1.
Mezzotint
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Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a tool with small teeth. In printing, the pits in the plate hold the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. A high level of quality and richness in the print can be achieved, the mezzotint printmaking method was invented by the German amateur artist Ludwig von Siegen. His earliest mezzotint print dates to 1642 and is a portrait of Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg and this was made by working from light to dark. The rocker seems to have been invented by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a cavalry commander in the English Civil War, who was the next to use the process. Sir Peter Lely saw the potential for using it to publicise his portraits, the process was especially widely used in England from the mid-eighteenth century, to reproduce portraits and other paintings. Since the mid-nineteenth century it has relatively little used. Robert Kipniss and Peter Ilsted are two notable 20th-century exponents of the technique, M. C, British mezzotint collecting was a great craze from about 1760 to the Great Crash of 1929, also spreading to America. The favourite period to collect was roughly from 1750 to 1820, leading collectors included William Eaton, 2nd Baron Cheylesmore and the Irishman John Chaloner Smith. This became the most common method, the whole surface of a metal, usually copper, plate is roughened evenly, manually with a rocker, or mechanically. If the plate were printed at this point it would show as solid black, a burnisher has a smooth, round end, which flattens the minutely protruding points comprising the roughened surface of the metal printing plate. Areas smoothed completely flat will not hold ink at all, such areas will print white, by varying the degree of smoothing, mid-tones between black and white can be created, hence the name mezzo-tinto which is Italian for half-tone or half-painted. This is called working from dark to light, or the subtractive method, alternatively, it is possible to create the image directly by only roughening a blank plate selectively, where the darker parts of the image are to be. This is called working from light to dark, or the additive method, the first mezzotints by Ludwig von Siegen were made in this way. Especially in this method, the mezzotint can be combined with other techniques, such as engraving, on areas of the plate not roughened. The plate is put through a printing press next to a sheet of paper
2.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
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Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh judges to be eminently distinguished in their subject. Around 50 new fellows are elected each year in March, as of 2016 there are around 1650 Fellows, including 71 Honorary Fellows and 76 Corresponding Fellows. Fellows are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRSE, examples of fellows include Peter Higgs and Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Previous fellows have included Melvin Calvin and Benjamin Franklin, see the Category, Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for more examples
3.
Cape Colony
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The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony, was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, the Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province, South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, from 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia. An expedition of the Dutch East India Company led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post, van Riebeecks objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former Scandinavian and German employees as well. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau. There was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent, known as Boers, they migrated westwards beyond the Cape Colonys initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers, Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the century the Capes population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic. The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, in 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London. The British started to settle the border of the colony
4.
Crail
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Crail, Scottish Gaelic, Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The civil parish has a population of 1,812, Crail became a Royal Burgh in the 1178. Robert the Bruce granted permission to hold markets on a Sunday, in the Marketgait, despite the protests, the markets continued and were amongst the largest in Europe for their time. James V sent for his wife, Mary of Guise, whom he had married by proxy in Paris. The most notable building in the town is the 13th-century parish church, technically St Marys, but commonly known just as Crail Parish Church. The side walls were rebuilt in Regency times, and the pointed windows, filled with panes of clear glass held by astragals rather than leads. The unaisled chancel, now housing an organ, has been shortened. The church retains some 17th-century woodwork, and there is an early Christian cross-slab of unusual form, formerly set in the floor, the large Kirkyard surrounding the building has a fine collection of monuments and stones dating from the late 16th century onwards. The Customs House on the Shoregate dates from the 17th century, Crail once had a royal castle above the harbour. The site is visible as an open garden, but little or nothing of the structure survives above ground. A Victorian turret jutting out from the garden wall recalls the Castle, the Tolbooth in the centre of the town has a characteristic tower and a European style roof, similar to buildings in Holland. The weather-vane on the spire is in the form of a smoked haddock rather than the traditional cockerel form. The curved roof form on the tower evidences the European influence of the 16th century, the bell inside was cast in Holland and bears the date 1520, and is a permanent reminder of the town’s links with the Dutch. Inside the Crail Tolbooth there is a part-time library, the harbour is known to have been substantially complete by 1583. The extension of 1828 to the west pier of Crail Harbour is the work of Robert Stevenson, james Oswald William Dickson, footballer Oswald Wynd, Author On the beach beside the harbour, there are fossilised trees related to Horsetails, dating back to the Carboniferous geological period. The Crail Golfing Society is the seventh oldest in the world and their oldest course, Balcomie, was formally laid out by Tom Morris Sr. in 1894, but competitions had been played there since the 1850s. Despite the fact that the ‘home’ of golf is now Crail’s neighbour, St Andrews, Crail Aerodrome, to the north of the town, started life as a naval air station during the First World War. In the runup to the Second World War it became HMS Jackdaw, Polish soldiers stationed at Crail during the Second World War helped the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh purchase the disused United Presbyterian Church
5.
Fife
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Fife is a council area and historic county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with boundaries to Perth and Kinross. By custom it is held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib. It is an area, and was a county of Scotland until 1975. It was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire in old documents, a person from Fife is known as a Fifer. Fife was a government region divided into three districts, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. Since 1996 the functions of the councils have been exercised by the unitary Fife Council. Fife is Scotlands third largest local authority area by population and it has a resident population of just under 367,000, over a third of whom live in the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. The historic town of St Andrews is located on the northeast coast of Fife and it is well known for the University of St Andrews, one of the most ancient universities in the world and is renowned as the home of golf. Fife, bounded to the north by the Firth of Tay, the earliest known reference to the common epithet The Kingdom of Fife dates from only 1678, in a proposition that the term derives from the quasi-regal privileges of the Earl of Fife. The notion of a kingdom may derive from a misintrepretation of an extract from Wyntoun, the name is recorded as Fib in A. D.1150 and Fif in 1165. It was often associated with Fothriff, the hill-fort of Clatchard Craig, near Newburgh, was occupied as an important Pictish stronghold between the sixth and eighth centuries AD. Fife was an important royal and political centre from the reign of King Malcolm III onwards, Malcolm had his principal home in Dunfermline and his wife Margaret was the main benefactor of Dunfermline Abbey. The Abbey replaced Iona as the resting place of Scotlands royal elite. The Earl of Fife was until the 15th century considered the principal peer of the Scottish realm, wool, linen, coal and salt were all traded. Salt pans heated by local coal were a feature of the Fife coast in the past, the distinctive red clay pan tiles seen on many old buildings in Fife arrived as ballast on trading boats and replaced the previously thatched roofs. This endeavour lasted until 1609 when the colonists, having been opposed by the population, were bought out by Kenneth Mackenzie. Fife became a centre of industry in the 19th century
6.
University of St Andrews
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The University of St Andrews is a British public research university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland, St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413, when the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinian clergy. St Andrews is made up from a variety of institutions, including three constituent colleges and 18 academic schools organised into four faculties, the university occupies historic and modern buildings located throughout the town. The academic year is divided into two terms, Martinmas and Candlemas, in term time, over one-third of the towns population is either a staff member or student of the university. It is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom in national league tables, the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking names St Andrews among the worlds Top 50 universities for Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities. St Andrews has the highest student satisfaction amongst all multi-faculty universities in the United Kingdom, St Andrews has many notable alumni and affiliated faculty, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, theologians, philosophers, and politicians. Six Nobel Laureates are among St Andrews alumni and former staff, a charter of privilege was bestowed upon the society of masters and scholars by the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, on 28 February 1411. Wardlaw then successfully petitioned the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to grant the university status by issuing a series of papal bulls. King James I of Scotland confirmed the charter of the university in 1432, subsequent kings supported the university with King James V confirming privileges of the university in 1532. A college of theology and arts called St Johns College was founded in 1418 by Robert of Montrose, St Salvators College was established in 1450, by Bishop James Kennedy. St Leonards College was founded in 1511 by Archbishop Alexander Stewart, St Johns College was refounded by Cardinal James Beaton under the name St Marys College in 1538 for the study of divinity and law. Some university buildings that date from this period are still in use today, such as St Salvators Chapel, St Leonards College Chapel, at this time, the majority of the teaching was of a religious nature and was conducted by clerics associated with the cathedral. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the university had mixed fortunes and was beset by civil. He described it as pining in decay and struggling for life, in the second half of the 19th century, pressure was building upon universities to open up higher education to women. In 1876, the University Senate decided to allow women to receive an education at St Andrews at a roughly equal to the Master of Arts degree that men were able to take at the time. The scheme came to be known as the L. L. A and it required women to pass five subjects at an ordinary level and one at honours level and entitled them to hold a degree from the university. In 1889 the Universities Act made it possible to admit women to St Andrews. Agnes Forbes Blackadder became the first woman to graduate from St Andrews on the level as men in October 1894
7.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
8.
Cape of Good Hope
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The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas, when following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish trade relations with the Far East. Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas, which was the name of the Cape of Good Hope. As one of the capes of the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a waypoint on the Cape Route and the route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia. The term Cape of Good Hope is also used in three ways, It is a section of the Table Mountain National Park, within which the cape of the same name, as well as Cape Point. Prior to its incorporation into the park, this section constituted the Cape Point Nature Reserve. It was the name of the early Cape Colony established by the Dutch in 1652, just before the Union of South Africa was formed, the term referred to the entire region that in 1910 was to become the Cape of Good Hope Province. When Eudoxus was returning from his voyage to India the wind forced him south of the Gulf of Aden. Somewhere along the coast of East Africa, he found the remains of the ship, due to its appearance and the story told by the natives, Eudoxus concluded that the ship was from Gades and had sailed anti-clockwise around Africa, passing the Cape and entering the Indian Ocean. This inspired him to repeat the voyage and attempt a circumnavigation of the continent, organising the expedition on his own account he set sail from Gades and began to work down the African coast. The difficulties were too great, however, and he was obliged to return to Europe, after this failure he again set out to circumnavigate Africa. Although some, such as Pliny, claimed that Eudoxus did achieve his goal, in the 1450 Fra Mauro map, the Indian Ocean is depicted as connected to the Atlantic. It sailed for 40 days in a south-westerly direction without ever finding anything other than wind and water. According to these people themselves, the ship went some 2,000 miles ahead until - once favourable conditions came to an end - it turned round and sailed back to Cape Diab in 70 days. The ships called junks that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, thus one can believe and confirm what is said by both these and those, and that they had therefore sailed 4,000 miles
