Hausa to inhabit one of the largest geographic regions of non-Bantu ethnic groups in Africa, the Nok culture appeared in Northern Nigeria around 1000 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 300 AD in the region of West Africa. It is believed to be the product of a nation that branched to create the Hausa, Gwari, Birom, Kanuri, Nupe. The Kwatarkwashi Culture or Sokoto Culture located to the North west of Nok is thought to be the same as or an ancestor of the Nok. Noks social system is thought to have highly advanced. The Nok culture is considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta, the refinement of this culture is attested to by the image of a Nok dignitary at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The dignitary is portrayed wearing a crooked baton, the dignitary is also portrayed sitting with flared nostrils, and an open mouth suggesting performance. Other images show figures on horseback, indicating that the Nok culture possessed the horse, iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in Nok culture in Africa at least by 550 BC and possibly earlier
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Songhai people
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The Songhai people are an ethnic group in West Africa who speak Songhai languages. Their history and lingua franca is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century, predominantly a Muslim community, the Songhai are found primarily throughout Mali in the Western sudanic region. The name Songhai is historically neither an ethnic nor a linguistic designation, speakers in Mali have adopted it as an ethnic self-designation but other Songhay-speaking groups identify themselves by other ethnic terms such as Zarma or Isawaghen. The dialect of Koyraboro Senni spoken in Gao is unintelligible to speakers of the Zarma dialect of Niger, the Songhay languages are commonly taken to be Nilo-Saharan but this classification remains controversial, Dimmendaal believes that for now it is best considered an independent language family. It was from one of Malis former conquests, the kingdom of Gao, although the city of Gao had been occupied by a Songhai dynasty prior to being conquered by Mansa Musas forces in 1325, it was not until much later that the Songhai empire emerged. The empire saw its pre-eminent rise under the military strategist and influential Songhai king and it began its rise in 1468 when Sonni Ali conquered much of the weakening Mali empires territory as well as Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenné. Among the countrys most noted scholars was Ahmed Baba—a highly distinguished historian frequently quoted in the Tarikh al-Sudan, the people consisted of mostly fishermen and traders. Following Sonni Alis death, Muslim factions rebelled against his successor and installed Soninke general, under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith. Following Askia Muhammad, the empire began to collapse and it was enormous and could not be kept under control. The kingdom of Morocco saw Songhays still flourishing salt and gold trade, the Dendi people are a subgroup of the Songhai. The language, society and culture of the Songhai people is barely distinguishable from the Zarma people, some scholars consider the Zarma people to be a part of and the largest ethnic sub-group of the Songhai. Some study the group together as Zarma-Songhai people, however, both groups see themselves as two different peoples. The Songhai people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with castes, according to the medieval and colonial era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous. Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit, some scholars such as John Shoup list these strata in three categories, free, servile, and the slave class. The servile group were required to be endogamous, while the slaves could be emancipated over four generations. The highest social level, states Shoup, claim to have descended from King Sonni Ali Ber, the traditionally free strata of the Zerma people have owned property and herds, and these have dominated the political system and governments during and after the French colonial rule. Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of marriages is a norm. This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other groups in West Africa
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Sahara
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The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometres is comparable to the area of the United States. The desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south, it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of tropical savanna around the Niger River valley. The Sahara can be divided into several regions including, the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, the name Sahara is derived from ṣaḥārā, the plural of the Arabic word for desert. The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and it covers 9 million square kilometres, amounting to 31% of Africa. If all areas with an annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included. It is one of three physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division. The Sahara is mainly rocky hamada, Ergs form only a minor part, wind or rare rainfall shape the desert features, sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys, dry lakes, and salt flats. Unusual landforms include the Richat Structure in Mauritania, several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad. The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation, the northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are subdivisions of the great desert, Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years, the northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, the southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha, or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel. According to climatic criteria, the limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. The Sahara is the worlds largest low-latitude hot desert and this steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere
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Sahel
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The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south. Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea, the Arabic word sāḥil literally means shore, coast, while the word Sahara is derived from the Arabic word for desert. Together, these names evoke an image of the Sahels vegetation as a coastline on the Saharas ocean of sand, historically, the western part of the Sahel was sometimes known as the Sudan region. This belt was roughly located between the Sahara and the areas of West Africa. It is an ecoregion of semi-arid grasslands, savannas, steppes. The topography of the Sahel is mainly flat, most of the region lies between 200 and 400 meters in elevation, several isolated plateaus and mountain ranges rise from the Sahel, but are designated as separate ecoregions because their flora and fauna are distinct from the surrounding lowlands. Annual rainfall varies from around 100–200 mm in the north of the Sahel to around 600 mm in the south, the Sahel is mostly covered in grassland and savanna, with areas of woodland and shrubland. Grass cover is continuous across the region, dominated by annual grass species such as Cenchrus biflorus, Schoenefeldia gracilis. Species of acacia are the dominant trees, with Acacia tortilis the most common, along with Acacia senegal, other tree species include Commiphora africana, Balanites aegyptiaca, Faidherbia albida, and Boscia senegalensis. In the northern part of the Sahel, areas of shrub, including Panicum turgidum and Aristida sieberana, alternate with areas of grassland. During the long dry season, many lose their leaves. The larger species have greatly reduced in number by over-hunting and competition with livestock. The seasonal wetlands of the Sahel are important for birds moving within Africa. The Sahel has a tropical, hot steppe climate, the climate is typically hot, sunny, dry and somewhat windy all year long. The Sahels climate is similar to, but less extreme than, the Sahel mainly receives a low to a very low amount of precipitation annually. The steppe has a long, prevailing dry season and a short rainy season. The precipitation is extremely irregular, and varies considerably from season to season. Most of the rain falls during only one or two months, while the other months may remain absolutely dry
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Nigeria
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Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country. Modern-day Nigeria has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia, the modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, and the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms, Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, and plunged into a civil war from 1967 to 1970. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa, owing to its large population, with approximately 184 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims in the northern part. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as native to the Igbo. As of 2015, Nigeria is the worlds 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and it overtook South Africa to become Africas largest economy in 2014. The 2013 debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percent, Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globes next BRIC-like economies. It is also listed among the Next Eleven economies set to become among the biggest in the world, Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country and this name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The origin of the name Niger, which applied only to the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism. The Nok civilisation of Northern Nigeria flourished between 500 BC and AD200, producing life-sized terracotta figures which are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africa, further north, the cities Kano and Katsina have a recorded history dating to around 999 AD. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa, the Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture, Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri, in West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence. The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, the oldest signs of human settlement at Ifes current site date back to the 9th century, and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures
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Cameroon
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Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroons coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. French and English are the languages of Cameroon. The country is referred to as Africa in miniature for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, the country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad, portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões, which became Cameroon in English. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, Cameroon became a German colony in 1884 known as Kamerun. After World War I, the territory was divided between France and the United Kingdom as League of Nations mandates, the Union des Populations du Cameroun political party advocated independence, but was outlawed by France in the 1950s, leading to the Cameroonian Independence War. It waged war on French and UPC militant forces until 1971, in 1960, the French-administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. The southern part of British Cameroons federated with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon, the federation was abandoned in 1972. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972, Cameroon enjoys relatively high political and social stability. This has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, railways, nevertheless, large numbers of Cameroonians live in poverty as subsistence farmers. Power lies firmly in the hands of the president since 1982, Paul Biya. The English-speaking territories of Cameroon have grown increasingly alienated from the government, politicians and civil society in English-speaking regions have called for greater decentralization and even complete separation or independence from the former French-governed territories. The territory of present-day Cameroon was first settled during the Neolithic Era, the longest continuous inhabitants are groups such as the Baka. From here, Bantu migrations into eastern, southern, and central Africa are believed to have originated about 2,000 years ago, the Sao culture arose around Lake Chad c. AD500 and gave way to the Kanem and its successor state, kingdoms, fondoms, and chiefdoms arose in the west. Portuguese sailors reached the coast in 1472 and they noted an abundance of the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus turneranus in the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Camarões, which became Cameroon in English
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Kenya
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Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa and a founding member of the East African Community. Its capital and largest city is Nairobi and it is bordered by Tanzania to the south and southwest, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya covers 581,309 km2, and had a population of approximately 48 million people in January 2017, Kenya has a warm and humid tropical climate on its Indian Ocean coastline. The climate is cooler in the grasslands around the capital city, Nairobi, and especially closer to Mount Kenya. Further inland are highlands in Central and Rift Valley regions where tea, in the West are Nyanza and Western regions, there is an equatorial, hot and dry climate which becomes humid around Lake Victoria, the largest tropical fresh-water lake in the world. This gives way to temperate and forested areas in the neighbouring western region. The north-eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes, Kenya is known for its world class athletes in track and field and rugby. The African Great Lakes region, which Kenya is a part of, has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic period, by the first millennium AD, the Bantu expansion had reached the area from West-Central Africa. Bantu and Nilotic populations together constitute around 97% of the nations residents, European and Arab presence in coastal Mombasa dates to the Early Modern period, European exploration of the interior began in the 19th century. The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, which starting in 1920 gave way to the Kenya Colony, Kenya obtained independence in December 1963. Following a referendum in August 2010 and adoption of a new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47 semi-autonomous counties, the capital, Nairobi, is a regional commercial hub. The economy of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East, agriculture is a major employer, the country traditionally exports tea and coffee and has more recently begun to export fresh flowers to Europe. The service industry is also an economic driver. Additionally, Kenya is a member of the East African Community trading bloc, the Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya. The origin of the name Kenya is not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba words Kirinyaga, Kirenyaa, if so, then the British may not so much have mispronounced it, as misspelled it. In the 19th century, the German explorer Johann Ludwig Krapf was staying with the Bantu Kamba people when he first spotted the mountain. On asking for the name of the mountain, he was told Kĩ-Nyaa or Kĩĩma- Kĩĩnyaa probably because the pattern of black rock, the Agikuyu, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Kenya, call it Kĩrĩma Kĩrĩnyaga in Kikuyu, which is quite similar to the Kamba name. Ludwig Krapf recorded the name as both Kenia and Kegnia believed by most to be a corruption of the Kamba version, others say that this was—on the contrary—a very precise notation of a correct African pronunciation /ˈkɛnjə/
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India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
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Beijing
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Beijing is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the worlds third most populous city proper. It is also one of the worlds most populous capital cities, the city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by population after Shanghai and is the nations political, cultural. It is home to the headquarters of most of Chinas largest state-owned companies, and is a hub for the national highway, expressway, railway. The citys history dates back three millennia, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries. Beijing was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium A. D, the city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have made it centre of culture, encyclopædia Britannica notes that few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. Siheyuans, the traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, many of Beijings 91 universities consistently rank among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. Beijings Zhongguancun area is known as Chinas Silicon Valley and Chinas center of innovation. According to the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey, Beijing ranked first in Asia in the subcategory Personal Finance Index, expats live primarily in urban districts such as Dongcheng and Chaoyang in the east, or in suburban districts such as Shunyi. Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had other names. The name Beijing, which means Northern Capital, was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the English spelling is based on the pinyin romanisation of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng, the single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is BJ, the earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived more recently, about 27,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, the first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city from the 11th to 7th century BC
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Shanxi
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Shanxi is a province of China, located in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 晋, after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring, the name Shanxi means West of the Mountains, a reference to the provinces location west of the Taihang Mountains. Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, the capital of the province is Taiyuan. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Jin was located in what is now Shanxi and it underwent a three-way split into the states of Han, Zhao and Wei in 403 BC, the traditional date taken as the start of the Warring States period. By 221 BC, all of states had fallen to the state of Qin. The Han Dynasty ruled Shanxi as the province of Bingzhou, during the invasion of northern nomads in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, several regimes including the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin, and Later Yan continuously controlled Shanxi. They were followed by Northern Wei, a Xianbei kingdom, which had one of its earlier capitals at present-day Datong in northern Shanxi, the Tang Dynasty originated in Taiyuan. During the Tang Dynasty and after, present day Shanxi was called Hédōng, empress Wu Zetian, Chinas only female ruler, was born in Shanxi. Shanxi was initially home to the jiedushi of Hedong, Li Cunxu, shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin, the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the Khitans in return for military assistance. This territory, called The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, included a part of northern Shanxi, the ceded territory became a major problem for Chinas defense against the Khitans for the next 100 years, because it lay south of the Great Wall. He founded his dynasty by launching a coup against the Turkic Later Han Emperor. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the Ming Dynasty which were of the same landarea, with the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Shanxi became part of the newly established Republic of China. During most of the Republic of Chinas period of rule over mainland China, Yan Xishan devoted himself to modernizing Shanxi and developing its resources during his reign over the province. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occupied much of the province after winning the Battle of Taiyuan, Shanxi was also a major battlefield between the Japanese and the Chinese communist guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army during the war. The soldiers of Shanxi province under Yan Xishan viciously fought against the invading Japanese, right after the defeat of Japan, much of the Shanxi countryside became important bases for the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the ensuing Chinese Civil War. Shanxi was eventually conquered by the communists, resulting in the warlord Yan Xishans retreat to Taiwan Island, for centuries, Shanxi served as the center of trade and banking, the Shanxi merchants were once synonymous with wealth
28.
Mongolia
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Mongolia /mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ is a landlocked unitary sovereign state in East Asia. Its area is equivalent with the historical territory of Outer Mongolia. It is sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north, while it does not share a border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia is separated from it by only 36.76 kilometers. At 1,564,116 square kilometers, Mongolia is the 18th largest and it is also the worlds second-largest landlocked country behind Kazakhstan and the largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea. The country contains very little land, as much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the countrys population, approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, horse culture is still integral. The majority of its population are Buddhists, the non-religious population is the second largest group. Islam is the dominant religion among ethnic Kazakhs, the majority of the states citizens are of Mongol ethnicity, although Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization in 1997 and seeks to expand its participation in regional economic, the area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Turkic Khaganate, and others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China to establish the Yuan dynasty, after the collapse of the Yuan, the Mongols retreated to Mongolia and resumed their earlier pattern of factional conflict, except during the era of Dayan Khan and Tumen Zasagt Khan. In the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism began to spread in Mongolia, being led by the Manchu-founded Qing dynasty. By the early 1900s, almost one-third of the male population were Buddhist monks. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence from the Qing dynasty, shortly thereafter, the country came under the control of the Soviet Union, which had aided its independence from China. In 1924, the Mongolian Peoples Republic was declared as a Soviet satellite state, after the anti-Communist revolutions of 1989, Mongolia conducted its own peaceful democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a multi-party system, a new constitution of 1992, homo erectus inhabited Mongolia from 850,000 years ago. Modern humans reached Mongolia approximately 40,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic, the Khoit Tsenkher Cave in Khovd Province shows lively pink, brown, and red ochre paintings of mammoths, lynx, bactrian camels, and ostriches, earning it the nickname the Lascaux of Mongolia. The venus figurines of Malta testify to the level of Upper Paleolithic art in northern Mongolia, the wheeled vehicles found in the burials of the Afanasevans have been dated to before 2200 BC
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Ulaanbaatar
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Ulaanbaatar, formerly anglicised as Ulan Bator /ˌuːlɑːn ˈbɑːtər/ is Mongolias capital and largest city. A municipality, the city is not part of any aimag, located in north central Mongolia, the municipality lies at an elevation of about 1,310 meters in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial and financial heart, the centre of Mongolias road network. The city was founded in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic center, in 1778, it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that, it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially, in the twentieth century, Ulaanbaatar grew into a major manufacturing center. Ulaanbaatar has been given names in its history. Before 1911, the name was Ikh Khüree or Daa Khüree. The Chinese equivalent, Dà kùlún, was rendered into Western languages as Kulun or Kuren, upon independence in 1911, with both the secular government and the Bogd Khans palace present, the citys name changed to Niĭslel Khüree. It is called Bogdiin Khuree in the folk song Praise of Bogdiin Khuree, in western languages, the city at that time was most often referred to as Urga. When the city became the capital of the new Mongolian Peoples Republic in 1924, on the session of the 1st Great Peoples Khuraldaan of Mongolia in 1924, a majority of delegates expressed their wish to change the capital citys name to Baatar Khot. However, under the pressure of the Soviet activist of Communist International, Turar Ryskulov, in Europe and North America, Ulaanbaatar continued to be generally known as Urga or Khure until 1924, and Ulan Bator afterwards. The Russian spelling is the Russian phonetic equivalent of the Mongolian name and this form was defined two decades before the Mongolian name got its current Cyrillic script spelling and Ulaanbaatar transliteration. These Upper Paleolithic people hunted mammoth and wooly rhinoceros, the bones of which are found abundantly around Ulaanbaatar, a number of Xiongnu era royal tombs have been discovered around Ulaanbaatar, including the tombs of Belkh Gorge near Dambadarjaalin monastery and tombs of Songinokhairkhan. Located on the banks of the Tuul River, Ulaanbaatar has been well within the sphere of Turco-Mongol nomadic empires throughout history, the palace is said to be where Genghis Khan stayed with Yesui Khatun before attacking the Tangut in 1226. In 1651 Zanabazar returned to Mongolia from Tibet and founded seven aimags in Urga, as a mobile monastery-town, it was often moved to various places along the Selenge, Orkhon and Tuul rivers, as supply and other needs would demand. During the Dzungar wars of the late 17th century, it was moved to Inner Mongolia. As the city grew, it moved less and less and they have several thousand tents about them, which are removed from time to time. The Urga is much frequented by merchants from China and Russia, by Zanabazars death in 1723, Urga was the Mongolias preeminent monastery in terms of religious authority
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Uliastai
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Uliastai, also spelled Uliyasutai or Oulia-Sontai, and sometimes known as Javkhlant, is a city in Mongolia located in the western part of the country and 1,115 kilometres from the capital Ulaanbaatar. Uliastai is the capital of Zavkhan Province and was the 10th most populous city in the country with a population of 24,276, however, recent estimates have the citys population at 16,240 making it the 16th most populous city in Mongolia. Uliastai is located in a valley where the Chigestai and Bogdiin Gol rivers meet. It is one of the most remote aimag capitals in Mongolia, Uliastai city has sum status and forms an enclave within the surrounding Aldarkhaan sum. Alongside Khovd, Uliastai is one of the oldest settlements in Mongolia and it was connected by camel caravan routes with Urga in the east, Khovd in the west, Barkol and other points in Xinjiang in the southwest, and Hohhot in the southeast. The city was founded as a garrison by the Manchus in 1733 during the Qing rule of Mongolia. At its peak, the fortress held up to 3500 soldiers and was surrounded by a Chinese trading quarter, in March 1755, a Qing dynasty army departed from Uliastai as the vanguard in the Qianlong Emperors final push against the Dzungar Khanate to the south west. During the Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1911 the Military Governor of Uliastai, his staff, in Uliassutai Wang Tsao-tsun was appointed the Commissioner. It was the capital of western Outer Mongolia, the old Uliastai Airport has two unpaved runways and is close to the city, but no longer receives flights. In 2002, the Donoi Airport was built 25 km west of the city near Aldarkhaan soum, museums Museum of Famous People – dedicated to former residents of Zavkhan aimag, the museum has artifacts from the lives of Mongolian prime ministers, presidents, generals and Buddhist saints. History Museum – Zavkhans natural and cultural history museum, ochirpurev Tsogt – A small Nyingma temple on Main street near the museums. Javkhlant Tolgoi Next to Togs Boyant Javklhant temple, a pavilion surrounded by statues of elk, ibex. Its a quick hike from the center of town, and offers a panorama of the city. Uliastai experiences a cold climate with long, dry, very cold winters and short. Manchu Dynasty Government Structure, 1691–1910 University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
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Khovd (city)
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Khovd or Hovd, formerly known as Kobdo or Khobdo, is the capital of the Khovd Province of Mongolia. It is situated at the foot of the Mongol Altay Mountains, the Khar-Us Lake is located approximately 25 km east of Khovd, and is the location of a Strictly Protected Area, called the Mankhan Nature Preserve. Khovd is known throughout the region for its watermelon and tomato harvest in the late summer, as a result of administrative reforms in 1992, Khovd was accorded the status of Jargalant sum. Khovd has a desert climate with long, dry, frigid winters. Precipitation is minimal and very concentrated in summer. The city has a population of 26,023,30,479,28,601, the city was established by Galdan Boshogtu Khan of Dzungaria in the 17th century on the bank of the river Khovd in what is now Erdenebüren sum. Horticulture was developed around city Khovd using the land cultivating experience from Taranchi, the city was moved by the Qing administration after destruction of the Dzungar Khanate after 1757 on to the bank of the river Buyant
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Xinjiang
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Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is a provincial-level autonomous region of China in the northwest of the country. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and the 8th largest country subdivision in the world and it contains the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which is administered by China. Xinjiang borders the countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the rugged Karakoram, Kunlun, and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiangs borders, as well as its western and southern regions. Xinjiang also borders Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu, the most well-known route of the historical Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang and it is home to a number of ethnic groups, including the Han, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Hui, Uyghur, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Russians. More than a dozen autonomous prefectures and counties for minorities are in Xinjiang, older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan. Xinjiang is divided into the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range, only about 4. 3% of Xinjiangs land area is fit for human habitation. With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, the territory came under the rule of the Qing dynasty in the 18th century, which was later replaced by the Republic of China government. Since 1949, it has been part of the Peoples Republic of China following the Chinese Civil War, in 1954, Xinjiang Bingtuan was set up to strengthen the border defense against the Soviet Union, and also promote the local economy. In 1955, Xinjiang was turned into a region from a province. In the last decades, there have been tensions regarding Xinjiangs political status, amnesty International said that activists in Xinjiang have been arrested and tortured. Under the Han dynasty, which drove the Xiongnu empire out of the region in 60 BC, Xinjiang was previously known as Xiyu or Qurighar and this was in an effort to secure the profitable routes of the Silk Road. Dzungaria was known as Zhunbu and the Tarim Basin was known as Huijiang during the Qing dynasty before both regions were merged and became the region of Gansu Xinjiang, later simplified as Xinjiang. The name Xinjiang, which literally means New Frontier or New Borderland, was given during the Qing dynasty, according to the Chinese statesman Zuo Zongtangs report to the Emperor of Qing, Xinjiang means an old land newly returned. For instance, present-day Jinchuan County was known as Jinchuan Xinjiang, in the same manner, present-day Xinjiang was known as Xiyu Xinjiang and Gansu Xinjiang. After 1821, the Qing changed the names of the other regained regions, the name East Turkestan was created by Russian sinologist Hyacinth to replace the term Chinese Turkestan in 1829. East Turkestan was used traditionally to only refer to the Tarim Basin, in 1955, Xinjiang province was renamed Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The name that was proposed was simply Xinjiang Autonomous Region
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Inner Mongolia
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Its capital is Hohhot, and other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, and Ordos. It is the third largest subdivision of China, spanning approximately 1,200,000 km2 or 12% of Chinas total land area and it recorded a population of 24,706,321 in the 2010 census, accounting for 1. 84% of Mainland Chinas total population. Inner Mongolia is the countrys 23rd most populous province-level division, the majority of the population in the region is Han Chinese, with a sizeable titular Mongol minority. In Chinese, the region is known as Inner Mongolia, where the terms of Inner/Outer are derived from Manchu dorgi/tulergi. The term Inner 内 referred to the Nei Fan 内番, i. e. those descendants of Genghis Khan who granted the title khan in Ming and Qing Dynasties and lived in part of southern part of Mongolia. In recent years, some Mongols began to call Inner Mongolia Nan Menggu, literally South Mongolia, much of what is known about the history of Greater Mongolia, including Inner Mongolia, is known through Chinese chronicles and historians. Slab Grave cultural monuments are found in northern, central and eastern Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, north-western China, Mongolian scholars prove that this culture related to the Proto-Mongols. During the Zhou Dynasty, central and western Inner Mongolia were inhabited by peoples such as the Loufan, Linhu. During the Warring States period, King Wuling of the state of Zhao based in what is now Hebei, after destroying the Dí state of Zhongshan in what is now Hebei province, he defeated the Linhu and Loufan and created the commandery of Yunzhong near modern Hohhot. King Wuling of Zhao also built a long wall stretching through the Hetao region and he also maintained two commanderies in the region, Jiuyuan and Yunzhong, and moved 30,000 households there to solidify the region. After the Qin Dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, these efforts were abandoned, during the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu sent the general Wei Qing to reconquer the Hetao region from the Xiongnu in 127 BC. After the conquest, Emperor Wu continued the policy of building settlements in Hetao to defend against the Xiong-Nu, in that same year he established the commanderies of Shuofang and Wuyuan in Hetao. At the same time, what is now eastern Inner Mongolia was controlled by the Xianbei, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xiongnu who surrendered to the Han Dynasty began to be settled in Hetao, and intermingled with the Han immigrants in the area. Hetao was then taken over by the Khitan Empire, founded by the Khitans and they were followed by the Western Xia of the Tanguts, who took control of what is now the western part of Inner Mongolia. The Khitans were later replaced by the Jurchens, precursors to the modern Manchus, after Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khans summer capital Shangdu was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia, after the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, the Ming established the Three Guards composed of the Mongols there
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Hohhot
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Hohhot, abbreviated Hushi, formerly known as Kweisui, is the capital of Inner Mongolia in North China, serving as the regions administrative, economic, and cultural centre. Its population was 2,866,615 inhabitants at the 2010 census, the name of the city in Mongolian means Blue City—Kuku-Khoto in Mongolian—although it is also wrongly referred to as the Green City. The color blue in Mongol culture is associated with the sky, eternity and purity, in Chinese, the name has also been variously romanized as Kokotan, Kokutan, Kuku-hoton, Huhohaote, Huhehot, Huhhot, or Köke qota. Marco Polo reports traveling to the Province of Tenduc, which has identified as the region around the modern-day Hohhot. His itinerary took him from Tangut nation he called the Kingdom of Egrigaia, in 1557, the Tümed Mongol leader Altan Khan began building the Da Zhao Temple in the Tümed plain in order to convince the Ming dynasty government of his leadership of the southern Mongol tribes. The town that grew up around this temple was called the Blue Town, the Ming had been blockading the Mongols access to Chinese iron, cotton, and crop seeds, in order to dissuade them from attacking the northern China plain. But in 1570, Altan Khan successfully negotiated the end of the blockade by the establishment of a relationship with the Ming. The population of Guihua grew to over 150,000 in the early 1630s as local Mongol princes encouraged the settlement of Han Chinese merchants, sometimes Mongol armies attacked Guihua, such as the total razing of the city by Ligdan Khan in 1631. Altan Khan and his successors constructed temples and fortress in 1579,1602 and 1727, the Tümed Mongols had long been semiagricultural there. Hui merchants gathered north of the gate of the citys fortress and their descendants forms the nucleus of the modern Huimin district. After the Manchus founded the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor sent troops to control the region, the Qing dynasty built a strong garrison town near Guihuas northeast called Suiyuan, supervising southwestern Inner Mongolia in 1735–39 against Mongol attacks from the north. Guihua and Suiyuan became Guihua County of Qing China, french missionaries established a Catholic church in Guihua in 1874, but the Christians were forced to flee to Beijing during the antiforeign Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901. In 1913, the government of the new Republic of China united the garrison town of Suiyuan, Guisui town was the center of Guisui County and the capital of Suiyuan Province in northern China. In 1918, the American specialist of Inner Asia Owen Lattimore noted Guisuis ethnic composition as A town purely Chinese except for the Lama monasteries, the Tümeds are now practically nonexistent and the nearest Mongolians are to be sought at 50 or 60 miles distance on the plateau. During the progressive Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s, the Japanese created the state of Mengjiang headed by Prince De. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Republic of China renamed the city back to its original name, the Communist Party of Chinas forces drove out the Republics General Fu Zuoyi in Suiyuan during the Chinese Civil War. After the Chinese Revolution in 1949, Guisui was renamed Hohhot, Guisui was chosen as the regions administrative centre in 1952, replacing Zhangjiakou. In 1954, the new China renamed Guisui to Hohhot, though with a different Chinese pronunciation of Huhehaote, the city has seen significant development since Chinas reform and opening began
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Qitai County
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Qitai County, historically known as Gucheng, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China under the administration of the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It covers an area of 16,641 square kilometres and as of the 2002 census had a population of 230,000, Qitai Countys county seat is in Qitai Town. Located on one of the routes of the Silk Road. Owen Lattimore in The Desert Road to Turkestan leaves an account of his travel along this route in 1926-27, under the special circumstances of the caravan trade, camel traffic usually overshoots Hami, going on all the way to Ku Ch’eng-tze. In 2009, the Ürümqi–Dzungaria Railway was constructed through the Jiangjun Gobi desert in the part of the county. It terminates at a mine in Jiangjunmiao. In 2012, the officials of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the facility, in Qitai Countys Banjiegou Town, will be the home of the proposed Qitai Radio Telescope. If completed, it will be the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world. Reprinted with new introduction,1972, AMS Press, New York, N. Y
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Australian feral camel
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Australian feral camels are feral populations consisting of two species of camel, mostly dromedaries but also some bactrian camels. By 2008, it was feared that Central Australias feral camel population had grown to one million and was projected to double every 8 to 10 years. Camels are known to cause degradation of local environmental and cultural sites particularly during dry conditions. A $19 million management program was funded in 2009 and upon completion in 2013, Camels had been used successfully in desert exploration in other parts of the world. They ought to be provided with all sorts of implements and stores and they should have oxen from Buenos Aires, or from the English settlements, mules from Senegal, and dromedaries from Africa or Arabia. The oxen would traverse the woods and the thickets, the mules would walk securely among rugged rocks and hilly countries, thus the expedition would be prepared for any kind of territory that the interior might present. Dogs also should be taken to raise game, and to discover springs of water, when no kangaroos and game are to be found the party would subsist on the flesh of their own flocks. In 1839, Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler, second Governor of South Australia, the first camel arrived in Australia in 1840, ordered from the Canary Islands by the Phillips brothers of Adelaide. The Apolline, under Captain William Deane, docked at Port Adelaide in South Australia on 12 October 1840, the surviving camel was named Harry. He became known as the man who was shot by his own camel, on 1 September Horrocks was preparing to shoot a bird on the shores of Lake Dutton. His kneeling camel moved while Horrocks was reloading his gun, fatally injuring Horrocks by injuring the middle fingers of his right hand, Horrocks died of his wounds on 23 September in Penwortham after requesting that the camel was shot. Australias first major expedition to use camels as a main form of transport was the Burke. The Victorian Government imported 24 camels for the expedition, the first Muslim cameleers arrived on 9 June 1860 at Port Melbourne from Kurrachee on the ship the Chinsurah, to participate in the Burke and Wills expedition. As described by the Victorian Exploration Expedition Committee, the camels would be useless unless accompanied by their native drivers. The cameleers on the expedition included 45-year-old Dost Mahomed, who was bitten by a bull camel losing permanent use of his arm, and Esa Khan from Kalat. They cared for the camels, loaded and unloaded equipment and provisions, from the 1860s onward small groups of cameleers were shipped in and out of Australia at three-year intervals, to service South Australias inland pastoral industry. Carting goods and transporting wool bales by camel was a livelihood for them. As their knowledge of the Australian outback and economy increased, Muslim cameleers began their own businesses, by 1890 the camel business was dominated by Muslim merchants and brokers, commonly referred to as Afghans or Ghans, despite their origin often being British India as well as Afghanistan
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Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
38.
Oodnadatta
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It can be reached by an unsealed road from Coober Pedy or via the unsealed Oodnadatta Track from Marree to Marla or from the north via Finke, Northern Territory. The name is derived from Arrernte utnadata, meaning mulga blossom, the population was 229 in 1976 and decreased to 160 in 1986. The 2006 census reported a population of 277, john McDouall Stuart explored the region in 1859. The route mapped by Stuart in his journeys of 1857 to 1862 was adopted as part of the Overland Telegraph Line route, there was no township at Oodnadatta in those days. It was called the Yellow Waterhole, or Angle Pole, camels were the only pack animals capable of taking on a six-week journey in often extreme heat, through sandy terrain. When train travel arrived, many of these camels were left to run wild in the outback where they number in the tens of thousands today, many Afghan men and their families eventually settled in Oodnadatta and Maree, some marrying into the Aboriginal community. Oodnadatta became the terminus of the Great Northern Railway in 1890, the line became known as the Central Australian Railway and the train service on the line was known as the Ghan in honour of the Afghan cameleers. The railway was built with narrow tracks, train traffic was frequently disrupted by washouts and other damage to the trackbed leading to a slow. The railway through Oodnadatta was closed in 1981, a new standard line was built to the west bypassing Oodnadatta. Oodnadattas busiest era was World War II when Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force set up facilities to service troop trains. Increasing tourist traffic along the Oodnadatta Track and a mining industry keep the village alive. The Aboriginal school is the biggest employer, both the historic Oodnadatta railway station, now a museum, and the nearby Algebuckina Bridge are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. Oodnadatta has a hot climate and has also recorded the highest reliably measured maximum temperature in Australia,50.7 °C on 2 January 1960. There is a sign in Oodnadatta claiming the town is The driest town. The name Oodnadatta has been used as a name for a crater on the planet Mars, the Pink Roadhouse is a focal point for the town, providing petrol, a general store, meals, post office facilities and canoe hire. Although they really do have canoes, it is not clear where to use them in the area unless the local waterholes are recently filled. Oodnadatta is serviced weekly by the Coober Pedy Oodnadatta One Day Mail Run. The OKA mail truck carries some general freight and passengers
39.
South Australia
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South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country, with a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres, it is the fourth-largest of Australias states and territories. Other population centres in the state are relatively small, the state comprises less than 8 percent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in Adelaide, most of the remainder are settled in fertile areas along the south-eastern coast and River Murray. The states colonial origins are unique in Australia as a settled, planned British province. Official settlement began on 28 December 1836, when the colony was proclaimed at the Old Gum Tree by Governor John Hindmarsh, as with the rest of the continent, the region had been long occupied by Aboriginal peoples, who were organised into numerous tribes and languages. The first British settlement to be established was Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, on 26 July 1836, the guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield that was later employed by the New Zealand Company. The goal was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties, although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, it is known for its wine and numerous cultural festivals. The states economy is dominated by the agricultural, manufacturing and mining industries, the state has an increasingly significant finance sector as well. Evidence of human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years, with flint mining activity, in addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited long before the island was cut off by rising sea levels, thijssen named his discovery Pieter Nuyts Land, after the highest ranking individual on board. The complete coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders, the land which now forms the state of South Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of the colony of New South Wales. Although the new colony included almost two-thirds of the continent, early settlements were all on the eastern coast and it took more than forty years before any serious proposal to establish settlements in the south-western portion of New South Wales were put forward. In 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, the act stated that 802,511 square kilometres would be allotted to the colony and it would be convict-free. In contrast to the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply to the new province, although the patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for the indigenous inhabitants it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters. Settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island. The first immigrants arrived at Holdfast Bay in November 1836, the Colonisation Commissioners intended to establish a police service as soon as misconduct within the increasing population warranted it
40.
Alice Springs
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Alice Springs /ˌælᵻs ˈsprɪŋz/ is the third largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as the Alice or simply Alice, Alice Springs is situated roughly in Australias geographic centre. The area is known as Mparntwe to its inhabitants, the Arrernte. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Lady Alice Todd, Alice Springs has a population of 27,972, which makes up 8.7 percent of the territorys population. Alice Springs is nearly equidistant from Adelaide and Darwin, the town straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges. The surrounding region is known as Central Australia, or the Red Centre, the Aboriginal name for Alice Springs is Mparntwe. Many Arrernte people also live in communities outside of Alice Springs, three major groups, the Western, Eastern and Central Arrernte people live in Central Australia, their traditional land including the area of Alice Springs and MacDonnell Ranges. They have also referred to as Aranda, Arrarnta, Arunta. There are five dialects of the Arrernte language, South-eastern, Central, Arrernte country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes and gorges, which create a variety of natural habitats. The numerous sites of importance in and around Alice Springs include Anthwerrke, Akeyulerre, Ntaripe, Atnelkentyarliweke. A white settlement was started ten years later with the construction of a station on the Overland Telegraph Line. The OTL was completed in 1872 and it traced Stuarts route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry Todd River, the settlement was optimistically named Alice Springs after the wife of the former Postmaster General of South Australia, Sir Charles Todd. The Todd River was named after Sir Charles and it was not until alluvial gold was discovered at Arltunga,100 kilometres east of the present Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant European settlement occurred. The towns first substantial building was the Stuart Town Gaol in Parsons Street which was built in 1909 when the town had a European population of fewer than 20 people, many of the gaols first prisoners were first contact aboriginal men incarcerated for killing cattle. The first aircraft, piloted by Francis Stewart Briggs landed in 1921, Central Australias first hospital, Adelaide House, was built in 1926 when the European population of the town was about 40. It was not until 1929 when the line to Alice was built. Aboriginal Centralians outnumbered European Centralians until the mid-1930s, until 31 August 1933, the town was officially known as Stuart
41.
Train
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A train is a form of rail transport consisting of a series of vehicles that usually runs along a rail track to transport cargo or passengers. Motive power is provided by a locomotive or individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Although historically steam propulsion dominated, the most common forms are diesel and electric locomotives. Other energy sources include horses, engine or water-driven rope or wire winch, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, the word train comes from the Old French trahiner, from the Latin trahere pull, draw. There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes, a train may consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit. The first trains were rope-hauled, gravity powered or pulled by horses, from the early 19th century almost all were powered by steam locomotives. A passenger train is one which includes passenger-carrying vehicles which can often be very long, one notable and growing long-distance train category is high-speed rail. In order to much faster operation over 500 km/h, innovative Maglev technology has been researched for years. In most countries, such as the United Kingdom, the distinction between a tramway and a railway is precise and defined in law, a freight train uses freight cars to transport goods or materials. Freight and passengers may be carried in the train in a mixed consist. Rail cars and machinery used for maintenance and repair of tracks, etc. are termed maintenance of way equipment, similarly, dedicated trains may be used to provide support services to stations along a train line, such as garbage or revenue collection. There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes, a train can consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit. Trains can also be hauled by horses, pulled by a cable, special kinds of trains running on corresponding special railways are atmospheric railways, monorails, high-speed railways, maglev, rubber-tired underground, funicular and cog railways. A passenger train may consist of one or several locomotives and coaches, alternatively, a train may consist entirely of passenger carrying coaches, some or all of which are powered as a multiple unit. In many parts of the world, particularly the Far East and Europe, freight trains are composed of wagons or trucks rather than carriages, though some parcel and mail trains are outwardly more like passenger trains. Trains can also be mixed, comprising both passenger accommodation and freight vehicles, special trains are also used for track maintenance, in some places, this is called maintenance of way. A train with a locomotive attached at each end is described as top and tailed, where a second locomotive is attached temporarily to assist a train up steep banks or grades it is referred to as banking in the UK, or helper service in North America. Recently, many loaded trains in the United States have been made up one or more locomotives in the middle or at the rear of the train
42.
The Ghan
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The Ghan is an Australian passenger train service between Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin railway. Operated by Great Southern Rail, it takes 54 hours to travel the 2,979 kilometres with a stopover in Alice Springs. The services name is a version of its previous nickname The Afghan Express. This nickname is reputed to have been bestowed in 1923 by one of its crews, the trains name honours Afghan camel drivers who arrived in Australia in the late 19th century to help find a way to reach the countrys unexplored interior. A contrary view is that the name was a veiled insult, in 1891, the railway from Quorn reached remote Oodnadatta where an itinerant population of around 150 cameleers were based, generically called Afghans. By as early as 1924, because of the unreliability of this fortnightly steam train. By 1951, when engines were replaced by diesel-electric locomotives. Modern marketing has completed the name turnabout, the Ghan was privatised in 1997 and is operated by Great Southern Rail, initially as part of the Serco Group. GSR was sold to Allegro Funds, a Sydney investment fund, the Ghan normally runs weekly year-round. During December 2012 and January 2013 it ran once every two weeks. Until 2016, a service operated between June and September. In addition to Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin, the train makes a stop at Katherine. The stops at Katherine and Alice Springs allow time for optional tours, each train consists of between 16 and 26 stainless steel carriages, built by Comeng, Granville in the late 1960s / early 1970s for the Indian Pacific, plus a motorail wagon. Haulage is provided by a Pacific National NR class locomotive, occasionally, other locomotives may be seen hauling The Ghan with the NR, such as an AN class or a DL class. Starting in August 1929, The Ghan first ran on the Central Australian Railway originally built as a 1,067 mm narrow-gauge railway that ran as far north as Alice Springs. In 1957, the 1,435 mm standard gauge Stirling North to Marree line opened between and the Ghan was curtailed to operate north of Marree. In October 1980 the remainder of the line was replaced by a new standard gauge line and this was extended northwards from Alice Springs to Darwin, opening in January 2004. Construction of what was known as the Port Augusta to Government Gums Railway began in 1878 when Premier of South Australia William Jervois broke ground at Port Augusta
43.
United States Camel Corps
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The United States Camel Corps was a mid-nineteenth century experiment by the United States Army in using camels as pack animals in the Southwestern United States. While the camels proved to be hardy and well suited to travel through the region, the Civil War interfered with the experiment and it was eventually abandoned, the animals were sold at auction. In 1848 or earlier, Major Henry C. Wayne conducted a detailed study. Waynes opinions agreed with those of then Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, Davis was unsuccessful until he was appointed as Secretary of War in 1853. When US forces were required to operate in arid and desert regions, newly appointed as Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce, Davis found the Army needed to improve transportation in the southwestern US, which he and most observers thought a great desert. In his annual report for 1854, Davis wrote, I again invite attention to the advantages to be anticipated from the use of camels and dromedaries for military, on March 3,1855, the US Congress appropriated $30,000 for the project. In later years Edward Fitzgerald Beale reportedly told his son, Truxtun, Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, sympathized with Beale, and Beale persuaded his friend and kinsman Lieutenant David Dixon Porter to apply for command of the expedition to acquire the camels. The account is not supported by Beales diaries or papers, Major Wayne was assigned to procure the camels. On June 4,1855, Wayne departed New York City on board the USS Supply, after arriving in the Mediterranean Sea, Wayne and Porter began procuring camels. Stops included Goletta, Malta, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt and they acquired thirty-three animals, including two Bactrian, twenty-nine dromedary, one dromedary calf, and one booghdee. The two officers also acquired pack saddles and covers, being certain that proper saddles could not be purchased in the United States, Wayne and Porter hired five camel drivers, some Arab and some Turkish, and on February 15,1856, USS Supply set sail for Texas. Porter established strict rules for the care, watering and feeding of the animals in his charge, during the crossing, one male camel died, but two calves were born and survived the trip. On May 14,1856, thirty-four camels were safely unloaded at Indianola, all the animals were in better health than when the vessel sailed for the United States. On Daviss orders, Porter sailed again for Egypt to acquire more camels, while Porter was on the second voyage, Wayne marched the camels from the first voyage to Camp Verde, Texas, by way of San Antonio, Texas. On February 10,1857, USS Supply returned with a herd of forty-one camels, during the second expedition, Porter hired nine men and a boy, including Hiogo Alli. While Porter was on his mission, five camels from the first herd died. The newly acquired animals joined the first herd at Camp Verde, in 1857, James Buchanan became President, John B. Floyd succeeded Davis as Secretary of War, and Wayne, who was reassigned to duties with the Quartermaster General in Washington, former Navy lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale won the contract and learned afterward that Secretary Floyd required him to take twenty-five camels with him
44.
Indianola, Texas
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Indianola is a ghost town located on Matagorda Bay in Calhoun County, Texas, United States. The community, once the county seat of Calhoun County, is a part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1875, the city had a population of 5,000, but on September 15 of that year, Indianola was rebuilt, only to be wiped out on August 19,1886, by another intense hurricane, which was followed by a fire. Indianola was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1963, marker number 2642, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, representing the Adelsverein, selected Indian Point in December,1844 as port of entry for the Verein colonists from Germany. Prince Solms renamed the port Carlshafen in honor of himself, Count Carl of Castell-Castell, Prince Solms choice of Carlshafen and its inadequate accommodations as a port of entry, as well as the isolated route to New Braunfels, was to keep the Germans from interacting with any Americans. In May 1846, Meusebach received a letter from Count Castell informing him 4,304 colonists were on their way to Texas, with no funds and no new settlements, the mass of emigrants were stalled at Carlshafen. Meusebachs requests to the Verein for more money, and his warnings at pending bankruptcy for the Verein, as a last resort, Meusebach instructed D. H. Klaener to publish the plight in the German news media. Embarrassed by the publicity, the Verein established an inadequate $60,000 letter of credit, Meusebach had arranged with the Torrey Brothers for transporting the emigrants inland, but the United States hired the Torrey Brothers for use in the Mexican-American War. An epidemic of spinal meningitis broke out at Carlshafen and spread with the emigrants to New Braunfels, Samuel Addition White and William M. Cook founded Indian Point, later Indianola, in August,1846. Some of these immigrants purchased land from Samuel White and established a settlement at Indian Point, the name of the settlement changed to Indianola in 1849 by combining the word Indian with ola, the Spanish word for wave. The German immigrants continued to refer to the community as Carlshaven in honor of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, from its founding in 1846, Indianola served as a major port, and before the 1875 storm was second only to Galveston as Texas primary port. In 1856, the port received cargoes of camels, part of the US Army Camel Corps experiment to replace horses and mules as the pack animal in the southwestern parts of the country. During the American Civil War, Indianola was twice occupied by Union troops, in October 1862, during the second occupation, part of a Union infantry regiment moving from Indianola to Matagorda Island drowned in Matagorda Bay. In 1869, the worlds first mechanically-refrigerated shipment of beef left Indianola for New Orleans, having survived severe storms before, Indianola was almost totally destroyed on 16 September 1875. The New York Times reported in detail on the loss of life. Even the lighthouses were swept away and the keepers, including Thomas H. Mayne and Edward Flick Jr. of the East Shoal Lighthouse, the town was rebuilt but events were repeated in 1886. The destruction served as a lesson for many residents of Galveston,100 miles up the Texas coast. However, their calls for a seawall to protect that city went unheeded, a railroad was intended to connect the port of Indianola to San Antonio
45.
British Columbia
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British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the U. S. states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Port Moody is named after him, in 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colonys capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu, the capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original European colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, in October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871, First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, notably, the Tsilhqotin Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision. BCs economy is diverse, with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the provinces GDP and it is the endpoint of transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km2 land is arable and its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the provinces largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies and it also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. The Northern Interior region has a climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, the provinces name was chosen by Queen Victoria, when the Colony of British Columbia, i. e. the Mainland, became a British colony in 1858. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, British Columbias land area is 944,735 square kilometres. British Columbias rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres and it is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbias capital is Victoria, located at the tip of Vancouver Island. Only a narrow strip of the Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated, much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by thick, tall and sometimes impenetrable temperate rainforest
46.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
47.
Cariboo Gold Rush
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The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Colony of British Columbia, which earlier joined the Canadian province of British Columbia. By 1865, following the strikes along Williams Creek, the rush was in full swing, several towns grew up, the most famous of these being Barkerville, now preserved as a heritage site and tourist attraction. Richfield was the first strike on Williams Creek, and became the seat of government in the region, connected to Barkerville via the canyon of Williams Creek, Richfield became part of Greater Barkerville along with Cameron Town. The Cariboo Gold Rush is the most famous of the rushes in British Columbia. The Colonys creation had been prompted by an influx of American prospectors to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush three years earlier in 1858, which had its locus in the area from Lillooet to Yale. Unlike its southern counterpart, the population of the Cariboo Gold Rush was largely British and Canadian, the electorate of the Cariboo riding were among the most pro-Confederation in the colony, and this was in no small part because of the strong Canadian element in the local populace. Towns along the Cariboo Road include Clinton,100 Mile House and Williams Lake, during the rush, the largest and most important town lay at the roads end at Barkerville, which had grown up around the most profitable and famous of the many Cariboo mining camps. The wagon roads most important freight was the Gold Escort, which brought government bullion to Yale for shipment to the colonial treasury, a 1976 young adult novel, Cariboo Runaway, by Sandy Frances Duncan, is set in the Cariboo area during the Cariboo Gold Rush. Cariboo camels Hudsons Bay Brigade Trail Old Cariboo Road Omineca Gold Rush River Trail Map of the Cariboo Gold Rush Gold In Cariboo chapter, A History of British Columbia, scholefield, British Columbia Historical Association pp. 165-178
48.
Owen Lattimore
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Owen Lattimore was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. During World War II, he was an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek, from 1963 to 1970, Lattimore was the first Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Leeds in England. In the early period of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused Lattimore in particular of being the top Russian espionage agent in the United States, the accusations led to years of Congressional hearings that did not substantiate the charge that Lattimore had been a spy. The hearings did document Lattimores sympathetic statements about Stalin and the Soviet Union, although charges of perjury were dismissed, the controversy put an end to Lattimores role as a consultant of the U. S. State Department and eventually to his career in American academic life. He died in 1989 in Providence, Rhode Island, having resided in his years in Pawtucket. He eclectically absorbed and often abandoned influential theories of his day that dealt with the themes of history. The most important and lasting influence, however, was Arnold J. Toynbee and his treatment of the civilizations as organic wholes which were born, matured, grew old. Although born in the United States, Lattimore was raised in Tianjin, China, after being schooled at home by his mother, he left China at the age of twelve and attended Collège Classique Cantonal near Lausanne in Switzerland. After war broke out in 1914, he was sent to England and he pursued literary interests, especially poetry, and briefly converted to Catholicism. He did well on the exams for Oxford University. He worked first for a newspaper and then for a British import/export related business and this gave him the opportunity to travel extensively in China and time to study Chinese with an old-fashioned Confucian scholar. His commercial travels also gave him a feel for the realities of life, the managers of his firm saw no advantage in subsidizing his travels but did send him to spend a final year of employment with them in Beijing as government liaison. During this year in Beijing before departing on his expedition, he met his wife, for their honeymoon they planned to travel from Beijing to India, he overland, she by rail across Siberia, a mammoth feat in the first half of the 20th century. In the event, the plans were disrupted and she had to travel alone by horse-drawn sled for 400 miles in February to find him and she described her journey in Turkestan Reunion, he in The Desert Road to Turkestan and High Tartary. This trip laid the ground for his lifelong interest in all related to the Mongols. He did not, however, enroll in a program, but returned to China 1930-1933 with fellowships from the Harvard–Yenching Institute. He was awarded the Patrons Gold Medal by the British Royal Geographical Society in 1942 for his travels in Central Asia, in 1934, on the recommendation of treaty port journalist H. G. E
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