1.
Dimiat
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Dimiat is a white Bulgarian wine grape. It is one of Bulgarias most widely planted grape varieties. Wines made from this variety are noted for their perfume aromas, the exact origins of the Dimiat grape are unknown, with some ampelographers believing the vine to be native to the Bulgaria area. Recent DNA typing has shown it to be a crossing of Gouais Blanc with another, Gouais is a parent of several older European grape varieties. It is likely that the grape crossed with Riesling to produce the pink-skinned Misket Varnenski grape variety, the Dimiat grape is almost exclusively grown in Bulgaria with vineyards mostly in the south and eastern parts of the country. It is most widely planted in the Chirpan, Preslav and Shumen regions around the Black Sea, other Bulgarian wine regions growing some Dimiat include Haskovo and Varna. After Rkatsiteli, it is the second most widely planted grape variety with over 23,720 acres planted in 2005. Outside of Bulgaria, there is small plantings of the variety in the neighboring Greek wine region of Thraki, here Dimiat is known under its synonym of Zoumiatiko. The Dimiat vine is characterized by the size of the individual grape berries with the potential for high yields if not kept in check. During veraison, the berries turn copper yellow, in addition to being used in the production of table wines, Dimiat is often distilled to produce Bulgarian brandy. Dimiat wines are usually light bodied and very aromatic, the wines are usually made with some level of sweetness ranging from off-dry to very sweet. In Bulgaria, some wines are made from Dimiat. The wine is served very chilled and is usually consumed young
2.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
3.
Governorates of Egypt
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Governorates are the first-level of the subdivisions. Egypt is divided, for administrative purposes, into twenty-seven governorates, egyptian governorates are the top tier of the countrys jurisdiction hierarchy. A governorate is administered by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Egypt, most governorates have a population density of more than one thousand per km², while the three largest have a population density of less than two per km². Governorates are either fully urban or else a mixture of urban, the official distinction between urban and rural is reflected in the lower tiers, i. e. fully urban governorates have no regions, as the markaz is, natively, a conglomeration of villages. Moreover, governorates may comprise just one city, as in the case of Cairo Governorate or Alexandria Governorate, hence, these one-city governorates are only divided into districts. Cairo Governorate consists of 41 districts, Alexandria Governorate consists of 7, two new governorates were created in April 2008, Helwan and 6th of October. In April 2011, however, the 6th of October and Helwan governorates were again incorporated into the Cairo and Giza Governorates, respectively. Luxor was created in December 2009, to be the 29th governorate of Egypt, but with the abolition of the 6th of October and Helwan governorates, before 1979, local government traditionally enjoyed limited power in Egypts highly centralized state. Under the central government, there were twenty-six governorates and these were subdivided into regions, each of which was further subdivided into towns or villages. At each level, there was a structure that combined representative councils and government-appointed executive organs headed by governors, district officers. Governors were appointed by the president, and they, in turn, the coercive backbone of the state apparatus ran downward from the Ministry of Interior through the governors executive organs to the district police station and the village headman. Before the 1952 revolution, state penetration of the areas was limited by the power of local notables. However, under Nasser, land reform reduced their socioeconomic dominance, the extension of officials into the countryside permitted the regime to bring development and services to the village. State penetration did not retreat under Sadat and Mubarak, the earlier effort to mobilize peasants and deliver services disappeared as the local party and cooperative withered, but administrative controls over the peasants remained intact. The local power of the old families and the headmen revived, the district police station balanced the notables, and the system of local government integrated them into the regime. Sadat took several measures to decentralize power to the provinces and towns, governors acquired more authority under Law Number 43 of 1979, which reduced the administrative and budgetary controls of the central government over the provinces. The elected councils acquired, at least formally, the right to approve or disapprove the local budget, in an effort to reduce local demands on the central treasury, local government was given wider powers to raise local taxes. Local representative councils became vehicles of pressure for government spending, under Mubarak decentralization and local autonomy became more of a reality, and local policies often reflected special local conditions
4.
Damietta Governorate
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Damietta Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the part of the country, and has a population of over 1 million. Its capital is the city of Damietta, Damietta is famous for its guava farms, as well as the palm trees that cover the coast from Ras El Bar in the east to Gamasa in the west. The governorate exports millions of trees to many countries every year, including Greece. Damietta also produces wheat, maize, cotton, rice, potatoes, lemon and it is also famous for its sweet industry, sardine packing, and Domiati cheese. Ras El Bar, one of the oldest summer resorts in Egypt, is located at the point where The Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea. According to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the live in rural areas. The governorates area is 1.029 km² or about 5% of the Deltas area, the inhabited area is about 589.2 km². Its population – according to a 1999 census – was 953,430, the average rate of population growth is 2. 09% per year. The governorate consists of 4 subdivisions,10 cities,35 local village units,59 villages and 722 sub-villages, the subdivisons are Damietta, Faraskur, El Zarqa and Kafr Saad. The governorate includes 7 colleges and institutes,19 professional training centers, the city of Damietta is famous for its skilled carpenters and furniture. Their products are sold in Egypt, and throughout the Middle East, Europe, 80% of the governorates income is related to furniture
5.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
6.
Corniche
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A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side of the road and falling away on the other. The word comes from the French route à corniche or road on a ledge, the road that runs roughly between Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat along the sea to Monaco has been colloquially called The Corniche. Another road to the north that parallels it is called the Moyenne Corniche. The avenue that runs along the western and northern coast of the Beirut peninsula is colloquially called Corniche Beirut, the promenade along the waterfront in Muttrah, Muscat is known as The Corniche. The promenade that runs for several kilometers along the Doha Bay of Doha is colloquially called Doha Corniche, the promenade that runs from the Emirates Palace hotel to the fish market in Abu Dhabi is colloquially called the Corniche. In Sharjah, the road surrounding Khalid Lagoon is known as Buheira Corniche, several other waterfront roads and promenades in the Emirates are also referred to as Corniche, including the Deira Corniche and the Jumeirah Corniche. Dammam corniche, Qatif corniche, Khobar corniche, Ras Tanura corniche, Jeddah Corniche, Yanbu corniche, Al Jubail corniche The dictionary definition of corniche at Wiktionary
7.
Nile
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The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, in particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. The Nile has two tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself, the Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and it flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast, the two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta, Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, in the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥpī or Iteru, meaning river. In Coptic, the words piaro or phiaro meaning the river come from the ancient name. The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος, beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. One possible etymology derives it from a Semitic Nahal, meaning river, the standard English names White Nile and Blue Nile, to refer to the rivers source, derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum. Above Khartoum, the Nile is also known as the White Nile, at Khartoum the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers, the source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, or the Nyabarongo, the two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border. Gish Abay is reportedly the place where the water of the first drops of the Blue Nile develop. The Nile leaves Lake Nyanza at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda and it flows north for some 130 kilometers, to Lake Kyoga. For the remaining part it flows westerly through the Murchison Falls until it reaches the very northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta
8.
Frisians
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The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands, Germany and the southern tip of Southern Jutland in Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia. The Frisian languages are spoken by more than 500,000 people. The ancient Frisii enter recorded history in the Roman account of Drususs 12 BC war against the Rhine Germans and they occasionally appear in the accounts of Roman wars against the Germanic tribes of the region, up to and including the Revolt of the Batavi around 70 AD. Frisian mercenaries were hired to assist the Roman invasion of Britain in the capacity of cavalry and they are not mentioned again until c. 296, when they were deported into Roman territory as laeti, from the 3rd through the 5th centuries Frisia suffered marine transgressions that made most of the land uninhabitable, aggravated by a change to a cooler and wetter climate. Whatever population may have remained dropped dramatically, and the lands remained largely unpopulated for the next two centuries. When conditions improved, Frisia received an influx of new settlers, mostly Angles and these people would eventually be referred to as Frisians, though they were not necessarily descended from the ancient Frisii. It is these new Frisians who are largely the ancestors of the medieval, by the end of the 6th century, Frisian territory had expanded westward to the North Sea coast and, in the 7th century, southward down to Dorestad. This farthest extent of Frisian territory is referred to as Frisia Magna. Early Frisia was ruled by a High King, with the earliest reference to a Frisian King being dated 678 and these wars benefited attempts by Anglo-Irish missionaries to convert the Frisian populace to Christianity, in which Saint Willibrord largely succeeded. The eastern periphery of Frisia would become part of various German states, an old tradition existed in the region of exploitation of peatlands. As both the Anglo-Saxons of England and the early Frisians were formed from largely identical tribal confederacies, Old Frisian is the most closely related language to Old English and the modern Frisian dialects are in turn the closest related languages to contemporary English. Of these three languages both Saterland Frisian and North Frisian are endangered, West Frisian is spoken by around 354,000 native speakers and is not threatened. Today there exists a division of the Frisians, into North Frisians, East Frisians and West Frisians. The West Frisians in general do not see themselves as part of a group of Frisians. Therefore, the term Frisian, when applied to the speakers of all three Frisian languages, is a linguistic and to some extent cultural concept, not a political one. Because of centuries of cohabitation and active participation in Dutch society, as well as being bilingual, talking ethnicity on the middle ground, Ton Derks, Nico Roymans, Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity, The Role of Power and Tradition, 207-218
9.
Frisian participation in the Crusades
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Frisian participation in the Crusades is attested from the very beginning of the First Crusade, but their presence is only felt substantially during the Fifth Crusade. They participated in almost all the major Crusades and the Reconquista, the Frisians are almost always referred to collectively by contemporary chroniclers of the Crusades and few names of individual Frisian crusaders have come down to us. They generally composed a naval force in conjunction with larger bodies of crusaders. William of Tyre, drawing his information from Fulcher, mentions Frisians as part of the led by Godfrey at the Siege of Antioch in 1097. According to Albert of Aix, there was also a fleet of pirates, hailing from Denmark, Frisia, and Flanders and led by Guynemer of Boulogne, who assisted Baldwin of Boulogne at Tarsus. Though there is no mention of Frisians, they probably participated in the successful Siege of Lisbon in late summer. A thirteenth-century legend praises the Frisian knight Poptatus Ulvinga from Wirdum, apparently, his grave was marked by a palm tree, whose fruits caused miraculous healings. There must have been confusion, however, with the grave of another knight. Around 1209 there were Frisians in the army of the Albigensian Crusade and around 1215, under the count of Holland, William I, they arrived in a mixed army consisting of Dutch and Flemish soldiers. They participated in the Siege of Damietta in Egypt, but the Frisian contingent returned home early, Frisians, however, were involved in Saint Louiss Eighth Crusade which assaulted Tunis in 1270. Some of these accounts were probably outright fabrications while others were based on tenuous
10.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
11.
Harbor
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A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a body of water where ships, boats and barges seek shelter from stormy weather, or are stored for future use. Ports are often located in harbors, harbors can be natural or artificial. An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys, or they can be constructed by dredging, in contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides by prominences of land. Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka, artificial harbors are frequently built for use as ports. The oldest artificial harbor known is the Ancient Egyptian site at Wadi al-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast, the largest artificially created harbor is Jebel Ali in Dubai. The Ancient Carthaginians constructed fortified, artificial harbors called cothons, a natural harbor is a landform where a part of a body of water is protected and deep enough to furnish anchorage. Natural harbors have long been of great strategic naval and economic importance, having a protected harbor reduces or eliminates the need for breakwaters as it will result in calmer waves inside the harbor. For harbors near the North and South Poles, being ice-free is an important advantage, the worlds southmost harbor, located at Antarcticas Winter Quarters Bay, is potentially ice-free, depending on the summertime pack ice conditions. Although the worlds busiest port is a hotly contested title, in 2006 the worlds busiest harbor by cargo tonnage was the Port of Shanghai
12.
Distributary
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A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation, the opposite of a distributary is a tributary. In some cases, a minor distributary can divert so much water from the channel that it can become the main route. Common terms to name individual river distributaries in English-speaking countries are arm and they may refer to a distributary that does not rejoin the channel it has branched from, or one that does. In Australia, the term anabranch is used to refer to a distributary that diverts from the course of the river. In North America an anabranch is called a braided stream, in Louisiana, the Atchafalaya River is an important distributary of the Mississippi River. Examples of inland distributaries, Teton River—a tributary of Henrys Fork in Idaho—splits into two channels, the North Fork and South Fork, which join Henrys Fork miles apart. Kings River has deposited an alluvial fan at the transition from its canyon in the Sierra Nevada mountains to the flat Central Valley. Distributaries flow north into the Pacific Ocean via San Joaquin River, the QuAppelle River, in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, is a distributary of the South Saskatchewan River. Its flow is controlled by the QuAppelle River Dam and this dam forms the southern arm of Lake Diefenbaker. The Casiquiare is a distributary of the upper Orinoco, which flows southward into the Rio Negro. It is the largest river on the planet that links two major river systems, the IJssel, the Waal and the Nederrijn are the three principal distributaries of the Rhine. These are formed by two separate bifurcations within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, the Akhtuba River is a major distributary of the Volga. The bifurcation occurs close to, but before, the Volga Delta, the Tärendö River in northern Sweden is an inland distributary, far from the mouth of the river. It begins at the Torne River and ends at the Kalix River, the Little Danube in Slovakia branches off from the Danube near Bratislava, and flows into the Vah before rejoining the main river near Komárno. The area in the middle is the largest freshwater island in Europe, kollidam River is a distributary of the Kaveri River. These areas are highly flood-prone, for example the 2008 Bihar flood on the Kosi River, hoogli River is a Ganges distributary that flows through India, whereas most of the Ganges-Brahmaputra complex enters the sea through Bangladesh
13.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
14.
Cairo
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Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Cairo has long been a center of the political and cultural life. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the worlds second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, with a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution, Cairos metro, one of only two in Africa, ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the citys importance for the country. In Coptic the city is known as Kahire, meaning Place of the Sun, possibly referring to the ancient city of Heliopolis, the location of the ancient city is the suburb of Ain Shams. The ancient Egyptian name for the area is thought to be Khere-Ohe, The Place of Combat, sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro. The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance and this fortress, known as Babylon, remained the nucleus of the Roman, and, later, the Byzantine, city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, many of Cairos oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. Following the Muslim conquest in 640 AD the conqueror Amr ibn As settled to the north of the Babylon in an area became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tented camp Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt, in 750, following the overthrow of the Ummayad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became their capital. This was known as al-Askar as it was laid out like a military camp, a rebellion in 869 by Ahmad ibn Tulun led to the abandonment of Al Askar and the building of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qattai, to the north of Fustat and closer to the river, Al Qattai was centred around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of ibn Tulun. In 905 the Abbasids re-asserted control of the country and their returned to Fustat
15.
Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
16.
Hellenistic period
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It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful
17.
Stephanus Byzantius
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Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus, was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica. Of the dictionary itself only meagre fragments survive, but we possess an epitome compiled by one Hermolaus, not otherwise identified. Nothing is known about the life of Stephanus, except that he was a grammarian at Constantinople, and lived after the time of Arcadius and Honorius, even as an epitome, the Ethnica is of enormous value for geographical, mythological, and religious information about ancient Greece. Nearly every article in the epitome contains a reference to some ancient writer, Stephanus cites Artemidorus, Polybius, Aelius Herodianus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Strabo and other writers. The chief fragments remaining of the work are preserved by Constantine Porphyrogennetos, De administrando imperio, ch.23 and De thematibus. 10, the latter includes a passage from the comic poet Alexis on the Seven Largest Islands, another respectable fragment, from the article Δύμη to the end of Δ, exists in a manuscript of the Fonds Coislin, the library formed by Pierre Séguier. The first modern printed edition of the work was published by the Aldine Press in Venice,1502. The complete standard edition is still that of Augustus Meineke, and by convention, a new completely revised edition in German is in preparation, however, edited by B. Zubler, M. Billerbeck, J. F. Gaertner,2006 onwards, google Books Guilielmus Xylander,1568, Στέφανος. Google Books Claudius Salmasius and Abraham van Berkel,1688, Στεφάνου Βυζαντίου Ἐθνικὰ κατ ἐπιτομήν Περὶ πόλεων = Stephani Byzantini Gentilia per epitomen, google Books Lucas Holstenius,1692, Notae & castigationes in Stephanum Byzantium De urbibus. Google Books Thomas de Pinedo,1725, Stephanus de urbibus, google Books Karl Wilhelm Dindorf,1825, Stephanus Byzantinus. Incorporating notes by L. Holsteinius, A. Berkelius, and T. de Pinedo, google Books Anton Westermann,1839, Stephani Byzantii ethnikon quae supersunt. Google Books Augustus Meineke,1849, Stephani Byzantii ethnicorum quae supersunt, google Books Margarethe Billerbeck et al. Berlin/New York, Walter de Gruyter, This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Smith, W. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, diller, Aubrey 1938, The tradition of Stephanus Byzantius, Transactions of the American Philological Association 69, 333-48. Bunbury,1883, History of Ancient Geography, vol. i, Holstenius, L.1684, Lucae Holstenii Notae et castigationes postumae in Stephani Byzantii Ethnika, quae vulgo Peri poleōn inscribuntur. 1873, De Stephani Byzantii auctoribus Johannes Geffcken,1886, De Stephano Byzantio Whitehead, D.1994, From political architecture to Stephanus Byzantius, sources for the ancient Greek polis
18.
Umar
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Umar, also spelled Omar, was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. He was a senior Sahabi of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and he succeeded Abu Bakr as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. He was an expert Islamic jurist known for his pious and just nature and he is sometimes referred to as Umar I by historians of Islam, since a later Umayyad caliph, Umar II, also bore that name. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded at a rate, ruling the Sasanian Empire and more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire. His attacks against the Sasanian Empire resulted in the conquest of Persia in less than two years, according to Jewish tradition, Umar set aside the Christian ban on Jews and allowed them into Jerusalem and to worship. Umar is revered in the Sunni tradition as a ruler and paragon of Islamic virtues. He is viewed adversely in Shia Islam, Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitration among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was Hantama bint Hisham and he is said to have belonged to a middle-class family. In his youth he used to tend to his fathers camels in the plains near Mecca and his merchant father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe. Umar himself said, My father, Al-Khattab was a ruthless man and he used to make me work hard, if I didnt work he used to beat me and he used to work me to exhaustion. Despite literacy being uncommon in pre-Islamic Arabia, Umar learned to read, though not a poet himself, he developed a love for poetry and literature. According to the tradition of Quraish, while still in his years, Umar learned martial arts. He was tall, physically powerful and a renowned wrestler and he was also a gifted orator who succeeded his father as an arbitrator among the tribes. Umar became a merchant and made journeys to Rome and Persia. As a merchant he was unsuccessful, like others around him, Umar was fond of drinking in his pre-Islamic days. In 610 Muhammad started preaching the message of Islam, like many others in Mecca, Umar opposed Islam and he even threatened to kill Muhammad. He resolved to defend the traditional religion of Arabia. He was adamant and cruel in opposing Muhammad and very prominent in persecuting Muslims and he firmly believed in the unity of the Quraish and saw the new faith of Islam as a cause of division and discord
19.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
20.
Abbasid Caliphate
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The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads
21.
Alexandria
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Alexandria is the second largest city and a major economic centre in Egypt, extending about 32 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country. Its low elevation on the Nile delta makes it vulnerable to rising sea levels. Alexandria is Egypts largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypts imports and exports and it is an important industrial center because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria is also an important tourist destination, Alexandria was founded around a small Ancient Egyptian town c.331 BC by Alexander the Great. Alexandria was the second most powerful city of the ancient world after Rome, Alexandria is believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great in April 331 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια. Alexanders chief architect for the project was Dinocrates, Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. The city and its museum attracted many of the greatest scholars, including Greeks, Jews, the city was later plundered and lost its significance. Just east of Alexandria, there was in ancient times marshland, as early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion. The latter was rediscovered under water. An Egyptian city, Rhakotis, already existed on the shore also and it continued to exist as the Egyptian quarter of the city. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to his city, after Alexanders departure, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion. Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandrias continuous development, the Heptastadion, inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage. In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and and it became Egypts main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds. Alexandria was not only a center of Hellenism, but was home to the largest urban Jewish community in the world. The Septuagint, a Greek version of the Tanakh, was produced there, in AD115, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Kitos War, which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. On 21 July 365, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami, the Islamic prophet, Muhammads first interaction with the people of Egypt occurred in 628, during the Expedition of Zaid ibn Haritha. He sent Hatib bin Abi Baltaeh with a letter to the king of Egypt and Alexandria called Muqawqis In the letter Muhammad said, I invite you to accept Islam, Allah the sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, you bear the burden of the transgression of all the Copts
22.
Aden
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Aden is a port city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea, some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people, Adens ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of a dormant volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BC, the modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden, Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centres, Crater, the original port city, Maalla, the modern port, Tawahi, known as Steamer Point in the colonial period, and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbour that comprises the modern port, the volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbour and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port, both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1978. From March to July 2015, the Battle of Aden raged between Houthis and loyalists to President Hadi, water, food, and medical supplies ran short in the city. On 14 July, the Saudi Army launched an offensive to retake Aden for Hadis government, within three days the Houthis had been removed from the city. A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself, some also believe that Cain and Abel are buried somewhere in the city. The ports convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at times throughout history. The same work describes Aden as a village by the shore, there is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the isthmus was not then so developed as it is today. Although the pre-Islamic Himyar civilization was capable of building large structures, fortifications at Mareb and other places in Yemen and the Hadhramaut make it clear that both the Himyar and the Sabean cultures were well capable of it. Thus, watch towers, since destroyed, are possible, however, the Arab historians Ibn al Mojawir and Abu Makhramah attribute the first fortification of Aden to Beni Zureea. Abu Makhramah has also included a biography of Muhammad Azim Sultan Qamarbandi Naqsh in his work. The aim seems to have been twofold, to hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods. In its original form, some of work was relatively feeble. After 1175 AD, rebuilding in a solid form began. According to Muqaddasi, Persians formed the majority of Adens population in the 10th century, the envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden
23.
Bandar Siraf
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Siraf is an ancient city in the Central District of Kangan County, Bushehr Province, Iran. Siraf was according to a legend an ancient Sassanid port, destroyed around 970 CE and its ruins are approximately 220 km east of Bushire and 380 km west of Bandar Abbas,30 km east from Kangan city. Siraf controlled three ports, Bandar-e-Taheri, Bandar-e-Kangan and Bandar-e-Dayer, the Persian Gulf was used as a shipping route between the Arabian Peninsula and India over the Arabian Sea. Small boats, such as dhows, could make the long journey by staying close to the coast. The first contact between Siraf and China occurred in 185 CE, however, over time trade routes shifted to the Red Sea and Siraf was forgotten. Siraf as a port was founded in the 9th century, and continued its trade activity till the 15th century, the historical importance of Siraf to ancient trade is only now being realized. Discovered there in past archaeological excavations are ivory objects from east Africa, pieces of stone from India, Siraf dates back to the Parthian era. David Whitehouse also found evidence that the earliest mosque at Siraf dates to the 9th century and there are remains from the Parthian and he found ruins of a congregational mosque surrounded by many smaller mosques. There are ruins of the houses of extremely rich traders who made their wealth through the ports success. Siraf served a clientele of merchants including those from South India ruled by the Western Chalukyas dynasty who were feasted by wealthy local merchants during business visits. An indicator of the Indian merchants importance in Siraf comes from records describing dining plates reserved for them, many of the finds excavated at Siraf by Whitehouse and his archaeological team in the 1960s and 1970s are kept in the British Museum in London. Siraf has not yet registered on the list of national heritage sites of Iran. This is needed so that it will be preserved and maintained in the future, Bandar Siraf, a city in Iran. A History of South India, OUP, New Delhi ISBN 0-19-560686-8, the Seas of Sindbad Photos of Siraf ruins International Congress of Siraf Port Proceedings of the International Congress of Siraf Port Old World Trade Routes The British Museum Siraf project
24.
Tang dynasty
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The Tang dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is generally regarded as a point in Chinese civilization. Its territory, acquired through the campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The dynasty was founded by the Lǐ family, who seized power during the decline, the dynasty was briefly interrupted when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Second Zhou dynasty and becoming the only Chinese empress regnant. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also conquered or subdued several regions which it controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful influence over neighboring states such as those in Korea, Japan. Like the previous Sui dynasty, the Tang dynasty maintained a service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office. This civil order was undermined by the rise of military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century. Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era, it is considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of Chinas most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age, as did many famous painters such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, there was a rich variety of historical literature compiled by scholars, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works. The adoption of the title Tängri Qaghan by the Tang Emperor Taizong in addition to his title as emperor was eastern Asias first simultaneous kingship, there were many notable innovations during the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became an influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, Buddhism would later be persecuted by the state, subsequently declining in influence, although the dynasty and central government were in decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, which includes the Tang poet Li Bai, the Tang Emperors also had Xianbei maternal ancestry, from Emperor Gaozu of Tangs Xianbei mother Duchess Dugu. He had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang, who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Changan, relegated Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang or retired emperor, and acted as regent to the puppet child-emperor, Emperor Gong of Sui. On the news of Emperor Yangs murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18,618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang
25.
History of China
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Written records of the history of China can be found from as early as 1500 BC under the Shang dynasty. Ancient historical texts such as the Records of the Grand Historian and the Bamboo Annals describe a Xia dynasty, with thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the worlds oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization. Much of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy developed during the Zhou dynasty. This is one of multiple periods of failed statehood in Chinese history, between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China, in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang united the warring kingdoms and created for himself the title of emperor of the Qin dynasty. Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly, in the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite, the Scholar-officials. Young men were selected through difficult examinations and were well-versed in calligraphy and philosophy. What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a million years ago, recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated to 1.36 million years ago. The archaeological site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded use of fire by Homo erectus, the excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923–27, fossilised teeth of Homo sapiens dating to 125, 000–80,000 BC have been discovered in Fuyan Cave in Dao County in Hunan. The Neolithic age in China can be traced back to about 10,000 BC, Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is radiocarbon-dated to about 7000 BC. The earliest evidence of cultivated rice, found by the Yangtze River, is carbon-dated to 8,000 years ago, farming gave rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia,3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6000–5000 BC have been discovered, featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and these pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese. Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 7000 BC, Dadiwan from 5800 BC to 5400 BC, Damaidi around 6000 BC, some scholars have suggested that Jiahu symbols were the earliest Chinese writing system. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, Later, Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture, which was also centered on the Yellow River from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC. Bronze artifacts have been found at the Majiayao culture site, The Bronze Age is also represented at the Lower Xiajiadian culture site in northeast China. Sanxingdui located in what is now Sichuan province is believed to be the site of a ancient city. The site was first discovered in 1929 and then re-discovered in 1986, Chinese archaeologists have identified the Sanxingdui culture to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, linking the artifacts found at the site to its early legendary kings
26.
Tulunids
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The Tulunids were a dynasty of Turkic origin and were the first independent dynasty to rule Islamic Egypt, as well as much of Syria. He subsequently achieved nominal autonomy from the central Abbasid government, during his reign and those of his successors, the Tulunid domains were expanded to include Jordan Rift Valley, as well as Hijaz, Cyprus and Crete. Ahmad was succeeded by his son Khumarawayh, whose military and diplomatic achievements made him a player in the Middle Eastern political stage. The Abbasids affirmed their recognition of the Tulunids as legitimate rulers, after Khumarawayhs death, his successor emirs were ineffectual rulers, allowing their Turkic and black slave-soldiers to run the affairs of the state. In 905, the Tulunids were unable to resist an invasion by the Abbasid troops, the Tulunid period was marked by economic and administrative reforms alongside cultural ones. Ahmad ibn Tulun changed the system and aligned himself with the merchant community. He also established the Tulunid army, the capital was moved from Fustat to al-Qatai, where the celebrated mosque of Ibn Tulun was constructed. The rise and fall of the Tulunids occurred against a backdrop of increasing regionalism in the Muslim world, the Abbasid caliphate was struggling with political disturbances and losing its aura of universal legitimacy. There had previously been Coptic and Alid-led movements in Egypt, without more than temporary, there was also a struggle for power between the Turkish military command and the administration of Baghdad. Furthermore, there was a widening imperial financial crisis, all of these themes would recur during the Tulunid rule. The internal politics of the Abbasid caliphate itself seem to have been unstable, in 870, Abū Aḥmad al-Muwaffaḳ was summoned from exile in Mecca to re-establish Abbasid authority over southern Iraq. Quickly, however, he became the de facto ruler of the caliphate, as a result of this uncertainty, Ahmad ibn Tulun could establish and expand his authority. Ahmad ibn Ṭūlūn was a member of the mostly Central Asian Turkish guard formed initially in Baghdad, then settled in Samarra. In 254/868, Ibn Tulun was sent to Egypt as resident governor by Bāyakbāk, in 877, troops of the caliphate were sent against him, due to his insufficient payment of tribute. Ahmad ibn Tulun, however, maintained his power, and took Syria the following year and his reign of more than ten years allowed him to leave behind a well-trained military, a stable economy and an experienced bureaucracy to oversee the state affairs. He appointed his son, Ḵh̲umārawayh, as the heir, in 878, Jordan valley was occupied by the Tulunids, extending in the north to the outposts in the Anti-Lebanon mountains on the Byzantine border, enabling them to defend Egypt against Abbasid attack. Following his father’s death, Khumarawayh took control as the designated heir, the first challenge he faced was the invasion of Syria by armies sent by al-Muwaffak, the de facto ruler during the reign of caliph al-Mutamid. Khumarawayh also had to deal with the defection of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wasiti to the invaders camp, the young Tulunid achieved political and military gains, enabling him to extend his authority from Egypt into northern Iraq, and as far north as Tarsus by 890
27.
Fatimid Caliphate
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The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The dynasty ruled across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the centre of the caliphate, at its height the caliphate included in addition to Egypt varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz. The Fatimids claimed descent from Fatima bint Muhammad, the daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad, in 921 the Fatimids established the Tunisian city of Mahdia as their new capital. In 948 they shifted their capital to Al-Mansuriya, near Kairouan in Tunisia, in 969 they conquered Egypt and established Cairo as the capital of their caliphate, Egypt became the political, cultural, and religious centre of their empire. The ruling class belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shiism, as did the leaders of the dynasty, the existence of the caliphate marked the only time the descendants of Ali through Fatimah were united to any degree and the name Fatimid refers to Fatimah. The different term Fatimite is sometimes used to refer to the caliphates subjects, after the initial conquests, the caliphate often allowed a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam, as well as to Jews, Maltese Christians, and Egyptian Coptic Christians. The Fatimid caliphate was also distinguished by the role of Berbers in its initial establishment and in helping its development, especially on the military. During the late eleventh and twelfth centuries the Fatimid caliphate declined rapidly and he founded the Ayyubid dynasty and incorporated the Fatimid state into the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimid regime lasted until the twelfth century, though its leaders made little headway in persuading the Egyptian population. The Fatimid Caliphates religious ideology originated in an Ismaili Shia movement launched in the 9th century in Salamiyah, Syria by their eighth Imam and he claimed descent through Ismail, the seventh Ismaili Imam, from Fatimah and her husband ʻAlī ibn-Abī-Tālib, the first Shīʻa Imām. Thus his name was al-Fātimiyyūn Fatimid, the eighth to tenth Imams, remained hidden and worked for the movement against the periods times rulers. According to legend, Abdullah and his son were fulfilling a prophecy that the mahdi would come from Mesopotamia to Sijilmasa. They hid among the population of Sijilmasa, then an independent emirate, for four years under the countenance of the Midrar rulers, al-Mahdi was supported by dedicated Shiite Abu Abdullah al-Shii, and al-Shii started his preaching after he encountered a group of Muslim North African during his hajj. These men bragged about the country of the Kutama in western Ifriqiya, and the hostility of the Kutama towards, and their independence from. This triggered al-Shii to travel to the region, where he started to preach the Ismaili doctrine, the Berber peasants, who had been oppressed for decades by the corrupt Aghlabid rule, would prove themselves to be a perfect basis for sedition. Instantly, al-Shii began conquering cities in the region, first Mila, then Sétif, Kairouan, and eventually Raqqada, in 909 Al-Shii sent a large expedition force to rescue the Mahdi, conquering the Khariji state of Tahert on its way there. After gaining his freedom, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah became the leader of the state and assumed the position of imam. The Fatimids existed during the Islamic Golden Age, the dynasty was founded in 909 by the eleventh Imam ʻAbdullāh al-Mahdī Billah
28.
Sack of Damietta (853)
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The Sack of Damietta was a successful raid on the port city of Damietta on the Nile Delta by the Byzantine navy on 22–24 May 853. The city, whose garrison was absent at the time, was sacked and plundered, yielding not only many captives but also large quantities of weapons and these losses ushered in an era where Saracen pirates raided the Christian northern shores of the Mediterranean almost at will. Several Byzantine attempts to retake Crete in the aftermath of the Andalusian conquest, as well as a large-scale invasion in 842/43. The Arab historian al-Tabari reports that three fleets, totalling almost 300 ships, were prepared and sent on simultaneous raids of Muslim naval bases in the Eastern Mediterranean. The precise targets of two fleets are unknown, but the third, comprising 85 ships and 5,000 men under a commander known from Arab sources only as Ibn Qaṭūnā, various identifications have been proposed by modern scholars for Ibn Qaṭūnā, but without any firm evidence. Based on the similarity of consonants in their names, Henri Grégoire variously suggested an identification with Sergios Niketiates, who probably died in 843. In a later work in 1952 he suggested that he might be identified with the parakoimomenos Damian, previously, in 1913, the Syriac scholar E. W. Brooks had suggested an identification with the strategos Photeinos. The Egyptian fleet had declined from its Umayyad-era peak and was employed in the Nile rather than in the Mediterranean. Fortifications along the marshes, which had been manned by volunteer garrisons, had been abandoned in the later 8th century. The Byzantines had exploited this in 811/12 and again in ca.815 launching raids against the coasts of Egypt, the Byzantine fleet arrived at Damietta on 22 May 853. The city garrison were absent at a feast for the Day of Arafah organized by the governor Anbasah ibn Ishaq al-Dabbi in Fustat, damiettas inhabitants fled the undefended city, which was plundered for two days and then torched by the Byzantines. The Byzantines carried off some six hundred Arab and Coptic women as well as quantities of arms. The fleet then sailed east and attacked the fortress of Ushtun. Upon taking it, they burned the many artillery and siege engines found there before returning home, as a result, the raid is referred to only through two Arab accounts, by al-Tabari and Yaqubi. The Byzantines returned and raided Damietta again in 854, another raid possibly took place in 855, as the Arabic sources indicate that the arrival of a Byzantine fleet in Egypt was anticipated by the Abbasid authorities. In 859, the Byzantine fleet attacked Farama and it would not be until 961 that the Byzantines reconquered Crete, and secured control of the Aegean. Within nine months of the raid, Damietta was refortified along with Tinnis, various works were undertaken at Rosetta, Borollos, Ashmun, at-Tina, and Nastarawwa. Ships were constructed and new crews were raised, most seamen were forcibly conscripted from among the Copts and the Arabs of the interior, earning Anbasah a bad reputation in contemporary sources
29.
Crusades
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The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II. Urban urged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I, the response to Urbans preaching by people of many different classes across Western Europe established the precedent for later Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the church. Some were hoping for apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins, others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, gain glory and honour, or find opportunities for economic and political gain. Many modern Historians have polarised opinions of the Crusaders behaviour under Papal sanction, to some it was incongruous with the stated aims and implied moral authority of the papacy and the Crusades, to the extent that on occasions that the Pope excommunicated Crusaders. Crusaders often pillaged as they travelled, while their leaders retained control of captured territory rather than returning it to the Byzantines. During the Peoples Crusade thousands of Jews were murdered in what is now called the Rhineland massacres, Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade rendering the reunification of Christendom impossible. These tales consequently galvanised medieval romance, philosophy and literature, but the Crusades also reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. Crusade is not a term, instead the terms iter for journey or peregrinatio for pilgrimage were used. Not until the word crucesignatus for one who was signed with the cross was adopted at the close of the century was specific terminology developed. The Middle English equivalents were derived from old French, croiserie in the 13th–15th centuries, croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760. By convention historians adopt the term for the Christian holy wars from 1095, the Crusades in the Holy Land are traditionally counted as nine distinct campaigns, numbered from the First Crusade of 1095–99 to the Ninth Crusade of 1271/2. Usage of the term Crusade may differ depending on the author, pluralists use the term Crusade of any campaign explicitly sanctioned by the reigning Pope. This reflects the view of the Roman Catholic Church that every military campaign given Papal sanction is equally valid as a Crusade, regardless of its cause, justification, generalists see Crusades as any and all holy wars connected with the Latin Church and fought in defence of their faith. Popularists limit the Crusades to only those that were characterised by popular groundswells of religious fervour – that is, only the First Crusade, Medieval Muslim historiographers such as Ali ibn al-Athir refer to the Crusades as the Frankish Wars. The term used in modern Arabic, ḥamalāt ṣalībiyya حملات صليبية, campaigns of the cross, is a loan translation of the term Crusade as used in Western historiography. The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the resulting unified polity in the seventh and eighth centuries led to a rapid expansion of Arab power. This influence stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, tolerance, trade, and political relationships between the Arabs and the Christian states of Europe waxed and waned
30.
Kingdom of Jerusalem
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The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was a crusader state established in the Southern Levant by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, the sometimes so-called First Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187, when it was almost entirely overrun by Saladin. This second kingdom is called the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Kingdom of Acre. Three other crusader states founded during and after the First Crusade were located north, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch. While all three were independent, they were tied to Jerusalem. Beyond these to the north and west lay the states of Armenian Cilicia, further east, various Muslim emirates were located which were ultimately allied with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Jerusalem itself fell to Saladin in 1187, and in the 13th century the kingdom was reduced to a few cities along the Mediterranean coast. In this period, the kingdom was ruled by the Lusignan dynasty of the Kingdom of Cyprus, dynastic ties also strengthened with Tripoli, Antioch, and Armenia. The kingdom was soon dominated by the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa. Emperor Frederick II claimed the kingdom by marriage, but his presence sparked a war among the kingdoms nobility. The kingdom became more than a pawn in the politics and warfare of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Egypt, as well as the Khwarezmian. The Mamluk sultans Baibars and al-Ashraf Khalil eventually reconquered all the remaining crusader strongholds, the kingdom was ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse, although the crusaders themselves and their descendants were an elite Catholic minority. They imported many customs and institutions from their homelands in Western Europe, the kingdom also inherited oriental qualities, influenced by the pre-existing customs and populations. The majority of the inhabitants were native Christians, especially Greek and Syrian Orthodox, as well as Sunni. The native Christians and Muslims, who were a lower class, tended to speak Greek and Arabic, while the crusaders spoke French. There were also a number of Jews and Samaritans. According to the Jewish writer Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled through the kingdom around 1170, since sets a lower bound for the Samaritan population at 1,500, since the contemporary Tolidah, a Samaritan chronicle, also mentions communities in Gaza and Acre. The First Crusade was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II, however, the main objective quickly became the control of the Holy Land
31.
Saladin
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An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known as Saladin, was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant, at the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa. When Saladins uncle Shirkuh died in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin vizier, in the following years, he led forays against the Crusaders in Palestine, commissioned the successful conquest of Yemen, and staved off pro-Fatimid rebellions in Upper Egypt. Not long after Nur ad-Dins death in 1174, Saladin launched his conquest of Syria, by mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of his former Zengid lords, who had been the official rulers of Syria. Soon after, he defeated the Zengid army at the Battle of the Horns of Hama and was proclaimed the Sultan of Egypt. Saladin made further conquests in northern Syria and Jazira, escaping two attempts on his life by the Assassins, before returning to Egypt in 1177 to address issues there. By 1182, Saladin completed the conquest of Muslim Syria after capturing Aleppo, although the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem continued to exist until the late 13th century, its defeat at Hattin marked a turning point in its conflict with the Muslim powers of the region. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193, having given away much of his wealth to his subjects. He is buried in an adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque. Saladin has become a prominent figure in Muslim, Arab, Turkish and Kurdish culture, Saladin was born in Tikrit in modern-day Iraq. His personal name was Yusuf, Salah ad-Din is a laqab and his family was of Kurdish ancestry, and had originated from the city of Dvin in medieval Armenia. The Rawadid tribe he hailed from had been assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world by this time. Ayyub provided ferries for the army and gave refuge in Tikrit. According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Saladin was born on the night his family left Tikrit. In 1139, Ayyub and his moved to Mosul, where Imad ad-Din Zengi acknowledged his debt. After the death of Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Aleppo, Saladin, who now lived in Damascus, was reported to have a particular fondness for the city, but information on his early childhood is scarce. About education, Saladin wrote children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up, several sources claim that during his studies he was more interested in religion than joining the military. Another factor which may have affected his interest in religion was that, during the First Crusade, in addition to Islam, Saladin had a knowledge of the genealogies, biographies, and histories of the Arabs, as well as the bloodlines of Arabian horses
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Fifth Crusade
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The Fifth Crusade was an attempt by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt. Later in 1218, a German army led by Oliver of Cologne, in order to attack Damietta in Egypt, they allied in Anatolia with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm which attacked the Ayyubids in Syria in an attempt to free the Crusaders from fighting on two fronts. After occupying the port of Damietta, the Crusaders marched south towards Cairo in July 1221, a nighttime attack by Sultan Al-Kamil resulted in a great number of crusader losses, and eventually in the surrender of the army. Al-Kamil agreed to a peace agreement with Europe. Pope Innocent III had already planned since 1208 a crusade to recapture Jerusalem, in April 1213 he issued the papal bull Quia maior, calling all of Christendom to join a new crusade. This was followed by another bull, the Ad Liberandam in 1215. Pope Innocent wanted it to be led by the papacy, as the First Crusade should have been, to avoid the mistakes of the Fourth Crusade, which had been taken over by the Venetians. Pope Innocent planned for the crusaders to meet at Brindisi in 1216, every crusader would receive an indulgence, including those who simply helped pay the expenses of a crusader, but did not go on crusade themselves. Oliver of Cologne had preached the crusade in Germany, and Emperor Frederick II attempted to join in 1215, Frederick was the last monarch Innocent wanted to join, as he had challenged the Papacy. Innocent died in 1216 and was succeeded by Pope Honorius III, who barred Frederick from participating, Andrew had the largest royal army in the history of the crusades. The first to take up the cross in the Fifth Crusade was King Andrew II of Hungary, Andrew and his troops embarked on 23 August 1217, in Split. They were transported by the Venetian fleet, which was the largest European fleet in the era, until his return to Hungary, king Andrew remained the leader of Christian forces in the Fifth Crusade. In Jerusalem, the walls and fortifications were demolished to prevent the Christians from being able to defend the city, if they did manage to reach it, Muslims fled the city, afraid that there would be a repeat of the bloodbath of the First Crusade in 1099. King Andrews well-mounted army defeated sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on 10 November 1217, muslim forces retreated in their fortresses and towns. The crusaders catapults and trebuchets did not arrive in time, so they had fruitless assaults on the fortresses of the Lebanon and on Mount Tabor, afterwards, Andrew spent his time collecting alleged relics. At the beginning of 1218 Andrew, who was very sick, Andrew and his army departed to Hungary in February 1218, and Bohemund and Hugh also returned home. Later in 1218 Oliver of Cologne arrived with a new German army, with Leopold and John they discussed attacking Damietta in Egypt. To accomplish this, they allied with Keykavus I, the leader in Anatolia, in July 1218 the crusaders began their siege of Damietta, and despite resistance from the unprepared sultan Al-Adil, the tower outside the city was taken on August 25
33.
Palestine (region)
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Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is sometimes considered to include adjoining territories, the name was used by Ancient Greek writers, and was later used for the Roman province Syria Palaestina, the Byzantine Palaestina Prima, and the Islamic provincial district of Jund Filastin. The region comprises most of the claimed for the biblical regions known as the Land of Israel. Historically, it has known as the southern portion of wider regional designations such as Canaan, Syria, ash-Sham. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history, today, the region comprises the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories in which the State of Palestine was declared. Modern archaeology has identified 12 ancient inscriptions from Egyptian and Assyrian records recording likely cognates of Hebrew Pelesheth, the term Peleset is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people or land starting from c.1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term, approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition for the region in Meteorology, in which he included the Dead Sea. The term is accepted to be a translation of the Biblical name Peleshet. The term is used in the Septuagint, who used a transliteration Land of Phylistieim different from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē. Following the Muslim conquest, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic, Modern archaeologists and historians of the region refer to their field of study as Levantine archaeology. The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities, during the Bronze Age, independent Canaanite city-states were established, and were influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Between 1550–1400 BCE, the Canaanite cities became vassals to the Egyptian New Kingdom who held power until the 1178 BCE Battle of Djahy during the wider Bronze Age collapse. The region became part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from c.740 BCE, in 539 BCE, the Babylonian empire was replaced by the Achaemenid Empire. In the 330s BCE, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the region and it ultimately fell to the Seleucid Empire between 219–200 BCE. In 116 BCE, a Seleucid civil war resulted in the independence of certain regions including the Hasmonean principality in the Judaean Mountains, from 110 BCE, the Hasmoneans extended their authority over much of Palestine, creating a Judaean–Samaritan–Idumaean–Ituraean–Galilean alliance. The Judaean control over the region resulted in it also becoming known as Judaea. Between 73–63 BCE, the Roman Republic extended its influence into the region in the Third Mithridatic War, conquering Judea in 63 BCE, and splitting the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts. The three-year Ministry of Jesus, culminating in his crucifixion, is estimated to have occurred from 28–30 CE, in 70 CE, Titus sacked Jerusalem, resulting in the dispersal of the citys Jews and Christians to Yavne and Pella
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Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
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Frisia
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Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people that speaks Frisian languages, which together with English form the Anglo-Frisian language group. In English, both terms, Frisia and Friesland are used, dialects with strong Frisian substrates, including Low German and Low Franconian, are also spoken in West Frisia. In the northern province of Groningen, people speak Gronings, a Low Saxon dialect with a strong Frisian substrate, rural Groningen was originally part of the Frisian lands east of River Lauwers and by law and language closer linked to East Frisia than to the west. East Frisia is also the name of a county in that region. Only people from that area consider themselves as East Frisians, the German name Ostfriesland distinguishes the former county from Ost-Friesland, which means the whole eastern Frisian area. The North Sea island of Heligoland, while not part of the Nordfriesland district, is part of traditional North Frisia. A half-million Frisians in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands speak West Frisian, several thousand people in Nordfriesland and Heligoland in Germany speak a collection of North Frisian dialects that are often unintelligible to each other. A small number of Saterland Frisian language speakers live in four villages in Lower Saxony, in the Saterland region of Cloppenburg county, many Frisians speak Low Saxon dialects, especially in East Frisia, where the local dialects are called Oostfreesk. In the Province of Friesland and North Frisia are also areas, Frisia has changed dramatically over time, both through floods and through a change in identity. It is part of the supposed Nordwestblock which is a historic region linked by language. The people, later to be known as Frisii, began settling in Frisia in the 6th century BC, according to Pliny the Elder, in Roman times, the Frisians lived on terps, man-made hills. According to other sources, the Frisians lived along a broader expanse of the North Sea coast, Frisia at this time comprised the present provinces of Friesland and parts of North Holland and Utrecht. Frisian presence during the Early Middle Ages has been documented from North-Western Flanders up to the Weser River Estuary, according to archaeological evidence, these Frisians were not the Frisians of Roman times, but descendants from Anglo-Saxon immigrants from the German Bight, arriving during the Great Migration. By the 8th century, ethnic Frisians also started to colonize the coastal areas North of the Eider River under Danish rule, the nascent Frisian languages were spoken all along the southern North Sea coast. Today, the region is sometimes referred to as Greater Frisia or Frisia Magna. Distant authors seem to have made little distinction between Frisians and Saxons, some East Anglian sources called the mainland inhabitants Warnii, rather than Frisians. During the 7th and 8th centuries, Frankish chronologies mention the northern Low Countries as the kingdom of the Frisians, according to Medieval legends, this kingdom comprised the coastal seelande provinces of the Netherlands, from the Scheldt River to the Weser River and further East. Archaeological research does not confirm this idea, as the petty kingdoms appear to have rather small
36.
Francis of Assisi
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Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the mens Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228, along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades, by this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order, once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist, in 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene. He died during the hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco, possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, in 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a young man. In 1201, he joined an expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. It is possible that his conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life, in 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peters Basilica, an experience that moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers and his Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became a religious order for women. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine, in this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms
37.
Papal legate
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A papal legate or Apostolic legate is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters, the legate is appointed directly by the pope. The term legation is applied both to a mandate and to the territory concerned. In the High Middle Ages, papal legates were often used to strengthen the links between Rome and the parts of Christendom. More often than not, legates were learned men and skilled diplomats who were not from the country they were accredited to. The Italian-born Guala Bicchieri served as legate to England in the early 13th century. Papal legates often summoned legatine councils, which dealt with church government, during the Middle Ages, a legatine council was the usual means that a papal legate imposed his directives. There are several ranks of papal legates in diplomacy, some of which are no longer used, a nuncio performs the same functions as an ambassador and has the same diplomatic privileges. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Holy See is a party and this highest rank is normally awarded to a priest of cardinal rank. It is an investiture and can either be focused or broad in scope. The legate a latere is the ego of the Pope. The legatus natus would act as the representative in his province. Although limited in their jurisdiction compared to legati a latere, a legatus natus were not subordinate to them, literally sent legate, possessing limited powers for the purpose of completing a specific mission. This commission is normally focused in scope and of short duration, some administrative provinces of the Papal states in Italy were governed by a Papal Legate. This has been the case in Benevento, in Pontecorvo and in Viterbo, in four cases, including Bologna, this post was awarded exclusively to Cardinals, the Velletri post was created for Bartolommeo Pacca. The title could be changed to Apostolic Delegate, as happened in Frosinone in 1827, Papal diplomacy Nuncio – an envoy whose diplomatic status is recognized by the receiving state – usually a titular archbishop. Papal apocrisiarius List of papal legates to England Other Pontifical legate Catholic Encyclopedia, Legate WorldStatesmen - Italy to 1860 - Papal State Maseri, de Legatis et Nunciis Apostolicis Iudiciis Ecclesiasticis Civilibus et Criminalibus Oneribusque Civitatum Cameralibus et Communitativis. Commentatio Canoncia de Legatis et Nuntiis Pontificum, die englische Legation des Cardinals Guido Fulcodi, des spaeteren P. Clemens IV
38.
Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester
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For the other Earls of Chester named Ranulf, see Earl of Chester. He was described as almost the last relic of the feudal aristocracy of the Conquest. Ranulf, born in 1170, was the eldest son of Hugh de Kevelioc and he was said to have been small in physical stature. He succeeded to the earldom of Chester as a minor and was knighted in 1188 or 1189, although he used, not inconsistently, the style Duke of Brittany, he never had the control of the duchy, and is not known to have played an important role there. Richard Coeur de Lion, Johns brother, had no legitimate issue. The King had named Arthur of Brittany as his adopted son, Henry did not envy the Duchess and wanted her married to a magnate whom he could trust. The marriage gave Ranulf control of the earldom of Richmond, but it wasnt a success, in 1196, King Richard I of England nominated the nine-year-old Arthur as his heir, and summoned him and his mother, Duchess Constance, to Normandy. Constance left Nantes and travelled towards Rouen, on the way she was abducted by her estranged husband. Richard, furious, marched to Brittany at the head of an army, Arthur was secretly taken away by his tutor to the French court to be brought up with Louis, son of the French king Philip II. In 1199, Constance escaped from her husband and their marriage was dissolved on the grounds of desertion. In 1200 Ranulf cemented his power in Normandy by marrying Clemence of Fougères, she was the daughter of William of Fougères, widow of Alan de Dinant and he had opposed Johns attempted coup of 1193–4, and retained many contacts with partisans of his former stepson Arthur. He spent most of 1199–1204 in France and his loyalty was bought by John with further patronage. However the King was suspicious of the Earl, perhaps with some reason, in the winter of 1204-5, Ranulph, suspected of dealings with the rebellious Welsh and of contemplating revolt himself, had extensive estates temporarily confiscated by the king. This episode apparently convinced Ranulph to show loyalty in future, thereafter he was showered with royal favours. In return he fought John’s Welsh wars 1209–12, helped secure the peace with the pope in 1213–14, and was with the king in Poitou in 1214. Loyal to the king in 1215–16, he was one of the few magnates to witness the Magna Carta of 1215 and he played a leading military role in the civil war by virtue of his extensive estates and numerous castles. Ranulf stood with William Marshal and the Earls of Derby and Warwick with the King, Chester was appointed in 1215 Lord of the County of Lancashire with the power to appoint sheriffs. He was also High Sheriff of Lancashire, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, on Johns death in 1216, Ranulfs influence increased further
39.
Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester
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Earl Robert died in 1204, and left Margaret as co-heiress to the vast earldom along with her elder sister. The estate was split in half, and after the division was ratified in 1207. Following his marriage, Winchester became a prominent military and diplomatic figure in England, there is no evidence of any close alliance with King John, however, and his rise to importance was probably due to his newly acquired magnate status and the family connections that underpinned it. One man with whom he does seem to have developed a personal relationship is his cousin. In 1203, they served as co-commanders of the garrison at the fortress of Vaudreuil in Normandy. They surrendered the castle without a fight to Philip II of France, in Scotland, he was perhaps more successful. De Quincy fought against John in the troubles that followed the sealing of the Charter and he and Fitzwalter were subsequently among the most committed and prominent supporters of Louiss candidature for the kingship, against both John and the infant Henry III. When military defeat cleared the way for Henry III to take the throne, de Quincy went on crusade, in 1219 he left to join the Fifth Crusade, then besieging Damietta. While in the east, he sick and died. Both names are spelt in primary sources and older modern works, the first name being sometimes rendered Saher or Seer. This marriage produced two sons, Saer II and Robert de Quincy and it was Robert, the younger son, who was the father of the Saer de Quincy who eventually became Earl of Winchester. By her first husband Robert Fitz Richard, Matilda was also the grandmother of Earl Saers close ally. Saer de Quincy, the son of Robert de Quincy and Orabilis of Leuchars, was raised largely in Scotland, by his wife Margaret de Beaumont, Earl Saer had three sons and three daughters, Lora who married Sir William de Valognes, Chamberlain of Scotland. Arabella who married Sir Richard Harcourt, Robert, before 1206 he married Hawise of Chester, 1st Countess of Lincoln, sister and co-heiress of Randolph de Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester. Roger, who succeeded his father as earl of Winchester, Robert de Quincy who married Elen, daughter of the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great. Hawise, who married Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford, medieval Lands Project on Saher de Quincy Winchester, in The Complete Peerage, ed. G. E. C. Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, 58-60
40.
Robert Fitzwalter
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Robert Fitzwalter was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John, and one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta. He was feudal baron of Little Dunmow, Essex and constable of Baynards Castle, in London, to which was annexed the hereditary office of castellain and chief banneret of the City of London. Part of the aristocracy created by Henry I and Henry II, he served John in the wars in Normandy, in which he was taken prisoner by King Philip II of France. Fitzwalter was implicated in the conspiracy of 1212. According to his own statement the king had attempted to seduce his eldest daughter, the truth seems to be that he was irritated by the suspicion with which John regarded the new baronage. Fitzwalter escaped a trial by fleeing to France and he was outlawed, but returned under a special amnesty after Johns reconciliation with the pope. Fitzwalter continued, however, to take the lead in the agitation against the king. It was due to his influence in London that his party obtained the support of the city, the clause of the Magna Carta prohibiting sentences of exile, except as the result of a lawful trial, refers more particularly to his case. He was one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the promises of Magna Carta, Fitzwalters incompetent leadership made it necessary for the rebels to invoke the help of France. He was one of the envoys who invited Prince Louis to England, slighted by the French as a traitor to his natural lord, he served Louis with fidelity until he was captured at the battle of Lincoln in May 1217. Released on the conclusion of peace, he joined the Fifth Crusade, the remainder of his life was uneventful, and he died peacefully in 1235. He was the father of three children, Matilda, Robert, and Christina and he is remembered as a champion of English liberty, and has also become associated with various legends, including that of Robin Hood. Robert Fitzwalter was the son of Walter Fitz Robert of Woodham Walter and his wife Maud, Robert was a feudal baron of the fourth generation after the Norman conquest, great-grandson of Richard fitz Gilbert. The house of Fitzwalters possession of the soke of Baynards Castle, Robert Fitzwalter was himself engaged in trade, and owned wine ships which received special privileges from King John. Nothing of Fitzwalters birth and early life is recorded, a possible early record of him is a mention of a knight named Robert Fitzwalter at a tournament in Henry the Young Kings retinue in 1180 at Lagny-sur-Marne. Fitzwalter was married to Gunnor or Gunnora, daughter and heiress of Robert de Valognes and his eldest son, named Robert Fitzwalter, junior, was taken prisoner along with him at Lincoln, but died before him. At his death, his heir, Walter, was under age and this Sir Walter Fitzwalter of Dunmow Castle, married to Ida Longespée, must have been either a younger son or a grandson. After the death of Gunnor it is said that Fitzwalter married a wife, Rohese
41.
John, King of England
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John, also known as John Lackland, was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. The baronial revolt at the end of Johns reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henrys favourite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England, Johns elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young, by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richards royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade, John spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. Johns judicial reforms had a impact on the English common law system. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to Johns excommunication in 1209, Johns attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed due to the French victory over Johns allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis of France and it soon descended into a stalemate. John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on 24 December 1166, Henry had inherited significant territories along the Atlantic seaboard—Anjou, Normandy and England—and expanded his empire by conquering Brittany. The result was the Angevin Empire, named after Henrys paternal title as Count of Anjou and, more specifically, its seat in Angers. The Empire, however, was fragile, although all the lands owed allegiance to Henry. As one moved south through Anjou and Aquitaine, the extent of Henrys power in the provinces diminished considerably, scarcely resembling the concept of an empire at all. Some of the ties between parts of the empire such as Normandy and England were slowly dissolving over time. It was unclear what would happen to the empire on Henrys death, most believed that Henry would divide the empire, giving each son a substantial portion, and hoping that his children would continue to work together as allies after his death. To complicate matters, much of the Angevin empire was held by Henry only as a vassal of the King of France of the line of the House of Capet. Henry had often allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperor against France, shortly after his birth, John was passed from Eleanor into the care of a wet nurse, a traditional practice for medieval noble families. Eleanor then left for Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, and sent John and this may have been done with the aim of steering her youngest son, with no obvious inheritance, towards a future ecclesiastical career
42.
Seventh Crusade
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The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for his return, in 1244, the Khwarezmians, recently displaced by the advance of the Mongols, took Jerusalem on their way to ally with the Egyptian Mamluks. This time, despite calls from the Pope, there was no popular enthusiasm for a new crusade, there were also many conflicts within Europe that kept its leaders from embarking on the Crusade. Pope Innocent IV and Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor continued the papal-imperial struggle, Frederick had captured and imprisoned clerics on their way to the First Council of Lyon, and in 1245 he was formally deposed by Innocent IV. Pope Gregory IX had also earlier offered King Louis brother, count Robert of Artois, the German throne, thus, the Holy Roman Emperor was in no position to crusade. Béla IV of Hungary was rebuilding his kingdom from the ashes after the devastating Mongol invasion of 1241, Henry III of England was still struggling with Simon de Montfort and other problems in England. Louis IX had also invited King Haakon IV of Norway to crusade, sending the English chronicler Matthew Paris as an ambassador, the only man interested in beginning another crusade therefore was Louis IX, who declared his intent to go East in 1245. France was perhaps one of the strongest states in Europe at the time, poitou was ruled by Louis IXs brother Alphonse of Poitiers, who joined him on his crusade in 1245. Another brother, Charles I of Anjou, also joined Louis, Louis IXs financial preparations for this expedition were comparatively well organized, and he was able to raise approximately 1,500,000 livres tournois. However, many nobles who joined Louis on the expedition had to borrow money from the treasury. Nonetheless, Egypt was the object of his crusade, and he landed in 1249 at Damietta on the Nile, Egypt would, Louis thought, provide a base from which to attack Jerusalem, and its wealth and supply of grain would keep the crusaders fed and equipped. On 6 June Damietta was taken with little resistance from the Egyptians, who withdrew further up the Nile. The flooding of the Nile had not been taken into account, however, and it soon grounded Louis and his army at Damietta for six months, where the knights sat back and enjoyed the spoils of war. A force led by Robert of Artois and the Templars attacked the Egyptian camp at Gideila and advanced to Al Mansurah where they were defeated at the Battle of Al Mansurah, and Robert was killed. Meanwhile, Louis main force was attacked by the Mameluk Baibars, the commander of the army and a future sultan himself. Louis was defeated as well, but he did not withdraw to Damietta for months, preferring to besiege Mansourah, which ended in starvation and death for the crusaders rather than the Muslims. In showing utter agony, a Templar knight lamented, In March 1250 Louis finally tried to return to Damietta, Louis fell ill with dysentery, and was cured by an Arab physician. In May he was ransomed for 800,000 bezants, half of which was to be paid before the King left Egypt, upon this, he immediately left Egypt for Acre, one of few remaining crusader possessions in Syria
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Egypt
