1.
French renaissance
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The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define the artistic, the French Renaissance traditionally extends from the French invasion of Italy in 1494 during the reign of Charles VIII until the death of Henry IV in 1610. The reigns of Francis I of France and his son Henry II are generally considered the apex of the French Renaissance, the word Renaissance is a French word, whose literal translation into English is Rebirth. The word Renaissance was first used and defined by French historian Jules Michelet, in his 1855 work, as a French citizen and historian, Michelet also claimed the Renaissance as a French movement. His work is at the origin of the use of the French word Renaissance in other languages, for a chronological list of French Renaissance artists, see List of French Renaissance artists. In 1516, Francis I of France invited Leonardo da Vinci to the Château dAmboise and provided him with the Château du Clos Lucé, then called Château de Cloux, as a place to stay and work. Leonardo, a painter and inventor, arrived with three of his paintings, namely the Mona Lisa, Sainte Anne, and Saint Jean Baptiste. There are a number of French artists of talent in this period including the painter Jean Fouquet of Tours. Marie de Medici, Henry IVs queen, invited the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens to France, another Flemish artist working for the court was Frans Pourbus the younger. Outside France, working for the dukes of Lorraine, one finds a very different late mannerist style in the artists Jacques Bellange, Claude Deruet and Jacques Callot. Having little contact with the French artists of the period, they developed a heightened, extreme, and often erotic mannerism, the old Louvre castle in Paris was also rebuilt under the direction of Pierre Lescot and would become the core of a brand new Renaissance château. To the west of the Louvre, Catherine de Medici had built for her the Tuileries palace with extensive gardens and they became an extension of the chateaux that they surrounded, and were designed to illustrate the Renaissance ideals of measure and proportion. Burgundy, the mostly French-speaking area unified with the Kingdom of France in 1477, was the center of Europe in the early. The Burgundian style gave birth to the Franco-Flemish style of polyphony which dominated European music in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. However, by the end of the 15th century, a French national character was becoming distinct in music of the French royal and aristocratic courts, guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois are two notable examples from the Burgundian school during the early Renaissance period. The most renowned composer in Europe, Josquin des Prez, worked for a time in the court of Louis XII, Francis I, who became king that year, made the creation of an opulent musical establishment a priority. By far the most significant contribution of France to music in the Renaissance period was the chanson, the chanson in the early 16th century was characterised by a dactylic opening and contrapuntal style which was later adopted by the Italian canzona, the predecessor of the sonata. Typically chansons were for three or four voices, without accompaniment, but the most popular examples were inevitably made into instrumental versions as well
2.
Empire style
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From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States. The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleons leadership and the French state. The style corresponds in that intent to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, the previous style in France was called Louis XVI style. Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes, children were named after Brutus, Solon and Lycurgus. The festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals, even 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 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 commissions from Napoleon. Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its archaeological treasures. The preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century, Empire designs strongly influenced the contemporary American Federal style, and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not ostentatious but sober, 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 designs of Percier and Fontaine. The designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek, buildings typically had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, veneered in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture also used ebony details, originally due to financial constraints, ormolu details displayed a high level of craftsmanship. General Bernadotte, later to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, the Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia even 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, 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 century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century. Stalinist architecture is referred to as Stalins Empire style
3.
Rueil-Malmaison
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Rueil-Malmaison is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of France. It is located 12.6 kilometres from the centre of Paris and it is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Paris. Rueil-Malmaison was originally called simply Rueil, in medieval times the name Rueil was spelled either Roialum, Riogilum, Rotoialum, Ruolium, or Ruellium. This name is made of the Celtic word ialo suffixed to a radical meaning brook, stream, in 1928, the name of the commune officially became Rueil-Malmaison in reference to its most famous tourist attraction, the Château de Malmaison, home of Napoléons first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais. The name Malmaison comes from Medieval Latin mala mansio, meaning ill-fated domain, in the Early Middle Ages Malmaison was the site of a royal residence which was destroyed by the Vikings in 846. Rueil is famous for the Château de Malmaison where Napoleon and his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais lived, upon her death in 1814, she was buried at the nearby Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church, which stands at the centre of the city. The Rueil barracks of the Swiss Guard were constructed in 1756 under Louis XV by the architect Axel Guillaumot, the Guard was formed by Louis XIII in 1616 and massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 during the French Revolution. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Rueil was located on the front line, at the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet came to paint the Seine River which crosses the town. Rueil is the location of the novel Loin de Rueil by the French novelist Raymond Queneau. The town is twinned with Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in the United Kingdom, the Château de Malmaison, the residence of Napoléons first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, is located in Rueil-Malmaison. It is home to a Napoleonic museum, the main campus of the French Institute of Petroleum research organisation is in Rueil. The city has become home to many large companies moving out of La Défense business district, located only 5 km from Rueil. There are about 850 service sector companies located in Rueil,70 of which more than 100 people. A business district called Rueil-sur-Seine was created near the RER A Rueil-Malmaison station to accommodate these companies, the business district is equipped with a fiber-optic network. Several major French companies have their headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, such as Schneider Electric. Schneider had its office in Rueil-Malmaison since 2000, previously the building Schneider occupies housed the Schneider subsidiary Télémécanique. Several large international companies have located their French headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, such as ExxonMobil, AstraZeneca, American Express. Rueil-Malmaison is served by Rueil-Malmaison station on Paris RER line A. Jean-Marie Le Pen and his wife, Jany Le Pen, live in a two-story house on the rue Hortense
4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
6.
Tuileries
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The Tuileries Palace was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, built in 1564, it was gradually extended until it closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard and displayed an immense façade of 266 metres. After the accidental death of Henry II of France in 1559 and she sold the medieval Hôtel des Tournelles, where her husband had died, and began building the palace of Tuileries in 1564, using architect Philibert de lOrme. The name derives from the tile kilns or tuileries which had occupied the site. The palace was formed by a range of long, narrow buildings. During the reign of Henry IV, the building was enlarged to the south, so it joined the long gallery, the Grande Galerie. During the reign of Louis XIV major changes were made to the Tuileries Palace, from 1659 to 1661 it was extended to the north by the addition of the Théâtre des Tuileries. From 1664 to 1666 the architect Louis Le Vau and his assistant François dOrbay made other significant changes, a new grand staircase was installed in the entrance of the north wing of the palace, and lavishly decorated royal apartments were constructed in the south wing. The kings rooms were on the floor, facing toward the Louvre. At the same time, Louis gardener, André Le Nôtre, the Court moved into the Tuileries Palace in November 1667, but left in 1672, and soon thereafter went to the Palace of Versailles. The Tuileries Palace was virtually abandoned and used only as a theatre, the boy-king Louis XV was moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace on 1 January 1716, four months after ascending to the throne. He moved back to Versailles on 15 June 1722, three months before his coronation, both moves were made at the behest of the Regent, the duc dOrléans. The king also resided at the Tuileries for short periods during the 1740s, on 6 October 1789, during the French Revolution, Louis XVI and his family were forced to leave Versailles and brought to the Tuileries where they were kept under surveillance. For the next two years the palace remained the residence of the king. The Tuileries covered riding ring, the Salle du Manège, home to the royal equestrian academy, the royal family tried to escape after dark, on 20 June 1791, but were captured at Varennes and brought back to the Tuileries. The Paris National Guard defended the King, but the daughter of King Louis XVI claimed that many of the guard were already in favor of the revolution, in November 1792, the Armoire de fer incident took place at the Tuileries palace. This was the discovery of a place at the royal apartments. The incident created a scandal that served to discredit the King
7.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, 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, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then 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 watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph 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, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon 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 later at the age of 51
8.
Hundred Days
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The Hundred Days marked the period between Napoleons return from exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815. This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign, the phrase les Cent Jours was first used by the prefect of Paris, Gaspard, comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the king back to Paris on 8 July. Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars pitted France against various coalitions of other European nations nearly continuously from 1792 onward. The overthrow and subsequent public execution of Louis XVI in France had greatly disturbed other European leaders, rather than leading to Frances defeat, the wars allowed the revolutionary regime to expand beyond its borders and create client republics. The success of the French forces made an out of their best commander. In 1799, Napoleon staged a successful coup détat and became First Consul of the new French Consulate, five years later, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I. The rise of Napoleon troubled the other European powers as much as the revolutionary regime had. Despite the formation of new coalitions against him, Napoleons forces continued to conquer much of Europe, the tide of war began to turn after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812 that resulted in the loss of much of Napoleons army. The following year, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, Coalition forces defeated the French in the Battle of Leipzig, following its victory at Leipzig, the Coalition vowed to press on to Paris and depose Napoleon. In the last week of February 1814, Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher advanced on Paris, the Battle of Reims went to Napoleon, but this victory was followed by successive defeats from increasingly overwhelming odds. Coalition forces entered Paris after the Battle of Montmartre on 30 March 1814, on 6 April 1814, Napoleon abdicated his throne, leading to the accession of Louis XVIII and the first Bourbon Restoration a month later. The defeated Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, Napoleon spent only nine months and 21 days in uneasy retirement on Elba, watching events in France with great interest as the Congress of Vienna gradually gathered. He had been escorted to Elba by Sir Neil Campbell, who remained in there while performing other duties in Italy. Equally threatening was the situation in Europe which had been stressed and exhausted during the previous decades of near constant warfare. The conflicting demands of major powers were for a time so exorbitant as to bring the Powers at the Congress of Vienna to the verge of war with each other. Thus every scrap of news reaching remote Elba looked favourable to Napoleon to retake power as he reasoned the news of his return would cause a popular rising as he approached. So threatening were the symptoms that the royalists at Paris and the plenipotentiaries at Vienna talked of deporting him to the Azores or to Saint Helena, at the Congress of Vienna the various participating nations had very different and conflicting goals. Tsar Alexander of Russia had expected to absorb much of Poland and to leave a Polish puppet state, the renewed Prussian state demanded all of the Kingdom of Saxony
9.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps
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Napoleon Crossing the Alps is the title given to the five versions of an oil on canvas equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805. In the spring of 1800 he led the Reserve Army across the Alps through the Great St. Bernard Pass, the Austrian forces, under Michael von Melas, were laying siege to Masséna in Genoa and Napoleon hoped to gain the element of surprise by taking the trans-Alpine route. By the time Napoleons troops arrived, Genoa had fallen, but he pushed ahead, the Reserve Army fought a battle at Montebello on 9 June before eventually securing a decisive victory at the Battle of Marengo. The installation of Napoleon as First Consul and the French victory in Italy allowed for a rapprochement with Charles IV of Spain, while talks were underway to re-establish diplomatic relations, a traditional exchange of gifts took place. Charles received Versailles-manufactured pistols, dresses from the best Parisian dressmakers, jewels for the queen, in return Napoleon was offered sixteen Spanish horses from the royal stables, portraits of the king and queen by Goya, and the portrait that was to be commissioned from David. The French ambassador to Spain, Charles-Jean-Marie Alquier, requested the painting from David on Charles behalf. The portrait was to hang in the Royal Palace of Madrid as a token of the new relationship between the two countries, David, who had been an ardent supporter of the Revolution but had transferred his fervour to the new Consulate, was eager to undertake the commission. A fifth version was produced by David and remained in his various workshops until his death, the original painting remained in Madrid until 1812, when it was taken by Joseph Bonaparte after his abdication as King of Spain. He took it with him when he went into exile in the United States, the painting was handed down through his descendants until 1949, when his great grandniece, Eugenie Bonaparte, bequeathed it to the museum of the Château de Malmaison. The version produced for the Château de Saint-Cloud from 1801 was removed in 1814 by the Prussian soldiers under von Blücher who offered it to Frederick William III King of Prussia and it is now held in the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. The 1803 version was delivered to Milan but confiscated in 1816 by the Austrians, however, the people of Milan refused to give it up and it remained in the city until 1825. It was finally installed at the Belvedere in Vienna in 1834 and it remains there today, now part of the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. The version kept by David until his death in 1825 was exhibited at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1846, in 1850 it was offered to the future Napoleon III by Davids daughter, Pauline Jeanin, and installed at the Tuileries Palace. In 1979, it was given to the museum at the Palace of Versailles, the Spanish ambassador, Ignacio Muzquiz, informed Napoleon and asked him how he would like to be represented. Napoleon initially requested to be reviewing the troops but eventually decided on a scene showing him crossing the Alps. In reality the crossing had been made in fine weather and Bonaparte had been led across by a guide a few days after the troops, few drafts and preparatory studies were made, contrary to Davids normal practice. The lack of studies may in part be explained by Bonapartes refusal to sit for the portrait. He had sat for Gros in 1796 on the insistence of Joséphine de Beauharnais, do you think that the great men of Antiquity for whom we have images sat
10.
Jacques-Louis David
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Jacques-Louis David was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. David later became a supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre. Imprisoned after Robespierres fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release, at this time he developed his Empire style, notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. After Napoleons fall from Imperial power and the Bourbon revival, David exiled himself to Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he remained until his death. David had a number of pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century. Jacques-Louis David was born into a family in Paris on 30 August 1748. When he was nine his father was killed in a duel. He covered his notebooks with drawings, and he said, I was always hiding behind the instructors chair. Soon, he desired to be a painter, but his uncles and he overcame the opposition, and went to learn from François Boucher, the leading painter of the time, who was also a distant relative. Boucher was a Rococo painter, but tastes were changing, Boucher decided that instead of taking over Davids tutelage, he would send David to his friend, Joseph-Marie Vien, a painter who embraced the classical reaction to Rococo. There David attended the Royal Academy, based in what is now the Louvre, each year the Academy awarded an outstanding student the prestigious Prix de Rome, which funded a three- to five-year stay in the Eternal City. Each pensionnaire was lodged in the French Academys Roman outpost, which from the years 1737 to 1793 was the Palazzo Mancini in the Via del Corso. David competed for, and failed to win, the prize for three years, each failure contributing to his lifelong grudge against the institution. After his second loss in 1772, David went on a hunger strike, confident he now had the support and backing needed to win the prize, he resumed his studies with great zeal—only to fail to win the Prix de Rome again the following year. Finally, in 1774, David was awarded the Prix de Rome on the strength of his painting of Erasistratus Discovering the Cause of Antiochus Disease, a subject set by the judges. In October 1775 he made the journey to Italy with his mentor, Joseph-Marie Vien, while in Italy, David especially studied the works of 17th-century masters such as Poussin, Caravaggio, and the Carracci. Mengs principled, historicizing approach to the representation of classical subjects profoundly influenced Davids pre-revolutionary painting, such as The Vestal Virgin, mengs also introduced David to the theoretical writings on ancient sculpture by Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the German scholar held to be the founder of modern art history. In 1779, David toured the newly excavated ruins of Pompeii, while in Rome, David also assiduously studied the High Renaissance painters, Raphael making a profound and lasting impression on the young French artist
11.
Egyptian Campaign
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It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta. On the scientific front, the led to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. At the time of the invasion, the Directoire had assumed power in France. The notion of annexing Egypt as a French colony had been discussion since François Baron de Tott undertook a secret mission to the Levant in 1777 to determine its feasibility. Baron de Totts report was favorable, but no action was taken. Nevertheless, Egypt became a topic of debate between Talleyrand and Napoleon, which continued in their correspondence during Napoleons Italian campaign, in early 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the dream of linking with Frances ally Tipu Sultan. At the time, Egypt had been an Ottoman province since 1517, but was now out of direct Ottoman control, in France, Egyptian fashion was in full swing – intellectuals believed that Egypt was the cradle of western civilization and wished to conquer it. French traders already based on the River Nile were complaining of harassment by the Mamluks and he assured the Directoire that as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions. The Directoire agreed to the plan in March 1798, though troubled by its scope, however, they saw that it would remove the popular and over-ambitious Napoleon from the center of power, though this motive long remained secret. Rumors became rife as 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 sailors were gathered in French Mediterranean ports, a large fleet was assembled at Toulon,13 ships of the line,14 frigates, and 400 transports. To avoid interception by the British fleet under Nelson, the target was kept secret. It was known only to Bonaparte himself, his generals Berthier and Caffarelli, Bonaparte was the commander, with subordinates including Thomas Alexandre Dumas, Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Caffarelli, Lannes, Damas, Murat, Andréossy, Belliard, Menou, and Zajączek. His aides de camp included his brother Louis Bonaparte, Duroc, Eugène de Beauharnais, Thomas Prosper Jullien, and the Polish nobleman Joseph Sulkowski. The fleet at Toulon was joined by squadrons from Genoa, Civitavecchia and Bastia and was put under the command of Admiral Brueys and Contre-amirals Villeneuve, Du Chayla, Decrès and Ganteaume. The fleet was about to set sail when a crisis developed with Austria, the crisis was resolved in a few weeks, and Bonaparte received orders to travel to Toulon as soon as possible. It is claimed that, in a meeting with the Directoire, Bonaparte threatened to dissolve them and directeur Reubell gave him a pen saying Sign there. Bonaparte arrived at Toulon on 9 May 1798, lodging with Benoît Georges de Najac, grand Master von Hompesch replied that only two foreign ships would be allowed to enter the port at a time
12.
Hortense de Beauharnais
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Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte, Queen consort of Holland, was the stepdaughter of Emperor Napoleon I, being the daughter of his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais. She later became the wife of the brother, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland. She had also a son, Charles de Morny, 1st Duke of Morny, by her lover Charles Joseph. Hortense was born in Paris, France on 10 April 1783 and her parents separated shortly after her birth. Her father was executed on 23 July 1794, at the time of the French Revolution and her mother was imprisoned in the Carmelites prison, from which she was released on 6 August 1794, thanks to the intervention of her best friend Thérèse Tallien. Two years later, her mother married Napoleon Bonaparte, Hortense was described as having been an amusing and pretty child with long, pale golden-blonde hair and blue eyes. She received her education at the school of Madame Jeanne Campan in St-Germain-en-Laye together with Napoleons youngest sister Caroline Bonaparte and she had an elder brother, Eugène de Beauharnais. Hortense was an amateur musical composer and supplied the army of her stepfather with rousing marches. She also enjoyed playing games and particularly excelled at billiards, in 1802, at Napoleons request, Hortense married his brother Louis Bonaparte. She had hoped to be a Queen of Holland in Paris and she was therefore forced to depart with Louis to the Netherlands, where she arrived on 18 June 1806. Queen Hortense was pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome from the public and she quickly became accustomed to life in the Netherlands and came to like the country. She was present at celebrations and ceremonies, visited the market places where she made large purchases, and was much liked by the public. She learned water colour painting and made trips around the countryside, in 1807, her son died, she was subsequently allowed to visit France as the climate there was considered better for her other son Louis-Napoléon. Hortense returned temporarily to the Netherlands, but on 1 June 1810, in 1810, after his Dutch kingdom was taken away from him, Louis remained in Holland for nearly three years, turning to writing and poetry. Louis wrote to Napoleon after the defeat in Russia to request that the Dutch throne be restored to him. Louis finally returned to France in 1813 and he spent much of his later life in Italy. Only her brother Eugène, Adélaïde Filleul de Souza, de Flahauts mother, and her closest companions were aware of her pregnancy and she had used poor health to explain her prolonged visit to Switzerland, the journey having been arranged by Adélaïde. At the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Hortense received the protection of Alexander I of Russia, at his instigation, she was granted the title of Duchess of Saint-Leu by King Louis XVIII on 30 May 1814
13.
Orangery
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The orangery provided a luxurious extension of the normal range and season of woody plants, extending the protection which had long been afforded by the warmth offered from a masonry fruit wall. As imported citrus fruit, pineapples, and other tender fruit became generally available and much cheaper, the orangery originated from the Renaissance gardens of Italy, when glass-making technology enabled sufficient expanses of clear glass to be produced. This soon created a situation where orangeries became symbols of status among the wealthy, the glazed roof, which afforded sunlight to plants that were not dormant, was a development of the early 19th century. The 1617 Orangerie at the Palace of the Louvre inspired imitations that culminated in Europes largest orangery, notable for his 1851 design of the Crystal Palace, his great conservatory at Chatsworth House was an orangery and glass house of monumental proportions. The orangery, however, was not just a greenhouse but a symbol of prestige and wealth, owners would conduct their guests there on tours of the garden to admire not only the fruits within but also the architecture without. Often the orangery would contain fountains, grottos, and an area in which to entertain in inclement weather, as early as 1545, an orangery was built in Padua, Italy. The first orangeries were practical and not as ornamental as they later became, most had no heating other than open fires. In England, John Parkinson introduced the orangery to the readers of his Paradisus in Sole, the building of orangeries became most widely fashionable after the end of the Eighty Years War in 1648. Orangeries were generally built facing south to take advantage of the possible light, and were constructed using brick or stone bases, brick or stone pillars. Insulation at these times was one of the biggest concerns for the building of these orangeries, straw became the material used. An early example of the type of construction can be seen at Kensington Palace, domestic orangeries also typically feature a roof lantern. The first examples were basic constructions and could be removed during summer, notably not only noblemen but also wealthy merchants, e. g. those of Nuremberg, used to cultivate citrus plants in orangeries. This became further influenced by the demand for beautiful exotic plants in the garden. This created the demand in garden design for the wealthy to have their own exotic private gardens. This in turn created the need for orangeries to be constructed using even better techniques such as underfloor heating, creating microclimates for the propagation of more and more exotic plants for the private gardens that were becoming creations of beauty all around Europe. At a length of 28 metres, it was the largest glasshouse in Britain when it was built, although designed as an arcade with end pavilions to winter oranges, the light levels under its solid roof were too low for it to be successful. The orangery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was designed in 1761 by Sir William Chambers, the orangery at Margam Park, Wales, was built between 1787 and 1793 to house a large collection of orange, lemon, and citron trees inherited by Thomas Mansel Talbot. The original house has been razed, but the surviving orangery, an orangery dating from about 1700 is at Kenwood House in London, and a slightly earlier one at Montacute
14.
Pineapple
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The pineapple is a tropical plant with an edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, also called pineapples, and the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapples may be cultivated from a cutting of the fruit, possibly flowering in 5-10 months. Pineapples do not ripen significantly after harvest, pineapples can be consumed fresh, cooked, juiced, or preserved. They are found in an array of cuisines. The fiber is used as a component for wallpaper and other furnishings. The word pineapple in English was first recorded to describe the organs of conifer trees. When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them pineapples, other members of the Ananas genus are often called pine, as well, in other languages. In Spanish, pineapples are called piña, or ananá, the pineapple is a herbaceous perennial, which grows to 1.0 to 1.5 m tall, although sometimes it can be taller. In appearance, the plant has a short, stocky stem with tough, when creating its fruit, it usually produces up to 200 flowers, although some large-fruited cultivars can exceed this. Once it flowers, the fruits of the flowers join together to create what is commonly referred to as a pineapple. After the first fruit is produced, side shoots are produced in the axils of the main stem. These may be removed for propagation, or left to produce additional fruits on the original plant, commercially, suckers that appear around the base are cultivated. It has 30 or more long, narrow, fleshy, trough-shaped leaves with sharp spines along the margins that are 30 to 100 cm long, surrounding a thick stem, in the first year of growth, the axis lengthens and thickens, bearing numerous leaves in close spirals. After 12 to 20 months, the stem grows into an inflorescence up to 15 cm long with over 100 spirally arranged, trimerous flowers. Flower colors vary, depending on variety, from lavender, through light purple to red, the ovaries develop into berries, which coalesce into a large, compact, multiple fruit. The fruit of a pineapple is arranged in two interlocking helices, eight in one direction,13 in the other, each being a Fibonacci number. The pineapple carries out CAM photosynthesis, fixing carbon dioxide at night and storing it as the acid malate, seed formation needs pollination, but the presence of seeds harms the quality of the fruit. In Hawaii, where pineapple is cultivated on an agricultural scale, certain bat-pollinated wild pineapples open their flowers only at night
15.
Greenhouse
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A greenhouse is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to industrial-sized buildings, a miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame. The interior of a greenhouse exposed to sunlight becomes significantly warmer than the ambient temperature. Many commercial glass greenhouses or hothouses are high tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers, the glass greenhouses are filled with equipment including screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting, and may be controlled by a computer to optimize conditions for plant growth. Different techniques are used to evaluate optimality-degrees and comfort ratio of greenhouse micro-climate in order to reduce production risk prior to cultivation of a specific crop. The idea of growing plants in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times, the Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods of growing to have it available for his every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, the cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as specularia or with sheets of selenite, according to the description by Pliny the Elder. In the 13th century, greenhouses were built in Italy to house the plants that explorers brought back from the tropics. They were originally called giardini botanici, Greenhouses in which the temperature could be manually manipulated first appeared in 15th century Korea. The 15th century treatise, the Sanga Yorok, contains descriptions of greenhouses designed to regulate the temperature and humidity requirements of plants, the concept of greenhouses also appeared in the Netherlands and then England in the 17th century, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize, there were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Today, the Netherlands has many of the largest greenhouses in the world, the French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland, during the 1800s to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally only on the estates of the rich, the growth of the science of botany caused greenhouses to spread to the universities, the French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular, pineries, or pineapple pits, were built, experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the 17th century in Europe, as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness, it was more than 150 metres long,13 metres wide, a good example of this trend is the pioneering Kew Gardens. Other large greenhouses built in the 19th century included the New York Crystal Palace, Munich’s Glaspalast, in Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the 20th century, the dome was added to the many types of greenhouses
16.
Rose
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A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are over a species and thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies, Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach seven meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has used in the development of the wide range of garden roses. The leaves are borne alternately on the stem, most roses are deciduous but a few are evergreen or nearly so. The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals and these may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes, the aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination, the hips of most species are red, but a few have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 seeds embedded in a matrix of fine. Rose hips of some species, especially the dog rose and rugosa rose, are rich in vitamin C. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds. While the sharp objects along a stem are commonly called thorns. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation growing over it. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer, a few species of roses have only vestigial prickles that have no points. Hesperrhodos contains Rosa minutifolia and Rosa stellata, from North America, platyrhodon with one species from east Asia, Rosa roxburghii
17.
Lilies
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Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world, most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though their range extends into the northern subtropics. Many other plants have lily in their name but are not related to true lilies. Lilies are tall perennials ranging in height from 2–6 ft and they form naked or tunicless scaly underground bulbs which are their overwintering organs. In some North American species the base of the bulb develops into rhizomes, most bulbs are deeply buried, but a few species form bulbs near the soil surface. With these, the bulb grows naturally at some depth in the soil and these roots are in addition to the basal roots that develop at the base of the bulb. The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a range of colours including whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, markings include spots and brush strokes. The plants are late spring- or summer-flowering, flowers are borne in racemes or umbels at the tip of the stem, with six tepals spreading or reflexed, to give flowers varying from funnel shape to a Turks cap. The tepals are free from other, and bear a nectary at the base of each flower. The ovary is superior, borne above the point of attachment of the anthers, the fruit is a three-celled capsule. They exhibit varying and sometimes complex patterns, many adapted to cool temperate climates. Naturally most cool temperate species are deciduous and dormant in winter in their native environment, the basic chromosome number is twelve. 2007, the taxonomy of Chinese species follows the Flora of China and these genera include Cardiocrinum, Notholirion, Nomocharis and Fritillaria. The botanic name Lilium is the Latin form and is a Linnaean name, the Latin name is derived from the Greek λείριον, leírion, generally assumed to refer to true, white lilies as exemplified by the Madonna lily. The word was borrowed from Coptic hleri, from standard hreri, from Demotic hrry, meillet maintains that both the Egyptian and the Greek word are possible loans from an extinct, substratum language of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks also used the word κρῖνον, krīnon, albeit for non-white lilies, all English translations of the Bible render the Hebrew shūshan, shōshan, shōshannā as lily, but the lily among the thorns of Song of Solomon, for instance, may be the honeysuckle. For a list of species described as lilies, see Lily. The range of lilies in the Old World extends across much of Europe, across most of Asia to Japan, south to India, and east to Indochina, in the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States
18.
Martinique
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Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. One of the Windward Islands, it is north of Saint Lucia, southeast of Puerto Rico, northwest of Barbados. As with the overseas departments, Martinique is one of the eighteen regions of France. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, the official language is French, and virtually the entire population also speak Antillean Creole. Martinique owes its name to Christopher Columbus, who sighted the island in 1493, the island was then called Jouanacaëra-Matinino, which came from a mythical island described by the Tainos of Hispaniola. According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called Jouanacaëra by the Caribs, when Columbus returned to the island in 1502, he rechristened the island as Martinica. The name then evolved into Madinina, Madiana, and Matinite, finally, through the influence of the neighboring island of Dominica, it came to be known as Martinique. The island was occupied first by Arawaks, then by Caribs, the Carib people had migrated from the mainland to the islands about 1201 CE, according to carbon dating of artifacts. They were largely displaced, exterminated and assimilated by the Taino, Martinique was charted by Columbus in 1493, but Spain had little interest in the territory. On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain dEsnambuc, French governor of the island of St. Kitts, dEsnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and the French Compagnie des Îles de lAmérique, and established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre. DEsnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, in 1637, his nephew Jacques Dyel du Parquet 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 successfully repelled the natives and forced them to retreat to the part of the island. When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1658, the Governor Charles Houël du Petit Pré retaliated with war against them, many were killed, those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island. Some Carib had fled to Dominica or St. Vincent, where the French agreed to them at peace. They were quite industrious and became quite prosperous, 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, usually under miserable and 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. Many of them were encouraged by their Catholic brethren who looked forward to the departure of the heretics, by 1688, nearly all of Martiniques French Protestant population had escaped to the British American colonies or Protestant countries back home
19.
Kangaroos
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The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae. The Australian government estimates that 34.3 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2011, as with the terms wallaroo and wallaby, kangaroo refers to a polyphyletic grouping of species. All three refer to members of the taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called kangaroos and the smallest are generally called wallabies, the term wallaroos refers to species of an intermediate size. There is also the tree-kangaroo, another genus of macropod, which inhabits the rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland. Kangaroos have large, powerful legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance. 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 species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful. The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references. Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to 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, referring to grey kangaroos. Cook first referred to kangaroos in his entry of 4 August. Guugu Yimithirr is the language of the people of the area, a common myth about the kangaroos English name is that kangaroo was a Guugu Yimithirr phrase for I dont understand you. According to this legend, Cook and Banks were exploring the area when they happened upon the animal and they asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded Kangaroo, meaning I dont understand you, which Cook took to be the name of the creature and this myth was debunked in the 1970s by linguist John B. Haviland in his research with the Guugu Yimithirr people, Kangaroos are often colloquially referred to as roos. Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men, females are does, flyers, or jills, the collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop, or court. There are four species that are referred to as kangaroos
20.
Emu
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The emu is the second-largest living bird by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird, the emus range covers most of mainland Australia, but the Tasmanian emu and King Island emu subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788. The bird is common for it to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Emus are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and legs, Emus can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 50 km/h, they forage for a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating. They drink infrequently, but take in copious amounts of water when the opportunity arises, breeding takes place in May and June, and fighting among females for a mate is common. Females can mate several times and lay clutches of eggs in one season. The male does the incubation, during this process he hardly eats or drinks, the eggs hatch after around eight weeks, and the young are nurtured by their fathers. They reach full size after around six months, but can remain as a unit until the next breeding season. The emu is an important cultural icon of Australia, appearing on the coat of arms, the bird features prominently in Indigenous Australian mythology. The birds were known on the eastern coast before 1788, when the first Europeans settled there, total length seven feet two inches. The long spines which are seen in the wings of the sort, are in this not observable. The legs are stout, formed much as in the Galeated Cassowary, the species was named by ornithologist John Latham in 1790 based on a specimen from the Sydney area of Australia, a country which was known as New Holland at the time. In his original 1816 description of the emu, the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot used two names, first Dromiceius and later Dromaius. Most modern publications, including those of the Australian government, use Dromaius, another theory is that it comes from the word ema, which is used in Portuguese to denote a large bird akin to an ostrich or crane. In Victoria, some terms for the emu were Barrimal in the Dja Dja Wurrung language, myoure in Gunai, the birds were known as murawung or birabayin to the local Eora and Darug inhabitants of the Sydney basin. The emu was long classified, with its closest relatives the cassowaries, in the family Casuariidae, however, an alternate classification was proposed in 2014 by Mitchell et al. based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA. This splits off the Casuariidae into their own order, the Casuariformes, the cladogram shown below is from their study. Two different Dromaius species were present in Australia at the time of European settlement, the insular dwarf emus, D. baudinianus and D. n. minor, originally present on Kangaroo Island and King Island respectively, both became extinct shortly after the arrival of Europeans
21.
Zebras
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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 and they are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and donkeys, zebras have never truly domesticated. There are three species of zebras, the zebra, the Grévys zebra and the mountain zebra. The plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, the latter resembles an ass, to which it is closely related, while the former two are 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, savannas, woodlands, thorny scrublands, mountains, however, various anthropogenic factors have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular hunting for skins and habitat destruction. Grévys zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered, the name zebra in English dates back to c. 1600, from Italian zebra, perhaps from Portuguese, which in turn is said to be Congolese, the Encarta Dictionary says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps it may come from Latin equiferus meaning wild horse, from equus and ferus. The pronunciation with an initial vowel remains standard in the United States. Zebras evolved among the Old World horses within the last 4 million years and it has been suggested that zebras are polyphyletic and that striped equids evolved more than once. Extensive stripes are posited to have been of use to equids that live in low densities in deserts or ones that live in colder climates with shaggy coats. However, molecular evidence supports zebras as a monophyletic lineage, collectively, two of the species have eight subspecies. Zebra populations are diverse, and the relationships between, and the status of, several of the subspecies are not well known. It, or particular subspecies of it, have also known as the common zebra, the dauw, Burchells zebra, Chapmans zebra, Wahlbergs zebra, Selous zebra, Grants zebra, Boehms zebra. The mountain zebra of southwest Africa tends to have a coat with a white belly. It has two subspecies and is classified as vulnerable, Grévys zebra is the largest type, with a long, narrow head, making it appear rather mule-like. It is an inhabitant of the grasslands of Ethiopia and northern Kenya
22.
Gazelles
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A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera, the genus Procapra has also been considered a subgenus of Gazella, and its members are also referred to as gazelles, though they are not dealt with in this article. Gazelles are known as swift animals, some are able to run at bursts as high as 100 km/h or run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h. Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, and savannas of Africa, but they are found in southwest and central Asia. They tend to live in herds, and eat coarse, easily digestible plants. Gazelles are rather small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm high at the shoulder, the gazelle genera are Gazella, Eudorcas, and Nanger. The taxonomy of these genera is a one, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genus Gazella is widely considered to contain about 10 species, four further species are extinct, the red gazelle, the Arabian gazelle, the Queen of Shebas gazelle, and the Saudi gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees, closely related to the true gazelles are the Tibetan and Mongolian gazelles, the blackbuck of Asia, and the African springbok. One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomsons gazelle, which is around 60 to 80 cm in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown, the males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other species, Tommies and springboks exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting when they are threatened by predators. Gazelle is derived from the Arabic name غزال ġazāl, the first Romance language to adopt it was Middle French, and the word entered the English language around 1600 from French. The Arab people traditionally hunted the gazelle, appreciated for its grace, it is a symbol most commonly associated in Arabic literature with female beauty. 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, for I am your friend, today, O wild deer. Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters, You are free for the sake of Layla, the theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a stag on the spice-laden mountains. The gazelles are divided into three genera and 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, gazelles disappeared from Europe at the start of Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and Middle East
23.
Ostriches
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The ostrich or common ostrich is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio, which is in the ratite family. In 2014, the Somali ostrich was recognized as a distinct species, the common ostrich shares the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, emus, rheas, and cassowaries. However, phylogenetic studies have shown that it is the group to all other members of Palaeognathae. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a neck and legs, and can run at up to about 70 km/h. The common ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest eggs of any living bird, the common ostrichs diet consists mainly of plant matter, though it also eats invertebrates. It lives in groups of 5 to 50 birds. When threatened, the ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, if cornered, it can attack with a kick of its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females. The common ostrich is farmed around the world, particularly for its feathers and its skin is used for leather products and its meat is marketed commercially, with its leanness a common marketing point. Common ostriches usually weigh from 63 to 145 kilograms, or as much as two adult humans, ostriches of the East African race averaged 115 kg in males and 100 kg in females, while the nominate subspecies was found to average 111 kg in unsexed adults. Exceptional male ostriches can weigh up to 156.8 kg, at sexual maturity, male common ostriches can be from 2.1 to 2.8 m in height, while female common ostriches range from 1.7 to 2.0 m tall. New chicks are fawn in colour, with brown spots. During the first year of life, chicks grow at about 25 cm per month, at one year of age, common ostriches weigh approximately 45 kilograms. Their lifespan is up to 40–45 years, the feathers of adult males are mostly black, with white primaries and a white tail. However, the tail of one subspecies is buff, females and young males are greyish-brown and white. The head and neck of both male and female ostriches is nearly bare, with a layer of down. The skin of the neck and thighs is pinkish gray. The eyes are shaded from sunlight from above, However, the head and bill are relatively small for the birds huge size, with the bill measuring 12 to 14.3 cm
24.
Chamois
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The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand. Some subspecies of chamois are strictly protected in the EU under the European Habitats Directive, the English name comes from French chamois. The latter is derived from Gaulish camox, itself perhaps borrowing from some Alpine language, the Gaulish form also underlies German Gemse, Gams, Gämse, Italian Camoscio, Ladin Ciamorz. The usual pronunciation for the animal is UK /ˈʃæmwɑː/ or US /ʃæmˈwɑː/, however, when referring to chamois leather, and in New Zealand often for the animal itself, it is /ˈʃæmi/, and sometimes spelt shammy or chamy. The plural of chamois is spelled the same as the singular, however, as with many other quarry species, the plural for the animal is often pronounced the same as the singular. The Dutch name for the chamois is gems, and the male is called a gemsbok, in Afrikaans, the name gemsbok came to refer to a species of Subsaharan antelope of the genus Oryx, and this meaning of gemsbok has been adopted into English. The chamois are in the subfamily of the family Bovidae. A fully grown chamois reaches a height of 70–80 cm and measures 107–137 cm, males, which weigh 30–60 kg, are slightly larger than females, which weigh 25–45 kg. Both males and females have short, straightish horns which are hooked backwards near the tip, in summer, the fur has a rich brown colour which turns to a light grey in winter. Distinct characteristics are white contrasting marks on the sides of the head with pronounced black stripes below the eyes, a white rump, female chamois and their young live in herds of up to 15 to 30 individuals, adult males tend to live solitarily for most of the year. During the rut, males engage in battles for the attention of unmated females. An impregnated female undergoes a period of 170 days, after which a single kid is usually born in May or early June - on rare occasions, twins may be born. If a mother is killed, other females in the herd may try to raise the kid, the kid is weaned at six months of age and is fully grown by one year of age. However, the kids do not reach maturity until they are three to four years old, although some females may mate at as early two years old. Chamois eat various types of vegetation, including grasses and herbs during the summer and conifers, barks. Primarily diurnal in activity, they often rest around mid-day and may actively forage during moonlit nights, Chamois can reach an age of 22 years in captivity, although the maximum recorded in the wild is from 15 to 17 years of age. Common causes of mortality can include avalanches, epidemics and predation, at present, humans are the main predator of Chamois. In the past, the predators were Eurasian lynxes, Persian leopards and gray wolves, with some predation possibly by brown bears
25.
Pinniped
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Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, there are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids, Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg southern elephant seal, which is also the largest carnivoran. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers, though not as fast in the water as dolphins, seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to themselves through the water, while phocids. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body, by comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have a tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape predators, like sharks. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates, but a few, like the seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks, male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female, although the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a number of females than those of ice- or water-breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating, pups are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea, Seals produce a number of vocalizations, notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the complex songs of Weddell seals
26.
Antelopes
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An antelope is a member of a number of even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a wastebasket taxon within the family Bovidae, encompassing those Old World species that are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, a group of antelope is called a herd. It perhaps derives from Greek anthos and ops, perhaps meaning beautiful eye or alluding to the animals long eyelashes and this, however, may be a later folk etymology. The word talopus and calopus, from Latin, came to be used in heraldry, in 1607, it was first used for living, cervine animals. The 91 species, most of which are native to Africa, the classification of tribes or subfamilies within Bovidae is still a matter of debate, with several alternative systems proposed. Antelope are not a cladistic or taxonomically defined group, the term is used to describe all members of the family Bovidae that do not fall under the category of sheep, cattle, or goats. Usually, all species of the Alcelaphinae, Antilopinae, Hippotraginae, Reduncinae, Cephalophinae, many Bovinae, the grey rhebok, and the impala are called antelopes. No antelope species is native to Australasia or Antarctica, nor do any extant species occur in the Americas, North America is currently home to the native pronghorn, which taxonomists do not consider a member of the antelope group, but which is locally referred to as such. More species of antelope are native to Africa than to any other continent, almost exclusively in savannahs, other species occur in Asia, the Arabian Peninsula is home to the Arabian oryx and Dorcas gazelle. India is home to the nilgai, chinkara, blackbuck, Tibetan antelope, and four-horned antelope, while Russia and Central Asia have the Tibetan antelope, many species of antelopes have been imported to other parts of the world, especially the United States, for exotic game hunting. With some species possessing spectacular leaping and evasive skills, individuals may escape, Texas in particular has many game ranches, as well as habitats and climates, that are very hospitable to African and Asian plains antelope species. Accordingly, wild populations of antelope, gemsbok, and nilgai may be found in Texas. Antelope live in a range of habitats. Numerically, most live in the African savannahs, species living in forests, woodland, or bush tend to be sedentary, but many of the plains species undertake long migrations. These enable grass-eating species to follow the rains and thereby their food supply, the gnus and gazelles of East Africa perform some of the most impressive mass migratory circuits of all mammals. For example, a male common eland can measure 178 cm at the shoulder and weigh almost 950 kg, whereas an adult royal antelope may stand only 24 cm at the shoulder and weigh a mere 1.5 kg. Not surprisingly for animals with long, slender yet powerful legs, many antelopes have long strides, some are also adapted to inhabiting rock koppies and crags. Both dibatags and gerenuks habitually stand on their two legs to reach acacia and other tree foliage
27.
Llama
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The llama is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. The height of a full-grown, full-size llama is 1.7 to 1.8 m tall at the top of the head, at birth, a baby llama can weigh between 9 and 14 kg. Llamas typically live for 15 to 25 years, with some individuals surviving 30 years or more and they are very social animals and live with other llamas as a herd. The wool produced by a llama is very soft and lanolin-free, llamas are intelligent and can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions. When using a pack, they can carry about 25 to 30% of their weight for 8 to 13 km. The name llama was adopted by European settlers from native Peruvians, llamas appear to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America about three years ago. By the end of the last ice age, camelids were extinct in North America, lamoids, or llamas, consist of the vicuña, guanaco, Suri alpaca, and Huacaya alpaca, and the domestic llama. Guanacos and vicuñas live in the wild, while alpacas – as well as llamas – exist only as domesticated animals, although early writers compared llamas to sheep, their similarity to the camel was soon recognized. They were included in the genus Camelus along with alpaca in the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus and they were, however, separated by Cuvier in 1800 under the name of lama along with the guanaco. Alpacas and vicuñas are in genus Vicugna, the Tylopoda consist of a single family, the Camelidae, and shares the order Artiodactyla with the Suina, the Tragulina, the Pecora, and the Whippomorpha. Llamas were not always confined to South America, abundant llama-like remains were found in Pleistocene deposits in the Rocky Mountains, some of the fossil llamas were much larger than current forms. Some species remained in North America during the last ice ages, North American llamas are categorized as a single extinct genus, Hemiauchenia. Llama-like animals would have been a common sight 25,000 years ago, in modern-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Missouri, the camelid lineage has a good fossil record. Camel-like animals have been traced from the thoroughly differentiated, modern species back through early Miocene forms and their characteristics became more general, and they lost those that distinguished them as camelids, hence, they were classified as ancestral artiodactyls. No fossils of these forms have been found in the Old World, indicating that North America was the original home of camelids. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama three million years ago allowed camelids to spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange, meanwhile, North American camelids died out at the end of the Pleistocene. The following characteristics apply especially to llamas, dentition of adults, -incisors 1/3 canines 1/1, premolars 2/2, molars 3/2, total 32
28.
Baudin expedition to Australia
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The Baudin expedition of 1800 to 1803 was a French expedition to map the coast of New Holland. Nicolas Baudin was selected as leader in October 1800, the explicit purpose of the voyage was to be ‘observation and research relating to Geography and Natural History. ’ The Baudin expedition departed Le Havre, France, on 19 October 1800. Because of delays in receiving his instructions and problems encountered in Isle de France they did not reach Cape Leeuwin on the south-west corner of the continent until May 1801, upon rounding Cape Naturaliste, they entered Geographe Bay. During their exploration here they lost a longboat and a sailor and they then sailed north, but the ships became separated and did not meet again until they reached Timor. The expedition was severely affected by dysentery and fever, but sailed from Timor on 13 November 1801, across the Great Australian Bight and they charted the whole length of Tasmanias east coast and there were extensive interactions with the Indigenous Tasmanians, with whom they had peaceful relationships. They notably produced precious ethnological studies of Indigenous Tasmanians, en route, in April 1802, Hamelin explored the area of Western Port, Victoria, and gave names to places, a number of which have survived, for example, Ile des Français is now called French Island. Flinders informed Baudin of his discovery of Kangaroo Island, St. Vincent’s and Spencer’s Gulfs, Baudin sailed on to the Nuyts Archipelago, the point reached by t Gulden Zeepaert in 1627 before heading for Port Jackson as well for supplies. In late 1802 the expedition was at Port Jackson, where the government sold 60 casks of flour and 25 casks of salt meat to Baudin to resupply his two vessels, the supplies permitted Naturaliste to return to France and Géographe to continue her explorations of the Australian coast. Naturaliste took with her the Colonys staff surgeon, Mr. James Thomson, before resuming the voyage Baudin purchased a 30 ton schooner, which he named the Casuarina, a smaller vessel which could conduct close inshore survey work. He sent the larger Naturaliste under Hamelin back to France with all the specimens that had collected by Baudin. As the voyage had progressed Louis de Freycinet, now a Lieutenant, had shown his talents as an officer, plagued by contrary winds, ill health, and because the quadrupeds and emus were very sick, it was decided on 7 July 1803 to return to France. On the return voyage, the ships stopped in Mauritius, where Baudin died of tuberculosis on 16 September 1803, the expedition finally reached France on 24 March 1804. The scientific expedition was considered a success, with more than 2500 new species discovered. To protect it from erosion, the rock is now housed at the Gateway Visitor Information Centre on Howard Drive. According to researchers from the University of Adelaide, during this expedition Baudin prepared a report for Napoleon on ways to invade, the Baudin expedition was intended to be a voyage of discovery that would further scientific knowledge and perhaps eclipse the achievements of Captain James Cook. Among those joining the Baudin expedition were Sub-lieutenants Louis-Claude de Saulses de Freycinet, Louis did not initially sail as a ‘geographer’. Both were eventually promoted to Lieutenant, and Louis was later given command of the schooner Casuarina, another member of the expedition, someone who was ultimately to have a highly significant influence on its outcomes, was the 25-year-old assistant zoologist François Péron. Captains, Nicolas Thomas Baudin and Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, a total of 24 various scientists and artists including five gardeners accompanied Baudin on the expedition
29.
Battle of Waterloo
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The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday,18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Upon Napoleons return to power in March 1815, many states that had opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition, Wellington and Blüchers armies were cantoned close to the north-eastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack them in the hope of destroying them before they could join in an invasion of France with other members of the coalition. Despite holding his ground at Quatre Bras, the defeat of the Prussians forced Wellington to withdraw to Waterloo, Napoleon sent a third of his forces to pursue the Prussians, who had withdrawn parallel to Wellington. This resulted in the separate and simultaneous Battle of Wavre with the Prussian rear-guard, upon learning that the Prussian army was able to support him, Wellington decided to offer battle on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment, across the Brussels road. Here he withstood repeated attacks by the French throughout the afternoon, in the evening Napoleon committed his last reserves to a desperate final attack, which was narrowly beaten back. With the Prussians breaking through on the French right flank, Wellingtons Anglo-allied army counter-attacked in the centre, Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleons last. According to Wellington, the battle was the thing you ever saw in your life. Napoleon abdicated four days later, and on 7 July coalition forces entered Paris, the defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleons rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of his Hundred Days return from exile. This ended the First French Empire, and set a chronological milestone between serial European wars and decades of relative peace, the battlefield is located in the municipalities of Braine-lAlleud and Lasne, about 15 kilometres south of Brussels, and about 2 kilometres from the town of Waterloo. The site of the battlefield today is dominated by a large monument, as this mound was constructed from earth taken from the battlefield itself, the contemporary topography of the battlefield near the mound has not been preserved. On 13 March 1815, six days before Napoleon reached Paris, four days later, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, and Prussia mobilised armies to defeat Napoleon. Crucially, this would have bought him time to recruit and train more men before turning his armies against the Austrians and Russians, an additional consideration for Napoleon was that a French victory might cause French speaking sympathisers in Belgium to launch a friendly revolution. Wellingtons initial dispositions were intended to counter the threat of Napoleon enveloping the Coalition armies by moving through Mons to the south-west of Brussels and this would have pushed Wellington closer to Blücher, but may have cut Wellingtons communications with his base at Ostend. In order to delay Wellingtons deployment, Napoleon spread false intelligence which suggested that Wellingtons supply chain from the ports would be cut. By June, Napoleon had raised a total strength of about 300,000 men. The force at his disposal at Waterloo was less than one third that size, Napoleon divided his army into a left wing commanded by Marshal Ney, a right wing commanded by Marshal Grouchy and a reserve under his command. Crossing the frontier near Charleroi before dawn on 15 June, the French rapidly overran Coalition outposts and he hoped this would prevent them from combining, and he would be able to destroy first the Prussians army, then Wellingtons
30.
Saint Helena
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It is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres and has a population of 4,534 and it was named after Saint Helena of Constantinople. The island, one of the most remote islands in the world, was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502 and it was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa for centuries. Napoleon was imprisoned there in exile by the British, as were Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, between 1791 and 1833, Saint Helena became the site of a series of experiments in conservation, reforestation and attempts to boost rainfall artificially. This environmental intervention was closely linked to the conceptualisation of the processes of environmental change, Saint Helena is Britains second-oldest remaining overseas territory after Bermuda. The Portuguese found the island uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and they imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Englishman Sir Francis Drake probably located the island on the leg of his circumnavigation of the world. In developing their Far East trade, the Dutch also began to frequent the island, the Dutch Republic formally made claim to Saint Helena in 1633, although there is no evidence that they ever occupied, colonized, or fortified it. By 1651, the Dutch had mainly abandoned the island in favour of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1657, Oliver Cromwell granted the English East India Company a charter to govern Saint Helena and, the following year, the first governor Captain John Dutton arrived in 1659, making Saint Helena one of Britains oldest colonies outside North America and the Caribbean. A fort and houses were built, after the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a royal charter giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York, between January and May 1673, the Dutch East India Company forcibly took the island, before English reinforcements restored English East India Company control. The company experienced difficulty attracting new immigrants, and sentiments of unrest, a census in 1723 recorded 1,110 people, including 610 slaves. The island enjoyed a period of prosperity from about 1770. Captain James Cook visited the island in 1775 on the leg of his second circumnavigation of the world. St. James Church was erected in Jamestown in 1774, the site of this telescope is near Saint Mathews Church in Hutts Gate in the Longwood district. The 680-metre high hill there is named for him and is called Halleys Mount, throughout this period, Saint Helena was an important port of call of the East India Company. East Indiamen would stop there on the leg of their voyages to British India
31.
Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies
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Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies was Queen consort of Spain and Regent of Spain. Born in Palermo, Sicily on 27 April 1806, she was the daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies by his second wife, Maria Isabella of Spain. With the death on 27 May 1829 of the wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain. This led to his marriage, just seven months later. If the rushed marriage was not awkward enough, King Ferdinand was also her uncle by both birth and marriage, Maria Christinas mother, Maria Isabella, was King Ferdinands sister, both were born to King Charles IV of Spain and his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma. As queen, Maria Christina, rapidly delivered two daughters, the future Queen Isabella II, and the Infanta Luísa Fernanda, and two sons who did not survive past one year, when Ferdinand died on 29 September 1833, Maria Christina became regent for their daughter Isabella. Some supporters of Don Carlos went so far as to claim that Ferdinand had actually bequeathed the crown to his brother and it was further alleged that the Queen had signed her dead husbands name to a decree recognizing Isabella as heir. Carlos attempt to power resulted in the Carlist Wars. Despite considerable support for Carlos from the Roman Catholic Church and conservative elements in Spain, the Carlist Wars grew from a dispute about the succession into a dispute over the future of Spain. The supporters of Maria Christina and her daughter favored a liberal constitution, in contrast, Carlos supporters favored a return to traditional society and an absolute monarchy. Ultimately, the loyalty to Isabella II proved the decisive issue in the war. On 28 December 1833, shortly after the death of Ferdinand VII, Maria Christina had secretly married an ex-sergeant from the royal guard, Maria Christina and Muñoz had several children together while trying to keep their marriage a secret. Maria de los Desamparados, Countess of Vista Alegre married Prince Władysław Czartoryski, Maria de los Milagros, Marchioness of Castillejo married to Filippo del Drago, Principe di Mazzano e dAntuni. Agustín Maria, 1st Duke of Tarancón candidate to King of Ecuador in 1846, Fernando Maria, 2nd Duke of Riansares and Tarancon married to Eladia Bernaldo de Quirós y González de Cienfuegos. Maria Cristina, Marchioness of La Isabella, Juan Bautista, Count of Recuerdo Antonio de Padua. Jose Maria, Count of Gracia Muñoz enlisted in the royal bodyguard, Maria Christinas husband, King Ferdinand VII of Spain died on 29 September 1833, and on 28 December 1833 she and Muñoz were privately married. If Maria Christina had officially made the public, she would have forfeited the regency. Eventually, news of Maria Christinas marriage to this low-ranking soldier became public and that news made Maria Christina deeply unpopular
32.
Ferdinand VII of Spain
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Ferdinand VII was twice King of Spain, in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his supporters as the Desired and to his detractors as the Felon King and he reestablished the absolutist monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. He suppressed the liberal press 1814-33 and jailed many of its editors and writers, under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, and the country entered into civil war on his death. His reputation among historians is very low, historian Stanley Payne says, He proved in many ways the basest king in Spanish history. Cowardly, selfish, grasping, suspicious, and vengeful, seemed almost incapable of any perception of the commonwealth and 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 ostensibly the eldest surviving child of Charles IV of Spain, Ferdinand was born in the palace of El Escorial near Madrid. The Queens confessor Fray Juan Almaraz wrote in his last will that she admitted in articulo mortis that none, none of her sons and daughters, none was of the legitimate marriage. In his youth Ferdinand occupied the position of an heir apparent who was excluded from all share in government by his parents and their advisor and Prime Minister. 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 ascended the throne and turned to Napoleon for support and he abdicated on 6 May 1808. Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Chateau of Valençay, while the upper echelons of the Spanish government accepted his abdication and Napoleons choice of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country, marking the beginning of the Peninsular War, 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, on 24 August, Ferdinand VII was proclaimed king of Spain again, and 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, the Spanish people, blaming the policies of the Francophiles for causing the Napoleonic occupation and the Peninsular War by allying Spain too closely to France, at first welcomed Fernando. Ferdinand soon found that in the years a new world had been born of foreign invasion. 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 he had relinquished six years earlier. 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, but, only gave lukewarm indications he would do so
33.
Napoleon III
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
34.
RER A
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RER line A is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The line runs from the termini of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Cergy Le Haut and Poissy to the eastern termini of Boissy-Saint-Léger. It is formed from the connection of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes – Boissy-St-Léger line in the east, two branches were added in the west, to Poissy and the new town of Cergy-Pontoise, and in the east to the new town of Marne-la-Vallée. The two latest extensions were to Cergy-Le Haut and Disneyland Paris, with more than one million passengers per workday, line A is the busiest Parisian RER and metro line. Ever-increasing traffic volume and the need to ward off imminent saturation have been factors in RATP. SACEM is still one of the most advanced traffic control systems, parisians have become used to the sight of a train pulling into a station as the one before it is just clearing the platform. Around the same time, RATP ordered a significant number of MI79/MI84 trains to remedy premature wear and tear on MS61 stock caused by over-utilization on Line A. Later in the 1980s, the need to relieve congestion on the segment of Line A was a key factor in selecting the route of the new. The same need governed the choice of the route of RER Line E in the early 1990s and is a factor in plans for that lines westward or south-westward extension. A new class of double-deck trains entered service in 1998, in part a product of RATPs belief that no further infrastructure improvement would relieve congestion on Line A. This was followed in 2011 by the MI09 double-decker stock, aimed at replacing the aging MI84, one simple solution to the congestion problem that has never been implemented is a change in the seating configuration in the trains. The RER is unusual among high-capacity urban train networks in its attachment to transverse seating, a change to longitudinal seating typically reduces the number of seats by 10% but increases standing room by 30%. The result is increased capacity and a less cramped ride for those without seats,14 December 1969, RATP buys the ligne de Vincennes from SNCF, connecting Bastille with Boissy-Saint-Léger in the east. A new 2. 5-km tunnel between Vincennes and Nation, which replaces Bastille as the terminus, length,17.5 km.21 February 1970, RATP buys the ligne de St-Germain from SNCF, connecting the Gare Saint-Lazare with Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the west. A new tunnel between La Défense and the Place de lÉtoile, which replaces St-Lazare as the terminus, shuttle service is operated La Défense – Étoile,4 km.23 November 1971, Tunnel opened Étoile – Auber,2 km. Shuttle service extended to operate La Défense – Auber,1 October 1972, Tunnel opened La Défense – Nanterre-Université,2 km. Shuttle service extended on the ligne de St-Germain to operate Saint-Germain – Auber, October 1973, New underground station, Nanterre-Préfecture, between La Défense and Nanterre-Université. 9 December 1977, The lines are connected by a 6-km tunnel, giving birth to the RER A line, two new stations, Châtelet-les Halles and Gare de Lyon
35.
Grande Arche
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La Grande Arche de la Défense is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France. It is usually known as the Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche, a great national design competition was launched in 1982 as the initiative of French president François Mitterrand. The construction of the monument began in 1985, spreckelsen resigned in July 1986 and ratified the transfer of all his architectural responsibilities to his associate, French architect Paul Andreu. Reitzel continued his work until the monument was completed in 1989, the Arche is in the approximate shape of a cube, it has been suggested that the structure looks like a hypercube projected onto the three-dimensional world. It has a concrete frame covered with glass and Carrara marble from Italy and was built by the French civil engineering company Bouygues. La Grande Arche was inaugurated in July 1989, with military parades that marked the bicentennial of the French Revolution. It completed the line of monuments that forms the Axe historique running through Paris, the Arche is turned at an angle of 6. 33° about the vertical axis. In addition, from a point of view, the turn emphasizes the depth of the monument and is similar to the turn of the Louvre at the other end of the Axe historique. La Voie Royale, a short film of June 2015 by director Larbi Chikh. In reality, this would require a turn of 0. 1°, in addition, the Arche is placed so that it forms a secondary axe with the two highest buildings in Paris, the Tour Eiffel and the Tour Montparnasse. The two sides of the Arche house government offices, the roof section was an exhibition centre, housing the Musée de lInformatique. The roof, when it was open to the public, was popular for its views of Paris. Access to the roof is possible via the elevators in the north and south walls. A reopening is planned for May 2017, list of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region François Chaslin et Virginie Picon-Lefebvre, La Grande Arche de La Défense Electa-Moniteur,1989 Erik Reitzel Le Cube ouvert. Structures and foundations International conference on tall buildings, ISBN9971840421 Erik Reitzel Les forces dont resultent quelques monuments Parisiens de la Fin du XXe siècle Le pouvoir et la ville à lépoque moderne et contemporaine, Sorbonne 2001. ISBN2747526100 Grande Arche Satellite image from Google Maps Panorama during a storm Grande Arche ERI. dk Grande Arche pictures in Art Days
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Louis Lafitte
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Louis Lafitte was a French painter, designer, illustrator and muralist. He was the son of a master barber, in 1778, his father offered refuge to the painter Simon Mathurin Lantara, who was in desperate financial straits and, during his stay, Lantara excited young Lafittes interest in painting. He also convinced Lafittes father that his son had a gift for drawing, so he was sent to study with the engraver Gilles Demarteau then, in 1786, later he was admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. In 1791, he won Prix de Rome for his painting of Regulus returning to Carthage and became the last painter sent to Rome during the reign of Louis XVI. He was living at the Villa Medici in 1793, when protests against French incursions into Italy forced him to flee the Papal States and seek refuge in Florence and he returned to Paris in 1796 and was married later that year. Financial problems soon forced him to do work and illustrations. In 1800, he worked at the Château de Malmaison in collaboration with the architect Charles Percier and his work there featured eight Pompeian style dancers for the dining room. In 1809, the Sénat commissioned an oil painting, depicting the establishment of the Cisalpine Republic. From 1807 to 1808, he worked with architect Jean Chalgrin, the theater was gutted by fire in 1818, and his decorations survive only in written descriptions. The following year, he helped Chalgrin decorate a full-scale wood, stucco, in 1811, he painted Romulus and Remus above the doors of the Sénat at the Palais du Luxembourg for the baptism of Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte. From 1800 to 1814, he created designs for the Manufacture de Sèvres, then, from 1814 to 1816, he collaborated with Merry-Joseph Blondel in creating a collection of wallpapers based on the theme of Cupid and Psyche, from a story by Jean de La Fontaine. In 1816, taking advantage of a period, he visited London. In 1820, he designed decorations to commemorate the birth of the Duc de Bordeaux, in 1823, he was named a Knight in the Légion dHonneur as a designer for the Kings Cabinet. Two years later, he created his last major works for the coronation of Charles X and he died after a brief illness and is buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery. His remaining works were sold in an auction at his home, works by Lafitte @ the Base Joconde. Works by Lafitte @ the Agence Photographique of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux
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Tourism in Paris
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Tourism in Paris is a major income source for Paris and the city ranks in the worlds most visited cities. In 2013, the City of Paris welcomed 15.6 million international visitors, the Paris Region received 32.3 million visitors in 2013, putting it just ahead of London as the worlds top tourist destination region, measured by hotel occupancy. In the Paris region, the largest numbers of tourists came in order from Britain. In 2012,263,212 salaried workers in the city of Paris, or 18.4 percent of the number, were engaged in tourism-related sectors, hotels, catering, transport. In 2014 visitors to Paris spent 17 billion dollars, the third highest sum globally after London, the Eiffel Tower is acknowledged as the universal symbol of Paris and France. It was originally designed by Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, in March 1885 Gustave Eiffel, known primarily as a successful iron engineer, submitted a plan for a tower to the French Ministre du Commerce et de lIndustrie. He entered a competition for students studying at the university, the winning proposal would stand as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition. Eiffels was one of over 100 submissions, eiffels proposal was finally chosen in June 1886. Even before its construction, the Towers uniqueness was noticed, the Eiffel Tower was finally inaugurated on March 31,1889. Currently about 6.9 million people visit the Eiffel tower each year, Centre Georges Pompidou was officially opened on January 31,1977 by President Valéry Giscard dEstaing. The designers of Pompidou are Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, the Centre Pompidou has had over 150 million visitors since 1977. Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, in 1997 renovations had begun to drastically change the interior spaces of the Centre Pompidou. The renovation also developed the capacity to host the performing arts. The Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and it stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It should not be confused with an arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the historic axis – a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, the Musée dOrsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It started to be constructed in 1897 and was designed by Gae Aulenti, Victor Laloux, the Musée dOrsay is an art museum for works from 1848 to 1914 and has an emphasis on French Impressionism artwork
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Landmarks in Paris
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This article presents the main landmarks in the City of Paris within its administrative limits divided by the 20 Arrondissements of Paris. Landmarks located in the suburbs of Paris, outside of its administrative limits, the 1st arrondissement forms much of the historic centre of Paris. The old Halles were demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles, the central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to Rungis, in the southern suburbs. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent Ancien Régime members before their deaths during the French Revolution, the 2nd arrondissement of Paris lies to the north of the 1st. The Boulevard des Capucines, Boulevard Montmartre, Boulevard des Italiens, Rue de Richelieu, also of note are the Académie Julian, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Café Anglais and Galerie Vivienne. The 3rd arrondissement is located to the northeast of the 1st, Le Marais is a trendy district spanning the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. It is architecturally very well preserved, and some of the oldest houses and it is a very culturally open place, known for its Chinese, Jewish and gay communities. Several hotels are located in this district including Hôtel de Guénégaud, the 4th arrondissement is located to the east of the 1st. Place de la Bastille is a district of historical significance, for not just Paris. Bibliothèque de lArsenal, La Force Prison, Centre Georges Pompidou, roads running through the 4th arrondissement include Rue Charlemagne, Rue de Rivoli, Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, and Rue des Rosiers. It is known for its atmosphere and many bistros. The Panthéon church is where many of Frances illustrious men and women are buried, the 6th arrondissement, to the south of the centre and Seine has numerous hotels and restaurants and also educational institutions. Among the museums located in the 6th arrondissement are the Musée Bible et Terre Sainte, Musée dAnatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière, Musée Dupuytren, and Musée Edouard Branly. A symbol of the Revolution are the two Statues of Liberty located on the Île aux Cygnes in the Luxembourg Garden of the 6th arrondissement and on the Seine between the 15th and 16th arrondissements. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to the United States in 1886, the Odéon-Théâtre de lEurope is located in this district, as is the Luxembourg Palace. The Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, and Pont Saint-Michel bridges lead across the Seine to the historic centre, the 7th arrondissement lies to the southwest of the centre, across the Seine. The Eiffel Tower is the most famous landmark of the 7th arrondissement and it was a temporary construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition, but was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris, instantly recognized throughout the World. The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings, many hotels are located in this district including Hôtel Biron, Hôtel de Castries, Hôtel de Conti, Hôtel de Mademoiselle de Condé, Hôtel du Châtelet, and Hôtel Matignon
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Arc de Triomphe
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The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and it set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an height of 50 metres, width of 45 m. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the archs primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel. Pariss Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modelled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m. The Arc is located on the bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes, the architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885. The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, the relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. On 7 August 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc, Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on 10 July 1919 when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight. Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. A United States postage stamp of 1945 shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées, after the interment of the Unknown Soldier, however, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch. The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb, both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966 it was cleaned through bleaching. In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new arch, after the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile, the Grande Arche is the third arch built on the same perspective. In 1995, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria placed a bomb near the Arc de Triomphe which wounded 17 people as part of a campaign of bombings, the astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin, in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
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Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
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The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the Tuileries Garden, the Place du Carrousel delineates the end of the gardens just as the Place de la Concorde defines its western end. The name carrousel refers to a type of military dressage, an equine demonstration now commonly called military drill, the Place du Carrousel was named in 1662, when it was used for such a display by Louis XIV. The king and queen were installed in the Tuileries Palace under surveillance, during this time, there were many plots designed to help members of the royal family escape from France. The queen rejected several because she would not leave without the king, other opportunities to rescue the family were ultimately frittered away by the indecisive king. After many delays, the escape occurred on 21 June 1791. An hour and a later, the palace was invaded by the mob. They massacred the Swiss Guards, who fought with blind dedication and desperation, some seven hundred were killed, and their bloodied bodies decorated the yard in front of the palace, in the gardens of the palace, and along the banks of the Seine. On 13 August, the family was imprisoned in the tower of the Temple in the Le Marais district. On 21 August 1792, the guillotine was erected in the Place du Carrousel, in total, thirty-five people were guillotined there. On 2 August 1793, at the site of the guillotine. It bore an inscription, To the spirit of the late Marat,13 July, from his underground tomb, he still makes the traitors tremble. A treacherous hand thwarted the affections of the people, there was also an exhibit of the famous hip bath of Marat and his desk where some of his most impassioned polemics were drafted. These items stayed in place until 9 Thermidor Year II, during the revolution of 1848, the Tuileries Palace was looted and severely damaged by rioters. The fire lasted for hours and entirely consumed the palace. The ruins of the Tuileries stood on the site for eleven years, in 1882, the French National Assembly voted for the demolition of the ruins, and, despite much contrary sentiment, this was accomplished in 1883. The salvageable remains of the building were sold to a private entrepreneur, once the palace had been cleared away, the ground, which had been known as the Place du Carrousel since 1662, could, once again, be used as a public square. It is an arch that was commissioned in 1806 to commemorate Napoleons military victories of the previous year
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Paris Bourse
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The Paris Bourse is the historical Paris stock exchange, known as Euronext Paris from 2000 onwards. The building, known as the Palais Brongniart, is located in the Place de la Bourse, in the II arrondissement, historically, stock trading took place at several spots in Paris, including rue Quincampoix, rue Vivienne, and the back of the Opéra Garnier. Brogniart had spontaneously submitted his project, which was a rectangular neoclassical Roman temple with a giant Corinthian colonnade enclosing a vaulted and arcaded central chamber and his designs were greatly admired by Napoleon and won Brogniart a major public commission at the end of his career. Initially praised, the building was attacked for academic dullness. The authorities had required Brogniart to modify his designs, and after Brogniarts death in 1813, Labarre altered them even further, from 1901 to 1905 Jean-Baptiste-Frederic Cavel designed the addition of two lateral wings, resulting in a cruciform plan with innumerable columns. According to the architectural historian Andrew Ayers, these alterations did nothing to improve the reputation of this uninspiring monument. From the second half of the 19th century, official stock markets in Paris were operated by the Compagnie des agents de change, the number of dealers in each of the different trading areas of the Bourse was limited. There were around 60 agents de change, in Paris, only agents de change could receive a commission, at a rate fixed by law, for acting as an intermediary. However, parallel arrangements were usual in order to some clients quote. The Commodities Exchange was housed in the building until 1889. Moreover, until about the middle of the 20th century, a market known as La Coulisse was in operation. Until the late 1980s, the market operated as an open outcry exchange, in 1986, the Paris Bourse started to implement an electronic trading system. This was known generically as CATS, but the Paris version was called CAC, by 1989, quotations were fully automated. The Palais Brongniart hosted the French financial derivatives exchanges MATIF and MONEP, in the late 1990s, the Paris Bourse launched the Euronext initiative, an alliance of several European stock exchanges. List of works by James Pradier External sculpture Lehmann, P. -J,1991 La Bourse de Paris, Paris, Dunod. 1997 Histoire de la Bourse de Paris, Paris, PUF, muniesa, F.2005 Contenir le marché, la transition de la criée à la cotation électronique à la Bourse de Paris, Sociologie du Travail 47, 485-501. Walker, D. A.2001 A factual account of the functioning of the nineteenth-century Paris Bourse, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 8, 186-207. Foucault, T. and Hillion, P.1997 Microstructure des marchés financiers, institutions, modèles et tests empiriques, Paris, hamon, J.1995 Marché dactions, architecture et microstructure, Paris, Economica
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Catacombs of Paris
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The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of the ancient Mines of Paris tunnel network. Nightly processions of bones from 1786 to 1788 transferred remains from cemeteries to the reinforced tunnels, the Catacombs are among the 14 City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées since January 1,2013. The catacombs are known formally as lOssuaire Municipal or Catacombes officiels and have been called The Worlds Largest Grave due to the number of remains buried. Although the ossuary comprises only a section of the underground carrières de Paris. Paris earliest burial grounds were to the outskirts of the Roman-era Left Bank city. Thus, instead of burying its dead away from inhabited areas as usual, by the end of the same century Saints Innocents was neighbour to the principal Parisan marketplace Les Halles, and already filled to overflowing. To make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed and their bones packed into the roofs, much of the Left Bank area rests upon rich Lutetian limestone deposits. This stone built much of the city, but it was extracted in suburban locations away from any habitation, Paris had annexed its suburbs many times over the centuries, and by the 18th century many of its arrondissements were or included previously mined territories. This resulted in the creation of the inspection Générale des Carrières service, the need to eliminate Les Innocents gained urgency from May 30,1780, when a basement wall in a property adjoining the cemetery collapsed under the weight of the mass grave behind it. The cemetery was closed to the public and all intra muros burials were forbidden after 1780, the problem of what to do with the remains crowding intra muros cemeteries was still unresolved. Lenoir endorsed the idea of moving Parisian dead to the subterranean passageways that were renovated during 1782, after deciding to further renovate the Tombe-Issoire passageways for their future role as an underground sepulchre, the idea became law during late 1785. It would take two years to empty the majority of Paris cemeteries, cemeteries whose remains were moved to the Catacombs include Saints-Innocents, Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Madeleine Cemetery, Errancis Cemetery, and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux. In addition to directing the stacking of skulls and femurs into the patterns seen in the catacombs today, also created was a room dedicated to the display of the various minerals found under Paris, and another showing various skeletal deformities found during the catacombs creation and renovation. Later they opened for daily visits. After an incident of vandalism, the Catacombs were closed to the public during September 2009, the entry to the catacombs is in the western pavilion of the former Barrière dEnfer city gate. Soon after, they find themselves before a stone portal, the ossuary entry, CEST İCİ LEMPİRE DE LA MORT. Beyond begin the halls and caverns of walls of carefully arranged bones, along the way there are other monuments created in the years before catacomb renovations, such as a source-gathering fountain baptised La Samaritaine because of later-added engravings. There are also rusty gates blocking passages leading to other parts of the catacombs – many of these are either un-renovated or were too un-navigable for regular tours
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Conciergerie
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The Conciergerie is a building in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, formerly a prison but presently used mostly for law courts. It was part of the royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which consisted of the Conciergerie, Palais de Justice. Hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution were taken from the Conciergerie to be executed by guillotine at a number of locations around Paris, the west part of the island was originally the site of a Merovingian palace, and was known initially as the Palais de la Cité. From the 10th to the 14th centuries it was the palace of the medieval Kings of France. During the reigns of Louis IX and Philippe IV the Merovingian palace was extended and fortified more extensively, Louis IX added the Sainte-Chapelle and associated galleries, while Philippe IV created the towered facade on the Seine river side and a large hall. Both are excellent examples of French religious and secular architecture of the period, the Sainte-Chapelle was built in the French royal style to house the crown of thorns that was brought back from the Crusades and to serve as a royal chapel. The Grande Salle was one of the largest in Europe, and its lower story and it was used as a dining room for the 2,000 staff members who worked in the palace. It was heated with four fireplaces and lit by many windows. It was also used for banquets and judicial proceedings. The neighboring Salle des Gardes was used as an antechamber to the Great Hall immediately above, the early Valois kings continued to modify the palace during the 14th century, but Charles V abandoned the palace during 1358, relocating across the river to the Louvre Palace. The palace continued to serve a function and still included the chancellery. In the kings absence, he appointed a concierge to command of the palace, during 1391, part of the building was converted for use as a prison and took its name from the ruling office. Its prisoners were a mixture of common criminals and political prisoners, in common with other prisons of the time, the treatment of prisoners was dependent on their wealth, status and associates. Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk, less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles, which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table. The poorest, known as the pailleux from the paille that they slept on, would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes. In keeping with the name, they were left to live or die in conditions that were ideal for the plague and other infectious diseases, the building was extended during the reigns of later kings with Frances first public clocks being installed about 1370. The current clock dates from 1535, despite lasting only ten months, the Reign of Terror had a profound effect on France. More than 40,000 people died from execution and imprisonment, the National Convention enacted the Law of Suspects on September 17,1793
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Eiffel Tower
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The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed, the Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world,6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is 324 metres tall, about the height as an 81-storey building. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres on each side, due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres. Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in France after the Millau Viaduct, the tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top levels upper platform is 276 m above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union, tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually only accessible by lift. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853, sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffels scheme and its rivals, which, after some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel was to all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition. He later established a company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and these objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the column of bolted sheet metal. Gustave Eiffel responded to criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. Will it not also be grandiose in its way, and why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible
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Flame of Liberty
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The monument, which measures approximately 3.5 metres in height, is a sculpture of a flame, executed in gilded copper, supported by a pedestal of gray-and-black marble. It is located near the end of the Pont de lAlma, on the Place de lAlma. It was offered to the city of Paris in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune on behalf of donors who had contributed approximately $400,000 for its fabrication and it represented the culmination of that newspapers 1987 celebration of its hundredth anniversary of publishing an English-language daily newspaper in Paris. This project was overseen by the director of the French craft unions at that time, Jacques Graindorge. He foresaw an installation of the Flame of Liberty in a square called Place des États-Unis in the 16th arrondissement. After a protracted period of negotiations, it was decided that the Flame would be placed in an area near the intersection of lAvenue de New-York. The monument was dedicated on May 10,1989 by Chirac, on the base of the monument, a commemorative plaque recounts the following story, The Flame of Liberty. An exact replica of the Statue of Libertys flame offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the Franco-American friendship, on the occasion of the centennial of the International Herald Tribune. Anthropologist Guy Lesoeurs said, Most people who come here think this was built for her, a new Flame of Liberty, a sculpture by Jean Cardot, was unveiled on June 14,2008. It symbolizes the warm and respectful relations between the French and the Americans
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Grand Palais
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The structure was built in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture as taught by the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. One of its pediments calls it a “monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art”, reflecting its original purpose, a monumental bronze quadriga by Georges Récipon tops each wing of the main façade. The one on the Champs-Élysées side depicts Immortality prevailing over Time, the grand inauguration took place 1 May 1900, and from the very beginning the palace was the site of different kinds of shows in addition to the intended art exhibitions. These included a competition that took place annually from 1901 to 1957, but were mainly dedicated to innovation and modernity, the automobile, aviation, household appliances. The golden age of the art exhibitions as such lasted for thirty years. The builders attempted to compensate for this subsidence, and for a tendency of the ground to shift, by sinking supporting posts down to firmer soil and these measures were only partially successful. Further damage occurred once the building was in use, additional problems due to the construction of the building itself revealed themselves over the course of time. Differential rates of expansion and contraction between cast iron and steel members, for example, allowed for water to enter, leading to corrosion and further weakening. When finally one of the ceiling panels fell in 1993, the main space had to be closed for restoration work. The Palais served as a hospital during World War I. The Nazis put the Palais to use during the Occupation of France in World War II, first used as a truck depot, the Palais then housed two Nazi propaganda exhibitions. The Parisian resistance used the Grand Palais as a headquarters during the Liberation of Paris, on 23 August 1944 an advancing German column was fired upon from a window on the Avenue de Sèlves, and the Germans responded with a tank attack upon the Palais. The attack ignited hay that was set up for a circus show, by 26 August, American jeeps were parked in the nave, followed by tanks from the French 2nd Armored Division, completing the liberation of the building. The buildings west wing contains a science museum, the Palais de la Découverte. The couture fashion house Chanel annually hosts many of its fashion shows here, setting up elaborate and expensive surroundings for its models and it was the host venue of the 2010 World Fencing Championships. This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia, official Grand Palais website The Grand Palais, current photographs, and photographs from the 1900s. New recent pictures and great information on the Grand Palais Paris Félix Charpentier, photos from the rooftops of the Grand Palais
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Petit Palais
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The Petit Palais is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, the Petit Palais is located across from the Grand Palais on Avenue Nicolas II, today Avenue Winston-Churchill. The other façades of the face the Seine and Avenue des Champs-Elysees. The Petit Palais is one of 14 museums of the City of Paris that have incorporated since January 1,2013. In 1894 a competition was held for the 1900 Exhibition area, the Palais de lIndustrie from the 1855 World’s Fair was considered unfitting and was to be replaced by something new for the 1900 Exhibition. Architects had the option to do what they pleased with the Palais de l’Industrie, in the end, Charles Girault won the competition and built the Petit Palais as one of the buildings that replaced the Palais de l’Industrie. The construction of the Petit Palais began on October 10,1897 and was completed in April 1900, the total cost of the Petit Palais at the time of the construction was 400,000 pounds. Charles Girault largely draws on the seventeenth and early eighteenth century French style for the Petit Palais. Additionally his work, such as the central porch and the triple arcade, has many references to the stables at Chantilly. Girault’s plan for the Petit Palais had minimal alterations from the design to the execution, the plan was original and fit perfectly in its given location. The Petit Palais is a shape with its larger side as the main façade facing the Grand Palais. The building’s shape makes a semi-circular courtyard at the center, the Beaux-Arts style Petit Palais was designed by Charles Girault, and is around an octi-circular courtyard and garden, similar to the Grand Palais. Its ionic columns, grand porch, and dome echo those of the Invalides across the river, the tympanum depicting the city of Paris surrounded by muses is the work of sculptor Jean Antoine Injalbert. The Petit Palais was built to be a building that would become a permanent fine arts museum after the exhibition. The materials of the building—stone, steel, and concrete as well as the decoration were to demonstrate that the Petit Palais was built to be enduring, the main façade of the building faces the Grand Palais. The focal point of the façade is the entrance, “a central archway set in an archivolt topped by a dome. Two wings flank the main entrance and these wings, continuing to the end pavilions, are embellished with free-standing columns that frame the tall windows. The exterior of the pavilions are embellished with arched windows from the side around to the rear façades and these grand windows provide side lighting for the outer three galleries of the interior museum
