Martinique
Martinique is an insular region of France located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of 1,128 square kilometres and a population of 376,480 inhabitants as of January 2016. Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. One of the Windward Islands, it is directly north of Saint Lucia, southeast of Greater Antilles, northwest of Barbados, south of Dominica; as with the other overseas departments, Martinique is one of the eighteen regions of France and an integral part of the French Republic. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, its currency is the euro; the official language is French, the entire population speaks Antillean Creole. Christopher Columbus landed on 15 June 1502, after a 21-day trade wind passage, his fastest ocean voyage, he spent three days there refilling his water casks and washing laundry. The island was called "Jouanacaëra-Matinino", which came from a mythical island described by the Taínos of Hispaniola.
According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called "Jouanacaëra" by the Caribs, which means "the island of iguanas". When Columbus landed on the island in 1502, he christened the island as Martinica; the island is called "Madinina" by the locals. The island was occupied first by Arawaks by Caribs; the Carib people had migrated from the mainland to the islands about 1201 CE, according to carbon dating of artifacts. They were displaced and assimilated by the Taino, who were resident on the island in the 1490s. Martinique was charted by Columbus in 1493. On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, French governor of the island of St. Kitts, landed in the harbor of St. Pierre with 150 French settlers after being driven off St. Kitts by the English. D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and the French "Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique", established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre. D'Esnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who in 1637, became governor of the island.
In 1636, the indigenous Caribs rose against the settlers to drive them off the island in the first of many skirmishes. The French repelled the natives and forced them to retreat to the eastern part of the island, on the Caravelle Peninsula in the region known as the Capesterre; when the Carib revolted against French rule in 1658, the Governor Charles Houël du Petit Pré retaliated with war against them. Many were killed; some Carib had fled to St. Vincent, where the French agreed to leave them at peace; because there were few Catholic priests in the French Antilles, many of the earliest French settlers were Huguenots who sought greater religious freedom than what they could experience in mainland France. They became quite prosperous. Although edicts from King Louis XIV's court came to the islands to suppress the Protestant "heretics", these were ignored by island authorities until Louis XIV's Edict of Revocation in 1685. From September 1686 to early 1688, the French crown used Martinique as a threat and a dumping ground for mainland Huguenots who refused to reconvert to Catholicism.
Over 1,000 Huguenots were transported to Martinique during this period under miserable and crowded ship conditions that caused many of them to die en route. Those that survived the trip were distributed to the island planters as Engagés under the system of serf peonage that prevailed in the French Antilles at the time; as many of the planters on Martinique were themselves Huguenot, who were sharing in the suffering under the harsh strictures of the Revocation, they began plotting to emigrate from Martinique with many of their arrived brethren. Many of them were encouraged by their Catholic brethren who looked forward to the departure of the heretics and seizing their property for themselves. By 1688, nearly all of Martinique's French Protestant population had escaped to the British American colonies or Protestant countries back home; the policy decimated the population of Martinique and the rest of the French Antilles and set back their colonization by decades, causing the French king to relax his policies in the islands yet leaving the islands susceptible to British occupation over the next century.
Under Governor of the Antilles Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac, Martinique served as a home port for French pirates including Captain Crapeau, Etienne de Montauban, Mathurin Desmarestz. In years pirate Bartholomew Roberts styled his jolly roger as a black flag depicting a pirate standing on two skulls labeled "ABH" and "AMH" for "A Barbadian's Head" and "A Martinican's Head", after Governors of those two islands sent warships to capture Roberts. Martinique was occupied several times by the British including once during the Seven Years' War and twice during the Napoleonic Wars. Excepting a period from 1802–1809 following signing of the Treaty of Amiens, Britain controlled the island for most of the time from 1794–1815, when it was traded back to France at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars. Martinique has remained a French possession since then; as sugar prices declined in the early 1800s, the planter class lost political influence. In 1848, Victor Schoelcher persuaded the French government to end slavery in the French W
Empire style
The Empire style is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, other decorative arts, the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 during the Consulate and the First French Empire periods, although its life span lasted until the late-1820s. From France it spread into much of the United States; the style originated in and takes its name from the rule of the Emperor Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The previous fashionable style in France had been the Directoire style, a more austere and minimalist form of Neoclassicism, that replaced the Louis XVI style; the Empire style brought a full return to ostentatious richness. The style corresponds somewhat to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, the Regency style in Britain; the style developed and elaborated the Directoire style of the preceding period, which aimed at a simpler, but still elegant evocation of the virtues of the Ancient Roman Republic: The stoic virtues of Republican Rome were upheld as standards not for the arts but for political behaviour and private morality.
Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes. Children were named after Brutus and Lycurgus; the festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals. The chairs in which the committee of Salut Publique sat were made on antique models devised by David.... In fact Neo-classicism became fashionable; the Empire style "turned to the florid opulence of Imperial Rome. The abstemious severity of Doric was replaced by Corinthian richness and splendour". Two French architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, were together the creators of the French Empire style; the two had studied in Rome and in the 1790s became leading furniture designers in Paris, where they received many commissions from Napoleon and other statesmen. Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its many archaeological treasures, rediscovered starting in the eighteenth century; the preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century.
Empire designs influenced the contemporary American Federal style, both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not sober and evenly balanced; the style was considered to have "liberated" and "enlightened" architecture just as Napoleon "liberated" the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code. The Empire period was popularized by the inventive designs of Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's architects for Malmaison; the designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires. Buildings had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, veneered in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture used ebony details due to financial constraints. Ormolu details displayed a high level of craftsmanship. General Bernadotte to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, where it became known under his own name; the Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia as the Empire style disappeared from other parts of Europe.
France paid some of its debts to Sweden in ormolu bronzes instead of money, leading to a vogue for crystal chandeliers with bronze from France and crystal from Sweden. After Napoleon lost power, the Empire style continued to be in favour for many decades, with minor adaptations. There was a revival of the style in the last half of the nineteenth century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century, again in the 1980s; the most famous Empire-style structures in France are the grand neoclassical Arc de Triomphe of Place de l'Étoile, Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Vendôme column, La Madeleine, which were built in Paris to emulate the edifices of the Roman Empire. The style was used in Imperial Russia, where it was used to celebrate the victory over Napoleon in such memorial structures as the General Staff Building, Kazan Cathedral, Alexander Column, Narva Triumphal Gate. Stalinist architecture is sometimes referred to as Stalin's Empire style; the style survived in Italy longer than in most of Europe because of its Imperial Roman associations because it was revived as a national style of architecture following the unification of Italy in 1870.
Mario Praz wrote about this style as the Italian Empire. In the United Kingdom and the United States, the Empire style was adapted to local conditions and acquired further expression as the Egyptian Revival, Greek Revival, Biedermeier style, Regency style, late-Federal style. Historic sites which present an homogeneous ensemble, examples of the decoration of interiors of the early 19th century are: Château de Malmaison in France Casa del Labrador in Spain American Empire style Chariot clock Empire silhouette Federal architecture French Empire mantel clock Indies Empire style Lighthouse clock Lyre arm Neoclassicism in France Neo-Grec, the late Greek revival style architecture Palace of Fontainebleau Second Empire Stalin's Empire style Honour, Hugh. Neo-classicism. Style and Civilisation. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140137606. OCLC 36284165. Media related to Empire architecture at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Empire silhouette at Wikimedia Commons
Napoleon
Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars, he won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history, he was born in Corsica to a modest family of Italian origin from minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789.
He rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The French Directory gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and the Italian monarchs aligned with the Habsburgs—winning every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year while establishing "sister republics" with local support, becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt, he became First Consul of the Republic. Napoleon's ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt marched his Grande Armée deep into Eastern Europe and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. France forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high-water mark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram in July. Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, declared his brother Joseph Bonaparte the King of Spain in 1808; the Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, ended in victory for the Allies against Napoleon.
The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states Russia. The Russians were unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade and violated the Continental System, enticing Napoleon into another war; the French launched a major invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The campaign did not yield the decisive victory Napoleon wanted, it resulted in the collapse of the Grande Armée and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in the War of the Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, but his tactical victory at the minor Battle of Hanau allowed retreat onto French soil; the Allies invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, the Bourbon dynasty was restored to power.
Napoleon took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June; the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years at the age of 51. Napoleon's influence on the modern world brought liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low Countries and large parts of modern Italy and Germany, he implemented fundamental liberal policies throughout Western Europe. His Napoleonic Code has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian Andrew Roberts states: "The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, so on—were championed, consolidated and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire".
The ancestors of Napoleon descended from minor Italian nobility of Tuscan origin who had come to Corsica fr
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella. This article deals with the six species included in two further genera and Nanger, which were considered subgenera of Gazella. A third former subgenus, includes three living species of Asian gazelles. Gazelles are known as swift animals; some are able to run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h. Gazelles are found in the deserts and savannas of Africa, they tend to live in herds, eat less coarse digestible plants and leaves. Gazelles are small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm high at the shoulder, are fawn-colored; the gazelle genera are Gazella and Nanger. The taxonomy of these genera is confused, the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue; the genus Gazella is considered to contain about 10 species. Four further species are extinct: the red gazelle, the Arabian gazelle, the Queen of Sheba's gazelle, the Saudi gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees. Related to the true gazelles are the Tibetan and Mongolian gazelles, the blackbuck of Asia, the African springbok.
One familiar gazelle is the African species Thomson's gazelle, around 60 to 80 cm in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe. The males have long curved, horns. Like many other prey species and springboks exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting when they are threatened by predators, such as cheetahs, African wild dogs, crocodiles and leopards. Gazelle is derived from Arabic: غزال ġazāl, Maghrebi pronunciation ġazēl. To Europe it first came to Old Spanish and Old French, around 1600 the word entered the English language; the Arab people traditionally hunted the gazelle. Appreciated for its grace, it is a symbol most associated in Arabic and Persian literature with female beauty. In many countries in Northwestern Sub-Saharan Africa, the gazelle is referred to as “dangelo,” meaning “swift deer.” The origins of this word date back to somewhere in between 600 and 650 B. C. E. found in roots of the Indo-European language family. One of the traditional themes of Arabic love poetry involves comparing the gazelle with the beloved, linguists theorize ghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle.
It is related that the Caliph Abd al-Malik freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved: O likeness of Layla, never fear! For I am your friend, today, O wild deer! I say, after freeing her from her fetters: You are free for the sake of Layla, for ever! The theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. Come away, my beloved, be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains; the gazelles are divided into numerous species. † = extinct Fossils of genus Gazella are found in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of Eurasia and Africa. The tiny Gazella borbonica is one of the earliest European gazelles, characterized by its small size and short legs. Gazelles disappeared from Europe at the start of the Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and Middle East. Genus Gazella Gazella borbonica - European gazelle Gazella thomasi - Thomas's gazelle Gazella harmonae - Pliocene of Ethiopia, unusual spiral horns Gazella praethomsoni Gazella negevensis Gazella triquetrucornis Gazella negevensis Gazella capricornis Subgenus Vetagazella Gazella sinensis Gazella deperdita Gazella pilgrimi - steppe gazelle Gazella leile - Leile's gazelle Gazella praegaudryi - Japanese gazelle Gazella gaudryi Gazella paotehensis Gazella dorcadoides Gazella altidens Gazella mongolica Gazella lydekkeri - Ice Age gazelle Gazella blacki Gazella parasinensis Gazella kueitensis Gazella paragutturosa Subgenus Gazella Gazella janenschi Subgenus Trachelocele Gazella atlantica Gazella tingitana Subgenus Deprezia Gazella psolea Genus Nanger Nanger vanhoepeni Quotations related to Gazelles at Wikiquote
Kangaroo
The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae. In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family those of the genus Macropus: the red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia; the Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, up from 25.1 million one year earlier. As with the terms "wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three refer to members of the same taxonomic family and are distinguished according to size; the largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There is the tree-kangaroo, another genus of macropod, which inhabits the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the region. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be: wallabies: head and body length of 45–105 cm and tail length of 33–75 cm.
Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development; the large kangaroos have adapted much better than the smaller macropods to land clearing for pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are plentiful; the kangaroo is a symbol of Australia and appears on the Australian coat of arms and on some of its currency and is used by some of Australia's well known organisations, including Qantas and the Royal Australian Air Force. The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image, there are numerous popular culture references. Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, to protect grazing land. Although controversial, kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.
The word "kangaroo" derives from the Guugu Yimithirr word gangurru. The name was first recorded as "kanguru" on 12 July 1770 in an entry in the diary of Sir Joseph Banks. Cook first referred to kangaroos in his diary entry of 4 August. Guugu Yimithirr is the language of the people of the area. A common myth about the kangaroo's English name is that "kangaroo" was a Guugu Yimithirr phrase for "I don't understand you." According to this legend and Banks were exploring the area when they happened upon the animal. They asked a nearby local; the local responded "Kangaroo", meaning "I don't understand you", which Cook took to be the name of the creature. This myth was debunked in the 1970s by linguist John B. Haviland in his research with the Guugu Yimithirr people. Kangaroos are colloquially referred to as "roos". Male kangaroos are called bucks, jacks, or old men; the collective noun for kangaroos is troop, or court. There are four extant species that are referred to as kangaroos: The red kangaroo is the largest surviving marsupial anywhere in the world.
It occupies the semi-arid centre of the country. The highest population densities of the red kangaroo occur in the rangelands of western New South Wales. Red kangaroos are mistaken as the most abundant species of kangaroo, but eastern greys have a larger population. A large male weighs 90 kg; the eastern grey kangaroo is less well-known than the red, but the most seen, as its range covers the fertile eastern part of the country. The range of the eastern grey kangaroo extends from the top of the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland down to Victoria, as well as areas of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Population densities of eastern grey kangaroos peak near 100 per km2 in suitable habitats of open woodlands. Populations are more limited in areas of land clearance, such as farmland, where forest and woodland habitats are limited in size or abundance; the western grey kangaroo is smaller again at about 54 kg for a large male. It is found in the southern part of Western Australia, South Australia near the coast, the Darling River basin.
The highest population densities occur in the western Riverina district of New South Wales and in western areas of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. Populations may have declined in agricultural areas; the species has a high tolerance to the plant toxin sodium fluoroacetate, which indicates a possible origin from the south-west region of Australia. The antilopine ka
Ferdinand VII of Spain
Ferdinand VII was twice King of Spain: in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his detractors as the Felon King. After being overthrown by Napoleon in 1808 he linked his monarchy to counter-revolution and reactionary policies that produced a deep rift in Spain between his forces on the right and liberals on the left. Back in power in 1814, he reestablished the absolutist monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. A revolt in 1820 led by Rafael de Riego forced him to restore the constitution thus beginning the Liberal Triennium: a three year period of liberal rule. In 1823 the Congress of Verona authorized a successful French intervention restoring him to absolute power for the second time, he jailed many of its editors and writers. Under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, the country entered into civil war on his death, his reputation among historians is low. Historian Stanley Payne writes: He proved in many ways the basest king in Spanish history.
Cowardly, grasping and vengeful, seemed incapable of any perception of the commonwealth. He thought only in terms of his power and security and was unmoved by the enormous sacrifices of Spanish people to retain their independence and preserve his throne. Ferdinand was the eldest surviving son of Maria Luisa of Parma. Ferdinand was born in the palace of El Escorial near Madrid. In his youth Ferdinand occupied the position of an heir apparent, excluded from all share in government by his parents and their favourite advisor and Prime Minister, Manuel Godoy. National discontent with the government produced a rebellion in 1805. In October 1807, Ferdinand was arrested for his complicity in the El Escorial Conspiracy in which the rebels aimed at securing foreign support from the French Emperor Napoleon; when the conspiracy was discovered, Ferdinand submitted to his parents. Following a popular riot at Aranjuez Charles IV abdicated in March 1808. Ferdinand turned to Napoleon for support, he abdicated on 6 May 1808 and thereafter Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Château de Valençay.
Historian Charles Oman records that the choice of Valençay was a practical joke by Napoleon on his former foreign minister Talleyrand, the owner of the château, for his lack of interest in Spanish affairs. While the upper echelons of the Spanish government accepted his abdication and Napoleon's choice of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country. Provincial juntas were established to control regions in opposition to the new French king. After the Battle of Bailén proved that the Spanish could resist the French, the Council of Castile reversed itself and declared null and void the abdications of Bayonne on 11 August 1808. On 24 August, Ferdinand VII was proclaimed king of Spain again, negotiations between the Council and the provincial juntas for the establishment of a Supreme Central Junta were completed. Subsequently, on 14 January 1809, the British government acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king of Spain. Five years after experiencing serious setbacks on many fronts, Napoleon agreed to acknowledge Ferdinand VII as king of Spain on 11 December 1813 and signed the Treaty of Valençay, so that the king could return to Spain.
The Spanish people, blaming the policies of the Francophiles for causing the Napoleonic occupation and the Peninsular War by allying Spain too to France, at first welcomed Fernando. Ferdinand soon found that in the intervening years a new world had been born of foreign invasion and domestic revolution. In his name Spain fought for its independence and in his name as well juntas had governed Spanish America. Spain was no longer the absolute monarchy. Instead he was now asked to rule under the liberal Constitution of 1812. Before being allowed to enter Spanish soil, Ferdinand had to guarantee the liberals that he would govern on the basis of the Constitution, only gave lukewarm indications he would do so. On 24 March the French handed him over to the Spanish Army in Girona, thus began his procession towards Madrid. During this process and in the following months, he was encouraged by conservatives and the Church hierarchy to reject the Constitution. On 4 May he ordered its abolition and on 10 May had the liberal leaders responsible for the Constitution arrested.
Ferdinand justified his actions by claiming that the Constitution had been made by a Cortes illegally assembled in his absence, without his consent and without the traditional form. Ferdinand promised to convene a traditional Cortes, but never did so, thereby reasserting the Bourbon doctrine that sovereign authority resided in his person only. Meanwhile, the wars of independence had broken out in the Americas, although many of the republican rebels were divided and royalist sentiment was strong in many areas, the Manila galleons and the Spanish treasure fleets - tax revenues from the Spanish Empire - were interrupted. Spain was all but bankrupt. Ferdinand's restored autocracy was guided by a small camarilla of his favorites, although his government seemed unstable. Whimsical and ferocious by turns, he changed his ministers every few months. "The king," wrote Friedrich von Gentz in 1814, "himself enters the houses of his prime ministers, arrests them, hands them over to their cruel enemies.
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black-and-white striped coats. Their stripes come in different patterns, unique to each individual, they are social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives and donkeys, zebras have never been domesticated. There are three species of zebras: the mountain zebra and the Grévy's zebra; the plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, while Grévy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus. The latter resembles an ass, to which zebras are related, while the former two look more horse-like. All three belong to the genus Equus, along with other living equids; the unique stripes of zebras make them one of the animals most familiar to people. They occur in a variety of habitats, such as grasslands, woodlands, thorny scrublands and coastal hills. Various anthropogenic factors have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular hunting for skins and habitat destruction.
Grévy's zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered. While plains zebras are much more plentiful, one subspecies, the quagga, became extinct in the late 19th century – though there is a plan, called the Quagga Project, that aims to breed zebras that are phenotypically similar to the quagga in a process called breeding back; the name "zebra" in English dates back to c. 1600, from Italian zebra from Portuguese, which in turn is said to be Congolese. The Encarta Dictionary says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but it may come from Latin equiferus meaning "wild horse"; the word was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel, but over the course of the 20th century, the pronunciation with the short initial vowel became the usual one in the UK and Commonwealth. The pronunciation with a long initial vowel remains standard in the United States. A group of zebras are referred to dazzle, or zeal. Zebras evolved among the Old World horses within the last 4 million years, it has been suggested that striped equids evolved more than once.
Extensive stripes are posited to have been of little use to equids that live in low densities in deserts or ones that live in colder climates with shaggy coats and annual shading. However, molecular evidence supports zebras as a monophyletic lineage; the zebra has between 46 chromosomes, depending on the species. There are three extant species. Collectively, two of the species have eight subspecies. Zebra populations are diverse, the relationships between, the taxonomic status of, several of the subspecies are not well known. Genus: Equus Subgenus: Hippotigris Plains zebra, Equus quagga †Quagga, Equus quagga quagga Burchell's zebra, Equus quagga burchellii Grant's zebra, Equus quagga boehmi Selous' zebra, Equus quagga selousi Maneless zebra, Equus quagga borensis Chapman's zebra, Equus quagga chapmani Crawshay's zebra, Equus quagga crawshayi Mountain zebra, Equus zebra Cape mountain zebra, Equus zebra zebra Hartmann's mountain zebra, Equus zebra hartmannae Subgenus: Dolichohippus Grévy's zebra, Equus grevyi The plains zebra is the most common, has or had about six subspecies distributed across much of southern and eastern Africa.
It, or particular subspecies of it, have been known as the common zebra, the dauw, Burchell's zebra, Chapman's zebra, Wahlberg's zebra, Selous' zebra, Grant's zebra, Boehm's zebra and the quagga. The mountain zebra of southwest Africa tends to have a sleek coat with a white belly and narrower stripes than the plains zebra, it is classified as vulnerable. Grévy's zebra is the largest type, with a narrow head, making it appear rather mule-like, it is an inhabitant of the semi-arid grasslands of northern Kenya. Grévy's zebra is the rarest species, is classified as endangered. Although zebra species may have overlapping ranges, they do not interbreed. In captivity, plains zebras have been crossed with mountain zebras; the hybrid foals lacked a dewlap and resembled the plains zebra apart from their larger ears and their hindquarters pattern. Attempts to breed a Grévy's zebra stallion to mountain zebra mares resulted in a high rate of miscarriage. In captivity, crosses between zebras and other equines have produced several distinct hybrids, including the zebroid, zeedonk and zorse.
In certain regions of Kenya, plains zebras and Grévy's zebra coexist, fertile hybrids occur. The Hagerman horse is sometimes referred to as the American zebra due to perceived similarities to the plains zebra, sometimes depicted as striped. However, consensus appears to be that it wasn't closely related to either Hippotigiris nor Dolichohippus, nor is there unambiguous evidence that it had stripes; the common plains zebra is about 1.2–1.3 m at the shoulder with a body ranging from 2–2.6 m long with a 0.5 m tail. It can weigh up to 350 kg, males being bigger than females. Grévy's zebra is larger, while the mountain zebra is somewhat smaller, it was believed that zebras were white animals with black stripes, since some zebras have white underbellies. Embryological evidence, shows that the animal's background colour is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions, it is that the stripes ar
