1.
Glossary of vexillology
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Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display. Badge A coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, canton Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag. Charge A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag, emblem A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag, field The background of a flag, the color behind the charges. Fimbriation A narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, for example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag. Fly The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. Hoist The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. Length The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole, width The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole. Flags often inherit traits seen in traditional European heraldry designs and as a result patterns often share names, banderole or bannerol A small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or a long narrow flag flying from the mast-head of a ship. Banner Generically, a synonym for a flag of any kind, in heraldry, a flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms, but usually in a square or rectangular shape, also known as a banner of arms. Burgee A distinguishing flag of a recreational boating organisation, Civil ensign, merchant flag or merchant ensign A version of the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality. Civil flag A version of the flag flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. Colour or color The flag of a military unit, courtesy flag or courtesy ensign A flag flown by a visiting ship in foreign waters as a token of respect. Ensign The flag of a ship or military unit, may also be used generically as a synonym for a flag of any kind. Fanion A small flag used by the French military, gonfalon, gonfanon or gonfalone A type of heraldic flag suspended from a crossbar. Guidon A small flag borne by a military unit, in Scots heraldry, a smaller version of the Standard. Pennon or pennant A flag larger at the hoist than at the fly, pipe banner A decorative flag for the Scottish Highland bagpipes. Prayer flag A type of flag found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, rank flag or distinguishing flag The flag flown by a superior naval officer on his flagship or headquarters
2.
State flag
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There are two separate meanings for the term of state flag in vexillology, the flag of the government of a sovereign state and the flag of an individual subnational state. A state flag is a variant of a national flag specifically designated and restricted by law or custom to use by a government or its agencies. For this reason they are referred to as government flags. Scandinavian countries also use swallowtailed state flags, to differentiate them from civil flags. In addition, some countries have state ensigns, separate flags for use by government ships such as guard vessels. For example, government ships in the United Kingdom fly the blue ensign, state flags should not be confused with the national flag as used by military organisations, these are referred to as war flags and naval ensigns. To avoid confusion with the first meaning of the term, however, such a flag would be more referred to as the flag of the state of X. For this usage, see also, Flags of the Australian states and territories Flags of Brazilian states Flags of the U. S. states Flags of German states Znamierowski, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
3.
War flag
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A war flag, also known as a military flag or a battle flag, is a variant of a national flag for use by a countrys military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign, under the strictest sense of the term, few countries today currently have proper war flags, most preferring to use instead their state flag or standard national flag for this purpose. And either victory, or else a grave, field signs were used in early warfare at least since the Bronze Age. The word standard itself is from an Old Frankish term for a field sign, the use of flags as field signs apparently emerges in Asia, during the Iron Age, possibly in either China or India. Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also called vexilloid or flag-like, the Roman Vexillum itself is also flag-like in the sense that it was suspended from a horizontal crossbar as opposed to a simple flagpole. Use of simple flags as military ensigns becomes common during the medieval period, the maritime flag also develops in the medieval period. The medieval Japanese Sashimono carried by foot-soldiers are a parallel development, some medieval free cities or communes did not have coats of arms, and used war flags that were not derived from a coat of arms. Thus, the city of Lucerne used a flag as a field sign from the mid 13th century. Colours, standards and guidons Wise, Terence Military flags of the world, FIAV Flag Information Symbols at Flags of the World
4.
Ensign
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Ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern of the ship, the naval ensign, used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign or the yacht ensign. Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard, the European military rank of ensign, once responsible for bearing a units standard derives from it. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, liwa, derives from the command of a unit or units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a units ensign, and is a general officer. In Arab armies, ensign is a title equivalent to a Western brigade. In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a ship or boat to indicate its appartenance, while this includes its nationality, it may well indicate more information rather than being the national flag itself. This is particularly common for commonwealth and European countries, ensigns are usually at the stern flagstaff when in port, and may be shifted to a gaff or mast amidships when the ship is under way, becoming known as a steaming ensign. Vexillologists distinguish three varieties of a national flag used as an ensign, A civil ensign is worn by merchant. In some countries the yacht ensign, used on boats or ships instead of merchant vessels. A state ensign or government ensign is worn by government vessels, a naval ensign is used by a countrys navy. Such ensigns are strictly regulated and indicate if the vessel is a warship, a merchant ship, several Commonwealth countries national flags had their origin in the ensigns of their original colonising power, the United Kingdom. Most notable of these flags are those of Australia, New Zealand. It is also likely that the original design from which the flag of the United States developed was strongly influenced by the British Red Ensign or the flag of the East India Company. With the creation of independent air forces and the growth in aviation in the first half of the 20th century. These may be divided into air force ensigns and civil air ensigns, in heraldry, an ensign is the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet, or mitre, borne above the charge or arms. Distinguishing mark Maritime flag Znamierowski, Alfred, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
5.
Naval ensign
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Naval ensign is the ensign used by Navy vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the civil ensign and its also known as the war ensign. A large version of the naval ensign which is flown on a warships mast just before going into battle is called a battle ensign, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. Some naval ensign differ in shape from the flag, such as the Nordic naval ensigns which have tongues. Naval ensigns that are different from the ensign and the national flag
6.
Emblem of Guatemala
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The emblem of Guatemala was adopted in 1871. The emblem was designed by Swiss artist and engraver Johan-Baptist Frener, the current Guatemalan emblem was created according to the Executive Decree number 33 of 18 November 1871 issued by the president General Miguel García Granados. According to the decree, The arms of the republic will be, the middle will harbor a scroll of parchment with the words Liberty 15 of September of 1821 in gold and in the upper part a Quetzal as the symbol of national independence and autonomy. It should be noted, that the shield which is mentioned in the description above is never used, the emblem also appears on the middle third of the flag of Guatemala. The quetzal previously appeared in the flag of Los Altos, Central America in the 1830s, Guatemala - Coat of Arms at Flags of the World
7.
Civil flag
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A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on nongovernmental installations or craft. The use of flags was more common in the past to denote buildings or ships not manned by the military. In some countries, the flag is the same as the war flag or state flag but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain. In others, it is an alteration of the war flag, in Scandinavia, state and war flags can be double and triple-tailed variants of the Nordic Cross flag. Many countries, particularly those with a British heritage, still have distinctive civil flags for use at sea, many based on the Red Ensign
8.
Civil ensign
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Civil ensign is the ensign used by civilian vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and its also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag. Some countries have civil ensigns for yachts, and even for specific yacht clubs. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. The civil ensigns that are different from the flag can be grouped into a number of categories. Several countries use red flags with, in most cases, either the national flag or the Union Flag in the canton. British overseas territories fly the plain Red Ensign or a Red Ensign with the colonial arms in the fly. Saudi Arabia puts its national flag in the canton of an otherwise-green flag, Ghana stopped using its Red Ensign in 2003 with the adoption of a new merchant shipping act, which made the Ghanaian flag the proper national colors for Ghana ships. Similarly, Sri Lanka stopped using its Red Ensign in 1969, several countries have civil ensigns that are very different from the national flag, for instance Malta and Luxembourg. Well-known examples are the Italian civil ensign showing the shield with the arms of the sea republics or the Polish civil ensign with the arms of Poland, most of these emblems were added to distinguish the ensign from similar flags of other countries or from other signal flags. In several countries there are two versions of the flag, a simpler one and a more elaborate one with the national arms. The simpler one is used as ensign, whereas the version with the arms is mainly used by the government. In Spain and Argentina the flag without the arms is only a variant for civil use, in El Salvador, the civil ensign also differs from the national flag in the proportions. France is a case, the overall proportion is the same. Civil and merchant ensigns Civil air ensign
9.
Sky blue
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Sky blue is the name of a colour that resembles the colour of the sky at noon. The entry for sky-blue in Murrays New English Dictionary reports a first sighting of the term in the article on silver in Ephraim Chamberss Cyclopaedia of 1728, however, many writers had used the term sky blue to name a colour before Chambers. For example, we find sky blue in A Collection of Voyages and Travels,2, p.322, where John Nieuhoff describes certain flowers, they are of a lovely sky blue colour, and yellow in the middle. The sense of colour may have been first used in 1585 in a book by Nicolas de Nicolay where he stated the tulbant of the merchant must be skie coloured. Displayed at right is the web colour sky blue, Celeste is the colloquial name for the pale turquoise blue colour associated with Italian bicycle manufacturer Bianchi S. p. A and sometimes known as Bianchi Green. In Italian, as the name indicates, it is an attempt to reproduce the colour of clear skies, in English, this colour may also be referred to as Italian sky blue. Bleu celeste is a rarely occurring tincture in heraldry and this tincture is sometimes also called ciel or simply celeste. It is depicted in a lighter shade than the range of shades of the more traditional tincture azure, Bianchi bicycles are traditionally painted celeste, also known as Bianchi Green. Contradictory myths say celeste is the colour of the Milan sky, the eye colour of a queen for whom Edoardo Bianchi made a bicycle. The exact shade of turquoise used by the company has varied over time, in Anglophone countries Celeste is sometimes reported as Pantone -#332, and with various other shades. Displayed at right is the web colour sky blue. It is close in shade to baby blue, displayed at right is the colour medium sky blue. This is the colour that is called sky blue in Crayola crayons and this colour was formulated by Crayola in 1958. Sky blue appears in the 32,48,64,96 and 120 packs of crayons, displayed at right is the colour vivid sky blue. Deep sky blue is an azure-cyan colour associated with sky blue. Deep sky blue is a web colour and this colour is the colour on the colour wheel halfway between azure and cyan. The traditional name for this colour is Capri, the first use of Capri as a colour name in English was in 1920. Specifically, the colour Capri is named after the colour of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri. as it appears on a sunny day
10.
White
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White is an achromatic color, a color without hue. An incoming light to the eye that stimulates all its three types of color sensitive cone cells in nearly equal amounts results in white. White is one of the most common colors in nature, the color of sunlight, snow, milk, chalk, limestone, in many cultures white represents or signifies purity, innocence, and light, and is the symbolic opposite of black, or darkness. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, and exactitude. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity, the widows of kings dressed in white rather than black as the color of mourning. It was also used in 20th century modern architecture as a symbol of modernity, simplicity. White is an important color for almost all world religions, the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has worn white since 1566, as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. In Islam, and in the Shinto religion of Japan, it is worn by pilgrims, in Western cultures and in Japan, white is the most common color for wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and virginity. In many Asian cultures, white is also the color of mourning, the white color on television screens and computer monitors is created with the RGB color model by mixing red, green and blue light at equal intensities. The word white continues Old English hwīt, ultimately from a Common Germanic *χwītaz also reflected in OHG wîz, ON hvítr, the root is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language *kwid-, surviving also in Sanskrit śveta to be white or bright and Slavonic světŭ light. The Icelandic word for white, hvítur, is derived from the Old Norse form of the word hvítr. Common Germanic also had the word *blankaz, borrowed into Late Latin as *blancus, the antonym of white is black. Some non-European languages have a variety of terms for white. The Inuit language has seven different words for seven different nuances of white, Japanese has six different words, depending upon brilliance or dullness, or if the color is inert or dynamic. White was one of the first colors used in art, the Lascaux Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by paleolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago. Paleolithic artists used calcite or chalk, they sometimes as a background, sometimes as a highlight, along with charcoal and red, in ancient Egypt, white was connected with the goddess Isis. The priests and priestesses of Isis dressed only in white linen, in Greece and other ancient civilizations, white was often associated with mothers milk. In Greek mythology, the chief god Zeus was nourished at the breast of the nymph Amalthea, in the Talmud, milk was one of four sacred substances, along with wine, honey, and the rose
11.
Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
12.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
13.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
14.
Caribbean Sea
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The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. The entire area of the Caribbean Sea, the islands of the West Indies. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas and has an area of about 2,754,000 km2, the seas deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at 7,686 m below sea level. The Caribbean coastline has many gulfs and bays, the Gulf of Gonâve, Gulf of Venezuela, Gulf of Darién, Golfo de los Mosquitos, Gulf of Paria, the Caribbean Sea has the worlds second biggest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. It runs 1,000 km along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, the name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the regions dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. During the first century of development, Spanish dominance in the region remained undisputed, from the 16th century, Europeans visiting the Caribbean region identified the South Sea as opposed to the North Sea. The Caribbean Sea had been unknown to the populations of Eurasia until 1492, at that time the Western Hemisphere in general was unknown to Europeans. Following the discovery of the islands by Columbus, the area was colonised by several Western cultures. As of 2015 the area is home to 22 island territories, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Caribbean Sea as follows, On the North. In the Windward Channel – a line joining Caleta Point and Pearl Point in Haïti, in the Mona Passage – a line joining Cape Engano and the extreme of Agujereada in Puerto Rico. From Galera Point through Trinidad to Galeota Point and thence to Baja Point in Venezuela, note that, although Barbados is an island on the same continental shelf, it is considered to be in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean Sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the Caribbean Plate, the Caribbean Sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. The youngest stretches from the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands to the north east of Trinidad, the larger islands in the northern part of the sea Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico lie on an older island arc. The geological age of the Caribbean Sea is estimated to be between 160 and 180 million years and was formed by a fracture that split the supercontinent called Pangea in the Mesozoic Era. It is assumed the proto-caribbean basin existed in the Devonian period, in the early Carboniferous movement of Gondwana to the north and its convergence with the Euramerica basin decreased in size. The next stage of the Caribbean Seas formation began in the Triassic, powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern Newfoundland to the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. In the early Jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the Gulf of Mexico creating a vast shallow pool, the emergence of deep basins in the Caribbean occurred during the Middle Jurassic rifting. The emergence of these marked the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean
15.
National anthem of Guatemala
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The national anthem of Guatemala was written by José Joaquín Palma and composed by Rafael Álvarez Ovalle. The anthem was adopted in 1896 as the entry in a competition held by the government. The lyrics were modified slightly in 1934 by Professor Jose Maria Bonilla Ruano, some verses were softened in their bloody context while others were enhanced in their poetic beauty. The anthem is often erroneously titled Guatemala Feliz. from its opening lyrics, Guatemala, Himno Nacional de Guatemala - Audio of the national anthem of Guatemala, with information and lyrics vocal
16.
Federal Republic of Central America
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It existed from September 1821 to 1841, and was a republican democracy. It is also incorrectly referred to in English as the United States of Central America. The republic consisted of the states of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua. Maps and borders hardly existed at the time so locations are only approximate, from 1838 to 1840 the federation descended into civil war, with conservatives fighting against liberals and separatists fighting to secede. From the 16th century through 1821, Central America, apart from Panama and that date is still marked as independence day by most Central American nations. Independence proved short-lived, as local law-and-order broke down, driven by regional rivalries, many localities refused to accept the newly formed federal powers in Guatemala—San Salvador, Comayagua, León, and Cartago were in open revolt. The ensuing anarchy prompted the land-owning wealthy and conservative class to advocate union with Mexico, on 25 January 1822 the Junta consultiva in Guatemala City voted for annexation. A few weeks later General Vicente Filísola, the envoy of Emperor Agustín de Iturbide of the First Mexican Empire arrived in Guatemala as the new ruler. The annexation was controversial, with some seeing the Mexican constitution with its abolition of slavery, Central American liberals in San Salvador objected to this and refused to accept Filísolas authority. The army was ordered to quell dissent, after Iturbide abdicated, Mexico became a republic and offered to the previously annexed Central American provinces the right to determine their own destiny. Filísola turned over his power to the hastily formed National Constituent Assembly, on July 1,1823 the Congress of Central America declared absolute independence from Spain, Mexico, and any other foreign nation, and established a republican system of government. The liberal-dominated Assembly elected Manuel José Arce as president but he turned against his own faction. San Salvador rose in revolt against federal authority, Honduras and Nicaragua joined the rebellion and Arce was deposed in 1829. The victors led by the Honduran Francisco Morazán took power and Morazán was proclaimed president in 1830, to appease liberal supporters, the capital was relocated from Guatemala City to San Salvador in 1831 but Morazáns hold on power was waning as conservatives regained control in the provinces. The Assembly in 1838 adjourned with the declaration that the provinces were free to rule themselves as the Federal Republic dissolved, in 1839 Morazán was exiled as rebels from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua entered San Salvador, evicting the governing institutions that held the region together. In practice, the federation faced insurmountable problems, and the union slid into war between 1838 and 1840. Its disintegration began when Nicaragua separated from the federation on November 5,1838, followed by Honduras, in reality, this merely legally acknowledged the process of disintegration that had already begun. The union effectively ended in 1840, by which four of its five states had declared independence
17.
Resplendent quetzal
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The resplendent quetzal is a bird in the trogon family. It is found from Chiapas, Mexico to western Panama and it is well-known for its colorful plumage. There are two subspecies, P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis, the resplendent quetzal plays an important role in various types of Mesoamerican mythology. It is the bird of Guatemala, and its image is found on the countrys flag. It also lends its name to the currency, the Guatemalan quetzal. The resplendent quetzal was first described by Mexican naturalist Pablo de La Llave in 1832 and it is one of five species of the genus Pharomachrus known as quetzals. The term quetzal was originally used for just this species, but is now applied to all members of the genera Pharomachrus, two subspecies are recognised, P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis. The epithet mocinno is Llaves Latinization of the name of the biologist J. M. Mociño, the word quetzal came from Nahuatl, where quetzalli meant tall upstanding plume and then quetzal tail feather, from that Nahuatl quetzaltotōtl means quetzal-feather bird and thus quetzal. This species is 36 to 40 cm long, plus up to 65 cm of tail streamer for the male and it is the largest representative of the trogon order. The subspecies costaricensis is slightly smaller than the race and has shorter narrower tail plumes. Resplendent quetzals have a body and red breast. Their green upper tail coverts hide their tails and in breeding males are particularly splendid, the primary wing coverts are also unusually long and give a fringed appearance. The male has a helmet-like crest, the bill, which is partly covered by green filamentous feathers, is yellow in mature males and black in females. The skin of the quetzal is very thin and easily torn, like other members of the trogon family, it has large eyes that adapt easily to the dim light of its forest home. The song is a treble syllable described as kyow or like a whimpering pup, often in pairs, resplendent quetzals have other unmusical calls as well. Their habitat is cloud forest from Southern Mexico to western Panama. Resplendent quetzals are considered specialized fruit-eaters, although they mix their diet with insects, frogs, particularly important are wild avocados and other fruit of the laurel family, which the birds swallow whole before regurgitating the pits, which helps to disperse these trees. Resplendent quetzals usually live alone when not breeding and they are monogamous territorial breeders, with the territory size being measured in Guatemala as 6–10 ha
18.
Liberty
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Liberty, in philosophy, involves free will as contrasted with determinism. In politics, liberty consists of the social and political freedoms to all community members are entitled. In theology, liberty is freedom from the effects of sin, spiritual servitude, as such, the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others. Philosophers from earliest times have considered the question of liberty, according to Thomas Hobbes, a free man is he that in those things which by his strength and wit he is able to do is not hindered to do what he hath the will to do. John Locke rejected that definition of liberty, while not specifically mentioning Hobbes, he attacks Sir Robert Filmer who had the same definition. According to Locke, In the state of nature, liberty consists of being free from any power on Earth. People are not under the will or lawmaking authority of others but have only the law of nature for their rule, in political society, liberty consists of being under no other lawmaking power except that established by consent in the commonwealth. People are free from the dominion of any will or legal restraint apart from that enacted by their own constituted lawmaking power according to the trust put in it. Thus, freedom is not as Sir Robert Filmer defines it, A liberty for everyone to do what he likes, to live as he pleases, freedom is constrained by laws in both the state of nature and political society. Freedom of nature is to be no other restraint but the law of nature. Freedom of people under government is to be under no restraint apart from standing rules to live by that are common to everyone in the society and made by the lawmaking power established in it. Persons have a right or liberty to follow their own will in all things that the law has not prohibited and not be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, and arbitrary wills of others. John Stuart Mill, in his work, On Liberty, was the first to recognize the difference between liberty as the freedom to act and liberty as the absence of coercion, the modern concept of political liberty has its origins in the Greek concepts of freedom and slavery. To be free, to the Greeks, was to not have a master and that was the original Greek concept of freedom. It is closely linked with the concept of democracy, as Aristotle put it, This, another is that a man should live as he likes. This, they say, is the privilege of a freeman, since, on the other hand and this applied only to free men. In Athens, for instance, women could not vote or hold office and were legally and socially dependent on a male relative, the populations of the Persian Empire enjoyed some degree of freedom. Citizens of all religions and ethnic groups were given the rights and had the same freedom of religion, women had the same rights as men
19.
Parchment
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Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of kids, lambs and it may be called animal membrane by libraries and museums that wish to avoid distinguishing between parchment and the more restricted term vellum. Today the term parchment is often used in non-technical contexts to refer to any animal skin, particularly goat, sheep or cow, that has been scraped or dried under tension. Vellum in theory refers exclusively to calfskin, and is used to denote a quality of material. The term parchment originally referred only to the skin of sheep and, occasionally, the word parchment evolved from the name of the city of Pergamon which was a thriving center of parchment production during the Hellenistic period. This account, originated in the writings of Pliny the Elder, is dubious because parchment had been in use in Anatolia, in the 2nd century BC a great library was set up in Pergamon that rivaled the famous Library of Alexandria. Writing on prepared animal skins had a history, however. H. Ibscher, and preserved in the Cairo Museum, a roll of the Twelfth Dynasty now in Berlin, the text now in the British Museum. Though the Assyrians and the Babylonians impressed their cuneiform on clay tablets, early Islamic texts are also found on parchment. In the later Middle Ages, especially the 15th century, parchment was largely replaced by paper for most uses except luxury manuscripts, new techniques in paper milling allowed it to be much cheaper than parchment, it was still made of textile rags and of very high quality. With the advent of printing in the fifteenth century, the demands of printers far exceeded the supply of animal skins for parchment. Although most copies of the Gutenberg Bible are on paper, some were printed on parchment,12 of the 48 surviving copies, in 1490, Johannes Trithemius preferred the older methods, because handwriting placed on parchment will be able to endure a thousand years. But how long will printing last, which is dependent on paper and it lasts for two hundred years that is a long time. In fact high quality paper from this period has survived 500 years or more very well, the heyday of parchment use was during the medieval period, but there has been a growing revival of its use among artists since the late 20th century. Although parchment never stopped being used it had ceased to be a choice for artists supports by the end of 15th century Renaissance. This was partly due to its expense and partly due to its working properties. When the water in paint media touches parchments surface, the collagen melts slightly, forming a bed for the paint
20.
Scroll
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A scroll, also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. The scroll is usually unrolled so that one page is exposed at a time, for writing or reading, with the remaining pages rolled up to the left and right of the visible page. It is unrolled side to side, and the text is written in lines from the top to the bottom of the page. Depending on the language, the letters may be left to right, right to left. Some scrolls are simply rolled up pages, others may have wooden rollers on each end, scrolls were the first form of editable record keeping texts, used in Eastern Mediterranean ancient Egyptian civilizations. Parchment scroll used by Israelites after Sinai was the first use of scrolls in the recording of literature before the codex or bound book with pages was invented by the Latins in the 1st century AD. Scrolls were more highly regarded than codices until well into Roman times where they were written in single latitudinal column. The ink used in writing scrolls had to adhere to a surface that was rolled and unrolled, even so, ink would slowly flake off of scrolls. Shorter pieces of parchment or paper are called rolls or rotuli, historians of the classical period tend to use roll instead of scroll. A distinction that sometimes applies is that the lines of writing in rotuli run across the width of the rather than along the length. Rolls may be wider than most scrolls, up to perhaps 60 cm or two feet wide, Rolls were often stored together in a special cupboard on shelves. A special Chinese form of book, called the whirlwind book, consists of several pieces of paper bound at the top with bamboo. In Scotland, the term scrow was used from about the 13th to the 17th centuries for scroll, writing, there existed an office of Clerk of the Scrow meaning the Clerk of the Rolls or Clerk of the Register. The scroll was replaced by the codex, a process which started almost as soon as the codex was invented. Unfortunately, scrolls were usually discarded after their contents were transferred to a codex, most scrolls uncovered by archaeologists are found in trash middens and burial sites. The oldest complete Torah scroll was discovered in May 2013 by Professor Mauro Perani. It was stored in a library in Bolonia, Italy. It had been mislabeled in 1889 as dating from the 17th century, carbon testing dates the prayer book to the year 840, which is 300 to 400 years earlier than the previously oldest known Torah scrolls from the 12th and 13th centuries
21.
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
22.
Rifle
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A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called lands, which contact with the projectile. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling and this allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word rifle originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a rifled gun, the word rifle is now used for any long hand-held aimed device activated by a trigger, such as Air rifles and the Personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports, formerly, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze, some fire in an automatic mode. Thus, modern automatic rifles overlap to some extent in design, in fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs. A militarys light machine guns are chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between a rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally belt-fed, many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from a bolt in order to reduce the danger of cook-off. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier, the rifle is an individual weapon, the term rifle is sometimes used to describe larger crew-served rifled weapons firing explosive shells, for example, recoilless rifles. In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, the origins of rifling are difficult to trace, but some of the earliest practical experiments seem to have occurred in Europe during the 15th century. Archers had long realized that a twist added to the feathers of their arrows gave them greater accuracy. This might also have led to a increase in accuracy. Rifles were created as an improvement in the accuracy of smooth bore muskets, the black powder used in early muzzle-loading rifles quickly fouled the barrel, making loading slower and more difficult. Since musketeers could not afford to take the time to stop and clean their barrels in the middle of a battle, rifles were limited to use by sharpshooters, muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle
23.
Laurus nobilis
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Laurus nobilis is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous leaves, in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking and its common names include bay laurel, sweet bay, bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree or simply laurel. Laurus nobilis figures prominently in classical Greek, Roman, and Biblical culture, the laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching 7–18 metres tall. The genus Laurus includes four accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap, the bay laurel is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Each flower is pale yellow-green, about 1 cm diameter, the leaves are glabrous, 6–12 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an entire margin. On some leaves the margin undulates, the fruit is a small, shiny black berry-like drupe about 1 cm long that contains one seed. A recent study found considerable genetic diversity within L. nobilis, Laurus nobilis is a widespread relic of the laurel forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin when the climate of the region was more humid. With the drying of the Mediterranean during the Pliocene era, the forests gradually retreated. The most abundant component found in essential oil is 1, 8-cineole. Both essential and fatty oils are present in the fruit, the fruit is pressed and water-extracted to obtain these products. The fruit contains up to 30% fatty oils and about 1% essential oils, the plant is the source of several popular herbs and one spice used in a wide variety of recipes, particularly among Mediterranean cuisines. Most commonly, the leaves are added whole to Italian pasta sauces. They are typically removed from dishes before serving, unless used as a simple garnish, whole bay leaves have a long shelf life of about one year, under normal temperature and humidity. Whole bay leaves are used almost exclusively as flavor agents during the preparation stage. Ground bay leaves, however, can be ingested safely and are used in soups and stocks. Dried laurel berries and pressed leaf oil can both be used as robust spices, and the wood can be burnt for strong smoke flavoring, aqueous extracts of bay laurel can also be used as astringents and even as a reasonable salve for open wounds. In massage therapy, the oil of bay laurel is reputed to alleviate arthritis and rheumatism, while in aromatherapy, it is used to treat earaches. A traditional folk remedy for rashes caused by poison ivy, poison oak, the chemical compound lauroside B isolated from Laurus nobilis is an inhibitor of human melanoma cell proliferation at high concentrations in-vitro
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Honour
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Accordingly, individuals are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large. Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his A Dictionary of the English Language, defined honour as having several senses, the first of which was nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness. This sort of honour derives from the perceived virtuous conduct and personal integrity of the person endowed with it and this sort of honour is not so much a function of moral or ethical excellence, as it is a consequence of power. Finally, with respect to sexuality, honour has traditionally been associated with chastity or virginity, or in case of married men and women, some have argued that honour should be seen more as a rhetoric, or set of possible actions, than as a code. Honour as a code of behaviour defines the duties of an individual within a social group, margaret Visser observes that in an honour-based society a person is what he or she is in the eyes of other people. A code of honour differs from a code, also socially defined and concerned with justice, in that honour remains implicit rather than explicit. One can distinguish honour from dignity, which Wordsworth assessed as measured against an individuals conscience rather than against the judgement of a community, compare also the sociological concept of face. In the early period, a lords or ladys honour was the group of manors or lands he or she held. The word was first used indicating an estate which gave its holder dignity, the concept of honour appears to have declined in importance in the modern West, conscience has replaced it in the individual context, and the rule of law has taken over in a social context. Popular stereotypes would have it surviving more definitively in more tradition-bound cultures, feudal or other agrarian societies, which focus upon land use and land ownership, may tend to honour more than do contemporary industrial societies. Note that Saint Anselm of Canterbury in Cur Deus Homo extended the concept of honour from his own society to postulate Gods honour. An emphasis on the importance of honour exists in traditional institutions as the military and in organisations with a military ethos. Western observers generally see these honour killings as a way of men using the culture of honour to control female sexuality, various sociologists and anthropologists have contrasted cultures of honour with cultures of law. A culture of law has a body of laws which all members of society must obey and this requires a society with the structures required to enact and enforce laws. Historians have especially examined the American South, social scientists have looked at specialized subcultures such as South Asian Muslims in Britain. Others have compared multiple modern nations, due to the lack of strong institutions, cultivating a reputation for swift and disproportionate revenge increases the safety of ones person and property against aggressive actors. Thinkers ranging from Montesquieu to Steven Pinker have remarked upon the mindset needed for a culture of honour, however cultures of honour can also appear in places like modern inner-city slums. The three conditions exist here as well, lack of resources, crime and theft have a high rewards compared to the alternatives, and law enforcement is generally lax or corrupt
25.
Member states of the United Nations
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The United Nations member states are the 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the worlds largest intergovernmental organization, ahead of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. A recommendation for admission from the Security Council requires affirmative votes from at least nine of the fifteen members. The Security Councils recommendation must then be approved in the General Assembly by a majority vote. In principle, only states can become UN members. Although five members were not sovereign when they joined the UN and this is because the UN does not consider them to possess sovereignty, mainly due to the lack of international recognition or due to opposition from one of the permanent members. Observers are generally intergovernmental organizations and international organizations and entities whose statehood or sovereignty is not precisely defined, the other two original members, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, had been dissolved and their memberships in the UN not continued from 1992 by any one successor state. India was under British colonial rule, until gaining independence in 1947. The Philippines was a commonwealth with the United States, until gaining independence in 1946. New Zealand, while de facto sovereign at that time, only gained full capacity to enter into relations with states in 1947 when it passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act. This occurred 16 years after the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster Act in 1931 that recognised New Zealands autonomy, if judged by the Montevideo Convention criteria, New Zealand did not achieve full de jure statehood until 1947. The current members and their dates of admission are listed below with their official designations used by the United Nations, the member states can be sorted by their official designations and dates of admission by clicking on the buttons in the header of the columns. See related sections on former members by clicking on the links in the column See also, original members are listed with blue background. Both sides rejected compromise proposals to both states to participate in the UN, based on the One-China policy. By the 1970s, a shift had occurred in diplomatic circles. This effectively transferred the seat of China in the UN, including its permanent seat on the Security Council, from the ROC to the PRC, from the United Nations perspective the Republic of China is not a former member. No UN member was expelled in 1971, rather, the credentials of one Chinese delegation were rejected and the credentials of another Chinese delegation were accepted. In addition to losing its seat in the UN, the UN Secretary-General concluded from the resolution that the General Assembly considered Taiwan to be a province of China
26.
Firearm
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A firearm is a portable gun - a barreled weapon that launches one or more projectiles, often driven by the action of an explosive force. The first primitive firearms originated in 13th-century China when the fire lance was combined with projectiles. The technology gradually spread through the rest of East Asia, South Asia, older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability, modern firearms can be described by their caliber or in the case of shotguns their gauge, by the type of action employed together with the usual means of deportment. The word firearms usually is used in a sense restricted to small arms, shooters aim firearms at their targets with hand-eye co-ordination, using either iron sights or optical sights. The accurate range of pistols generally does not exceed 100 yards, while most rifles are accurate to 550 yards using iron sights, some purpose-built sniper rifles are accurate to ranges of more than 2,200 yards. The smallest of all firearms is the handgun, there are three common types of handguns, single-shot pistols, revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. Revolvers have a number of firing chambers or charge holes in a revolving cylinder, semi-automatic pistols have a single fixed firing chamber machined into the rear of the barrel, and a magazine so they can be used to fire more than one round. Each press of the fires a cartridge, using the energy of the cartridge to activate the mechanism so that the next cartridge may be fired immediately. This is opposed to double-action revolvers which accomplish the end using a mechanical action linked to the trigger pull. Prior to the 19th century, virtually all handguns were single-shot muzzleloaders, with the invention of the revolver in 1818, handguns capable of holding multiple rounds became popular. Certain designs of auto-loading pistol appeared beginning in the 1870s and had largely supplanted revolvers in military applications by the end of World War I. By the end of the 20th century, most handguns carried regularly by military, police and civilians were semi-automatic, both designs are common among civilian gun owners, depending on the owners intention. A long gun is any firearm that is larger than a handgun and is designed to be held. Early long arms, from the Renaissance up to the century, were generally smoothbore firearms that fired one or more ball shot. Most modern long guns are either rifles or shotguns, both are the successors of the musket, diverging from their parent weapon in distinct ways. A rifle is so named for the spiral fluting machined into the surface of its barrel. Shotguns are predominantly smoothbore firearms designed to fire a number of shot, shotguns are also capable of firing single slugs, or specialty rounds such as bean bags, tear gas or breaching rounds
27.
Flag of Mozambique
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The flag of Mozambique was adopted on May 1,1983. It includes the image of an AK-47 with an attached to the barrel. The rifle stands for defence and vigilance, the book symbolizes the importance of education, the hoe represents the countrys agriculture. The flag is based on the flag of the Mozambican Liberation Front, on independence the colors were rearranged to form the national flag, in diagonals emanating from the upper hoist. Over this was a white cogwheel containing the hoe, rifle, book, the flag was altered in 1983, the colors were arranged in horizontal stripes, and the star of Marxism was made larger. In 2005, a competition was held to design a new flag for Mozambique,119 entries were received and a winning flag was selected, but to this day the flag remains the same. This came in the context of a drive to create a new crest, the proposition of a new flag was rejected by the FRELIMO-led parliament in December 2005. 169 proposed flags were turned down, including the current flag without the rifle, Mozambique at Flags of the World
28.
Flag of Haiti
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The national flag of Haiti is a bicolour flag featuring two horizontal bands coloured blue and red, defaced by a white panel bearing the coat of arms. The coat of arms depicts a trophy of weapons atop a hill, ready to defend freedom. The palm is topped by the Cap of Liberty, the motto LUnion Fait La Force appears on a white ribbon below the arrangement. The present design was first used by the Republic of Haiti under President Alexandre Pétion in 1806 and it was readopted by Article 3 of the current Constitution of Haiti on February 25,2012, and made square as part of its readoption. In its semi-official English translation, Article 3 reads, The emblem of the Haitian Nation shall be a flag with the following description, two equal sized horizontal bands, a blue one on top and a red one underneath, b. The coat of arms of the Republic are, a Palmette surmounted by the liberty cap, the first purely Haitian flag was adopted on May 18,1803, on the last day of the Congress of Arcahaie, about 80 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince. Haitian lore holds that the newly appointed revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag by taking a French tricolor and ripping out the white center and he then asked Catherine Flon, his god-daughter, to sew the remaining bands together. The white pale removed, the blue was taken to represent Haitis black citizens, the story is widely known in Haiti, the anniversary of the date is celebrated as the Haitian Flag Day and images of Catherine Flon have appeared on Haitian currency and stamps. Following his proclamation as Emperor Jacques I, Dessalines promulgated a new constitution on May 20,1805, in it, the colors of the flag were altered to black and red. During the period of the Haitian Empire of Faustin I, his coat of arms was used on the flag and for official functions, between 1964 and 1986, the family dictatorships of François Papa Doc and Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier returned to Dessalines black and red design. They included the coat of arms, but altered the flags in its trophy to black as well. This led to the addition of a crown to the design of the flag of Liechtenstein, list of Haitian flags Flag of France Flag of Liechtenstein Fombrun, Odette Roy, ed. History of The Haitian Flag of Independence, the Flag Heritage Foundation Monograph And Translation Series Publication No.3. Worldsstatesmen. de Vries, Hubert, ed. Haiti - LUnion Fait La Force, the Armorial of Haiti, Symbols of Nobility in the Reign of Henry Christophe République dHaïti
29.
Los Altos, Central America
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Los Altos was the sixth state of the Federal Republic of Central America, and a short-lived independent republic. Los Altos occupied eight departments in the west of present-day Guatemala as well as the Soconusco region in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The state originated from the differences and tensions between Guatemala City on one side, and Quetzaltenango and other parts of western Central America on the other. Debate about separation from Guatemala dated from shortly after Central American independence from Spain in 1821, such a separate state was provided for by the Federal constitutional assembly of November 1824, but there was sizable opposition to the separation in Guatemala City. The independence of Los Altos from Guatemala was officially proclaimed on 2 February 1838, the Federal government recognized Los Altos as the sixth state of the union and seated the representatives of Los Altos in the Federal Congress on 5 June of that year. The flag of Los Altos was a modification of that of the Central American Union and this was the first Central American flag to use the quetzal as a symbol, since 1871, it has been on the present flag of Guatemala. Los Altos consisted of the regions of Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango. On April 2,1838, in the city of Quetzaltenango, Carrera defeated General Agustin Guzman when the former Mexican officer tried to ambush him and then went on to Quetzaltenango, where he imposed a harsh and hostile conservative regime for liberals. Guatemala had a cordon of guards from the border with El Salvador, without telegraph service, with the information from these messengers, Carrera hatched their plan of defense leaving his brother Sotero by troops who presented a slight resistance in the city. Carrera pretended to flee and led the army to the heights of Aceituno as only had about four men. The city was at the mercy of the army of Morazán, Now in such combat scenario, Morazáns soldiers lost the initiative and their numerical superiority. Carrera, by then a military men was able to stand up. The disaster for the general was complete, aided by Angel Molina who knew the streets of the city, had to flee with his favorite men. Through ravine of El Incienso to El Salvador, to save his life, in his absence Morazán had been relieved as Head of State of that country, which is why he had to embark for exile in Perú. In Guatemala, survivors from his troops were shot without mercy, while Carrera was out in pursuit of Morazan, Agustin Guzmán, who was freed by Morazán when the latter had seemingly defeated Carrera in Guatemala City, had gone back to Quetzaltenango to tell the good news. The city liberal criollo leaders rapidly reinstated the Los Altos State, on 2 April 1840, after entering the city, Carrera told the citizens that he had already warned them after he defeated them earlier that year. Then, he ordered the majority of the city hall officials from Los Altos to be shot on his orders. Carrera, then forcibly annexed Quetzaltenango and much of Los Altos back into conservative Guatemala, taking advantage of the chaos and unsettled situation, the Soconusco region was annexed by Mexico
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Garifuna
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The Garifuna are mixed-race descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib, and Arawak people. Those Caribs who were deemed to look Native and had less African admixture are still living in the islands of the Lesser Antilles, the Island Caribs lived throughout the southern Lesser Antilles, such as present Dominica, St Vincent and Trinidad. Their ancestors are believed to have conquered these areas from their previous inhabitants, since April 12,1797, the Garifuna people have been living in Central America, where they speak the Garifuna language. The Garifuna people mostly live along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, but there are smaller populations in Belize, Guatemala. There are also many Garinagu in the United States, particularly in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Seattle, the Carib people migrated from the mainland to the islands circa 1200, according to carbon dating of artifacts. They largely displaced, exterminated and assimilated the Taino who were resident on the island at the time, the French missionary Raymond Breton arrived in the Lesser Antilles in 1635, and lived on Guadeloupe and Dominica until 1653. He took ethnographic and linguistic notes on the peoples of these islands, including St Vincent. They subdued the inhabitants called Galibeis, and unions took place between the peoples. According to Youngs record, the first Africans arrived in 1675 following the wreck of a ship from the Bight of Biafra. The survivors, members of the Mokko people of todays Nigeria, the Carib took them to Saint Vincent and intermarried with them, supplying the African men with wives, as it was taboo in their society for men to go unwed. In 1635 the Carib were overwhelmed by French forces led by the adventurer Pierre Belain dEsnambuc and they imposed French colonial rule on the indigenous Carib peoples. Cardinal Richelieu of France gave the island to the Saint Christophe Company, later the company was reorganized as the Company of the American Islands. The French colonists imposed French Law on the inhabitants, and Jesuit missionaries arrived to convert them to the Roman Catholic Church and this authorized the capture and purchase of slaves from sub-Saharan Africa and their transportation as labor to Martinique and other parts of the French West Indies. In 1650, the Company liquidated, selling Martinique to Jacques Dyel du Parquet and he held this position until his death in 1658. His widow Mme. du Parquet took over control of the island from France, as more French colonists arrived, they were attracted to the fertile area known as Cabesterre. The French had pushed the remaining Carib people to this northeastern coast and the Caravalle Peninsula, the Jesuits and the Dominicans agreed that whichever order arrived there first, would get all future parishes in that part of the island. The Jesuits came by sea and the Dominicans by land, with the Dominicans ultimately prevailing, when the Carib revolted against French rule in 1660, the Governor Charles Houel sieur de Petit Pré retaliated with war against them. Many were killed, those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island, on Martinique, the French colonists signed a peace treaty with the few remaining Carib
31.
Maya peoples
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The Maya people are a group of Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. They inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, the pre-Columbian Maya population was approximately eight million. There were a seven million Maya living in this area at the start of the 21st century. Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, one of the largest groups of modern Maya can be found in Mexicos Yucatán State and the neighboring states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and in Belize. These peoples commonly identify themselves simply as Maya with no further ethnic subdivision and they speak the language which anthropologists term Yucatec Maya, but is identified by speakers and Yucatecos simply as Maya. Among Maya speakers, Spanish is commonly spoken as a second or first language, linguists refer to the Maya language as Yucatec or Yucatec Maya to distinguish it from other Mayan languages. This norm has often been misinterpreted to mean that the people are also called Yucatec Maya, that refers only to the language. Maya is one language in the Mayan language family, thus, to refer to Maya as Mayans would be similar to referring to Spanish people as Romantics because they speak a language belonging to the Romance language family. Confusion of the term Maya/Mayan as an ethnic label occurs because Maya women who use traditional dress identify by the ethnic term mestiza, the Yucatáns indigenous population was first exposed to Europeans after a party of Spanish shipwreck survivors came ashore in 1511. One of the sailors, Gonzalo Guerrero, is reported to have taken up with a woman and started a family. Later Spanish expeditions to the region were led by Córdoba in 1517, Grijalva in 1518, from 1528 to 1540, several attempts by Francisco Montejo to conquer the Yucatán failed. His son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger, fared almost as badly when he first took over, while holding out at Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza was conquered by 1570, in 1542, the western Yucatán Peninsula also surrendered to him. Historically, the population in the half of the peninsula was less affected by. In the 21st century in the Yucatán Peninsula, between 750,000 and 1,200,000 people speak Mayan, however, three times more than that are of Maya origins, hold ancient Maya surnames, and do not speak Mayan languages as their first language. Matthew Restall, in his book The Maya Conquistador, mentions a series of letters sent to the King of Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. The noble Maya families at that time signed documents to the Spanish Royal Family, surnames mentioned in letters are Pech, Camal, Xiu, Ucan, Canul, Cocom. A large 19th-century revolt by the native Maya people of Yucatán, for a period the Maya state of Chan Santa Cruz was recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire, particularly in terms of trading with British Honduras
32.
Maya script
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The earliest inscriptions found which are identifiably Maya date to the 3rd century BCE in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Maya writing was in use throughout Mesoamerica until the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the 16th and 17th centuries. Maya writing used logograms complemented by a set of syllabic glyphs, modern Mayan languages are written using the Latin alphabet rather than Maya script. It is now thought that the codices and other Classic texts were written by scribes, usually members of the Maya priesthood, there is also some evidence that the script may have been occasionally used to write Mayan languages of the Guatemalan Highlands. However, if languages were written, they may have been written by Ch’olti’ scribes. Mayan writing consisted of an elaborate set of glyphs, which were laboriously painted on ceramics, walls or bark-paper codices, carved in wood or stone. Carved and molded glyphs were painted, but the paint has rarely survived, about 90% of Mayan writing can now be read with varying degrees of certainty, enough to give a comprehensive idea of its structure. The Mayan script was a logosyllabic system, individual glyphs could represent either a word or a syllable, indeed, the same glyph could often be used for both. For example, the calendaric glyph MANIK’ was also used to represent the syllable chi, there was polyvalence in the other direction as well, different glyphs could be read the same way. For example, half a dozen apparently unrelated glyphs were used to write the common third person pronoun u-. However, in the case of Mayan, each tended to correspond to a noun or verb phrase such as his green headband. Also, glyphs were sometimes conflated, where an element of one glyph would replace part of a second, conflation occurs in other scripts, For example, in medieval Spanish manuscripts the word de of was sometimes written Ð. Another example is the ampersand which is a conflation of the Latin et, in place of the standard block configuration, Mayan was also sometimes written in a single row or column, L, or T shapes. These variations most often appeared when they would fit the surface being inscribed. For example, the logogram for fish fin, came to represent the syllable ka, for example, balam jaguar could be written as a single logogram, BALAM, complemented phonetically as ba-BALAM, or BALAM-ma, or ba-BALAM-ma, or written completely phonetically as ba-la-ma. Phonetic glyphs stood for simple consonant-vowel or bare-vowel syllables, when these final consonants were sonorants or gutturals they were sometimes ignored, but more often final consonants were written, which meant that an extra vowel was written as well. This was typically an echo vowel that repeated the vowel of the previous syllable and that is, the word fish fin would be underspelled ka or written in full as ka-ha. A more complex spelling is ha-o-bo ko-ko-no-ma for they are the guardians, a minimal set is, ba-ka ba-ki ba-ku = ba-ke ba-ke-le Despite depending on consonants which were frequently not written, the Mayan voice system was reliably indicated
33.
Maya calendar
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The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in use throughout the region. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, the Maya calendar consists of several cycles or counts of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Tzolkin, the Tzolkin was combined with a 365-day vague solar year known as the Haab to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haab, called the Calendar Round. The Calendar Round is still in use by groups in the Guatemalan highlands. A different calendar was used to longer periods of time. It is a count of days since a mythological starting-point, the GMT correlation was chosen by John Eric Sydney Thompson in 1935 on the basis of earlier correlations by Joseph Goodman in 1905, Juan Martínez Hernández in 1926 and Thompson himself in 1927. By its linear nature, the Long Count was capable of being extended to refer to any date far into the past or future and this calendar involved the use of a positional notation system, in which each position signified an increasing multiple of the number of days. The Maya numeral system was vigesimal, and each unit of a given position represented 20 times the unit of the position which preceded it. An important exception was made for the place value, which instead represented 18 ×20, or 360 days. It should be noted however that the cycles of the Long Count are independent of the solar year, less-prevalent or poorly understood cycles, combinations and calendar progressions were also tracked. An 819-day Count is attested in a few inscriptions, repeating sets of 9 days associated with different groups of deities, animals, and other significant concepts are also known. The tzolkin is the commonly employed by Mayanist researchers for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day calendar. The word tzolkin is a neologism coined in Yucatec Maya, to mean count of days, the various names of this calendar as used by precolumbian Maya peoples are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called Tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language, the tzolkin calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen day numbers to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events, Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names, Some systems started the count with 1 Imix, followed by 2 Ik,3 Akbal, etc. up to 13 Ben. The day numbers then start again at 1 while the sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix,2 Men,3 Kib,4 Kaban,5 Etznab,6 Kawak
34.
Pantone
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Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. X-Rite Inc. a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, Pantone began in New York City in the 1950s as the commercial printing company of M & J Levine Advertising. In 1956, its founders, advertising executives brothers Mervin and Jesse Levine, for instance, a particular page might contain a number of yellows of varying tints. The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to color match specific colors when a design enters production stage and this system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time, Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used, while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used. The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system, by standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another. One such use is standardizing colors in the CMYK process, the CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A majority of the printed material is produced using the CMYK process. Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the companys guides, however, most of the Pantone systems 1,114 spot colors cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments mixed in specified amounts. The Pantone system also allows for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics, while most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. Screen-based colors use the RGB color model—red, green, blue—system to create various colors, the Goe system has RGB and LAB values with each color. Pantone colors are described by their allocated number, PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation and military standards. In January 2003, the Scottish Parliament debated a petition to refer to the blue in the Scottish flag as Pantone 300, countries such as Canada and South Korea and organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. US states including Texas have set legislated PMS colors of their flags and it has also been used in an art project by the Brazilian photographer Angelica Dass which applies Pantone to the human skin color spectrum. On September 5,2007, Pantone introduced the Goe System, Goe consisted of over 2,000 new colors in a new matching and numbering system. The Goe system was streamlined to use base colors and accommodate many technical challenges in reproducing colors on a press. The Pantone Goe system was discontinued in November 2013, in mid-2006 Pantone, partnering with Vermont-based Fine Paints of Europe, introduced a new line of interior and exterior paints. The color palette uses Pantones color research and trending and has more than 3,000 colors, in November 2015, Pantone partnered with Redland London to create a collection of bags inspired from Pantones authority on color
35.
RGB color model
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The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a theory behind it. Thus an RGB value does not define the same color across devices without some kind of color management, typical RGB input devices are color TV and video cameras, image scanners, video games, and digital cameras. Typical RGB output devices are TV sets of technologies, computer and mobile phone displays, video projectors, multicolor LED displays. Color printers, on the hand are not RGB devices. This article discusses concepts common to all the different color spaces that use the RGB color model, to form a color with RGB, three light beams must be superimposed. Each of the three beams is called a component of color, and each of them can have an arbitrary intensity, from fully off to fully on. The RGB color model is additive in the sense that the three beams are added together, and their light spectra add, wavelength for wavelength. This is essentially opposite to the color model that applies to paints, inks, dyes. When the intensities for all the components are the same, the result is a shade of gray, darker or lighter depending on the intensity. When the intensities are different, the result is a colorized hue, a secondary color is formed by the sum of two primary colors of equal intensity, cyan is green+blue, magenta is red+blue, and yellow is red+green. The RGB color model itself does not define what is meant by red, green and blue colorimetrically, and so the results of mixing them are not specified as absolute, but relative to the primary colors. When the exact chromaticities of the red, green and blue primaries are defined, the normal three kinds of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the human eye respond most to yellow, green, and violet light. As an example, suppose that light in the range of wavelengths enters the eye. Light of these wavelengths would activate both the medium and long wavelength cones of the retina, but not equally—the long-wavelength cells will respond more, the difference in the response can be detected by the brain, and this difference is the basis of our perception of orange. Thus, the appearance of an object results from light from the object entering our eye and stimulating the different cones simultaneously. The first experiments with RGB in early color photography were made in 1861 by Maxwell himself, to reproduce the color photograph, three matching projections over a screen in a dark room were necessary
36.
CMYK color model
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The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four used in some color printing, cyan, magenta, yellow. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer, the K in CMYK stands for key because in four-color printing, cyan, magenta and yellow printing plates are carefully keyed, or aligned, with the key of the black key plate. Some sources suggest that the K in CMYK comes from the last letter in black and was chosen because B already means blue. Some sources claim this explanation, although useful as a mnemonic, is incorrect, the CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colors on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected, such a model is called subtractive because inks subtract brightness from white. In additive color models such as RGB, white is the combination of all primary colored lights. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite, white is the color of the paper or other background. To save cost on ink, and to produce deeper black tones, unsaturated and dark colors are produced by using black ink instead of the combination of cyan, magenta, with halftoning, a full continuous range of colors can be produced. To improve print quality and reduce moiré patterns, the screen for each color is set at a different angle. Common reasons for using black ink include, In traditional preparation of color separations, in some cases a black keyline was used when it served as both a color indicator and an outline to be printed in black. Because usually the black plate contained the keyline, the K in CMYK represents the keyline or black plate, also sometimes called the key plate. A combination of 100% cyan, magenta, and yellow inks soaks the paper with ink, making it slower to dry, causing bleeding, adding black ink absorbs more light and yields much better blacks. Using black ink is less expensive than using the corresponding amounts of colored inks. When a very dark area is desirable, a colored or gray CMY bedding is applied first, then a black layer is applied on top, making a rich, deep black. A black made with just CMY inks is sometimes called a composite black, the amount of black to use to replace amounts of the other ink is variable, and the choice depends on the technology, paper and ink in use. Processes called under color removal, under addition, and gray component replacement are used to decide on the final mix. CMYK or process color printing is contrasted with spot color printing, some printing presses are capable of printing with both four-color process inks and additional spot color inks at the same time
37.
Vice President of Guatemala
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Vice President of Guatemala is a political position in Guatemala which is since 1966 elected concurrently with the position of President of Guatemala. The current Vice President is Jafeth Cabrera, historically there has been provisions for multiple Vice Presidents elected for one-year-term. The election was carried in Congress of Guatemala, a provision for First and Second Vice Presidents existed 1882-1921, 1921-1928 and 1956-1966. A provision for First, Second and Third Vice Presidents existed 1921, history of the office holders follows
38.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
39.
History of Guatemala
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The Mayan civilization was among those that flourished in the region, with little contact with cultures outside Mesoamerica. The modern history of Guatemala began with the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1511, most of the great Classic-era Maya cities of the Petén Basin region, in the northern lowlands of Guatemala, had been abandoned by the year 1000 AD. The states in the Belize central highlands flourished until the arrival in 1525 of Pedro de Alvarado, called the invader by the Mayan peoples, he began subjugating the Indian states with his forces. The Capitania became independent in 1821, and became a part of the First Mexican Empire until 1823, from 1824 it was a part of the Federal Republic of Central America, until the Republic dissolved in 1841, when Guatemala became fully independent. In the late 20 century, Guatemala experienced a series of authoritarian governments, in the late 19th and early 20th century, Guatemalas potential for agricultural exploitation attracted several foreign companies to it, the most prominent being the United Fruit Company. These companies, supported by the authoritarian rulers, and the United States government through their support for brutal labor regulations. In 1944, the policies of Jorge Ubico led to an uprising which began the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution. The presidencies of Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz saw sweeping social and economic reforms, including a significant increase in literacy and this was soon followed by other military governments, and jolted off a civil war between the government and leftist guerrillas that lasted from 1960 to 1996. The war saw human rights violations, including a genocide of the indigenous Mayan population by the United States-backed military, following the end of the war in 1996, Guatemala re-established a representative democracy. It has since struggled to enforce the rule of law and suffers a high rate, as well as continued extrajudicial killings. The earliest human settlements in Guatemala date back to the Paleo-Indian period and were made up of hunters and gatherers, sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in Quiché in the Highlands and Sipacate, Escuintla on the central Pacific coast. Though it is unclear when these groups of hunters and gatherers turned to cultivation, pollen samples from Petén, excavations in the Antigua Guatemala Urías and Rucal, have yielded stratified materials from the Early and Middle Preclassic periods. Guatemalas Pre-Columbian era can be divided into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, in Monte Alto near La Democracia, Escuintla, giant stone heads and potbellies have been found, dating back to around 1800 BC. The stone heads have been ascribed to the Pre-Olmec Monte Alto Culture and it has also been argued the only connection between the statues and the later Olmec heads is their size. The Monte Alto Culture may have been the first complex culture of Mesoamerica, El Mirador was by far the most populated city in pre-Columbian America. Both the El Tigre and Monos pyramids encompass a greater than 250,000 cubic meters. There were 26 cities, all connected by sacbeob, which were several long, up to 40 meters wide. These are clearly distinguishable from the air in the most extensive virgin tropical rain forest in Mesoamerica, Hansen believes the Olmec were not the mother culture in Mesoamerica
40.
Spanish conquest of Guatemala
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Before the conquest, this territory contained a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which were Maya. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as infidels who needed to be converted and pacified. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast, the Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair, the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala from the newly conquered Mexico in early 1524, commanding a force of Spanish conquistadors and native allies. Geographic features across Guatemala now bear Nahuatl placenames owing to the influence of these Mexican allies, the Kaqchikel Maya initially allied themselves with the Spanish, but soon rebelled against excessive demands for tribute and did not finally surrender until 1530. In the meantime the other major highland Maya kingdoms had each been defeated in turn by the Spanish and allied warriors from Mexico, Spanish and native tactics and technology differed greatly. The Spanish viewed the taking of prisoners as a hindrance to outright victory, whereas the Maya prioritised the capture of live prisoners and of booty. The Maya preferred raiding and ambush to large-scale warfare, using spears, arrows and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades, in response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes. These letters were despatched to Tenochtitlan, addressed to Cortés but with an audience in mind. Gonzalo wrote an account that mostly supports that of Pedro de Alvarado, Pedro de Alvarados brother Jorge wrote another account to the king of Spain that explained it was his own campaign of 1527–1529 that established the Spanish colony. His account was finished around 1568, some 40 years after the campaigns it describes, Hernán Cortés described his expedition to Honduras in the fifth letter of his Cartas de Relación, in which he details his crossing of what is now Guatemalas Petén Department. Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas wrote a critical account of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. The Brevísima Relación de la Destrucción de las Indias was first published in 1552 in Seville, other accounts were in the form of questionnaires answered before colonial magistrates to protest and register a claim for recompense. A letter from the defeated Tzutujil Maya nobility of Santiago Atitlán to the Spanish king written in 1571 details the exploitation of the subjugated peoples, Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán was a colonial Guatemalan historian of Spanish descent who wrote La Recordación Florida, also called Historia de Guatemala. The book was written in 1690 and is regarded as one of the most important works of Guatemalan history, field investigation has tended to support the estimates of indigenous population and army sizes given by Fuentes y Guzmán. Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for the Kingdom of Castile, private adventurers thereafter entered into contracts with the Spanish Crown to conquer the newly discovered lands in return for tax revenues and the power to rule. In the first decades after the discovery of the new lands and they heard rumours of the rich empire of the Aztecs on the mainland to the west and, in 1519, Hernán Cortés set sail with eleven ships to explore the Mexican coast. By August 1521 the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had fallen to the Spanish, a single soldier arriving in Mexico in 1520 was carrying smallpox and thus initiated the devastating plagues that swept through the native populations of the Americas
41.
Viceroyalty of New Granada
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The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to the jurisdiction of the Spanish Empire in northern South America, corresponding to modern Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739, in addition to these core areas, the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada included Guyana, southwestern Suriname, parts of northwestern Brazil, and northern Peru. Sporadic attempts at reform were directed at increasing efficiency and centralizing authority, the rough and diverse geography of northern South America and the limited range of proper roads made travel and communications within the viceroyalty difficult. The Wayuu had never subjugated by the Spanish. The two groups were in a more or less permanent state of war, there had been rebellions in 1701,1727,1741,1757,1761 and 1768. In 1718, Governor Soto de Herrera called them barbarians, horse thieves, worthy of death, without God, without law, of all the Indians in the territory of Colombia, the Wayuu were unique in having learned the use of firearms and horses. In 1769 the Spanish took 22 Wayuus captive, in order to put them to work building the fortifications of Cartagena, the reaction of the Wayuus was unexpected. On 2 May 1769, at El Rincón, near Riohacha, they set their village afire, burning the church, the Spanish immediately dispatched an expedition from El Rincón to capture the Wayuus. At the head of this force was José Antonio de Sierra, the Guajiros recognized him and forced his party to take refuge in the house of the curate, which they then set afire. Sierra and eight of his men were killed and this success was soon known in other Guajiro areas, and more men joined the revolt. According to Messía, at the peak there were 20,000 Wayuus under arms, many had firearms acquired from English and Dutch smugglers, sometimes even from the Spanish. This enabled the rebels to take all the settlements of the region. According to the authorities, more than 100 Spaniards were killed, many cattle were also taken by the rebels. The Spaniards took refuge in Riohacha and sent urgent messages to Maracaibo, Valledupar, Santa Marta and Cartagena, the rebels themselves were not unified. Sierras relatives among the Indians took up arms against the rebels to avenge his death, a battle between the two groups of Wayuus was fought at La Soledad. That and the arrival of the Spanish reinforcements caused the rebellion to fade away, New Granada was estimated to have 4,345,000 inhabitants in 1819. With the dissolution of Gran Colombia, the states of Ecuador, Venezuela, the Republic of New Granada, with its capital at Bogotá, lasted from 1831 to 1856. The name Colombia reappeared in the United States of Colombia, the new name for the country having been introduced by a government after a civil war
42.
Captaincy General of Guatemala
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The governor-captain general was also president of the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala. The colonization of the area became the future Captaincy General began in 1524. In the north, the brothers Gonzalo and Pedro de Alvarado, Hernán Cortés and others headed various expeditions into Guatemala, in the south Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, acting under the auspices of Pedrarias Dávila in Panama, moved into what is today Nicaragua. The capital of Guatemala has moved many times over the centuries, on 27 July 1524, Pedro de Alvarado declared the Kaqchikel city, Iximche, as the first regional capital, styled Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala. However, hostilities between the Spaniards and the Kaqchikel soon made the city uninhabitable, in 1526, the Spanish founded a new capital settlement at Tecpán Guatemala, Tecpán being the Nahuatl word for palace. Tecpán is sometimes called the first capital because of its status as the first permanent Spanish military center, the Spaniards soon abandoned Tecpán due to continuous Kaqchikel attacks that made defense of the city untenable. In 1527, the capital was moved yet again to the Almolonga Valley to the east, being refounded on the site of todays San Miguel Escobar district of Ciudad Vieja, near Antigua Guatemala. This settlement was destroyed by a lahar from Volcan de Agua in 1541. In 1543, the capital was again refounded several miles away at Antigua Guatemala, over the next two centuries, this city would become one of the richest of the New World capitals. However, it too was destroyed, this time by a series of earthquakes. The final and current capital is the modern-day Guatemala City, the Church played an important role in the administration of the overseas possessions of the Spanish crown. The first dioceses were established in León, Nicaragua and Guatemala in 1534, another diocese was created in Chiapas in 1539. The dioceses of Guatemala and Chiapas were suffragan to the Archdiocese of Seville, the Diocese of León was made suffragan to Archdiocese of Lima in 1546. Another short-lived diocese was set up in Verapaz, Guatemala in 1559, in 1543 the territory of the kingdom was defined with the establishment of the Audiencia of Guatemala, which took most of Central America as its jurisdiction. This audiencia, along with the one in Lima, took over the territory of the first Audiencia of Panama and it was the first institution to define Central America as a region within the Spanish Empire. Around the same time Habsburg Spain created other captaincies general in Puerto Rico, Cuba, in the 17th century a process of uniting the church hierarchy of Central America also began. The dioceses of Comayagua and León were made suffragan to the Archdiocese of Mexico in 1620 and 1647, as part of the Bourbon Reforms in 1786 the crown established a series of intendancies in the area, which replaced most of the older corregimientos. The intendants were granted broad powers and were charged with promoting the local economy
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Guatemalan Revolution
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From the late 19th century until 1944 Guatemala was governed by a series of authoritarian rulers who sought to strengthen the economy by supporting the export of coffee. Under Jorge Ubico, who ruled as a dictator between 1931 and 1944, this process was intensified, with the institution of labor regulations. In June 1944, a popular movement led by university students. He appointed a military junta to take his place, led by Federico Ponce Vaides. This junta continued Ubicos oppressive policies, until it was toppled in a coup led by Jacobo Árbenz in October 1944. The coup leaders formed a junta which swiftly called for open elections and these elections were won in a landslide by Juan José Arévalo, a progressive professor of philosophy who had become the face of the popular movement. Following the end of Arévalos presidency in 1951, Jacobo Árbenz was elected to the presidency in a landslide, the progressive military leader of 1944 continued Arévalos reforms, and began an ambitious land-reform program, known as Decree 900. Under it, the portions of large land-holdings were expropriated in return for compensation. Approximately 500,000 people benefited from the decree, the majority of them were indigenous people, whose forebears had been dispossessed after the Spanish invasion. Árbenz policies ran afoul of the United Fruit Company, which lost some of its uncultivated land, the company lobbied the US government for Árbenz overthrow, and the State Department responded by engineering a coup under the pretext that Árbenz was a communist. Carlos Castillo Armas took power at the head of a military junta, the war lasted from 1960 to 1996, and saw the US-backed military commit genocide against the indigenous Maya peoples, and widespread human rights violations against civilians. Prior to the Spanish invasion in 1524, the population of Guatemala was almost exclusively Maya, the Spanish conquest created a system of wealthy European landowners overseeing a labor force composed of slaves and bonded laborers. However, the community lands of the population remained in their control until the late 19th century. At this point, rising demand for coffee made its export a significant source of income for the government. The US-based United Fruit Company was one of many companies that acquired large tracts of both state land and indigenous land. Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who was president of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920, permitted limited unionization in rural Guatemala, but also made further concessions to the UFC. In 1922, the Communist Party of Guatemala was created, and became a significant influence among urban laborers, however, it had little reach among the rural and Indian populations. In 1929, the Great Depression led to the collapse of the economy, fearing the possibility of a revolution, the landed elite lent their support to Jorge Ubico y Castañeda, who had built a reputation for ruthlessness and efficiency as a provincial governor
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Guatemalan Civil War
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The Guatemalan Civil War ran from 1960 to 1996. It was fought between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups supported chiefly by ethnic Maya indigenous people and Ladino peasants, in 1970, Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio became the first of a series of military dictators representing the Institutional Democratic Party or PID. The PID dominated Guatemalan politics for years through electoral frauds favoring two of Col. Carlos Aranas proteges. The PID lost its grip on Guatemalan politics when General Efraín Ríos Montt, together with a group of army officers. In the 1970s continuing social discontent gave rise to an insurgency among the populations of indigenous people and peasants. In the final stage of the war, the military developed a parallel, semi-visible, low profile but high-effect. In the early 1980s, the killings are considered to have taken on the scale of genocide, in total, it is estimated that 200,000 civilians were killed or disappeared during the conflict, most at the hands of the military, police and intelligence services. The Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico has estimated that 93% of violence in the conflict have been committed by government forces, in 2009, Guatemalan courts sentenced Felipe Cusanero as the first person convicted of the crime of ordering forced disappearances. Finally, the trial again on 23 July 2015. After the 1871 revolution, the Liberal government of Justo Rufino Barrios escalated coffee production in Guatemala, which required much land and many workers. In the 1890s, the United States began to implement the Monroe Doctrine, pushing out European colonial powers and establishing U. S. hegemony over resources and labor in Latin American nations. The dictators that ruled Guatemala during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were very accommodating to U. S. business and political interests. Unlike other Latin American nations, such as Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, the Guatemalan military/police worked closely with the U. S. military and State Department to secure U. S. interests. The Guatemalan government exempted several U. S. corporations from paying taxes and it also privatized and sold off publicly owned utilities, and gave away huge swaths of public land. In 1920, prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited Guatemala and described Guatemalan society, by 1920, they were mixed to a large extended with foreigners and the great majority had Indian blood in their veins. Formed of people born of the cross between natives, blacks and criollos, they held almost no power in 1920 and made up the bulk of artisans, storekeepers, tradesmen. In the eastern part of the country they were agricultural laborers, indians, the majority of the population was composed of native Guatemalans, many of whom had little to no formal education. Many natives served as soldiers for the Army, and they were raised to positions of considerable trust
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