Recorded history
Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a written record or other documented communication. It contrasts with other narratives of the past, such as mythological, oral or archeological traditions. For broader world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC, coincides with the invention of writing. For some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records. Moreover, human cultures do not always record all of the information relevant to historians, such as the full impact of natural disasters or the names of individuals; because of this, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time depending on the topic. The interpretation of recorded history relies on historical method, or the set of techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and to write accounts of the past.
The question of the nature, the possibility, of an effective method for interpreting recorded history is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. The study of different historical methods is known as historiography, which focuses on examining how different interpreters of recorded history create different interpretations of historical evidence. Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, ending with the invention of writing systems. Prehistory refers to the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. Protohistory refers to the transition period between prehistory and history, after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first historians. Protohistory may refer to the period during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have noted its existence in their own writings. More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing.
Early examples are Vinča signs, early Indus script and Nsibidi script. There is disagreement concerning when prehistory becomes history, when proto-writing became "true writing". However, invention of the first writing systems is contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age in the late Neolithic of the late 4th millennium BCE; the Sumerian archaic cuneiform script and the Egyptian hieroglyphs are considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400–3200 BCE with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BCE. The earliest chronologies date back to the earliest civilizations of Early Dynastic Period Egypt, Mesopotamia & Sumerians which emerged independently of each other from 3500 B. C. Earliest recorded history, which varies in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, made by ancient Egyptians. Much of the earliest recorded history was re-discovered recently due to archaeological dig sites findings. A number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world as to how to interpret these ancient accounts.
In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script, deciphered and may date back to around late 2nd millennium B. C.. The Zuo zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century B. C. is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from 722 to 468 B. C.. The Book of Documents is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China; the Spring and Autumn Annals, the official chronicle of the State of Lu covering the period from 722 to 481 B. C. is among the earliest surviving historical texts to be arranged on annalistic principles in the world. It is traditionally attributed to Confucius. Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of sporadic materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries B. C.. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing, his written work was the Records of the Grand Historian, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature.
Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century B. C. and it includes many treatises on specific subjects and individual biographies of prominent people, explores the lives and deeds of commoners, both contemporary and those of previous eras. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era. Herodotus of Halicarnassus has been acclaimed as the "father of history" composing his The Histories written from 450s to the 420s B. C.. However, his contemporary Thucydides is credited with having first approached history with a well-developed historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, looked at cause and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention. Saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was studied through a sacred or religious perspective.
Around 1800, German philosopher and historian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel brought philosophy and a more secular approach in historical study. According to John Tosh, "From the High Middle Ages onwards, the written word survi
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and business center of a city. In larger cities, it is synonymous with the city's "financial district". Geographically, it coincides with the "city centre" or "downtown", but the two concepts are separate: many cities have a central business district located away from its commercial or cultural city centre or downtown; the CBD is also the "city centre" or "downtown", but this is often not the case. Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the world. For example, London's "city centre" is regarded as encompassing the historic City of London and the mediaeval City of Westminster, whereas the City of London and the transformed Docklands area are regarded as its two CBDs. Mexico City has a historic city centre, the colonial-era Centro Histórico, along with two CBDs: the mid-late 20th century Paseo de la Reforma - Polanco, the new Santa Fe; the shape and type of a CBD always reflect the city's history. Cities with strong preservation laws and maximum building height restrictions to retain the character of the historic and cultural core will have a CBD quite a distance from the centre of the city.
This is quite common for European cities such as Vienna. In cities in the New World that grew after the invention of mechanised modes such as road or rail transport, a single central area or downtown will contain most of the region's tallest buildings and act both as the CBD and the commercial and cultural city center. Increasing urbanisation in the 21st century have developed megacities in Asia, that will have multiple CBDs scattered across the urban area, it has been said. No two CBDs look alike in terms of their spatial shape, however certain geometric patterns in these areas are recurring throughout many cities due to the nature of centralised commercial and industrial activities. In Australia the acronym CBD is used commonly to refer to major city "centres", it is used in particular to refer to the skyscraper districts in state capital cities such as Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Melbourne is Australia's largest CBD with Sydney second and Brisbane third when judged by area size; the iTowers of Masa Square CBD were built for doing business tasks only.
It is located within Gaborone. In China terms "city centre" are used but a different commercial district outside of the historic core called a "CBD" or "Financial District" may exist. Large Chinese cities have multiple CBDs spread throughout the urban area. Cities traditionally being major cultural centres with many historic structures in the core such as Beijing, Suzhou or Xi'an will have the greenfield CBDs built adjacent to the urban core, similar to European cities. While other cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan the city centre will house a number of CBDs in addition to greenfield CBDs built in the periphery. In France, the term « quartier d’affaires » may be used to describe the central business district; the main ones business districts in the country are as following: La Défense in Paris, which with 3,300,000 square metres of office space is Europe's leading business district in terms of area. La Part-Dieu in Lyon, is the 2nd largest business district in France and has nearly 1,600,000 square metres.
Euralille in Lille, is the 3rd business district of France with 1,120,000 square metres of offices. Euroméditerranée in Marseille, is the 4th business district in France with 650,000 square metres of offices. In Germany, the terms Innenstadt and Stadtzentrum may be used to describe the central business district. Both terms can be translated to mean "inner city" and "city centre"; some of the larger cities have more than one central business district, like Berlin, which has three. Due to Berlin's history of division during the Cold War, the city contains central business districts both in West and East Berlin, as well as a newly-built business centre near Potsdamer Platz; the city's historic centre — the location of the Reichstag building, as well as the Brandenburg gate and most federal ministries — was abandoned when the Berlin Wall cut through the area. Only after the reunification with the redevelopment of Potsdamer Platz, the construction of numerous shopping centers, government ministries, office buildings and entertainment venues, was the area revived.
In Frankfurt, there is a business district, in the geographical centre of the city and it is called the Bankenviertel. In Düsseldorf, there is a business district, located around the famous High-Street Königsallee with banks and offices. In Hong Kong, Sheung Wan and Causeway Bay are considered as the central business districts of Victoria City; the Yau Tsim Mong District has been considered the city centre of Kowloon before another core emerged in Cheung Sha Wan. As part of the Airport Core Programme, the Union Square project launched by the MTR Corporation has brought it another CBD in West Kowloon. With the latest implementation of "Energising Kowloon East" Scheme by the Hong Kong Government, Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong Business Area have been redeveloped and transformed into CBDs; the CBDs of new towns and satellite cities such as Tuen Mun, Sha Tin and Tung Chung have been characterised by sky-scraping residential blocks on top of large shopping centres that provide services to local resi
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most identify, indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The racial categories represent a social-political construct for the race or races that respondents consider themselves to be and, "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country." OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the US Census as not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference." The race categories include both national-origin groups. Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with Hispanic or Latino origin asked as a separate question. Thus, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnic categories, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino".
However, the practice of separating "race" and "ethnicity" as different categories has been criticized both by the American Anthropological Association and members of US Commission on Civil Rights. In 1997, OMB issued a Federal Register notice regarding revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. OMB developed race and ethnic standards in order to provide "consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the Federal Government; the development of the data standards stem in large measure from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws." Among the changes, OMB issued the instruction to "mark one or more races" after noting evidence of increasing numbers of interracial children and wanting to capture the diversity in a measurable way and having received requests by people who wanted to be able to acknowledge their or their children's full ancestry rather than identifying with only one group. Prior to this decision, the Census and other government data collections asked people to report only one race.
The OMB states, "many federal programs are put into effect based on the race data obtained from the decennial census. Race data are critical for the basic research behind many policy decisions. States require these data to meet legislative redistricting requirements; the data are needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions". "Data on ethnic groups are important for putting into effect a number of federal statutes. Data on Ethnic Groups are needed by local governments to run programs and meet legislative requirements." The 1790 United States Census was the first census in the history of the United States. The population of the United States was recorded as 3,929,214 as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and applicable laws."The law required that every household be visited, that completed census schedules be posted in'two of the most public places within, there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...' and that'the aggregate amount of each description of persons' for every district be transmitted to the president."
This law along with U. S. marshals were responsible for governing the census. One third of the original census data has been lost or destroyed since documentation; the data was lost in 1790–1830 time period and included data from: Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia. Census data included the name of the head of the family and categorized inhabitants as follows: free white males at least 16 years of age, free white males under 16 years of age, free white females, all other free persons, slaves. Thomas Jefferson the Secretary of State, directed marshals to collect data from all thirteen states, from the Southwest Territory; the census was not conducted in Vermont until 1791, after that state's admission to the Union as the 14th state on March 4 of that year. There was some doubt surrounding the numbers, President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson maintained the population was undercounted; the potential reasons Washington and Jefferson may have thought this could be refusal to participate, poor public transportation and roads, spread out population, restraints of current technology.
No microdata from the 1790 population census is available, but aggregate data for small areas and their compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. In 1800 and 1810, the age question regarding free white males was more detailed; the 1820
Holbrook, Arizona
Holbrook is a city in Navajo County, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 5,053; the city is the county seat of Navajo County. Holbrook was founded in 1881 or 1882, when the railroad was built, named to honor the first chief engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad; the Holbrook area was inhabited first by the Anasazi Puebloans the Navajo and Apache. In 1540 Coronado searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola and camped some sixty miles east of Holbrook. Coronado sent an expedition west to find the Colorado River, they crossed the Little Colorado some twenty-five miles east of Holbrook and found a wonderland of colors they named "El Desierto Pintada" - The Painted Desert; the expedition was led by the Hopis to the Grand Canyon. After the Mexican–American War ended in 1848 the area was ceded to the United States. From 1851 to 1857 the U. S. Army sent three expeditions along the 35th parallel, the third led by Lt. Beale who created a ten foot wide wagon road.
The area was known after a spring a dozen miles northeast of Holbrook. Soon afterwards a store and saloon were established at the confluence of the Rio Puerco and Little Colorado Rivers two miles east of Holbrook, the area became known as Horsehead Crossing. In 1876 Mormons emigrated from Utah and began settlements near Horsehead Crossing on both the Little Colorado and Rio Puerco rivers. During 1881 and 1882, railroad tracks were laid down and a railroad station was built to supply wood and water and to freight supplies south to Fort Apache; the community was named Holbrook after the first engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group which established the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, better known as the Hashknife Outfit, it leased another million acres of government land and became one of the largest cattle ranches to exist. Holbrook became its headquarters and grew into a cow-town; the Hashknife Outfit hired cowboys. Rustling of cattle and horses over two million acres plagued the Hashknife Outfit.
With cowmen, farmers and outlaws competing for the same land, a range war ensued, called both the Pleasant Valley War and the Tonto Basin War. It killed as many men as any of the western range wars. Many of the events that played out during the Pleasant Valley War up to 1887 occurred in and around Holbrook, including the famous Holbrook Shootout. On September 4, 1887 Commodore Perry Owens, the Apache County Sheriff, came to Holbrook to arrest Andy Blevins for horse theft. Sheriff Owens insisted on confronting the Blevins brothers alone, knowing there would be a shootout. Sheriff Owens went to the Blevins house, knocked on the door and when Blevins asked what he wanted, announced he'd come to arrest Blevins. Blevins resisted a shootout occurred. Blevins, two brothers, a friend, Blevins horse were all shot - all died except one brother. Owens emerged unscathed despite being shot at from a half-dozen feet away. Owens single-handedly taking on four men made him a western legend rivaling the Earp Brothers and Texas John Slaughter as lawmen of the west.
Holbrook was known as "the town too tough for women and churches" and in 1914 was said to be the only county seat in the U. S. that didn't have a church. The original railroad station was replaced by the Santa Fe Depot in 1892. Navajo County was divided off of Apache County in 1895 and Holbrook became the county seat. Many lawmen and cowboys from the area became Rough Riders with Teddy Roosevelt in the late 1800s, but by 1902 The Hashknife Outfit was bankrupt and the land was sold to the Babbitt brothers. President Roosevelt named the Petrified Forest a National Monument in 1906. Holbrook was incorporated in 1917. Most of the Beale Wagon Road became Route 66 in 1926 and passed through both the Petrified Forest and Holbrook. Tourism started taking over the economy. Arizona is famous for its huge Meteor Crater, but Holbrook witnessed its own small meteor event. In the evening of July 19, 1912, a smoke trail appeared in the sky and soon after, at 7:15 PM, a meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kilograms exploded high in the atmosphere.
An estimated 16,000 or more minor fragments rained down over Navajo County in an area about 6 miles east of Holbrook. The primary explosion was heard at least 40 miles away and one of the witnesses in Holbrook seventeen-year-old Pauline McCleve, described the event as the loudest sound she heard; the largest piece of the Holbrook Meteorite, recovered was found shortly after. It resides at Arizona State University in Tempe; the Holbrook meteorite was found to be of the chondrite type. Holbrook is located at 34°54′26″N 110°9′46″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.4 square miles, all of it land. Holbrook has a semi-arid climate with cold to cool hot summers. Although the mean snowfall is 0.16 metres, the median is zero, so the majority of winters do not have measurable snow. There are high; as of the census of 2000, there were 4,917 people, 1,626 households, 1,195 families residing in the city. The population density was 318.4 people per square mile. There were 1,906 housing units at an average density of 123.4 per square
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in Canada, Romania and the United States. County towns have a similar function in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, in Jamaica. In most of the United States, counties are the political subdivisions of a state; the city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county. The county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records and correctional facility are located in the county seat though some functions may be located or conducted in other parts of the county if it is geographically large. A county seat is but not always, an incorporated municipality; the exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia. Ellicott City, the county seat of Howard County, is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson, the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland.
Some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, an incorporated municipality. In some of the colonial states, county seats include or included "Court House" as part of their name. In the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in Taiwan are the administrative centers of the counties. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which are in the forms of county-administered city, urban township or rural township. Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont have two or more county seats located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats; the practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days.
There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Coffee County, Alabama St. Clair County, Alabama Arkansas County, Arkansas Carroll County, Arkansas Clay County, Arkansas Craighead County, Arkansas Franklin County, Arkansas Logan County, Arkansas Mississippi County, Arkansas Prairie County, Arkansas Sebastian County, Arkansas Yell County, Arkansas Columbia County, Georgia Lee County, Iowa Campbell County, Kentucky Kenton County, Kentucky Essex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County, Massachusetts Plymouth County, Massachusetts Bolivar County, Mississippi Carroll County, Mississippi Chickasaw County, Mississippi Harrison County, Mississippi Hinds County, Mississippi Jasper County, Mississippi Jones County, Mississippi Panola County, Mississippi Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Yalobusha County, Mississippi Jackson County, Missouri Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Seneca County, New York Bennington County, Vermont In New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government.
Counties in this region have served as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of thus no county seats. In Vermont and Maine the county seats are designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the respective shire town. Bennington County has two shire towns. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town or city governments; as such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, the state government now operates the registries of deeds and sheriff's offices in those counties. In Virginia, a county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center. Two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county, their county-level services are provided by Fall River Tripp County, respectively.
In Louisiana, divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as parish seats. Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the Unorganized Borough, which covers 49 % of Alaska's area, has equivalent. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. County seat war Administrative center County town, administrative centres in Ireland and the UK Chef-lieu, administrative centres in Algeria, Luxembourg, France and Tunisia Municipality, equivalent to county in many c
