1.
Fernando Botero
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Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor. Born in Medellín, his style, also known as Boterismo, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume. Self-titled the most Colombian of Colombian artists early on, he came to prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1958. Working most of the year in Paris, in the last three decades he has achieved recognition for his paintings, drawings and sculpture, with exhibitions across the world. His art is collected by major international museums, corporations. In 2012, he received the International Sculpture Centers Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, Fernando Botero was born the second of three sons to David Botero and Flora Angulo. David Botero, a salesman who traveled by horseback, died of an attack when Fernando was four. His mother worked as a seamstress, an uncle took a major role in his life. Although isolated from art as presented in museums and other institutes, Botero was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches. He received his education in Antioquia Ateneo and, thanks to a scholarship. In 1944, Boteros uncle sent him to a school for matadors for two years, in 1948, Botero at age 16 had his first illustrations published in the Sunday supplement of the El Colombiano, one of the most important newspapers in Medellín. He used the money he was paid to attend school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia. Boteros work was first exhibited in 1948, in a show along with other artists from the region. From 1949 to 1950, Botero worked as a set designer and his first one-man show was held at the Galería Leo Matiz in Bogotá, a few months after his arrival. In 1952, Botero travelled with a group of artists to Barcelona, in Madrid, Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando. In 1952, he traveled to Bogotá, where he had an exhibit at the Leo Matiz gallery. In 1953, Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time in the Louvre and he lived in Florence, Italy from 1953 to 1954, studying the works of Renaissance masters. In recent decades, he has lived most of the time in Paris and he has had more than 50 exhibits in major cities worldwide, and his work commands selling prices in the millions of dollars
2.
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
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The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art is situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The museum opened to the public on November 28,1995, previous directors were Daniel Giralt-Miracle, Miguel Molins, Manuel J. Borja-Villel, and Bartomeu Marí, while the current director, since 2015 is Ferran Barenblit. It was not until 1986 that the Barcelona City Council recommended the American architect Richard Meier & Partners to design the museum, Art critics Francesc Miralles and Rosa Queralt were hired to write the museum’s mission statement. In 1987, the MACBA Foundation was created, in the following year the MACBA Foundation, in conjunction with the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Barcelona City Council, founded the MACBA Consortium in order further the process of the museum. The Consortium commissioned Meier later that year to build the museum and this was a controversial issue considering that the museum had no collection at the time of construction. The museum opened to the public in 1995, well after the 1992 Summer Olympics for which it was planned, while MACBA has long used the chapel for performances and site-specific installations, this time the city lent the entire historic cluster to the institution for an unspecified term. Meier embraced the difficult task of creating a building that would display a variety of contemporary artworks that were unknown to him at the time of design. The building’s architectural style has strong references to Modernism, the museum has three main galleries, which can be subdivided, as well as five smaller galleries, one of which is in a tower. The permanent collection of around 5,000 works dates from the mid-20th century onward, there are three periods of modern art represented, the first one covers the forties to the sixties, the second spans the sixties and seventies, the third period is contemporary. The collections focus on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art, although some International artists are also represented, the exhibition is then an experience on a par with that of workshops, conferences, audiovisual activities, publications, etc. All of these experiences are defined by a series of lines which lend thematic coherence” MACBA Website. In march 2011, the art collector Philippe Méaille grants a loan of 800 artworks of Art&Language group, in December 2007, the museum opened its Study Center, enhancing the educational aspect which is integral to the museum’s mission. The Library Reading Room and Special Collections Room grant the public access to the museum’s books, publications collection. MACBA publishes mainly exhibition catalogues from the museum, although has published some monographic books, additionally, MACBA has three digital publications, Quaderns portàtils, Quaderns dÀudio, and Sèrie Capella MACBA. MACBA offers a variety of events including lectures, seminars, guided tours, video screenings, the Museum address is Plaça dels Angels,1, Barcelona. The closest metro stations are Catalunya and Universitat, entrance to this part of the museum is free. Another contemporary art museum, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, is adjacent to MACBA, the surrounding square and architecture outside of the museum is among the most well-known and respected places for modern skateboarding. Together with surrounding places in Barcelona, it is a ground in youth culture due to its reputation in the world of skateboarding photography
3.
Barcelona
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Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. Barcelona has a cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre. Particularly renowned are the works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona, the city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. It is a cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union, in 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion, it is leading Spain in both employment rate and GDP per capita change. In 2009 the city was ranked Europes third and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand, since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. During the Middle Ages, the city was known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelonaa. Internationally, Barcelonas name is abbreviated to Barça. However, this refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna, another common abbreviation is BCN, which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The city is referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan. The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear, the ruins of an early settlement have been excavated in the El Raval neighbourhood, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends, the first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. In about 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum centred on the Mons Taber, under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens, the city minted its own coins, some from the era of Galba survive. Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have founded in 343
4.
Catalonia
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Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, located on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula. It is designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy, Catalonia consists of four provinces, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain, Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, the official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan. The eastern counties of these marches were united under the rule of the Frankish vassal the Count of Barcelona, in the later Middle Ages Catalan literature flourished. Between 1469 and 1516, the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castile married and ruled their kingdoms together, retaining all their distinct institutions, Courts, and constitutions. During the Franco-Spanish War, Catalonia revolted against a large and burdensome presence of the Royal army in its territory, within a brief period France took full control of Catalonia, at a high economic cost for Catalonia, until it was largely reconquered by the Spanish army. In the nineteenth century, Catalonia was severely affected by the Napoleonic, in the second half of the century Catalonia experienced industrialisation. As wealth from the industrial expansion grew, Catalonia saw a cultural renaissance coupled with incipient nationalism while several workers movements appeared. In 1914, the four Catalan provinces formed a Commonwealth, and with the return of democracy during the Second Spanish Republic, after the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship enacted repressive measures, abolishing Catalan institutions and banning the official use of the Catalan language again. Since the Spanish transition to democracy, Catalonia has regained some political and cultural autonomy and is now one of the most economically dynamic communities of Spain, the origin of the name Catalunya is subject to diverse interpretations because of a lack of evidence. During the Middle Ages, Byzantine chroniclers claimed that Catalania derives from the medley of Goths with Alans. Other less plausible theories suggest, Catalunya derives from the land of castles, having evolved from the term castlà or castlan. This theory therefore suggests that the names Catalunya and Castile have a common root, the source is of Celtic origin, meaning chiefs of battle. Although the area is not known to have been occupied by Celts, the Lacetani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved by metathesis to Katelans and then Catalans. In English, Catalonia is pronounced /kætəˈloʊniə/, the native name, Catalunya, is pronounced in Central Catalan, the most widely spoken variety whose pronunciation is considered standard. The Spanish name is Cataluña, and the Aranese name is Catalonha, the first known human settlements in what is now Catalonia were at the beginning of the Middle Palaeolithic. From the next era, the Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic, important remains survive
5.
Spain
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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
6.
Port Vell
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Port Vell is a waterfront harbor in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and part of the Port of Barcelona. It was built as part of a renewal program prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Before this, it was a area of empty warehouses, railroad yards. 16 million people visit the complex each year, a pedestrian walkway, Rambla de Mar, connects La Rambla to Port Vell. It incorporates a bridge, in order to allow ships to enter. Around the 4th century BC Barcelona was occupied by the Laietani, a tribe of Iberian people who inhabited the coastline between the Llobregat and Tordera rivers. Barkeno, on Montjuïc, was their main settlement and these people traded with the Greek colony in Empúries, building large grain stores for the purpose. In the 1st century AD, the Romans founded a colony, Barcino, the first port activity on the northern side of Montjuïc. The city and its maritime activities began to flourish and expand when Barcinos city walls were built after the Barbarian invasion in 263. During the Late Middle Ages, Barcelona found itself on the frontier between Islam to the south and Christianity to the north, the ships that anchored between the Royal Shipyards and the city were badly exposed to the great storms that often affected this coast and which caused many shipwrecks. Work on the first successful project began in 1477, the enterprise entailed building a dock that would stretch as far as Maians Island, a sandy islet about 100 metres off the coast. The Barceloneta neighbourhood was built on this new peninsula, despite the constant work to extend the dike, in 1743 the huge amounts of sand that had accumulated finally collapsed the port. An enormous sandbank between the end and what is now Plaça del Portal de la Pau made it necessary to close the port. The beacon in the Moll de Pescadors dock, was built a little later, in order to provide a definitive solution to the problem of harbor depth, work began in 1816 to extend the breakwater, which reached what is now the floating dike in 1882. In 1868, the Barcelona authorities requested permission from the Development Ministry to constitute the Port of Barcelona Board of Public Works and this institution continued to operate until 1978. It was under the Board of Public Works that the structure was at last consolidated. Construction of the first transversal dock, where the Moll de Barcelona now stands, was completed in 1882, offices of public works were dissolved in 1992, and port authorities were established to replace them. Under the Strategic Plan, the port is structured around three areas, the commercial port, the logistical port and the old port
7.
Chinatown
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A Chinatown is historically any ethnic enclave, of Chinese or Han people outside of Mainland China or Taiwan, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as Chinatown exist throughout the world, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australasia, a Chinatown, as a Chinese enclave, is defined as. Any small, distinct area or group enclosed or isolated within a larger group, the development of most Chinatowns typically start with mass migration to an area having zero or very few Chinese. The Oxford Dictionary defines Chinatown as, a district of any non-Chinese town, especially a city or seaport, in which the population is predominantly of Chinese origin. However, some Chinatowns may have little to do with China, some Vietnamese enclaves are in fact a citys second Chinatown, and some Chinatowns are in fact pan-Asian, meaning they could also be counted as a Koreatown or Little India. One example includes Asiatown in Cleveland, Ohio and it was initially referred to as a Chinatown but was subsequently renamed due to the influx of non-Chinese Asian Americans who opened businesses there. Today the district acts as a factor for the Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Nepalese. As isolated from the population as Hispanics. This contrasts with narrower definitions, where the only described Chinatown in a city setting. In some cities in Spain, the term denotes an area, neighborhood or district where prostitution or other related to the sex industry are concentrated. Some examples of this are the Chinatown of Salamanca and the Chinatown of Barcelona, trading centres populated predominantly by Chinese men and their native spouses have long existed throughout Southeast Asia. Emigration to other parts of the world from China accelerated in the 1860s with the signing of the Treaty of Peking, early emigrants came primarily from the coastal provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in southeastern China – where the people generally speak Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien. As conditions in China have improved in recent decades, many Chinatowns have lost their initial mission, as net migration slows, the smaller Chinatowns have slowly decayed, often to the point of becoming purely historical and no longer serving as ethnic enclaves. Binondos Chinatown located in Manila, Philippines is the oldest Chinatown in the world, several Asian Chinatowns, although not yet called by that name, have a long history. Those in Nagasaki, Japan, Binondo in Manila, Hoi An, glodok, the Chinese quarter of Jakarta, Indonesia, dates to 1740. Chinese presence in India dates back to the 5th century AD, a Chinatown first appeared in the Indian city of Calcutta and subsequently in Mumbai and Chennai. The first Chinese settler in Calcutta was Young Atchew around 1780, the Chinatown centered on Yaowarat Road in Bangkok, Thailand, was founded at the same time as the city itself, in 1782. Many Chinese immigrants arrived in Liverpool in the late 1850s in the employ of the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, the commercial shipping line created strong trade links between the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Liverpool, mainly in the importation of silk, cotton and tea
8.
La Rambla, Barcelona
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La Rambla is a street in central Barcelona, popular with tourists and locals alike. A tree-lined pedestrian mall, it stretches for 1.2 kilometres connecting Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell, La Rambla forms the boundary between the quarters of Barri Gòtic, to the east, and El Raval, to the west. La Rambla can be crowded, especially during the height of the tourist season and its popularity with tourists has affected the character of the street, with a move to pavement cafes and souvenir kiosks. It has also suffered from the attention of pickpockets and especially towards its southern end, the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was the only street in the world which I wish would never end. La Rambla can be considered a series of streets, each differently named. To the east of La Rambla is the Barri Gòtic or Gothic Quarter, the Barri Gòtic retains a labyrinthine street plan, with small squares and streets, many of which connect onto the Rambla. Further into the Barri Gòtic can be found the Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia, to the west of La Rambla is the rather different El Raval quarter. Outside the citys earliest walls, this area was originally the site of various religious, later factories grew up along with housing for the workers, whilst the proximity to the port led to the area becoming known for its nightlife and cabarets, as well as prostitution and crime. At the southern end of the Ramblas is the Christopher Columbus Monument and the Port Vell, to the north, the Rambla de Catalunya extends into the Eixample district. To the south, construction of the Maremàgnum in the early 1990s resulted in a continuation of La Rambla on a walkway into the harbour called the Rambla de Mar. The course of La Rambla was originally a sewage-filled stream-bed, usually dry but an important drain for the heavy rainwater flowing from the Collserola hills during spring and it separated the walled city on its north-east bank from the settlements of El Raval on its south-west. In the year 1377, construction started on an extension of the city walls to include La Rambla, in 1440, the stream was diverted to run outside the new walls, and La Rambla gradually started turning into a street. Over the next few centuries, La Rambla became established as a centre of Barcelona city life, a wide thoroughfare used for festivals, markets. Several large religious establishments were built along the street during this period. In 1703, the first of the trees lining La Rambla were planted, various conflicts over recent centuries took their toll on La Ramblas religious buildings, most notably the St. Until 2010, the Rambla dels Estudis was the site of a market for caged birds. However animal protection laws made it difficult for the market to continue, after years of fighting the legislation, the market was forced to close down. The tree-lined central promenade of La Rambla is crowded during the day and its origins as a watercourse are reflected in the paving design, which appears to ripple like water
9.
Gothic Quarter, Barcelona
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The Gothic Quarter is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to Ronda de Sant Pere and it is a part of Ciutat Vella district. The quarter was built primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century, remains of the squared Roman Wall can be seen around Tapineria and Sots-Tinent Navarro to the north, Avinguda de la Catedral and Plaça Nova to the west and Carrer de la Palla to the south. El Call, the medieval Jewish quarter, is located within this area too, the Barri Gòtic retains a labyrinthine street plan, with many small streets opening out into squares. Most of the quarter is closed to traffic although open to service vehicles. Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia Basilica of La Mercè Church of Santa Maria del Pi Church of Sant Miquel Plaça Sant Jaume, including Casa de la Ciutat, further restoration of existing buildings and the creation of brand new Neo-gothic works continued as late as the 1960s. Hiking Center of Catalonia’s building, work by Lluís Domènech i Montaner carried out in 1922 on a building of uncertain origins to which he added Coronella windows, battlements, the Flamboyant-style bridge that crosses Bisbe street, newly constructed 1928 by Joan Rubió. Casa Padellàs, currently Barcelona City History Museum headquarters, moved from Mercaders street to Plaça del Rei in 1931, aguilar Palace, present-day Museu Picasso, restored by Adolf Florensa in 1959, who added galleries with arches and Coronella windows. Pignatelli Palace, present-day Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona, restored in 1970 including the addition of various Gothic windows retrieved from municipal warehouses, the Gothic Quarter is one of two extremely popular pickpocketing hotspots in Barcelona, the other being La Rambla. It is a problem in both areas of the city. Tourists are advised to be wary when in these areas, l4 station Jaume I L3 stations Liceu and Drassanes El Gòtic on the Citys website Barri Gòtic at Tmb. cat
10.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
11.
Filipinos
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Filipinos are the people who are identified with the country of the Philippines, either through descent or citizenship. Filipinos come from different ethnolinguistic nations, currently, there are more than 175 ethnolinguistic nations, each with its own language, identity, culture and history. The modern Filipino identity, with its Austronesian roots, was developed in conjunction with Spanish, Chinese, the Philippines was a Spanish colony for 333 years, setting a foundation for contemporary Filipino culture. Under Spanish rule, most of the Filipino populace embraced Roman Catholicism, almost all Filipinos adopted Spanish surnames from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos published in 1849 by the Spanish colonial government. As neither past governments nor the modern Philippine Statistics Authority account for the background of an individual. The lack of the letter F in the pre-1987 Philippine alphabet, upon official adoption of the modern, 28-letter Filipino alphabet in 1987, the name Filipino was preferred over Pilipino. However the ABAKADA is only the Alphabet of the Tagalogs as other Ethnic Nations also have their own alphabet and/or writing script, use of the term Filipino in the Philippines started during the Spanish colonial period. The original meaning was a person of Spanish descent born in the Philippines and this original usage is now archaic and obsolete. Historian Ambeth Ocampo has suggested that the first documented use of the word to refer to Indios was the Spanish language poem A la juventud filipina, published in 1879 by José Rizal. A number of Filipinos refer to themselves colloquially as Pinoy, which is a word formed by taking the last four letters of Filipino. The term, although in popular usage, is considered by some Filipinos as a racial slur. Other collective endonyms for the Filipino people include, Patria Adorada as popularized by Jose Rizal through his poem Mi último adiós, in 2010, a metatarsal from Callao Man, discovered in 2007, was dated through uranium-series dating as being 67,000 years old. Prior to that, the earliest human remains found in the Philippines were thought to be the fragments of a skull and jawbone. Fox, an anthropologist from the National Museum, anthropologists who examined these remains agreed that they belonged to modern human beings. These include the Homo sapiens, as distinguished from the mid-Pleistocene Homo erectus species, the Tabon Man fossils are considered to have come from a third group of inhabitants, who worked the cave between 22,000 and 20,000 BCE. An earlier cave level lies so far below the level containing cooking fire assemblages that it must represent Upper Pleistocene dates like 45 or 50 thousand years ago, researchers say this indicates that the human remains were pre-Mongoloid, from about 40,000 years ago. Fluctuations in ancient shorelines between 150,000 BP and 17,000 BP connected the Malay Archipelago region with Maritime Southeast Asia and this may have enabled ancient migrations into the Philippines from Maritime Southeast Asia approximately 50,000 BP to 13,000 BP. A January 2009 study of language phylogenies by R. D and this was a two-pronged expansion, which moved north through the Philippines and into Taiwan, while a second expansion prong spread east along the New Guinea coast and into Oceania and Polynesia
12.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
