1.
Al-Fashir
–
Al Fashir, Al-Fashir or El Fasher is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan,195 kilometres northeast of Nyala. A historical caravan post, Al-Fashir is located at an elevation of about 700 metres, the town serves as an agricultural marketing point for the cereals and fruits grown in the surrounding region. Al-Fashir is linked by road with both Al-Junaynah and Umm Kaddadah, Al-Fashir had 264,734 residents as of 2006, an increase from 2001, when the population was estimated to be 178,500. Rents and retail sales increased, including the selling of bottled water, the number of gas stations has tripled in three years as a result of the increase in the amount of automobiles in the city. Employment opportunities also increased as the United Nations offered jobs to citizens, economics analyst Adam Ahmed stated that the people are beginning to think in a more business-minded way to make the most of their situation. Late in the 18th century, Sultan Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed of the Darfur moved his itinerant court to a site called Rahad Tendelti, a town developed around the sultans palace grounds. It was one of the cities Amelia Earhart visited while attempting to cross the world, classified by Köppen-Geiger system as hot desert climate. Chad – border country near Nyala, Sudan, history of Darfur Adventures of Sudan, Al-Fashir Historical weather for Al-Fashir
Al-Fashir
–
Aerial view of Al-Fashir
2.
Arabic language
–
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
Arabic language
–
The Galland Manuscript of
One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic language
–
al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (
Naskh script)
Arabic language
–
Bilingual traffic sign in
Qatar.
Arabic language
–
Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.
3.
Fur language
–
The Fur language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in western Sudan. It is one of the Fur languages, the consonantal phonemes are, All sounds are spelt with their IPA symbols except for the following, j =, ñ = and y =. Arabic consonants are used in loanwords. The vowels are as in Latin, a e i o u, there is dispute as to whether the –ATR vowels, are phonetic variants or separate phonemes. There are two underlying tonemes, L and H, phonetically, L, H, mid, HL, E. g. lem- lick → -elm-, ba- drink → -ab-, tuum- build → -utum-. There are also various assimilation rules, noun, and optionally adjective, plurals can be formed with -a, àldi story → àldiŋa stories, tòŋ antelope → tòŋà antelopes, bàin old → bàinà old. This suffix also gives the inanimate 3rd person plural of the verb, lìiŋ he bathes → lìiŋa they bathe, vowel-final adjectives can take a plural in -là, as well as -ŋa, lulla cold → lullalà or lullaŋà cold. A similar suffix is used for the plural of the verb in some tenses, a few CVV nouns take the plural suffix H-ta, ròò river → ròota rivers, rèi field → rèito fields. At least two nouns take the suffix -i, koor spear → koori spears, dote mouse → kuuti mice, nouns with the singular prefix d- take the plural k-, these are about 20% of all nouns. In some cases it is accompanied by L. E. g. dilo ear → kilo ears, nuŋi eye → kuŋi eyes, dagi tooth → kàgi teeth, dòrmi nose → kòrmì noses. In some cases the singular also has a suffix -ŋ, not found in the plural, daulaŋ shoe → kaula shoes, one noun, as well as the demonstratives and the interrogative which, take a plural by simply prefixing k-L, uu cow → kùù, ei which. Several syntactic plurals with no singulars, mostly denoting liquids, have k-L-a, kèwà blood, kòrò water, kònà name, song. The locative can be expressed by the suffix -le or by reversing the nouns final tone, e. g. tòŋ house → toŋ at the house, loo place, kàrrà far → loo kàrrà-le at a far place. The genitive is expressed by the suffix -iŋ If the relationship is possessive, E. g. nuum snake → nuumiŋ tàbù snakes head, jùtà forest → kàrabà jùtăŋ animals of the forest. Independent subject, The object pronouns are identical apart from being low tone, prefixed subject pronouns, Thus, for example, on the verb bu- tire, gi, described as the participant object pronoun, represents first or second person objects in a dialogue, depending on context. Possessives, The Fur verbal system is complicated, verbs fall into a variety of conjugations. There are three tenses, present, perfect, and future, aspect is distinguished in the past tense. Derivational suffixes include -iŋ and gemination of the consonant plus -à/ò Negation is done with the marker a-. -bà surrounding the verb
Fur language
–
Geographic distribution of Fur
4.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
5.
Sudanese Pound
–
The Sudanese pound is the currency of Sudan. It was also used as currency in South Sudan until finalization of the introduction of the South Sudanese pound, both Arabic and English names for the denominations appear on the countrys banknotes and coins. The first pound to circulate in Sudan was the Egyptian pound, the late 19th century rebels Muhammad ibn Abdalla and Abdallahi ibn Muhammad both issued coins which circulated alongside the Egyptian currency. When Anglo-Egyptian rule in Sudan ceased on January 1,1956 and Sudan became an independent country, the Egyptian pound was subdivided into 100 qirush. The qirsh used to be subdivided into 40 para, but decimalisation following the 1886 Egyptian currency reform established a 1/10 qirsh, due to this legacy, the post 1956 Sudanese pound was divided into 100 qirush, subdivided into 10 millims. During 1958-1978 the pound was pegged to the U. S. dollar at a rate of $2.87156 per Sudanese pound, thereafter, the pound underwent successive devaluations. The pound was replaced in 1992 by the dinar at a rate of 1 dinar =10 pounds, the design of the new currency shall reflect the cultural diversity of Sudan. Until a new currency has been issued with the approval of the Parties on the recommendations of the CBOS, the second pound began introduction on 9 or 10 January 2007, and became the only legal tender as of July 1,2007. It replaced the dinar at a rate of 1 pound =100 dinars or 1 pound =1000 pounds, the third edition of the Sudanese pound was established on 24 July 2011 following the secession of South Sudan from the Republic of Sudan. For a wider history surrounding currency in the region, see The History of British Currency in the Middle East, in 1885, the Mahdi issued silver coins for 10 and 20 qirush and gold 100 qirush. These were followed by issues of the Khalifa in denominations of 10 para,1,2 and these coins were initially minted in silver in 1885. Over the following years, severe debasement occurred, leading to billon, then silver-washed copper. During 1908-1914, a local coinage was issued in Darfur in western Sudan and these were issued under the authority of Ali Dinar and resembled contemporary Egyptian coins. In 1956, coins were introduced in denominations of 1,2,5 and 10 millim,2,5 and 10 qirush, the millim denominations were struck in bronze, whilst the qirush denominations were in cupro-nickel. The 2,5 and 10 millim were scallop shaped, although a round 5 millim was introduced in 1971, the 1 and 2 millim were last struck in 1969, the last 5 millim in 1978. In 1983, brass 1,2 and 5 qirush, a reduced size 10 qirush and a cupro-nickel 20 qirush were introduced. In 1987, aluminium-bronze 1,5,10,20,25 and 50 qirush and 1 pound were introduced, with the 25 and 50 qirush square and octagonal in shape, in 1989, stainless-steel 25 and 50 qirush and 1 pound were issued. This is the pattern, in addition to these coins there are collector-oriented issues
Sudanese Pound
–
25 qirush of the first pound
Sudanese Pound
–
Current coins
Sudanese Pound
6.
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Key concepts
Coordinated Universal Time
–
World map of current time zones
7.
Arabic script
–
The Arabic script is a writing system used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic, dialects of Mandinka, Central Kurdish, Luri, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and others. Until the 16th century, it was used to write some texts in Spanish. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by the number of countries using it, the Arabic script is written from right to left in a cursive style. In most cases the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, the script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Qurʼān, the holy book of Islam. It is also the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy, the Arabic script has been adopted for use in a wide variety of languages besides Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology, the modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. In the cases of Bosnian, Kurdish, Kashmiri, and Uyghur writing systems, the Arabic script can therefore be used in both abugida and abjad, although it is often strongly, erroneously connected to the latter. Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, to a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb. Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language, the term ʻAjamī, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign, has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. There is evidence that writing Arabic in this set of letters influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant, Kazakh in China Kurdish in Northern Iraq and Northwest Iran. It is mainly used in Sri Lanka and the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu for religious purposes, arwi language is the language of Tamil Nadu Muslims. Malayalam language represented by Arabic script variant is known as Arabi Malayalam, the script has particular letters to represent the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. This script is used in madrasas of the South Indian state of Kerala. It is similar to Chittagonian language in neighboring Bangladesh and sometimes using the Roman script. Malay in the Arabic script known as Jawi, in some cases it can be seen in the signboards of shops or market stalls. In addition, some television programming uses Jawi, such as announcements, advertisements, news, social programs, Berber languages have often been written in an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet. The use of the Arabic alphabet, as well as the competing Latin, West Africa Zarma language of the Songhay family
Arabic script
–
Basic Arabic alphabet
Arabic script
–
Calligraphy
8.
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Replacement character
9.
Fur people
–
The Fur are an ethnic group inhabiting western Sudan. They are concentrated in the Darfur region, where they are the largest tribe and they speak the Fur language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. The Fur are the largest ethnic group in the Darfur region of western Sudan and they are also sometimes referred to by the names Fora, Fordunga, Furawi, Konjara, or Kungara. They are an agricultural people and may also herd cattle. Some Fur families who have accumulated a substantial cattle herd developed a nomadic lifestyle like that of their herding neighbors. Culturally, those cattle-herding Fur are now considered to be Baqqara, the Fur are nominally Sunni Muslims following the Maliki school of Islamic law. They are a Western Sudanese people who practice sedentary herding and agriculture and their society is a traditional one governed by village elders. They speak Fur, a Nilo-Saharan language, and are Muslims, some of them have come to speak Arabic in recent years. The name of Darfur comes from the name of this tribe, most of the well known governors of Darfur such as Deriage and Tegani Seisei are members of the Fur. The Fur established the historical Sultanate of Darfur which governed Darfur until 1916, abdul Wahid al Nur, a leader among the Fur, established the Sudan Liberation Movement and Army. Another leader of the tribe, as of 2007, is Ahmed Abdelshafi, some Fur live across the border in Chad, many of them refugees. This has been the source of ethnic tensions for many years, the Fur are well known for their Muslim piety. The Fur speak the Fur language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family and they also speak Arabic as a lingua franca. There is no written or symbolic script for the Fur language and they recently have been using Arabic or Latin characters to put the language in written form. Most Fur people speak Fur fluently as their mother tongue, common greetings include, Avilakoa, Good Morning Avilakonu, Good Evening Heavy drums are often used while making speeches and other public addresses. Fur dance style is unique to the region, some of the main dances in the tribe are Nogara, Firalubia and Dukkei, and Hajoee which are performed on special occasions such as weddings, the birth of a child, and other important events. The Fur people make their own art and utensils. These include talak, which is used for cleaning pots, birish, which is a carpet for sitting, and gada, in the Fur tribe stories are told to keep children safe from the outside world
Fur people
–
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the
talk page.
10.
Sudan
–
Sudan, also known as North Sudan since South Sudans independence and officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northern Africa. It is the third largest country in Africa, the River Nile divides the country into eastern and western halves. Before the Sudanese Civil War, South Sudan was part of Sudan, Sudan was home to numerous ancient civilizations, such as the Kingdom of Kush, Kerma, Nobatia, Alodia, Makuria, Meroë and others, most of which flourished along the Nile. During the pre-dynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were identical, by virtue of its proximity to Egypt, the Sudan participated in the wider history of the Near East inasmuch as it was Christianized by the 6th century, and Islamized in the 15th. As a result of Christianization, the Old Nubian language stands as the oldest recorded Nilo-Saharan language, Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum. Sudan is now the third largest country in Africa and also the third largest country in the Arab world and its capital is Khartoum, the political, cultural and commercial centre of the nation. It is a representative democratic federal republic. The politics of Sudan are regulated by an organization called the National Assembly. The Sudanese legal system is based on Islamic law, the countrys place name Sudan is a name given to a geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to eastern Central Africa. The name derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān, or the lands of the Blacks, during the fifth millennium BC migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture. The population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed social hierarchy over the centuries become the Kingdom of Kush at 1700 BC. The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile and White Nile, and the Atbarah River and it was established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, centered at Napata in its early phase. After King Kashta invaded Egypt in the eighth century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt for a century before being defeated and driven out by the Assyrians. At the height of their glory, the Kushites conquered an empire that stretched from what is now known as South Kordofan all the way to the Sinai, pharaoh Piye attempted to expand the empire into the Near East, but was thwarted by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Sennacheribs successor Esarhaddon went further, and invaded Egypt itself, deposing Taharqa, Taharqa fled back to his homeland where he died two years later. Egypt became an Assyrian colony, however, king Tantamani, after succeeding Taharqa, Esarhaddon died while preparing to leave the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in order to eject him. However, his successor Ashurbanipal sent an army into southern Egypt and routed Tantamani. During Classical Antiquity, the Nubian capital was at Meroë, in ancient Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Ethiopia
Sudan
–
The large mud brick temple, known as the shrek or Western Deffufa, in the ancient city of
Kerma
Sudan
–
Flag
Sudan
–
Nubian pyramids in
Meroë.
Sudan
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Ruins of
Old Dongola.
11.
Arabic
–
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
Arabic
–
The Galland Manuscript of
One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic
–
Arabic is the sole official language
Arabic
–
Bilingual traffic sign in
Qatar.
Arabic
–
Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.
12.
Sultanate of Darfur
–
The Sultanate of Darfur was a pre-colonial Nile Valley state in present-day Sudan. It functioned independently from 1603 to October 24,1874, Darfur is composed mostly of semi-arid plains that cannot support a dense population. The one exception is the area in and around the Jebal Marra mountains and it was from bases in these mountains that a series of groups expanded to control the region. The Daju and the 14th century migrants the Tunjur were the earliest powers in Darfur according to written records, the transition of power from the Daju to the Tunjur was facilitated through marriage. Dali divided the country into provinces, and established a code, which, under the title of Kitab Dali or Dalis Book, is still preserved. His grandson Suleiman reigned from 1603 to 1637, and was a great warrior, Suleiman Solon is considered as the founder of the Keira dynasty and the sultanate of Darfur. During the 17th century, the Keira sultans introduced the feudal system into Darfur. The Tunjur introduced Islam to Darfur via their experience in the Muslim empires of Kanem, soleimans grandson, Ahmed Bukr, made Islam the religion of the state, and increased the prosperity of the country by encouraging immigration from Bornu and Bagirmi. His rule extended east of the Nile as far as the banks of the Atbara, the death of Bukr initiated a long-running conflict over the succession. On his deathbed, Bukr stated that each of his sons should rule in turn. One of the most capable of the monarchs during this period was Sultan Mohammed Terab and he led a number of successful campaigns. In 1785-1786, he led an army against the Funj, here he was stopped by the Nile, and found no means of getting his army across the river. Unwilling to give up his project, Terab remained at Omdurman for months, according to some stories Tayrab was poisoned by his wife at the instigation of disaffected chiefs, and the army returned to Darfur. While he tried to have his son succeed him, the throne went to his brother Abd al-Rahman. Abd-er-Rahman established a new capital at Al Fashir, meaning the capital, the capital had formerly been moved from place to place then at another location called Kobb. During his reign Abd-er-Rahman, surnamed el-Rashid or the Just, Napoleon Bonaparte was campaigning in Egypt, in 1799 Abd-er-Rahman wrote to congratulate the French general on his defeat of the Mamluks. Bonaparte replied by asking the sultan to send him by the next caravan 2000 black slaves upwards of sixteen years old, strong and he devoted himself largely to the subjection of the semi-independent Arab tribes who lived in the country, notably the Rizeigat, thousands of whom he slew. In 1821, he lost the province of Kordofan to the Egyptians under Mehemet Ali, the Keira dispatched an army but it was routed by the Egyptians near Bara on 19 August 1821
Sultanate of Darfur
Sultanate of Darfur
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Flag
13.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
–
The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the eastern Sudan region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956. It attained independence as the Republic of the Sudan, which since 2011 has been split into Sudan, until 1914, Egypt itseslf was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire. During the 19th century, it expanded its control of the Sudan as far south as the Great Lakes region. In 1881 the Mahdist revolt broke out in Sudan and in 1882 the British invaded Egypt, Egypt became a de facto protectorate of Britain and together British and Egyptian forces gradually re-conquered the Sudan. In 1899, they agreed to establish a joint protectorate, Egypt on the basis of its previous claims. Between 1914 and 1922, Egypt and thus the Sudan were formally a part of the British Empire, after Egyptian independence in 1922, Britain gradually assumed more control of the condominium, edging out Egypt almost completely by 1924. Increasing Egyptian dissatisfaction with this arrangement came to a head after the overthrow of the Egyptian monarch in 1952, on 1 January 1956, Egypt and Britain ceded Sudan its independence. In 1820, the army of Egyptian wāli Muhammad Ali Pasha, commanded by his son Ismail Pasha, the region had longstanding linguistic, cultural, religious, and economic ties to Egypt and had been partially under the same government at intermittent periods since the times of the pharaohs. Muhammad Ali was aggressively pursuing a policy of expanding his power with a view to possibly supplanting the Ottoman Empire and this policy was expanded and intensified most notably by Muhammad Alis grandson, Ismail Pasha, under whose reign most of the remainder of modern-day Sudan was conquered. Ten years later in 1879, the foreign debt of Ismail Pashas government served as the pretext for the Great Powers to force his abdication. The situation was compounded by Tewfiks perceived corruption and mismanagement that ultimately culminated in the Urabi Revolt, with the survival of his throne in dire jeopardy, Tewfik appealed for British assistance. In 1882, at Tewfiks invitation, the British bombarded Alexandria, Egypts and Sudans primary seaport, British forces overthrew the Urabi government in Cairo and proceeded to occupy the rest of Egypt and Sudan in 1882. Though officially the authority of Tewfik had been restored, in reality the British largely took control of Egyptian, Tewfiks acquiescence to British occupation as the price for securing the monarchy was deeply detested by many throughout Egypt and Sudan. With the bulk of British forces stationed in northern Egypt, protecting Cairo, Alexandria, in contrast, the British military presence in Sudan was comparatively limited and eventually revolt broke out. The rebellion in Sudan, led by the Sudanese religious leader Muhammad ibn Abdalla, Abdalla wished not only to expel the British, but to overthrow the monarchy, viewed as secular and Western-leaning, and replace it with a pure Islamic government. Whilst primarily a Sudanese figure, Abdalla even attracted the support of some Egyptian nationalists and caught Tewfik, the revolt culminated in the fall of Khartoum and the death of the British General Charles George Gordon in 1885. Tewfiks forces and those of the United Kingdom were forced to withdraw from almost all of Sudan with Abdalla establishing a theocratic state and this invasion was halted by Tewfiks forces, and was followed later by withdrawal from Ethiopia. Abdullahi wrecked virtually all of the previous Turkish and Fung administrative systems, from 1885 to 1898 the population of Sudan collapsed from eight to three million due to war, famine, disease and persecution
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
–
Map of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
–
Flag
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
–
Plaque in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, London, UK, to commemorate the British in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1898–1955
14.
States of Sudan
–
Below is a list of the 18 states of Sudan, organized by their original provinces during the period of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Arabic language versions are, as appropriate, in parentheses, States that were not provinces before 1994 are marked with. Transliterations from Arabic to English may vary, in particular, the al is sometimes transliterated as el. Numbers correspond to those of the map at right, prior to 9 July 2011, the Republic of Sudan was composed of 25 states. The ten southern states now form part of the independent country of South Sudan, two additional states were created in 2012 within the Darfur region, and one in 2013 in Kurdufan, bringing the total to 18. The following 18 states form the territory of the Republic of Sudan, the eight provinces were, Blue Nile, Darfur, Equatoria, Kassala, Khartoum, Kurdufan, Northern, and Upper Nile. In 1948, Bahr al Ghazal split from Equatoria, there were numerous new provinces created on 1 July 1973. North and South Darfur were created from Darfur, while Kurdufan divided into North and South Kordofan, al Jazirah and White Nile were split off from Blue Nile. River Nile split off from Northern, red Sea was split off from Kassala. A further fracturing of provinces occurred in 1976, lakes split from Bahr al Ghazal, and Jonglei split off from Upper Nile. Equatoria divided into East and Western Equatoria, in 1991, the government reorganized the administrative regions into nine federal states, matching the nine provinces that had existed from 1948 to 1973. On 14 February 1994, the government reorganized yet again, creating twenty-six wilayat, the majority of the wilayat were either the old provinces or administrative subregions of a province. As part of the new government structure in South Sudan in 2005, in 2006, West Kurdufan was split and merged with North Kurdufan and South Kordofan. In January 2012, the new states of Central Darfur and East Darfur were created in the Darfur region, in July 2013, West Kurdufan was reestablished. On 9 July 2011, the ten southern states became the independent country of South Sudan and they were further divided into 86 counties. List of current state governors in Sudan ISO 3166-2, SD States of South Sudan — of the Republic of South Sudan
States of Sudan
–
Sudanese States الولايات السودانية (
Arabic)
15.
North Darfur
–
North Darfur State is one of the wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states composing the Darfur region and it has an area of 296,420 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,583,000. Al-Fashir is the capital of the state, other significant towns include Ailliet, Kebkabiya, Kutum, Mellit, Tawilah and Umm Kadadah. North Darfur occupies more than half of the territory of the Darfur region, the northern part is entirely desert. To the south there is more rainfall with the eastern side being plains with low sandy hills. In the southern portion the most important crops are millet, maize, North Darfur shares much of the history of Darfur. It was the center of the Sultanate of Darfur and contained both its capital al-Fashir and its biggest trading city Kobbei, State profile Fresh hopes for North Darfur by Julie Flint, BBC News From Our Correspondent,14 June 2007
North Darfur
–
Farmer irrigating crops in North Darfur
North Darfur
–
Seal
16.
South Darfur
–
South Darfur State is one of the wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states that compose the region of Darfur in western Sudan. Prior to the creation of two new states in the Darfur region in January 2012, South Darfur had an area of 127,300 square kilometres, nyala is the capital of the state. The State was affected by the 2010 Sahel famine, government of South Darfur State profile
South Darfur
–
South Darfur جنوب دارفور Janob Darfor
17.
West Darfur
–
West Darfur State is one of the states of Sudan, and one of five comprising the Darfur region. Prior to the creation of two new states in January 2012, it had an area of 79,460 km² and it borders North and Central Darfur to the east. The Chadian prefectures of Biltine and Ouaddaï lie to the west, al-Junaynah is the capital of the state. West Darfur has been the site of much of the ongoing Darfur conflict
West Darfur
–
Location in Sudan.
18.
War in Darfur
–
The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfurs non-Arabs. The other side is made up of groups, notably the SLM/A and the JEM, recruited primarily from the non-Arab Muslim Fur, Zaghawa. The African Union and the United Nations also have a joint peacekeeping mission in the region, estimates of the number of human casualties range up to several hundred thousand dead, from either combat or starvation and disease. Mass displacements and coercive migrations forced millions into refugee camps or across the border, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell described the situation as a genocide or acts of genocide. The Sudanese government and the JEM signed an agreement in February 2010. The JEM has the most to gain from the talks and could see semi-autonomy much like South Sudan, however, talks were disrupted by accusations that the Sudanese army launched raids and air strikes against a village, violating the Tolu agreement. The JEM, the largest rebel group in Darfur, vowed to boycott negotiations, Darfur, Arabic for the home of the Fur—was not a traditional part of the states organized along the upper Nile valley but instead organized as an independent sultanate in the 14th century. It was first annexed to the Egyptian Sudan in 1875 and then surrendered by its governor Slatin Pasha to the Mahdia in 1883, subsequently, Darfur remained a province of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the independent Republic of the Sudan. There are several different explanations for the origins of the present conflict, one explanation involves the land disputes between semi-nomadic livestock herders and those who practice sedentary agriculture. Water access has also identified as a major source of the conflict. The Darfur crisis is also related to a second conflict, in southern Sudan, civil war has raged for decades between the northern, Arab-dominated government and Christian and animist black southerners. Yet another origin is conflict between the Islamist, Khartoum-based national government and two groups based in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. In early 1991, non-Arabs of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan attested that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign, Sudanese Arabs, who controlled the government, were widely referred to as practicing apartheid against Sudans non-Arab citizens. The government was accused of deftly manipulat Arab solidarity to carry out policies of apartheid, american University economist George Ayittey accused the Arab government of Sudan of practicing acts of racism against black citizens. The Arabs monopolized power and excluded blacks – Arab apartheid, many African commentators joined Ayittey in accusing Sudan of practising Arab apartheid. Alan Dershowitz labeled Sudan an example of a government that actually deserve the appellation apartheid, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler echoed the accusation. The rebels first military action was an attack on an army garrison on 25 February 2002. The government had been aware of a rebel movement since an attack on the Golo police station in June 2002
War in Darfur
–
Arab
Janjaweed tribes have been a major player in the conflict.
War in Darfur
–
A group of pro-government militia in Darfur
War in Darfur
–
Darfur refugee camp in Chad, 2005
War in Darfur
–
AMIS soldiers from
Rwanda preparing to depart to Darfur in 2005.
19.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
–
Lady of Elche
Spain
–
Flag
Spain
–
Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
–
Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
20.
Marrah Mountains
–
The Marrah Mountains or Marra Mountains (Fur, Fugo Marra, Arabic, جبل مرة, Jebel Marra is a range of volcanic peaks in a massif that rises up to 3,042 metres. It is located in the center of the Darfur region of Sudan on the border of the states of South Darfur and Central Darfur, the highest point is Deriba Caldera. The upper reaches of the massif is an area of temperate climate with high rainfall and permanent springs of water amidst the dry savanna. The last eruption occurred around 1500 BC, the centre of activity was Deriba Caldera, and involved caldera collapse following the eruption of pumice and pyroclastic flows which travelled over 30 kilometres from the volcano. The most prominent feature of the vast Jebel Marra volcanic field, the Jebel Marra volcanic field covers a broad area of the Marra Mountains and contains early basaltic lava flows overlain by thick sequences of pyroclastic-flow deposits. The northern part of the volcanic field displays trachytic lava plugs and spines forming residual inselbergs and young basaltic scoria cones and lava flows. Ash eruptions at Deriba caldera may have continued into early historical time, and fumarolic activity has been observed on the flanks of a small pyroclastic cone within the caldera
Marrah Mountains
–
Inner and outer crater, Deriba Crater
21.
Topographic prominence
–
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
Topographic prominence
–
Figure 3. Diagram of a mountain range showing peaks and cols, from which mountain parentage and prominences can be determined.
Topographic prominence
–
Topographic prominence of three peaks near Great Pond Mountain, Maine, USA. Red triangles mark the peaks, the lowest contour line encircling each peak are shown in black and the green dots mark the key cols. The prominences are Atkins Hill: 430 – 310 = 120 ft, Cave Hill: 570 - 530 = 40 ft, Mead Mountain: 671 - 530 = 141 ft. The parent peak of each peak is Great Pond Mountain.
22.
Al Fashir
–
Al Fashir, Al-Fashir or El Fasher is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan,195 kilometres northeast of Nyala. A historical caravan post, Al-Fashir is located at an elevation of about 700 metres, the town serves as an agricultural marketing point for the cereals and fruits grown in the surrounding region. Al-Fashir is linked by road with both Al-Junaynah and Umm Kaddadah, Al-Fashir had 264,734 residents as of 2006, an increase from 2001, when the population was estimated to be 178,500. Rents and retail sales increased, including the selling of bottled water, the number of gas stations has tripled in three years as a result of the increase in the amount of automobiles in the city. Employment opportunities also increased as the United Nations offered jobs to citizens, economics analyst Adam Ahmed stated that the people are beginning to think in a more business-minded way to make the most of their situation. Late in the 18th century, Sultan Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed of the Darfur moved his itinerant court to a site called Rahad Tendelti, a town developed around the sultans palace grounds. It was one of the cities Amelia Earhart visited while attempting to cross the world, classified by Köppen-Geiger system as hot desert climate. Chad – border country near Nyala, Sudan, history of Darfur Adventures of Sudan, Al-Fashir Historical weather for Al-Fashir
Al Fashir
–
Aerial view of Al-Fashir
23.
Nyala, Sudan
–
Nyala is the capital of state of South Darfur in the south-west of Sudan. Nyala was the capital of the Daju Empire, which was established around Jebel Um-Kurdós, sultan Adam Suleiman had chosen Nyala for that purpose. However, many sites of ancient antiquities, pottery, engraved pictures of battles, horses, animals, the most important archaeological sites undiscovered yet are Nari, Kedingnyir, Dobo, Simiat Hills, Jebel Keima, Kalokitting, Jebel Wara, and Jebel Marra itself. During the ongoing Darfur conflict, thousands of displaced persons have gathered near the city in the hopes of protection. The refugee camp in the portion of Nyala is Kalma. Around 90,000 people reside in the camp, local industries produce textiles, as well as processed food, and leather goods. Nyala has terminus ends for both road and railway, and also has an airport, Nyala Airport. Nyala serves as a place for gum arabic and has branches of the Agricultural Bank of Sudan. Nyala is home to Nyala University, a public university, Nyala suffers from severe water infrastructure caused by droughts and poor water management. Most of the used in Nyala is ground water. This ground water is heavily contaminated due to activity, such as inadequate waste management. The lack of sanitation has contaminated ground water in the region. Water resources in the city have tested to contain bacteria levels higher than permissible amounts, the poor water quality in the city creates health issues. The water source in combination with the water delivery methods add to the contamination of water resources in Nyala, in many cases the water collected for distribution is not properly chlorinated, allowing further increase in bacteria levels. The educational institutions in the country doubled between the years of 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000 there were 135 primary schools and 58 secondary schools, in 2010 there were 308 primary schools and 106 secondary schools. The main concern with the system in the city is the quality of the education. The school’s staff is under paid and unqualified for adequate teaching operations in the institutions, the government often does not commit to their financial responsibility with the schools
Nyala, Sudan
–
Nyala Airport
24.
Plain
–
In geography, a plain is a flat, sweeping landmass that generally does not change much in elevation. Plains occur as lowlands along the bottoms of valleys or on the doorsteps of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass. Coastal plains would mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus, plains are one of the major landforms on earth, where they are present on all continents, and would cover more than one-third of the world’s land area. Plains may have formed from flowing lava, deposited by water, ice, wind, or formed by erosion by these agents from hills. Plains would generally be under the grassland, steppe, savannah or tundra biomes, in a few instances, deserts and rainforests can also be plains. Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth and they are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earths surface. Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called peneplains while plains formed from wind action are called pediplains, depositional plains formed by the deposition of materials brought by various agents of transportation such as rivers, wind, waves, and glaciers. Their fertility and economic relevance depend greatly on the types of sediments that are laid down, flood plain, adjacent to a stream, river, lake or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. Scroll plain, a plain through which a river meanders with a low gradient. Lacustrine plain, a plain that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, lava plain, formed by sheets of flowing lava. Glacial plains, formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity, Sandur, sandar consist mainly of stratified gravel and sand. Till plain, a plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the body of a glacier. Till plains are composed of unsorted material of all sizes, abyssal plain, a flat or very gently sloping area of the deep ocean basin. Planitia, the Latin word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects, such as Hellas Planitia on Mars or Sedna Planitia on Venus
Plain
–
Curry County, eastern
New Mexico, on the North American
Great Plains
Plain
–
Los llanos, an area of
land with relatively high relief in
Venezuela
Plain
–
Corn fields in the
Wallachian Plain. The Walachian plain has thick deposits of
fertile black earth, a type of
loess
Plain
–
Part of the plain that surrounds
Lightning Ridge in
New South Wales,
Australia
25.
Hill
–
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit. The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is considered to be less tall. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines hill as an upland with a height up to 200 m. Today, a mountain is usually defined in the UK and Ireland as any summit at least 2,000 feet high, some definitions include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 feet or 500 feet. In practice, mountains in Scotland are frequently referred to as no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the Cuillin Hills. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use, for a while, the U. S. defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or more tall. Any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill, the United States Geological Survey, however, has concluded that these terms do not in fact have technical definitions in the U. S. A hillock is a small hill, other words include knoll and its variant, knowe. Artificial hills may be referred to by a variety of names, including mound. Various names used to describe types of hill, based on appearance and these include, Drumlin – an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action. Butte – an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top. Kuppe – a rounded hill or low mountain, typical of central Europe Tor – a rock found on a hilltop, also used to refer to the hill. Puy – used especially in the Auvergne, France, to describe a conical volcanic hill, pingo – a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and Antarctica. For example, Ancient Rome was built on seven hills, protecting it from invaders, in northern Europe, many ancient monuments are sited in heaps. Some of these are structures, but others appear to have hardly any significance. In Britain, many churches at the tops of hills are thought to have built on the sites of earlier pagan holy places. The National Cathedral in Washington, DC has followed this tradition and was built on the highest hill in that city, Hills provide a major advantage to an army, giving them an elevated firing position and forcing an opposing army to charge uphill to attack them
Hill
–
A khulan (
Mongolian wild ass) on a hill in the
Gobi of
Mongolia at sunset
Hill
–
Chocolate Hills of the
Philippines
Hill
–
Hills in
Tuscany,
Italy
Hill
–
Hills of the
Judean Desert
26.
Sand
–
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. It is defined by size, being finer than gravel and coarser than silt, Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type, i. e. a soil containing more than 85% sand-sized particles by mass. The second most common type of sand is calcium carbonate, for example aragonite, for example, it is the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean. Sand is a non renewable resource over human timescales, and sand suitable for making concrete is in high demand, in terms of particle size as used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. An individual particle in this size is termed a sand grain. Sand grains are between gravel and silt, a 1953 engineering standard published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials set the minimum sand size at 0.074 mm. A1938 specification of the United States Department of Agriculture was 0.05 mm. Sand feels gritty when rubbed between the fingers. ISO14688 grades sands as fine, medium and coarse with ranges 0.063 mm to 0.2 mm to 0.63 mm to 2.0 mm. In the United States, sand is commonly divided into five sub-categories based on size, very fine sand, fine sand, medium sand, coarse sand, and very coarse sand. These sizes are based on the Krumbein phi scale, where size in Φ = -log2D, on this scale, for sand the value of Φ varies from −1 to +4, with the divisions between sub-categories at whole numbers. The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources. The gypsum sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico are famous for their bright, arkose is a sand or sandstone with considerable feldspar content, derived from weathering and erosion of a granitic rock outcrop. Some sands contain magnetite, chlorite, glauconite or gypsum, Sands rich in magnetite are dark to black in color, as are sands derived from volcanic basalts and obsidian. Chlorite-glauconite bearing sands are typically green in color, as are sands derived from basaltic with a high olivine content, many sands, especially those found extensively in Southern Europe, have iron impurities within the quartz crystals of the sand, giving a deep yellow color. Sand deposits in some areas contain garnets and other resistant minerals, the study of individual grains can reveal much historical information as to the origin and kind of transport of the grain. Quartz sand that is weathered from granite or gneiss quartz crystals will be angular. It is called grus in geology or sharp sand in the trade where it is preferred for concrete. Sand that is transported long distances by water or wind will be rounded, people who collect sand as a hobby are known as arenophiles
Sand
–
Sand
dunes in the
Idehan Ubari, Libya.
Sand
–
Close-up (1×1 cm) of sand from the
Gobi Desert, Mongolia.
Sand
–
Heavy minerals (dark) in a quartz beach sand (
Chennai, India).
Sand
–
Sand from
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park,
Utah. These are grains of
quartz with a
hematite coating providing the orange color.
27.
Sandstone
–
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earths crust, like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure, usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of a rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, grain sizes in sands are defined within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages, first, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air. Typically, sedimentation occurs by the settling out from suspension. The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow, a predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source for masonry, either as a building material or as a facing stone. These physical properties allow the grains to survive multiple recycling events. Quartz grains evolve from rock, which are felsic in origin. Feldspathic framework grains are commonly the second most abundant mineral in sandstones, Feldspar can be divided into two smaller subdivisions, alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The different types of feldspar can be distinguished under a petrographic microscope, below is a description of the different types of feldspar. Alkali feldspar is a group of minerals in which the composition of the mineral can range from KAlSi3O8 to NaAlSi3O8. Plagioclase feldspar is a group of solid solution minerals that range in composition from NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8. Lithic framework grains are pieces of ancient source rock that have yet to weather away to individual mineral grains, accessory minerals are all other mineral grains in a sandstone, commonly these minerals make up just a small percentage of the grains in a sandstone
Sandstone
–
Cut slab of sandstone showing
Liesegang banding
Sandstone
–
Devonian Sandstone at Suur Taevaskoda,
Põlva County,
Estonia
Sandstone
–
Alcove in the
Navajo Sandstone
Sandstone
–
Sandstone Rock-cut tombs (
Kokhim) in
Petra,
Jordan
28.
Borehole
–
A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. g. in Carbon capture and storage. This includes holes advanced to collect samples, water samples or rock cores, to advance in situ sampling equipment. Samples collected from boreholes are often tested in a laboratory to determine their physical properties, typically, a borehole used as a water well is completed by installing a vertical pipe and well screen to keep the borehole from caving. This also helps prevent surface contaminants from entering the borehole and protects any installed pump from drawing in sand, oil and natural gas wells are completed in a similar, albeit usually more complex, manner. As detailed in proxy, borehole temperature measurements at a series of different depths can be inverted to help estimate historic surface temperatures. Clusters of small-diameter boreholes equipped with heat exhangers made of plastic PEX pipe can be used to heat or cold between opposing seasons in a mass of native rock. The technique is called seasonal thermal energy storage, media that can be used for this technique range from gravel to bedrock. There can be a few to several hundred boreholes, and in practice, Borehole drilling has a long history. Han Dynasty China used deep borehole drilling for mining and other projects, chinese borehole sites could reach as deep as 600 m. The practice of logging in boreholes dates to 1927, for the French Pechelbronn oil field. For many years, the world’s deepest borehole was the Kola Superdeep Borehole, from 2011 until August 2012 the record was held by the 12, 345-metre long Sakhalin-I Odoptu OP-11 Well, offshore the Russian island Sakhalin. The Chayvo Z-44 extended-reach well took the title of the worlds longest borehole on 27 August 2012, z-44s total measured depth is 12,376 m. However, ERD wells are more shallow than Kola Superdeep Borehole, drillers may sink a borehole using a drilling rig or a hand-operated rig. The machinery and techniques to advance a borehole vary considerably according to manufacturer, geological conditions, for offshore drilling floating units or platforms supported by the seafloor are used for the drilling rig. Askam Borehole in Pennsylvania Borehole thermal energy storage Deep borehole disposal Hole opener Kola Superdeep Borehole Vertical seismic profile
Borehole
–
A woman in Uganda collects water from a borehole.
Borehole
–
A water borehole into the
chalk aquifer under the
North Downs, England at
Albury
29.
Arable land
–
Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing. A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture, the abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for ‘Arable land’ are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, a briefer definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use, land worked regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the worlds Arable land amounted to 1,407 M ha, out of a total 4,924 M ha land used for agriculture, as for year 2013. Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes, Permanent crop - land that produces crops from woody vegetation, other non-arable land includes land unsuitable for any agricultural use. Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, for example, US NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock. Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere, land incapable of being cultivated for production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation and this outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. This process is extremely expensive. An alternative is the Seawater Greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on land close to the sea. The people covered the islands with a layer of seaweed. Israel, The construction of desalination plants along Israels coast allowed agriculture in areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking. Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years, terra preta, fertile tropical soils created by adding charcoal. Some examples of fertile land being turned into infertile land are. Rainforest deforestation, The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land, for example, Madagascars central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren, as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives
Arable land
–
Modern mechanized agriculture permits large
fields like this one in
Dorset,
England.
Arable land
–
Fields in the region of
Záhorie in
Western Slovakia.
Arable land
–
Water Buffalo ploughing rice fields near Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia
Arable land
–
Air
30.
Sahara
–
The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometres is comparable to the area of the United States. The desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south, it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of tropical savanna around the Niger River valley. The Sahara can be divided into several regions including, the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, the name Sahara is derived from ṣaḥārā, the plural of the Arabic word for desert. The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and it covers 9 million square kilometres, amounting to 31% of Africa. If all areas with an annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included. It is one of three physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division. The Sahara is mainly rocky hamada, Ergs form only a minor part, wind or rare rainfall shape the desert features, sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys, dry lakes, and salt flats. Unusual landforms include the Richat Structure in Mauritania, several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad. The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation, the northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are subdivisions of the great desert, Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years, the northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, the southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha, or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel. According to climatic criteria, the limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. The Sahara is the worlds largest low-latitude hot desert and this steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere
Sahara
–
A satellite image of the Sahara by
NASA World Wind.
Sahara
–
Tadrart Acacus desert in western
Libya, part of the Sahara.
Sahara
–
The top image shows the Safsaf Oasis on the surface of the Sahara. The bottom (using
radar) is the rock layer underneath, revealing black channels cut by the meandering of an ancient river that once fed the
oasis.
Sahara
–
A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the Saharan area.
31.
Wadi
–
WADI is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Corinth, Mississippi, USA. The station is owned by Power Valley Communications Inc and it broadcasts a country music format. The station was assigned the WADI call letters by the Federal Communications Commission, Query the FCCs FM station database for WADI Radio-Locator information on WADI Query Nielsen Audios FM station database for WADI
Wadi
32.
Wet season
–
The rainy season, or monsoon season, is the time of year when most of a regions average annual rainfall occurs. It usually lasts one or more months, the term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters, some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season, when the intertropical convergence zone or monsoon trough moves to higher latitudes in the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during a season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. In the wet season, air quality improves, fresh water quality improves, rivers overflow their banks, and some animals retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures, particularly in tropical areas. Some animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wet season, often, the previous dry season leads to food shortages in the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. In areas where the rainfall is associated with a wind shift. Further, much of the total each day occurs in the first minutes of the downpour. However, since rain forests have rainfall spread evenly through the year and it is different for places with a Mediterranean climate. This shift in the jet stream brings much of the precipitation to the region. The peninsula of Italy has weather very similar to the western United States in this regard, areas with a savanna climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, Darfur, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Botswana have a distinct rainy season. Also within the climate regime, Florida and South Texas have a rainy season. Northern Guyana has two wet seasons, one in spring and the other in early winter. In western Africa, there are two rainy seasons across southern sections, but only one across the north. Within the Mediterranean climate regime, the west coast of the United States and the Mediterranean coastline of Italy, Greece, similarly, the wet season in the Negev desert of Israel extends from October through May. At the boundary between the Mediterranean and monsoon climates lies the Sonoran desert, which receives the two rainy seasons associated with each climate regime, the wet season is known by many different local names throughout the world
Wet season
–
Wet season storm at night in
Darwin, Australia.
Wet season
–
Rainfall distribution by month in
Cairns,
Australia.
Wet season
–
Monsoon in the
Vindhya mountain range, central
India.
Wet season
–
Equatorial
savanna in the
East Province of
Cameroon.
33.
Flood
–
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. The European Union Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water, in the sense of flowing water, the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as floods, can develop in just a few minutes. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, the word flood comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages. Deluge myths are stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can infiltrate or run off. The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths, surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where the water table is shallow, such as a floodplain, or from intense rain from one or a series of storms. Infiltration also is slow to negligible through frozen ground, rock, concrete, paving, areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from the smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the worlds largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a flood where sediments are picked up by run off. Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides, ice, debris, slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas. The increase in flow may be the result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, monsoons, the cause may be localized convective precipitation or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier. In one instance, a flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the site within a week
Flood
–
Contemporary picture of the flood that struck the
North Sea coast of
Germany and
Denmark in October 1634.
Flood
–
People seeking refuge from flood in
Java. ca. 1865–1876.
Flood
–
Flooding of a creek due to heavy
monsoonal rain and high tide in
Darwin,
Northern Territory,
Australia.
Flood
–
Jeddah Flood, covering King Abdullah Street in
Saudi Arabia.
34.
Lake Chad
–
Lake Chad is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. Lake Chad is economically important, providing water to more than 68 million people living in the four countries surrounding it on the edge of the Sahara Desert and it is the largest lake in the Chad Basin. Lake Chad is mainly in the far west of Chad, bordering on northeastern Nigeria, the Chari River, fed by its tributary the Logone, provides over 90% of the lakes water, with a small amount coming from the Yobe River in Nigeria/Niger. Despite high levels of evaporation, the lake is fresh water, over half of the lakes area is taken up by its many small islands, reedbeds and mud banks, and a belt of swampland across the middle divides the northern and southern halves. The shorelines are largely composed of marshes, because Lake Chad is very shallow—only 10.5 metres at its deepest—its area is particularly sensitive to small changes in average depth, and consequently it also shows seasonal fluctuations in size. Lake Chad has no apparent outlet, but its waters percolate into the Soro, the climate is dry most of the year, with moderate rainfall from July through September. Lake Chad gave its name to the country of Chad, the name Chad is a local word meaning large expanse of water, in other words, a lake. Lake Chad is the remnant of an inland sea, paleolake Mega-Chad. At its largest extent the river Mayo Kébbi represented the outlet of the paleolake Mega-Chad, connecting it to the Niger River, the presence of African manatees in the inflows of Lake Chad is an evidence of that history. Romans reached the lake in the first century of their empire, indeed during Augustus times lake Chad was still a huge lake and two Roman expeditions were done in order to reach it, Septimius Flaccus and Julius Maternus reached the lake of ippopotamus. They moved from coastal Tripolitania and passed near the Tibesti mountains, both did their expeditions through the Garamantes territories, and were able to leave a small garrison on the lake of ippopotamus and rhinoceros after 3 months of travel in desert lands. Lake Chad was first surveyed from shore by Europeans in 1823, in 1851, a party including the German explorer Heinrich Barth carried a boat overland from Tripoli across the Sahara Desert by camel and made the first European waterborne survey. British expedition leader James Richardson died just days before reaching the lake, in Winston Churchill’s book The River War, An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, published in 1899, Churchill specifically mentions the shrinking of Lake Chad. He writes, Altogether France has enough to occupy her in Central Africa for some time to come, and even when the task is finished. They include the desert of the Great Sahara and wide expanses of equally profitless scrub or marsh, an increased demand on the lakes water from the local population has likely accelerated its shrinkage over the past 40 years. The size of Lake Chad greatly varies seasonally with the flooding of the wetlands areas, in 1983, Lake Chad was reported to have covered 10,000 to 25,000 km2, had a maximum depth of 11 metres, and a volume of 72 km3. By 2000, its extent had fallen to less than 1,500 km2, a 2001 study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research blamed the lakes retreat largely on overgrazing in the area surrounding the lake, causing desertification and a decline in vegetation. The United Nations Environment Programme and the Lake Chad Basin Commission concur that at least half of the decrease is attributable to shifting climate patterns
Lake Chad
–
Photograph taken by
Apollo 7, October 1968
Lake Chad
–
Maximum extension of the Holocene "Lake Mega-Chad" (light blue area limited by a blue dotted line).
Lake Chad
–
Lake Chad in a 2001 satellite image, with the actual lake in blue, and vegetation on top of the old lake bed in green. Above that, the changes from 1973 to 1997 are shown.
Lake Chad
–
Kanuri tribal fishermen in 1970s.
35.
Alluvium
–
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, which has been eroded, reshaped by water in some form, and redeposited in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand, when this loose alluvial material is deposited or cemented into a lithological unit, or lithified, it is called an alluvial deposit. The term alluvium is not typically used in situations where the formation of the sediment can clearly be attributed to another process that is well described. This includes, lake sediments, river sediments, or glacially-derived sediments, sediments that are formed or deposited in a perennial stream or river are typically not referred to as alluvial. Most alluvium is very young, and is often referred to as cover because these sediments obscure the underlying bedrock. Most sedimentary material that fills a basin that is not lithified is typically lumped together as alluvial, alluvium of Pliocene age occurs, for example, in parts of Idaho. Alluvium of late Miocene age occurs, for example, in the valley of the San Joaquin River, alluvium can contain valuable ores such as gold and platinum and a wide variety of gemstones. Such a concentration of ores is termed a placer deposit
Alluvium
–
Section of alluvium at the Blue Ribbon Mine in
Alaska
Alluvium
–
Alluvium deposits in the Gamtoos Valley in
South Africa
Alluvium
–
An
alluvial plain in
Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)
Alluvium
–
Alluvial river deposits in the
Amazon Basin, near Autazes, AM,
Brazil. The seasonal deposits are extremely fertile, and crucial to
subsistence farming in the Amazon Basin along the river banks.
36.
Basement rock
–
In the same way, the sediments or sedimentary rocks on top of the basement can be called a cover or sedimentary cover. Basement rock is the foundation of ancient, and oldest metamorphic and igneous rock that forms the crust of continents. Basement rock is contrasted to overlying sedimentary rocks which are laid down on top of the basement rocks after the continent was formed, the sedimentary rocks which may be deposited on top of the basement usually form a relatively thin veneer, but can be more than 3 miles thick. The basement rock of the crust can be 20–30 miles thick, the basement rock can be located under layers of sedimentary rock, or be visible at the surface. Basement rock is visible at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, consisting of 1. 7-2 billion year old granite, an extensive cross section of sedimentary rocks laid down on top of it through the ages is visible as well. The basement rocks of the continental crust tend to be older than the oceanic crust. The oceanic crust can be from 0-250 million years in age, the basement rocks are often highly metamorphosed and complex. They may consist of different types of rock - volcanic, intrusive igneous. They may also contain fragments of oceanic crust that became wedged between plates when a terrane was accreted to the edge of the continent, any of this material may be folded, refolded and metamorphosed. New igneous rock may freshly intrude into the crust from underneath, or may form underplating, much of the basement rock may have originally been oceanic crust, but it was highly metamorphosed and converted into continental crust via a series of events. A typical pattern is as follows and this produces an oceanic chain of volcanoes, like Japan. This volcanism causes metamorphosis of rocks, intrusions of magma that produce such as granite. This tends to make the crust lighter and thicker, as a result making it immune to subduction, oceanic crust can be subducted, while continental crust cannot. Eventually, the subduction of the oceanic crust can bring the volcano chain close to a continent. When the overriding plate collides with the continent, instead of being subducted, it is accreted to the edge of the continent and becomes a part of that continent. In this manner, continents can grow over time as new terranes are accreted to their edges, as such, the basement rock can become younger going closer to the edge of the continent. There are exceptions of however, such as exotic terranes, exotic terranes are pieces or fragments of other continents that have broken off their original parent continent and have become accreted to a different continent. For instance, Pangea consisted of most of the Earths continents being accreted into one giant supercontinent, most continents indeed have several continental cratons, in other words they are made up of the accretion of many smaller continents, such as Asia, Africa, and Europe
Basement rock
–
Gneiss outcrop, basement rock,
Scotland.
37.
Massif
–
In geology, a massif is a section of a planets crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its structure while being displaced as a whole. The term is used to refer to a group of mountains formed by such a structure. In mountaineering and climbing literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the mass of an individual mountain. The massif is a structural unit of the crust than a tectonic plate and is considered the fourth largest driving force in geomorphology. The word is taken from French, where it is used to refer to a mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range. One of the most notable European examples of a massif is the Massif Central of the Auvergne region of France, the Face on Mars is an example of an extraterrestrial massif. Massifs may also form such as with the Atlantis Massif
Massif
–
Panoramic view of
Mont Blanc massif, an example of a massif and also the highest summit in the
Alps.
38.
Deriba crater
–
Deriba Caldera is at the highest point of Jebel Marra at an elevation of 3,042 m, in Darfur in the western part of Sudan. The caldera rim became Sudans new highest point, after the independence of South Sudan and it is between 5 km and 8 km in diameter across the outer crater. The inner crater is filled by a crater lake, the Marra Mountains are part of a large geologic feature known as the Darfur Dome. The dome appears to be the result of a mantle plume, the mantle plume heated the crust from below, leading to uplift of the crust and providing a magma source for the extensive volcanism observed in the region. The 5-kilometer-wide Deriba Caldera was formed by explosive eruption of the Jebel Marra Volcano approximately 3,500 years ago, the volcano is considered dormant, rather than extinct, as hot springs and fumaroles are still present. The caldera has the classic shape, the depression formed as overlying rock. Following the formation of the outer crater, a second inner crater formed, most likely due to later uplift. This inner crater is filled with water, because the walls of the inner crater are higher than the adjacent caldera floor, precipitation flowing inwards from the outer crater walls does not enter the inner crater lake. White stream bed sediments show the water pathway around the crater to a second lake located along the northeast wall of the outer crater. While Jebel Marra is high enough to have a climate and high precipitation. This article incorporates public domain material from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration document Deriba Caldera, Deriba Caldera, Sudan at NASA Earth Observatory. This article incorporates public domain text from this NASA webpage, the Jebel Marra, Darfur, and Its Region, J. H. G. Lebon, V. C. Robertson. The Geographical Journal, Vol.127, No,1, pp. 30–45 Notes on Jebel Marra, Darfur, H. F. C. The Geographical Journal, Vol.52, No,6, pp. 357–363 Sources of Water in the North-Western Sudan, K. S. Sandford. The Geographical Journal, Vol.85, No,5, pp. 412–431 Abstract, Tephra catalog of the world, Jebel Marra
Deriba crater
–
The inner and outer craters, Deriba Crater
Deriba crater
–
Deriba Caldera, Sudan. Astronaut photograph from
International Space Station, 2008
39.
Temperate climate
–
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of Earth lie between the tropics and the polar regions. The temperatures in these regions are relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle, the south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle. In some climate classifications, the zone is often divided into several smaller climate zones. These include Humid subtropical climate, Mediterranean climate, oceanic, subtropical climates are located between 23. 5° and 35. 0° north or south latitude on the eastern or leeward sides of landmasses. This climate has long, generally hot, summers and short, mild winters and these climates may occur in southern Asia, the southeastern United States, parts of eastern Australia, and in eastern coastal South America. Mediterranean climates, occur between 30° and 42° north and south latitude, on the sides of landmasses. This climate has hot summers and short mild winters, however, seasonal rainfall is the opposite of that of the subtropical humid type. These climates occur near the rimlands of the Mediterranean Sea, in western Australia, in California, the oceanic climates occur in the higher middle latitudes, between 45° and 60° north and south latitude. They are created by the flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have cool summers and cool winters, annual rainfall is spread throughout the entire year. Regions with this climate include Western Europe, northwestern North America, the Continental climates occur in middle latitudes, between 35° or 40° to 55°. These climates are normally inland or on sides of landmasses. They feature warm to hot summers and cold winters, with a large temperature variation. Regions with this climate include northern temperate Asia, the northern United States, southern Canada, the vast majority of the worlds human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the northern hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land. The richest temperate flora in the world is found in southern Africa, geographical zone Habitat Köppen climate classification Middle latitudes Polar circle Subtropics
Temperate climate
–
The different geographical zones
40.
Deriba Crater
–
Deriba Caldera is at the highest point of Jebel Marra at an elevation of 3,042 m, in Darfur in the western part of Sudan. The caldera rim became Sudans new highest point, after the independence of South Sudan and it is between 5 km and 8 km in diameter across the outer crater. The inner crater is filled by a crater lake, the Marra Mountains are part of a large geologic feature known as the Darfur Dome. The dome appears to be the result of a mantle plume, the mantle plume heated the crust from below, leading to uplift of the crust and providing a magma source for the extensive volcanism observed in the region. The 5-kilometer-wide Deriba Caldera was formed by explosive eruption of the Jebel Marra Volcano approximately 3,500 years ago, the volcano is considered dormant, rather than extinct, as hot springs and fumaroles are still present. The caldera has the classic shape, the depression formed as overlying rock. Following the formation of the outer crater, a second inner crater formed, most likely due to later uplift. This inner crater is filled with water, because the walls of the inner crater are higher than the adjacent caldera floor, precipitation flowing inwards from the outer crater walls does not enter the inner crater lake. White stream bed sediments show the water pathway around the crater to a second lake located along the northeast wall of the outer crater. While Jebel Marra is high enough to have a climate and high precipitation. This article incorporates public domain material from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration document Deriba Caldera, Deriba Caldera, Sudan at NASA Earth Observatory. This article incorporates public domain text from this NASA webpage, the Jebel Marra, Darfur, and Its Region, J. H. G. Lebon, V. C. Robertson. The Geographical Journal, Vol.127, No,1, pp. 30–45 Notes on Jebel Marra, Darfur, H. F. C. The Geographical Journal, Vol.52, No,6, pp. 357–363 Sources of Water in the North-Western Sudan, K. S. Sandford. The Geographical Journal, Vol.85, No,5, pp. 412–431 Abstract, Tephra catalog of the world, Jebel Marra
Deriba Crater
–
The inner and outer craters, Deriba Crater
Deriba Crater
–
Deriba Caldera, Sudan. Astronaut photograph from
International Space Station, 2008
41.
Remote sensing
–
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object and thus in contrast to on-site observation. It may be split into active remote sensing and passive remote sensing, passive sensors gather radiation that is emitted or reflected by the object or surrounding areas. Reflected sunlight is the most common source of radiation measured by passive sensors, examples of passive remote sensors include film photography, infrared, charge-coupled devices, and radiometers. Active collection, on the hand, emits energy in order to scan objects and areas whereupon a sensor then detects. RADAR and LiDAR are examples of remote sensing where the time delay between emission and return is measured, establishing the location, speed and direction of an object. Remote sensing makes it possible to data of dangerous or inaccessible areas. Remote sensing applications include monitoring deforestation in areas such as the Amazon Basin, glacial features in Arctic and Antarctic regions, military collection during the Cold War made use of stand-off collection of data about dangerous border areas. Remote sensing also replaces costly and slow data collection on the ground, the basis for multispectral collection and analysis is that of examined areas or objects that reflect or emit radiation that stand out from surrounding areas. For a summary of major remote sensing satellite systems see the overview table, conventional radar is mostly associated with aerial traffic control, early warning, and certain large scale meteorological data. Other types of active collection includes plasmas in the ionosphere, interferometric synthetic aperture radar is used to produce precise digital elevation models of large scale terrain. Laser and radar altimeters on satellites have provided a range of data. By measuring the bulges of water caused by gravity, they map features on the seafloor to a resolution of a mile or so, by measuring the height and wavelength of ocean waves, the altimeters measure wind speeds and direction, and surface ocean currents and directions. Ultrasound and radar tide gauges measure sea level, tides and wave direction in coastal, light detection and ranging is well known in examples of weapon ranging, laser illuminated homing of projectiles. Vegetation remote sensing is an application of LIDAR. Radiometers and photometers are the most common instrument in use, collecting reflected and emitted radiation in a range of frequencies. The most common are visible and infrared sensors, followed by microwave, gamma ray and rarely and they may also be used to detect the emission spectra of various chemicals, providing data on chemical concentrations in the atmosphere. Simultaneous multi-spectral platforms such as Landsat have been in use since the 1970s and these thematic mappers take images in multiple wavelengths of electro-magnetic radiation and are usually found on Earth observation satellites, including the Landsat program or the IKONOS satellite. Landsat images are used by agencies such as KYDOW to indicate water quality parameters including Secchi depth, chlorophyll a density
Remote sensing
–
Synthetic aperture radar image of
Death Valley colored using
polarimetry.
Remote sensing
Remote sensing
–
Illustration of Remote Sensing
Remote sensing
–
The
TR-1 reconnaissance/surveillance aircraft.
42.
Proto-Afro-Asiatic Urheimat
–
This speech area is known as the Urheimat. Afroasiatic languages are distributed in parts of Africa and Western Asia. The contemporary Afroasiatic languages are spoken in the Near East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, however, there is argument as to which part of the contemporary Afroasiatic speech area corresponds with the original homeland. The earliest written evidence of an Afroasiatic language is an Ancient Egyptian inscription dated c.3400 BC, symbols on Gerzean pottery resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs date back to c.4000 BC, suggesting a still earlier possible date. This gives us a date for the age of Afroasiatic. However, Ancient Egyptian is highly divergent from Proto-Afroasiatic, and considerable time must have elapsed in between them, estimates of the date at which the Proto-Afroasiatic language was spoken vary widely. They fall within a range between approximately 7,500 BC and approximately 16,000 BC, according to Igor M. Diakonoff, Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken c.10,000 BC. According to Christopher Ehret, Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken c.11,000 BC at the latest and these dates are older than dates associated with most other proto-languages. Culturally this falls within the period of the Halfan culture which may have been Proto-Afroasiatic, the leading linguistic proponent of this idea in recent times is Alexander Militarev. Militarev, who linked proto-Afroasiatic to the Levantine Natufian culture, that preceded the spread of farming technology, within this hypothesis there are several variants, Christopher Ehret has proposed the western Red Sea coast from Eritrea to southeastern Egypt. At the site of Nataruk in Turkana County, Kenya, obsidian bladelets found embedded in a skull and within the cavity of another skeleton. After the end of the last glacial period, use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited continent, including the New World, in the next phase, unlike many other authors Ehret proposed an initial split between northern, southern and Omotic. The northern group includes Semitic, Egyptian and Berber and he proposed that Chadic stems from Berber. Roger Blench has proposed Southwestern Ethiopia, in or around the Omo Valley, compared to Militarev and Ehret he proposed a relatively young time-depth of approximately 7,500 years. Like Ehret he accepts that Omotic is Afroasiatic and sees the split of northern languages from Omotic as an important early development, a more typical proposal is that Semitic is an offshoot of a northern family of Afroasiatic languages, including Berber, and possibly Egyptian. It is thought that Semitic speakers then crossed from South Arabia back into Eritrea, Igor Diakonoff proposed the Eastern Sahara region, specifically the southern fringe of the Sahara. Lionel Bender proposed the area near Khartoum, Sudan, at the confluence of the Blue Nile, the details of his theory are widely cited but controversial, as it involves the proposal that Semitic originated in Ethiopia and crossed to Asia directly from there over the Red Sea. In current day southwestern Chad and northeastern Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin and they are known as respectively, the Biu–Mandara, Tumak, Nancere, Kera, Dangaléat, Mukulu, Sokoro, etc
Proto-Afro-Asiatic Urheimat
–
The
Afroasiatic languages, as they are distributed today.
43.
Prehistory
–
Prehistory means literally before history, from the Latin word for before, præ, and Greek ιστορία. Neighbouring civilisations were the first to follow, most other civilisations reached the end of prehistory during the Iron Age. The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing is known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no records from human prehistory. Clear techniques for dating were not well-developed until the 19th century and this article is concerned with human prehistory as defined here above. There are separate articles for the history of the Earth. However, for the race as a whole, prehistory ends when recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC. For example, in Egypt it is accepted that prehistory ended around 3200 BC, whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently. The three-age system is the periodization of prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies, Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age. The notion of prehistory began to surface during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word primitive to describe societies that existed before written records, the first use of the word prehistory in English, however, occurred in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836. The main source for prehistory is archaeology, but some scholars are beginning to more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences. This view has been articulated by advocates of deep history, human population geneticists and historical linguists are also providing valuable insight for these questions. Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology, restricted to material processes, remains and artifacts rather than written records, prehistory is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms that use, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age are modern labels with definitions sometimes subject to debate. Palaeolithic means Old Stone Age, and begins with the first use of stone tools, the Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age. The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the Lower Palaeolithic, evidence of control of fire by early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly support. The most widely accepted claim is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Yaakov Bridge, Israel. The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, Early Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic
Prehistory
–
Massive stone pillars at
Göbekli Tepe, in southeast Turkey, erected for ritual use by early
Neolithic people 11,000 years ago.
Prehistory
–
A prehistoric man and boy.
Prehistory
–
Dugout canoe
Prehistory
–
Entrance to the Ġgantija phase temple complex of
Hagar Qim,
Malta, 3900 BC.
44.
Darfur Liberation Front
–
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army is a Sudanese rebel group active in Darfur, Sudan. General Omar al-Tsim, and the National Islamic Front headed by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, a large section of the population in Darfur, particularly the non-Arab ethnicities in the region, became increasingly marginalized. These feelings were crystallized by the publication in 2000 of The Black Book, that detailed the structural inequity in the Sudan, minnawi served as the Chairperson of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority from its formation in 2007 to his dismissal in December 2010. The SLM-Minnawi faction formally withdrew from the agreement in February 2011. Sudan Liberation Movement - this group was formed in 2006 and is led by Abdul Wahid al Nur and it has rejected the Darfur Peace Agreement. Sudan Liberation Movement - this group split from the faction and is led by Osman Ibrahim Musa. It signed a agreement with the government of South Darfur in January 2011. Sudan Liberation Movement - formed in November 2010 by former members of the SLM factions and it is led by Adam Ali Shogar. Sudan Liberation Movement - this group is led by Mohamed Al Zubeir Khamis
Darfur Liberation Front
Darfur Liberation Front
–
SLM logo and flag
45.
History of Darfur
–
The recorded history of Darfur begins with the reign of the Keira dynasty in the seventeenth century. In 1875, the Anglo-Egyptian Co-dominion in Khartoum ended the dynasty, the British allowed Darfur a measure of autonomy until formal annexation in 1916. However, the region remained underdeveloped through the period of colonization, the majority of national resources were directed toward the riverine Arabs clustered along the Nile near Khartoum. This pattern of structural inequality and overly underdevelopment resulted in increasing restiveness among Darfuris, the influence of regional geopolitics and war by proxy, coupled with economic hardship and environmental degradation, from soon after independence led to sporadic armed resistance from the mid-1980s. The continued violence culminated in a resistance movement around 2003. Developments in the region are dependent on the terrain and climate, the one exception is the area in and around the Jebal Marra mountains. It was from bases in these mountains that a series of groups expanded to control the region and this region is extremely poorly known and documented, especially the earlier periods. Archaeology has hardly any progress, in part thanks to the continuing state of warfare which hinders research. Documentary history is rather sparse, al-Idrisi, writing in 1154 is the first author to offer information about the region that provides any concrete detail. The bulk of the inhabitants were nomadic with large numbers of cattle and camels, the Daju, inhabitants of Jebel Marra, appear to have been the dominant group in Darfur in the earliest period recorded. How long they ruled is uncertain, little being known of them save a list of kings, dr Arkell mentions that the Daju are originally meroites who re-established their capital at Jebel Gadir in the recent Kordofan region. Due to an attack from Nubia about 1100 AD, and for a desire of expansion sultan Ahmed el-Daj relocated his capital to Jebel Marra. He won a battle against the Nubians at Wadi el-Malik and this made him a heroe and Empiror for this event the Wadi took his name and his people known, for his fame, the Daju. The Nubians stroke the Daju empire again and this caused the destruction of the city of Semna east of el-Fashir, during this period the name of the country was Dardaju. The Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing about 1400, described Taju as being a powerful kingdom lying between Kanem and the Nile Valley. The Tunjur reached Darfur by way of Bornu and Wadai, the first Tunjur king is said to have been Ahmed el-Makur, who married the daughter of the last Daju monarch. Ahmed reduced many chiefs to submission, and under him the country prospered and his great-grandson, the sultan Dali, a celebrated figure in Darfur histories, was on his mothers side a Fur, and thus brought the dynasty closer to the people it ruled. Dali divided the country into provinces, and established a code, which, under the title of Kitab Dali or Dalis Book, is still preserved
History of Darfur
–
Location of
Darfur within
Sudan
History of Darfur
–
Destroyed Darfuri villages as of August 2004 [update] (Source: DigitalGlobe, Inc. and Department of State via USAID)
46.
Semi-arid climate
–
A semi-arid climate or steppe climate is the climate of a region that receives precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely. There are different kinds of climates, depending on such variables as temperature. Semi-arid climates tend to short or scrubby vegetation, with semi-arid areas usually dominated by either grasses or shrubs. To determine if a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold must first be determined. If the areas precipitation is less than the threshold but more than half the threshold. Hot semi-arid climates tend to be located in the tropics and subtropics and these climates tend to have hot, sometimes extremely hot, summers and warm to cool winters, with some to minimal precipitation. Hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found around the fringes of subtropical deserts, hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Africa, Australia and South Asia. In Australia, a portion of the Outback surrounding the central desert regions lies within the hot semi-arid climate regime. Hot semi-arid climates can also be found in North America, primarily in Mexico, areas of Texas near Mexico, cold semi-arid climates tend to be located in temperate zones or elevated portions in subtropical zones. They are typically found in continental interiors some distance from bodies of water. Cold semi-arid climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though their summers are not quite as hot as those of hot semi-arid climates. Unlike hot semi-arid climates, areas with cold semi-arid climates tend to have cold winters and these areas usually see some snowfall during the winter, though snowfall is much lower than at locations at similar latitudes with more humid climates. These large diurnal temperature variations are seen in hot semi-arid climates. Cold semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Asia and North America, however, they can also be found in Northern Africa, South Africa, Europe, sections of South America and sections of interior southern Australia and New Zealand. As a result of this, some areas can have climates that are classified as hot or cold depending on the isotherm used. One such location is San Diego, California, which has cool summers for the due to prevailing winds off the ocean. Arid Forest Research Institute Continental climate Dust Bowl Goyders Line Pallisers Triangle Köppen climate classification Wave height Ustic
Semi-arid climate
–
The semi-arid terrain of
Machakos
Semi-arid climate
–
BSh
Semi-arid climate
–
Northeast Caatinga - semiárido brasileño
Semi-arid climate
–
Extreme weather at
Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
47.
Civilization
–
Historically, a civilization was a so-called advanced culture in contrast to more supposedly primitive cultures. As an uncountable noun, civilization also refers to the process of a society developing into a centralized, urbanized, stratified structure, Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings. The earlier neolithic technology and lifestyle was established first in the Middle East, and later in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China, similar pre-civilized neolithic revolutions also began independently from 7,000 BCE in such places as northwestern South America and Mesoamerica. These were among the six civilizations worldwide that arose independently, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BCE, with civilizations developing from 6,500 years ago. Towards the end of the Neolithic period, various elitist Chalcolithic civilizations began to rise in various cradles from around 3300 BCE. Chalcolithic civilizations, as defined above, also developed in Pre-Columbian Americas and, despite an early start in Egypt, Axum and Kush, the English word civilization comes from the 16th-century French civilisé, from Latin civilis, related to civis and civitas. The fundamental treatise is Norbert Eliass The Civilizing Process, which traces social mores from medieval courtly society to the Early Modern period, in The Philosophy of Civilization, Albert Schweitzer outlines two opinions, one purely material and the other material and ethical. Adjectives like civility developed in the mid-16th century, the abstract noun civilization, meaning civilized condition, came in the 1760s, again from French. The word was therefore opposed to barbarism or rudeness, in the pursuit of progress characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the French revolution, civilization was used in the singular, never in the plural and this is still the case in French. The use of civilizations as a noun was in occasional use in the 19th century. Only in this sense does it become possible to speak of a medieval civilization. Already in the 18th century, civilization was not always seen as an improvement, one historically important distinction between culture and civilization is from the writings of Rousseau, particularly his work about education, Emile. From this, a new approach was developed, especially in Germany, first by Johann Gottfried Herder and this sees cultures as natural organisms, not defined by conscious, rational, deliberative acts, but a kind of pre-rational folk spirit. Civilization, in contrast, though more rational and more successful in material progress, is unnatural and leads to vices of social life such as guile, hypocrisy, envy and avarice. In World War II, Leo Strauss, having fled Germany, argued in New York that this opinion of civilization was behind Nazism, Social scientists such as V. Gordon Childe have named a number of traits that distinguish a civilization from other kinds of society. Andrew Nikiforuk argues that civilizations relied on shackled human muscle and it took the energy of slaves to plant crops, clothe emperors, and build cities and considers slavery to be a common feature of pre-modern civilizations. All civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence, grain farms can result in accumulated storage and a surplus of food, particularly when people use intensive agricultural techniques such as artificial fertilization, irrigation and crop rotation
Civilization
–
Ancient Egypt is a canonical example of an early culture considered a civilization.
Civilization
–
"No one in the history of civilization has shaped our understanding of science and natural philosophy more than the great
Greek philosopher and scientist
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), who exerted a profound and pervasive influence for more than two thousand years" —Gary B. Ferngren
Civilization
Civilization
