1.
ISO 4217
–
The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
ISO 4217
–
An
airline ticket showing the price in the ISO 4217 code "
EUR " (bottom left) and not the
currency sign €
ISO 4217
–
A list of exchange rates for various base currencies given by a
money changer in Thailand, with the Thailand Baht as the counter (or quote) currency.
2.
Tetri
–
Tetri is a fractional currency used in the country of Georgia. It was put into circulation in 1995, the name tetri was adopted from the term describing golden, silver or copper coins known in ancient and medieval Georgia. The plural of the term tetri is tetrebi, however, the Georgian language uses the singular form when the quantity is specified, so in practice the plural of tetri is just tetri. Modern coins minted in the Republic of Georgia
Tetri
–
5 tetri (minted in 1993) diameter: 20.0 mm (thickness: 1.32 mm)
stainless steel (2.50 g)
Tetri
3.
Currency symbol
–
A currency symbol is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currencys name, especially in reference to amounts of money. The European Commission considers the global recognition of the euro sign € part of its success, in 2009, India launched a public competition to replace the ₨ ligature it shared with neighbouring countries. It finalised its new symbol, ₹ on 15 July 2010. It is a blend of the Latin letter R with the Devanagari letter र, when writing currency amounts the location of the symbol varies by currency. Many currencies in the English-speaking world and Latin America, place it before the amount, the Cape Verdean escudo places its symbol in the decimal separator position. The usage of many European countries, such as France, Germany, the decimal separator also follows local countries standards. For instance, the United Kingdom often uses an interpunct as the point on price stickers. Commas or decimal points are common separators used in other countries, see decimal separator for information on international standards. Older currency symbols have evolved slowly, often from previous currencies, the dollar and peso symbols originated from the mark employed to denote the Spanish real de a ocho, whereas the pound and lira symbols evolved from an L standing for libra, a Roman pound of silver. Newly invented currencies and currencies adopting new symbols have symbolism closer to their adopter, the added center bar in the real sign is meant to symbolize stability. The new Indian rupee symbol, ₹, is a combination of Latin. There are also considerations, such as the perception of the business community. For a new symbol to be used, software to render it needs to be promulgated, the EU was criticized for not considering how the euro symbol would need to be customized to work in different fonts. The original design was exceptionally wide. These two factors have led to most typefaces employing customized, font-specific versions, usually with reduced width, List of currencies List of circulating currencies Currency Symbols
Currency symbol
–
Official dimensions of the
euro sign
4.
Georgia (country)
–
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
Georgia (country)
–
It is said that
Georgians were so named because they revered
Saint George.
Georgia (country)
–
Flag
Georgia (country)
–
Ancient Georgian states of
Colchis and
Iberia, 500-400 BC
Georgia (country)
–
Queen
Tamar of Georgia presided over the "Golden Age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy. Her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title "Mepe mepeta" ("King of Kings").
5.
Abkhazia
–
Abkhazia is a partially recognised state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus Mountains, south of Russia and northwest of Georgia proper. It covers 8,660 square kilometres and has a population of around 240,000, the separatist Abkhazian polity, formally the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny, is recognised only by Russia and a small number of other countries. The status of Abkhazia is an issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The region enjoyed autonomy within Soviet Georgia at the time when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s, despite the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the dispute remained unresolved. The long-term presence of a United Nations Observer Mission and a Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force failed to prevent the flare-up of violence on several occasions. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia declared Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory, the Abkhazians call their homeland Аҧсны, popularly etymologised as a land/country of the soul, yet literally meaning a country of mortals. It possibly first appeared in the century in an Armenian text as Psin. The state is designated as the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. The Russian Абхазия is adapted from the Georgian აფხაზეთი, in Mingrelian, Abkhazia is known as აბჟუა or სააფხაზო. Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Colchis and this kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine Roman sources as Lazica. Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the multitude of languages they spoke. Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi and Moschoi peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the shore of the Black Sea. Around the mid 6th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighbouring Sassanid Persia fought for supremacy over Abkhazia for 20 years, Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. The country was mostly Christian, with the seat in Pityus. An Arab incursion into Abkhazia led by Marwan II, was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736, after acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s the Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and became a dominant power in western Caucasus. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy, the western Georgian kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of central Georgia. In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom into small kingdoms and principalities, since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhaz elite converted to Islam, the principality retained a degree of autonomy
Abkhazia
–
Abkhazia in 1899. Abkhazia was administered as Sukhumi District of
Kutaisi Governorate when it was part of the
Russian Empire.
Abkhazia
–
Flag
Abkhazia
–
Abkhaz and Georgian generals in the
Imperial Russian Army, 19th century
Abkhazia
–
The 12th anniversary of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia which was held in Tbilisi in 2005. One of the visitors of the gallery recognised her dead son on the photograph.
6.
South Ossetia
–
It has a population of 53,000 people which live in an area of 3,900 km2, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in its capital city of Tskhinvali. South Ossetia declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, the Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetias autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force. The crisis escalation led to the 1991–92 South Ossetia War, Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The latter conflict led to the Russo–Georgian War, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. In the wake of the 2008 war, Russia, followed by Nicaragua, Venezuela, Georgia and a significant part of the international community consider South Ossetia to be occupied by the Russian military. South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political and financial aid from Russia, Russia does not allow European Union Monitoring Mission monitors to enter South Ossetia. South Ossetia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abkhazia are sometimes referred to as post-Soviet frozen conflict zones, the Ossetians are believed to originate from the Alans, a Sarmatian Iranian tribe. In the 17th century, Ossetians started migration from the North Caucasus to Georgia, Ossetian peasants, who were migrating to the mountainous areas of the South Caucasus, often settled in the lands of Georgian feudal lords. The Georgian King of the Kingdom of Kartli permitted Ossetians to immigrate, in the 1770s there were more Ossetians living in Kartli than ever before. This period has been documented in the diaries of Johann Anton Güldenstädt who visited Georgia in 1772. The Baltic German explorer called modern North Ossetia simply Ossetia, while he wrote that Kartli was populated by Georgians, Güldenstädt also wrote that the northernmost border of Kartli is the Major Caucasus Ridge. The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, part of which was the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Following the Russian revolution, the area of modern South Ossetia became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic policies of the central government, the tension soon transformed into ethnic conflict. The first Ossetian rebellion began in February 1918, when three Georgian princes were killed and their land was seized by the Ossetians, the central government of Tiflis retaliated by sending the National Guard to the area. However, the Georgian unit retreated after they had engaged the Ossetians, Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. Between 3,000 and 7,000 Ossetians were killed during the crushing of the 1920 uprising, according to Ossetian sources ensuing hunger, the drawing of administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian AO was quite a complicated process. Many Georgian villages were included within the South Ossetian AO despite numerous protests by the Georgian population, while the city of Tskhinvali did not have a majority Ossetian population, it was made the capital of the South Ossetian AO
South Ossetia
–
Historical Russian map of the Caucasus region at the beginning of the 19th century
South Ossetia
–
Flag
South Ossetia
–
Fragment of the historical map by
J. H. Colton. The map depicts Caucasus region in 1856. Modern South Ossetia is not labeled. Modern North Ossetia is labeled as "Ossia".
South Ossetia
–
Map of South Ossetia (November 2004).
7.
Central bank
–
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a states currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries, Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists, prior to the 17th century most money was commodity money, typically gold or silver. However, promises to pay were widely circulated and accepted as value at least five hundred years earlier in both Europe and Asia. The Song dynasty was the first to issue generally circulating paper currency, in 1455, in an effort to control inflation, the succeeding Ming Dynasty ended the use of paper money and closed much of Chinese trade. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in the Dutch Republic in 1609, is considered to be the forerunner to modern central banks. The Wisselbanks innovations helped lay the foundations for the birth and development of the banking system that now plays a vital role in the worlds economy. Along with a number of local banks, it performed many functions of a central banking system. Lucien Gillard calls it the European guilder, and Adam Smith devotes many pages to explaining how the bank guilder works, the model of the Wisselbank as a state bank was adapted throughout Europe, including the Bank of Sweden and the Bank of England. Established by Dutch-Latvian Johan Palmstruch in 1668, Sveriges Riksbank is often considered by many as the worlds oldest central bank, the lenders would give the government cash and also issue notes against the government bonds, which could be lent again. A Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes. The £1. 2M was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the Navy and these modern central banking functions evolved slowly through the 18th and 19th centuries. The currency crisis of 1797, caused by panicked depositors withdrawing from the Bank led to the government suspending convertibility of notes into specie payment. The bank was accused by the bullionists of causing the exchange rate to fall from over issuing banknotes. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Bank was being treated as an organ of the state, henry Thornton, a merchant banker and monetary theorist has been described as the father of the modern central bank. An opponent of the real bills doctrine, he was a defender of the bullionist position, thorntons process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form. Until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act of 1844. Under this law, authorisation to issue new banknotes was restricted to the Bank of England, at the same time, the Bank of England was restricted to issue new banknotes only if they were 100% backed by gold or up to £14 million in government debt
Central bank
–
Public finance
Central bank
–
The old town hall in Amsterdam where the
Bank of Amsterdam was founded in 1609, painting by
Pieter Saenredam.
Central bank
–
The sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694).
Central bank
–
The
Bank of England, established in 1694.
8.
Monetary inflation
–
Monetary inflation is a sustained increase in the money supply of a country. There is general agreement among economists that there is a relationship between monetary inflation and price inflation. But there is neither a common view about the exact mechanisms and relationships. This relationship is constantly changing, within a larger complex economic system. Thus there are different views on what could be the best targets, however, there is a general consensus on the importance and responsibility of central banks and monetary authorities in setting public expectations of price inflation and in trying to control it. Keynesian economists believe the bank can sufficiently assess the detailed economic variables and circumstances in real time in order to control monetary policy in detail. These economists favor monetary policies that attempt to out the ups and downs of business cycles. Followers of the monetarist school think that Keynesian style monetary policies produce a lot of overshooting, time-lag errors and other unwanted effects, sometimes making things even worse. They doubt the central banks capacity to analyse economic problems in time and its ability to influence the economy with correct timing. So monetarists advocate less intrusive and complex monetary policies, like inflation targeting or a constant growth rate of money supply. Some followers of Austrian School economics advocate either the return to free markets in money, called free banking, or a 100% gold standard, currently, most central banks follow a monetarist or Keynesian approach, or more often a mix of both. There is a trend of central banks towards the monetarist approach, the mechanisms by which excess money might be translated into inflation are examined below. Individuals can also spend their excess money balances directly on goods and this has a direct impact on inflation by raising aggregate demand. Also, the increase in the demand for labour resulting from higher demands for goods and services will cause a rise in money wages, the more inelastic the aggregate supply in the economy, the greater the impact on inflation. The increase in demand for goods and services may cause a rise in imports, although this leakage from the domestic economy reduces the money supply, it also increases the supply of money on the foreign exchange market thus applying downward pressure on the exchange rate. However, under modern-day monetary systems, the supply of money is largely determined endogenously, but exogenous factors like government surpluses and deficits play a role and allow government to set inflation targets. Given that all major economies currently have a central bank supporting the private banking system, Austrian economists believe that credit growth propagates business cycles
Monetary inflation
–
World GDP (PPP) per capita by country (2014)
9.
Georgian language
–
Georgian is a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians. It is the language of Georgia. Georgian is written in its own writing system, the Georgian script, Georgian is the literary language for all regional subgroups of Georgians, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages, Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz. Georgian is the most pervasive of the Kartvelian languages, a family that also includes Svan and Megrelian and Laz. Dialects of Georgian are from Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Adjara, Imerkhevi, Kartli, Kakheti, Saingilo, Tusheti, Khevsureti, Khevi, Pshavi, Fereydan, Mtiuleti and Meskheti. Georgian as separate from the other Kartvelian languages would have emerged in the 1st millennium BC in the area known later as the Kingdom of Iberia, the evolution of Georgian into a written language was a consequence of the conversion of the Georgian elite to Christianity in the mid-4th century. The first Georgian texts are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, Georgian has a rich literary tradition. The oldest surviving work in Georgian is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli. In the 11th century, Old Georgian gives rise to Middle Georgian, the Georgian national epic, Shota Rustavelis The Knight in the Panthers Skin, dates from the 12th century. This marked the beginning of the modern Georgian language, symbols on the left are those of the IPA and those on the right are of the modern Georgian alphabet. Opinions also differ on the aspiration of /t͡sʰ, t͡ʃʰ/, as it is non-contrastive, a former distinction between /x/ and /qʰ/ has been lost. Prosody in Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm, stress is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words. Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word, the rhythm of Georgian speech is syllable-timed. Georgian contains many harmonic clusters involving two consonants of a type which are pronounced with only a single release, e. g. ბგერა bgera, ცხოვრება tskhovreba. There are also frequent consonant clusters, sometimes involving more than six consonants in a row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნი gvprtskvni and მწვრთნელი mtsvrtneli. Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice, Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently the Mkhedruli or Military script is almost completely dominant, the others are used mostly in religious documents, Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use, a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language, however, the first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD
Georgian language
–
The Kartvelian people
Georgian language
–
Georgian
Georgian language
–
Calligraphy
Georgian language
–
Road sign in Latin and Georgian
10.
Currency
–
A currency in the most specific use of the word refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use, under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, and European euros are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized stores of value and are traded between nations in exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are defined by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance, other definitions of the term currency are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two systems, fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value. Some currencies are legal tender in certain jurisdictions, which means they cannot be refused as payment for debt. Others are simply traded for their economic value, digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred by 2000 BC, originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt. In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities and this formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military and it is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency. It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, the manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many various forms of barter still apply. These factors led to the metal itself being the store of value, first silver, now we have copper coins and other non-precious metals as coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins and this was to assure the individual taking the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but they created a new unit of account. Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins, using a mix of copper, silver, gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military and backing of state activities, they were more often used as measures of account than physical coins
Currency
–
Cowry shells being used as money by an Arab trader.
Currency
–
Song dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money.
11.
Colchis
–
Colchis was an ancient kingdom and region on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Internationally, Colchis is perhaps best known for its role in Greek mythology, most notably as the destination of the Argonauts, as well as the home to Medea and the Golden fleece. Colchis was populated by Colchians, an early Kartvelian-speaking tribe, ancestral to the contemporary Western Georgians, namely Svans and Mingrelians, the kingdom of Colchis, Kolkhis or Qulha which existed from the c. According to the scholar of Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff, Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer. Colchis can be regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian kingdom. It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis. A second South Caucasian tribal union emerged in the 13th century BC on the Black Sea coast. There is some difference in authors as to the extent of the country westward, thus Strabo makes Colchis begin at Trabzon, while Ptolemy, on the other hand. The name of Colchis first appears in Aeschylus and Pindar, the earlier writers only speak about it under the name of Aea, the residence of the mythical king Aeëtes, Kolchian Aia lies at the furthest limits of sea and earth, wrote Apollonius of Rhodes. Scylax mentions also Mala or Male, which he, in contradiction to other writers, the central part of the region is Colchis Plain, stretching between Sokhumi and Kobuleti, most of that lies on the elevation below 20 m above sea level. Marginal parts of the region are mountains of the Great and the Lesser Caucasus, the climate is mild humid, near Batumi, annual rainfall level reaches 4,000 mm, which is the absolute maximum for the continental western Eurasia. The dominating natural landscapes of Colchis are temperate rainforests, yet degraded in the part of the region, wetlands. In at least some parts of Colchis, the process of urbanization seems to have been advanced by the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The Colchian Late Bronze Age saw the development of significant skill in the smelting and casting of metals, sophisticated farming implements were made, and fertile, well-watered lowlands and a mild climate promoted the growth of progressive agricultural techniques. Colchis was inhabited by a number of related but distinct tribes whose settlements lay along the shore of the Black Sea and these Colchian tribes differed so completely in language and appearance from the surrounding Indo-European nations that the ancients provided various wild theories to account for the phenomenon. Herodotus regarded the Colchians as Ancient Egyptian race, Apollonius of Rhodes states that the Egyptians of Colchis preserved as heirlooms a number of wooden tablets, which show, with considerable accuracy, seas and highways. Detlev Fehling regards the link between Colchis and Egypt as a clear example of the way Herodotus used spurious sources to back up stories he had made up himself. In the 13th century BC, the Kingdom of Colchis was formed as a result of the consolidation of the tribes inhabiting the region. This power, celebrated in Greek mythology as the destination of the Argonauts, the home of Medea, the kingdom of Tabal was conquered by the Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser III in the 830s BC
Colchis
–
Colchis and
Iberia in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC
Colchis
–
Colchis and Iberia
Colchis
–
Central and southern parts of Colchis, 3rd to 1st centuries BC - 1st century AD
Colchis
–
Colchis between the
Black and
Caspian Seas. London, 1529
12.
Georgian abazi
–
Abazi was a Georgian silver coin, deriving its name and existence from the Iranian abbasi, which was in use from the early 17th century into the early 19th. The name abazi derives from the Persian abbasi, a coin first issued by the Safavid shah Abbas I. It was subdivided into 200 dinar, other denominations were the puli of 5 dinar and the bisti of 20 dinar. These abazi coins at first weighed 7.8 grams but by the end of the 18th century their weight reportedly declined to just 3 grams. Coins featured, except the Islamic profession of faith and/or the names of the Shiite Imams on the front, the name of the Persian shah, after the absorption of Georgia into the Russian Empire in 1801, the currency was not immediately replaced by the Russian ruble. Instead, an issue of coins was made between 1804 and 1833 in denominations of 5,10 and 20 dinar in copper and 100,200 and 400 dinar in silver. These were related to the Russian currency at a rate of 10 dinar to the kopeck, the Russian ruble was introduced in 1833 at a rate of 5 abazi =1 ruble. However, the Georgian coins continued to circulate into the 1860s
Georgian abazi
–
A Georgian coin issued under the Russian authority in
Tiflis in 1827
13.
Russian ruble
–
The Russian ruble is the currency of the Russian Federation, the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the two unrecognized republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The ruble is subdivided into 100 kopeks, the ruble was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. Today apart from Russia, Belarus and Transnistria uses currencies with the same name, the ruble was the worlds first decimal currency, it was decimalised in 1704 when the ruble became legally equal to 100 kopeks. In 1992 the Soviet ruble was replaced with the Russian ruble at the rate 1 SUR =1 RUR. In 1998 following the crisis, the Russian ruble was redenominated with the new code RUB. Today, although RUB being the code of the Russian ruble. The ruble is the oldest national currency after the Pound sterling in the world, the ruble has been used on the Russian territories since the 13th century. The modern Russian ruble actually appeared in December 1991 in parallel with the Soviet ruble, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet ruble remained the currency of the Russian Federation until 1992. A new set of coins was issued in 1992 and a new set of banknotes was issued in the name of Bank of Russia in 1993. The Russian ruble with the ISO4217 code is RUR and number 810 replaced the Soviet ruble at the rate 1 SUR =1 RUR. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation introduced new coins in 1992 in denominations of 1,5,10,20,50 and 100 rubles, the coins depict the double-headed eagle without a crown, sceptre and globus cruciger above the legend Банк России. It is exactly the same eagle, that the artist Ivan Bilibin painted after the February Revolution as a coat of arms for the Russian Republic. The 1 and 5 ruble coins were minted in brass-clad steel, the 10 and 20 ruble coins in cupro-nickel, in 1993, aluminium-bronze 50 ruble coins and cupro-nickel-zinc 100 ruble coins were issued, and the material of 10 and 20 ruble coins s was changed to nickel-plated steel. In 1995 the material of 50 ruble coins was changed to brass-plated steel, as high inflation persisted, the lowest denominations disappeared from circulation and the other denominations became rarely used. During this period the commemorative one ruble coin was regularly issued and it was practically identical in size and weight to a 5 Swiss franc coin. For this reason, there have been instances of ruble coins being used on a large scale to defraud automated vending machines in Switzerland. In 1961, new State Treasury notes were introduced for 1,3 and 5 rubles, along with new State Bank notes for 10,25,50 and 100 rubles. In 1991, the State Bank took over production of 1,3 and 5 ruble notes and also introduced 200,500 and 1,000 ruble notes, although the 25 ruble note was no longer issued
Russian ruble
–
5,000 rubles (2006)
Russian ruble
Russian ruble
–
Russian ruble
Russian ruble
–
Five hundred rubles featuring
Peter the Great and a
personification of
Mother Russia, 1912
14.
Hyperinflation
–
Certain figures in this article use scientific notation for readability. The population normally switches to holding relatively stable foreign currencies, under such conditions, the general price level within an economy increases rapidly as the official currency quickly loses real value. The value of economic items remains relatively stable in terms of foreign currencies, typically, however, the general price level rises even more rapidly than the money supply as people try ridding themselves of the devaluing currency as quickly as possible. As this scenario happens, the stock of money decreases. The mainstream narrative is that hyperinflations are usually caused by large persistent government deficits financed primarily by money creation, as such, hyperinflation is often associated with wars, their aftermath, sociopolitical upheavals, or other crises that make it difficult for the government to tax the population. A sharp decrease in tax revenue coupled with a strong need to maintain the status quo, together with an inability or unwillingness to borrow. The mainstream assumptions of how hyperinflation is caused has been challenged by advocates of Modern Monetary Theory who sustain that government spending alone cannot cause hyperinflation. They claim that hyperinflation is usually the result of a collapse in the supply chain which is then unable to meet the demand generated by government spending. In 1956, Phillip Cagan wrote The Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation, economists usually follow Cagan’s description that hyperinflation occurs when the monthly inflation rate exceeds 50%. The International Accounting Standards Board has issued guidance on accounting rules in a hyperinflationary environment and it does not establish an absolute rule on when hyperinflation arises. Instead, it lists factors that indicate the existence of hyperinflation, there are a number of theories on the causes of high and/or hyper inflation. But nearly all hyperinflations have been caused by government budget deficits financed by money creation, after an analysis of 29 hyperinflations Bernholz concludes that at least 25 of them have been caused in this way. Moreover, a condition for hyperinflation has been the existence of fiat money not convertible at a fixed parity into gold or silver. The French hyperinflation also took place after the introduction of a non convertible paper money, the price increases that result from the rapid money creation creates a vicious circle, requiring ever growing amounts of new money creation to fund government deficits. Hence both monetary inflation and price inflation proceed at a rapid pace, such rapidly increasing prices cause widespread unwillingness of the local population to hold the local currency as it rapidly loses its buying power. Instead they quickly spend any money they receive, which increases the velocity of money flow and this means that the increase in the price level is greater than that of the money supply. The real stock of money, M/P, decreases, here M refers to the money stock and P to the price level. This results in an imbalance between the supply and demand for the money, causing rapid inflation, very high inflation rates can result in a loss of confidence in the currency, similar to a bank run
Hyperinflation
–
Sweeping up the banknotes from the street after the
Hungarian pengő was replaced in 1946.
Hyperinflation
–
The price of gold in Germany, 1 January 1918 – 30 November 1923. Note that the vertical scale is
logarithmic.
Hyperinflation
–
Germany, 1923: banknotes had lost so much value that they were used as wallpaper.
Hyperinflation
–
Hanke Krus Hyperinflation Table that lists 56 episodes of hyperinflation (following Cagan's definition)
15.
Eduard Shevardnadze
–
Eduard Ambrosiyevich Shevardnadze was a Georgian politician and diplomat. He served as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, the de facto leader of Soviet Georgia from 1972 to 1985, Shevardnadze was responsible for many key decisions in Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev Era. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he was President of Georgia from 1992 to 2003 and he was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution. Shevardnadze started his career in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, then its First Secretary and his rise in the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district and his anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government and Shevardnadze was appointed as First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. He would later become the head of the internal affairs ministry and was able to charge First Secretary Vasil Mzhavanadze with corruption, Shevardnadzes anti-corruption campaign continued until he resigned from his office as First Secretary. Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, from then on, with the exception of a brief period between 1990 and 1991, only Gorbachev would outrank Shevardnadze in importance in Soviet foreign policy. In the aftermath of the Soviet Unions collapse in 1991, Shevardnadze returned to the newly independent Georgia and he became the countrys head of state following the removal of the countrys first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Shevardnadze was formally elected president in 1995 and his presidency was marked by rampant corruption and accusations of nepotism. He later lived in obscurity and published his memoirs. Eduard Shevardnadze was born in Mamati in the Transcaucasian SFSR, Soviet Union, on 25 January 1928 and his father Ambrose was a teacher and a devoted communist and party official. His mother had little respect for the communist government and opposed both Shevardnadzes and his fathers party careers, eduard was a cousin of the Georgian painter and intellectual Dimitri Shevardnadze, who was purged during Stalinist repressions. In 1948 at the age of twenty, Shevardnadze joined the Georgian Communist Party and he rose steadily through the ranks of the Georgian Komsomol and after serving a term as Second Secretary, he became its First Secretary. During his Komsomol First Secretaryship, Shevardnadze met Mikhail Gorbachev for his first time, Shevardnadze said he grew disillusioned with the Soviet political system following Nikita Khrushchevs Secret Speech to the 20th CPSU Congress. Like many Soviet people, the crimes perpetrated by Joseph Stalin horrified Shevardnadze, and he was demoted in 1961 by the Politburo of the Georgian Communist Party after offending a senior official. After his demotion Shevardnadze endured several years of obscurity before returning to attention as a First Secretary of a city district in Tbilisi, Shevardnadze challenged Tbilisi First Secretary Otari Lolashvili, and later charged him for corruption. Shevardnadze left party work after his appointment as First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR in 1964 and it was his successful attempt at gaoling Lolashvili, which got him promoted to the post of First Deputyship
Eduard Shevardnadze
–
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze
–
Shevardnadze with US Secretary of State
George Shultz, 1987
Eduard Shevardnadze
–
Shevardnadze on official visit to the United States with President
Bill Clinton
Eduard Shevardnadze
–
Shevardnadze meeting Russian President
Putin, President
Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President
Kocharyan of Armenia
16.
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Replacement character
17.
Unicode
–
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the worlds writing systems. As of June 2016, the most recent version is Unicode 9.0, the standard is maintained by the Unicode Consortium. Unicodes success at unifying character sets has led to its widespread, the standard has been implemented in many recent technologies, including modern operating systems, XML, Java, and the. NET Framework. Unicode can be implemented by different character encodings, the most commonly used encodings are UTF-8, UTF-16 and the now-obsolete UCS-2. UTF-8 uses one byte for any ASCII character, all of which have the same values in both UTF-8 and ASCII encoding, and up to four bytes for other characters. UCS-2 uses a 16-bit code unit for each character but cannot encode every character in the current Unicode standard, UTF-16 extends UCS-2, using one 16-bit unit for the characters that were representable in UCS-2 and two 16-bit units to handle each of the additional characters. Many traditional character encodings share a common problem in that they allow bilingual computer processing, Unicode, in intent, encodes the underlying characters—graphemes and grapheme-like units—rather than the variant glyphs for such characters. In the case of Chinese characters, this leads to controversies over distinguishing the underlying character from its variant glyphs. In text processing, Unicode takes the role of providing a unique code point—a number, in other words, Unicode represents a character in an abstract way and leaves the visual rendering to other software, such as a web browser or word processor. This simple aim becomes complicated, however, because of concessions made by Unicodes designers in the hope of encouraging a more rapid adoption of Unicode, the first 256 code points were made identical to the content of ISO-8859-1 so as to make it trivial to convert existing western text. For other examples, see duplicate characters in Unicode and he explained that he name Unicode is intended to suggest a unique, unified, universal encoding. In this document, entitled Unicode 88, Becker outlined a 16-bit character model, Unicode could be roughly described as wide-body ASCII that has been stretched to 16 bits to encompass the characters of all the worlds living languages. In a properly engineered design,16 bits per character are more than sufficient for this purpose, Unicode aims in the first instance at the characters published in modern text, whose number is undoubtedly far below 214 =16,384. By the end of 1990, most of the work on mapping existing character encoding standards had been completed, the Unicode Consortium was incorporated in California on January 3,1991, and in October 1991, the first volume of the Unicode standard was published. The second volume, covering Han ideographs, was published in June 1992, in 1996, a surrogate character mechanism was implemented in Unicode 2.0, so that Unicode was no longer restricted to 16 bits. The Microsoft TrueType specification version 1.0 from 1992 used the name Apple Unicode instead of Unicode for the Platform ID in the naming table, Unicode defines a codespace of 1,114,112 code points in the range 0hex to 10FFFFhex. Normally a Unicode code point is referred to by writing U+ followed by its hexadecimal number, for code points in the Basic Multilingual Plane, four digits are used, for code points outside the BMP, five or six digits are used, as required. Code points in Planes 1 through 16 are accessed as surrogate pairs in UTF-16, within each plane, characters are allocated within named blocks of related characters
Unicode
–
Logo of the
Unicode Consortium
18.
Mkhedruli
–
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language, Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, all three are unicase, their letters share the names and alphabetical order, and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli was the civilian royal script of the Kingdom of Georgia mostly used for the royal charters, originally consisting of 38 letters, Georgian is presently written in a 33-letter alphabet, as five letters are currently obsolete in that language. The number of Georgian letters used in other Kartvelian languages varies, the Mingrelian language uses 36,33 of which are current Georgian letters, one obsolete Georgian letter, and two additional letters specific to Mingrelian and Svan. That same obsolete letter, plus a letter borrowed from Greek, are used in writing the Laz language, Georgian scripts were granted the national status of cultural heritage in Georgia in 2015 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. The first version of the script attested is Asomtavruli which dates back to at least the 5th century, most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia, a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli. The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III and the Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430 and it was first used for translation of the Bible and other Christian literature into Georgian, by monks in Georgia and Palestine. This account is now considered legendary, and is rejected by scholarly consensus, a point of contention among scholars is the role played by Armenian clerics in that process. Other scholars quote Koryuns claims without taking a stance on its validity, many agree, however, that Armenian clerics, if not Mashtots himself, must have played a role in the creation of the Georgian script. Another controversy regards the main influences at play in the Georgian alphabet, as scholars have debated whether it was inspired more by the Greek alphabet, or by Semitic alphabets such as Aramaic. Recent historiography focuses on greater similarities with the Greek alphabet than in the other Caucasian writing systems, most notably the order, some scholars have also suggested as a possible inspiration for particular letters certain pre-Christian Georgian cultural symbols or clan markers. Asomtavruli is the oldest Georgian script, the name Asomtavruli means capital letters, from aso letter and mtavari principal/head. It is also known as Mrgvlovani rounded, from mrgvali round, despite its name, this capital script is unicameral, just like the modern Georgian script, Mkhedruli. The oldest Asomtavruli inscriptions found so far date from the 5th century and are Bir el Qutt, from the 9th century, Nuskhuri script starting becoming dominant, and the role of Asomtavruli was reduced. However, epigraphic monuments of the 10th to 18th centuries continued to be written in Asomtavruli script, Asomtavruli in this later period became more decorative. In the majority of 9th-century Georgian manuscripts which were written in Nuskhuri script, Asomtavruli was used for titles, although, some manuscripts written completely in Asomtavruli can be found until the 11th century. In early Asomtavruli, the letters are of equal height, in most Asomtavruli letters, straight lines are horizontal or vertical and meet at right angles. The only letter with acute angles is Ⴟ, there have been various attempts to explain this exception
Mkhedruli
–
Georgian
Bir el Qutt inscriptions, 430 AD.
Mkhedruli
–
damts'erloba "script" in Mkhedruli
Mkhedruli
–
Georgian
Bolnisi inscriptions, 494 AD.
Mkhedruli
–
Manuscript in Asomtavruli, 10th century.
19.
Georgian script
–
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language, Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, all three are unicase, their letters share the names and alphabetical order, and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli was the civilian royal script of the Kingdom of Georgia mostly used for the royal charters, originally consisting of 38 letters, Georgian is presently written in a 33-letter alphabet, as five letters are currently obsolete in that language. The number of Georgian letters used in other Kartvelian languages varies, the Mingrelian language uses 36,33 of which are current Georgian letters, one obsolete Georgian letter, and two additional letters specific to Mingrelian and Svan. That same obsolete letter, plus a letter borrowed from Greek, are used in writing the Laz language, Georgian scripts were granted the national status of cultural heritage in Georgia in 2015 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. The first version of the script attested is Asomtavruli which dates back to at least the 5th century, most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia, a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli. The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III and the Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430 and it was first used for translation of the Bible and other Christian literature into Georgian, by monks in Georgia and Palestine. This account is now considered legendary, and is rejected by scholarly consensus, a point of contention among scholars is the role played by Armenian clerics in that process. Other scholars quote Koryuns claims without taking a stance on its validity, many agree, however, that Armenian clerics, if not Mashtots himself, must have played a role in the creation of the Georgian script. Another controversy regards the main influences at play in the Georgian alphabet, as scholars have debated whether it was inspired more by the Greek alphabet, or by Semitic alphabets such as Aramaic. Recent historiography focuses on greater similarities with the Greek alphabet than in the other Caucasian writing systems, most notably the order, some scholars have also suggested as a possible inspiration for particular letters certain pre-Christian Georgian cultural symbols or clan markers. Asomtavruli is the oldest Georgian script, the name Asomtavruli means capital letters, from aso letter and mtavari principal/head. It is also known as Mrgvlovani rounded, from mrgvali round, despite its name, this capital script is unicameral, just like the modern Georgian script, Mkhedruli. The oldest Asomtavruli inscriptions found so far date from the 5th century and are Bir el Qutt, from the 9th century, Nuskhuri script starting becoming dominant, and the role of Asomtavruli was reduced. However, epigraphic monuments of the 10th to 18th centuries continued to be written in Asomtavruli script, Asomtavruli in this later period became more decorative. In the majority of 9th-century Georgian manuscripts which were written in Nuskhuri script, Asomtavruli was used for titles, although, some manuscripts written completely in Asomtavruli can be found until the 11th century. In early Asomtavruli, the letters are of equal height, in most Asomtavruli letters, straight lines are horizontal or vertical and meet at right angles. The only letter with acute angles is Ⴟ, there have been various attempts to explain this exception
Georgian script
–
Georgian
Bir el Qutt inscriptions, 430 AD.
Georgian script
–
damts'erloba "script" in Mkhedruli
Georgian script
–
Georgian
Bolnisi inscriptions, 494 AD.
Georgian script
–
Manuscript in Asomtavruli, 10th century.
20.
Stainless steel
–
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French inoxydable, is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10. 5% chromium content by mass. Stainless steel is notable for its resistance, and it is widely used for food handling. Stainless steel does not readily corrode, rust or stain with water as ordinary steel does, however, it is not fully stain-proof in low-oxygen, high-salinity, or poor air-circulation environments. There are various grades and surface finishes of stainless steel to suit the environment the alloy must endure, Stainless steel is used where both the properties of steel and corrosion resistance are required. Stainless steel differs from carbon steel by the amount of chromium present, unprotected carbon steel rusts readily when exposed to air and moisture. This iron oxide film is active and accelerates corrosion by making it easier for more iron oxide to form, since iron oxide has lower density than steel, the film expands and tends to flake and fall away. In comparison, stainless steels contain sufficient chromium to undergo passivation and this layer prevents further corrosion by blocking oxygen diffusion to the steel surface and stops corrosion from spreading into the bulk of the metal. Passivation occurs only if the proportion of chromium is high enough, Stainless steel’s resistance to corrosion and staining, low maintenance, and familiar lustre make it an ideal material for many applications. Storage tanks and tankers used to transport orange juice and other food are made of stainless steel. This also influences its use in kitchens and food processing plants, as it can be steam-cleaned and sterilized. High oxidation resistance in air at ambient temperature is achieved with addition of a minimum of 13% chromium. The chromium forms a layer of chromium oxide when exposed to oxygen. The layer is too thin to be visible, and the metal remains lustrous, the layer is impervious to water and air, protecting the metal beneath, and this layer quickly reforms when the surface is scratched. This phenomenon is called passivation and is seen in other metals, corrosion resistance can be adversely affected if the component is used in a non-oxygenated environment, a typical example being underwater keel bolts buried in timber. When stainless steel parts such as nuts and bolts are forced together, when forcibly disassembled, the welded material may be torn and pitted, a destructive effect known as galling. Galling can be avoided by the use of materials for the parts forced together, for example bronze and stainless steel. However, two different alloys electrically connected in a humid, even mildly acidic environment may act as a voltaic pile, nitronic alloys, made by selective alloying with manganese and nitrogen, may have a reduced tendency to gall. Additionally, threaded joints may be lubricated to provide a film between the two parts and prevent galling, low-temperature carburizing is another option that virtually eliminates galling and allows the use of similar materials without the risk of corrosion and the need for lubrication
Stainless steel
–
Steels and other iron–carbon alloy phases
Stainless steel
–
An announcement, as it appeared in the 1915 New York Times, of the development of stainless steel
Stainless steel
–
The 630-foot-high (190 m), stainless-clad (type 304)
Gateway Arch defines
St. Louis's skyline
Stainless steel
–
The pinnacle of New York's Chrysler Building is clad with Nirosta stainless steel, a form of Type 302
21.
Borjgali
–
Borjgali is a Georgian symbol of the Sun with seven rotating wings over the Christian Tree of Life and is related to the Mesopotamian symbols of eternity. It is also related to the Triskelion, another symbol of eternity. It is usually depicted within the circle symbolizes the Universe. The roots of the Tree go into the past and its branches are for the future. The Tree itself symbolizes the continuity between past, present and the future, the Borjgali is usually placed above the tree and symbolizes the Sun, eternal movement and life. The term Borjgali is believed to derive from Megrelian word ბარჩხალი, some other scholars believe that it has different origins. In old Megrelian borj means time and gal means pass or flow, so the whole phrase would mean the flow of time. Nowadays, the symbol is used in Georgian IDs and passports, as well as on currency, Georgian rugby team players are called ბორჯღალოსნები, which means Men bearing Borjgali
Borjgali
–
Georgian rugby player with Borjgali on his shorts and shirt
Borjgali
–
Contents
Borjgali
–
Borjgali on 100
Georgian lari
Borjgali
–
Borjgali on
Georgian Airways
22.
Sun
–
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99. 86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Suns mass consists of hydrogen, the rest is mostly helium, with smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star based on its spectral class and it formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into a disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core and it is thought that almost all stars form by this process. The Sun is roughly middle-aged, it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years and it is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large enough to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth. The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, the synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today. The English proper name Sun developed from Old English sunne and may be related to south, all Germanic terms for the Sun stem from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn. The English weekday name Sunday stems from Old English and is ultimately a result of a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis, the Latin name for the Sun, Sol, is not common in general English language use, the adjectival form is the related word solar. The term sol is used by planetary astronomers to refer to the duration of a solar day on another planet. A mean Earth solar day is approximately 24 hours, whereas a mean Martian sol is 24 hours,39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Sun was worshipped as the god Ra, portrayed as a falcon-headed divinity surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. In the New Empire period, the Sun became identified with the dung beetle, in the form of the Sun disc Aten, the Sun had a brief resurgence during the Amarna Period when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the Pharaoh Akhenaton. The Sun is viewed as a goddess in Germanic paganism, Sól/Sunna, in ancient Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. It was adopted as the Sabbath day by Christians who did not have a Jewish background, the symbol of light was a pagan device adopted by Christians, and perhaps the most important one that did not come from Jewish traditions
Sun
–
The Sun in visible wavelength with filtered white light on 8 July 2014. Characteristic
limb darkening and numerous
sunspots are visible.
Sun
–
During a total
solar eclipse, the solar
corona can be seen with the naked eye, during the brief period of totality.
Sun
–
Taken by
Hinode 's Solar Optical Telescope on 12 January 2007, this image of the Sun reveals the filamentary nature of the plasma connecting regions of different magnetic polarity.
Sun
–
Visible light photograph of sunspot, 13 December 2006
23.
Tree of Life
–
The concept of a tree of life is a widespread mytheme or archetype in the worlds mythologies, related to the concept of sacred tree more generally, and hence in religious and philosophical tradition. The expression Tree of Life was used as a metaphor for the tree of common descent in the evolutionary sense in a famous passage by Charles Darwin. Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture and fiction and they had their origin in religious symbolism. The Eternal Banyan Tree is located on the bank of the Yamuna inside the courtyard of Allahabad Fort near the confluence of the Yamuna, the eternal and divine nature of this tree has been documented at length in the scriptures. During the cyclic destruction of creation when the earth was enveloped by waters. It is on the leaves of tree that Lord Krishna rested in the form of a baby when land was no longer visible. And it is here that the sage, Markandeya, received the cosmic vision of the Lord. It is under this tree that Buddha meditates eternally, legend also has it that the Bodi tree at Gaya is a manifestation of this tree. In pre-Islamic Persian mythology, the Gaokerena world tree is a large, ahriman created a frog to invade the tree and destroy it, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, God created two kar fish staring at the frog to guard the tree, the two fishes are always staring at the frog and stay ready to react to it. The sacred plant haoma and the drink made from it, the preparation of the drink from the plant by pounding and the drinking of it are central features of Zoroastrian ritual. Haoma is also personified as a divinity and it bestows essential vital qualities—health, fertility, husbands for maidens, even immortality. The source of the haoma plant is a shining white tree that grows on a paradisiacal mountain. Sprigs of this white haoma were brought to earth by divine birds, Haoma is the Avestan form of the Sanskrit soma. The near identity of the two in ritual significance is considered by scholars to point to a salient feature of an Indo-Iranian religion antedating Zoroastrianism. Another related issue in ancient mythology of Iran is the myth of Mashyа and Mashyane and this myth can be considered as a prototype for the creation myth where living beings are created by Gods. To the Ancient Egyptians, the Tree of Life represented the hierarchical chain of events that brought everything into existence, the spheres of the Tree of Life demonstrate the order, process, and method of creation. In Egyptian mythology, in the Ennead system of Heliopolis, the first couple, apart from Shu and Tefnut and Geb and Nut, are Isis and Osiris
Tree of Life
–
An 1847 depiction of the Norse
Yggdrasil as described in the
Icelandic Prose Edda by Oluf Olufsen Bagge
Tree of Life
–
17th-century depiction of the Tree of Life in
Palace of Shaki Khans,
Azerbaijan
Tree of Life
–
Confronted animals, here
ibexes, flank a Tree of Life, a very common motif in the art of the ancient
Near East and Mediterranean
Tree of Life
–
Worshipping Osiris, Isis, and Horus
24.
Vine
–
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine, but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent stems, lianas or runners. The word also can refer to such stems or runners themselves, in the United Kingdom, the term vine applies almost exclusively to the grapevine. The term climber is used for all climbing plants, certain plants always grow as vines, while a few grow as vines only part of the time. For instance, poison ivy and bittersweet can grow as low shrubs when support is not available, a vine displays a growth form based on long stems. This has been a successful growth form for plants such as kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle. There are some tropical vines that develop skototropism, and grow away from the light, growth away from light allows the vine to reach a tree trunk, which it can then climb to brighter regions. The vine growth form may also enable plants to large areas quickly. This is the case with periwinkle and ground ivy and it is also an adaptation to life in areas where small patches of fertile soil are adjacent to exposed areas with more sunlight but little or no soil. A vine can root in the soil but have most of its leaves in the brighter, exposed area, the evolution of a climbing habit has been implicated as a key innovation associated with the evolutionary success and diversification of a number of taxonomic groups of plants. It has evolved independently in several plant families, using many different climbing methods such as and it directs its stem into a crevice in the bark of fibrous barked trees where the stem adopts a flattened profile and grows up the tree underneath the host trees outer bark. The fetterbush then sends out branches that emerge near the top of the tree and these may be divided into woody vines or lianas, such as wisteria, kiwifruit, and common ivy, and herbaceous vines, such as morning glory. One odd group of vining plants is the fern genus Lygodium, the stem does not climb, but rather the fronds do. The fronds unroll from the tip, and theoretically never stop growing, they can form thickets as they unroll over other plants, rockfaces, gardeners can use the tendency of climbing plants to grow quickly. If a plant display is wanted quickly, a climber can achieve this, climbers can be trained over walls, pergolas, fences, etc. Climbers can be grown over other plants to provide additional attraction, artificial support can also be provided. Some climbers climb by themselves, others need work, such as tying them in, vines widely differ in size, form and evolutionary origin. Darwin classified climbing groups based on their climbing method and he classified five classes of vines including twining plants, leaf climbers, tendril bearers, root climbers and hook climbers. Vines are unique in that they have multiple origins and a wide range of phenotypic plasticity
Vine
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A
tendril
Vine
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Climbing plant covering a chimney
Vine
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Retaining wall covered by vines
Vine
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A large vine on the street in
Sochi, Russia
25.
Tendril
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They do not have a lamina or blade, but they can photosynthesize. They can be formed from modified shoots, modified leaves, or auxiliary branches and are sensitive to chemicals, often determining the direction of growth. The earliest and most comprehensive study of tendrils was Charles Darwins monograph On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants and this work also coined the term circumnutation to describe the motion of growing stems and tendrils seeking supports. Darwin also observed the phenomenon now known as tendril perversion, in which tendrils adopt the shape of two sections of counter-twisted helices with a transition in the middle, in the garden pea, it is only the terminal leaflets that are modified to become tendrils. In other plants such as the yellow vetch, the leaf is modified to become tendrils while the stipules become enlarged. Still others use the rachis of a leaf as a tendril. The specialised pitcher traps of Nepenthes plants form on the end of tendrils, the tendrils of aerial pitchers are usually coiled in the middle. If the tendril comes into contact with an object for long enough it will curl around it. In this way, the help to support the growing stem of the plant. Tendrils of Cuscuta, a plant, are guided by airborne chemicals. ExcitingNature. com - Tendril in Thigmotropism Media related to Tendrils at Wikimedia Commons
Tendril
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A curling tendril
Tendril
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Nepenthes rafflesiana upper pitcher with coiled tendril.
Tendril
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Virginia Creeper vine beginning tendril
Tendril
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Cucumber tendril
26.
Peacock
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The peafowl include three species of birds in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the Phasianidae family, the pheasants and their allies. There are two Asiatic species and one African species, male peafowl are known for their piercing call and their extravagant plumage. The latter is especially prominent in the Asiatic species, who have a tail or train of covert feathers which they display as part of a courtship ritual. The term peacock is properly reserved for the male, the female is known as a peahen, the functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large train of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested they served to attract females, and the features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. The Indian peacock has iridescent blue and green plumage, the peacock tail, known as a train, consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail, both sexes of all species have a crest atop the head. The Indian peahen has a mixture of grey, brown. The female also displays her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young, the green peafowl differs from the Indian peafowl in that the male has green and gold plumage with black wings with a sheen of blue. Unlike the Indian peafowl, the green peahen is similar to the male, only having shorter upper tail coverts, a more coppery neck, the Congo peacock male does not display his covert feathers, but uses his actual tail feathers during courtship displays. These feathers are shorter than those of the Indian and green species. Females of the Indian and African species are dull grey and/or brown, chicks of both sexes in all the species are cryptically coloured. They vary between yellow and tawny, usually with patches of brown or light tan and dirty white ivory. Occasionally, peafowl appear with white plumage and this can result in the complete lack of coloration of their plumage, while preserving normal eye colour. By contrast, true albino peafowl have a lack of melanin. Leucistic peachicks are born yellow and become white as they mature. As with many birds, vibrant iridescent plumage colours are not primarily pigments, optical interference Bragg reflections based on regular, periodic nanostructures of the barbules of the feathers produce the peacocks colours. Slight changes to the spacing of these result in different colours
Peacock
Peacock
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Head and neck of Indian peacock (
Pavo cristatus)
Peacock
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A leucistic Indian peacock
Peacock
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Peacock (seen from behind) displaying to attract peahen in foreground
27.
Lion
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A lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge and back when charging. Li-ion batteries use an intercalated lithium compound as one electrode material, the electrolyte, which allows for ionic movement, and the two electrodes are the constituent components of a lithium-ion battery cell. Lithium-ion batteries are common in home electronics and they are one of the most popular types of rechargeable batteries for portable electronics, with a high energy density, tiny memory effect and low self-discharge. Beyond consumer electronics, LIBs are also growing in popularity for military, battery electric vehicle, for example, lithium-ion batteries are becoming a common replacement for the lead–acid batteries that have been used historically for golf carts and utility vehicles. Chemistry, performance, cost and safety characteristics vary across LIB types, handheld electronics mostly use LIBs based on lithium cobalt oxide, which offers high energy density, but presents safety risks, especially when damaged. Lithium iron phosphate, lithium ion manganese oxide battery and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide offer lower energy density, such batteries are widely used for electric tools, medical equipment and other roles. NMC in particular is a contender for automotive applications. Lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide and lithium titanate are specialty designs aimed at particular niche roles, the newer lithium–sulfur batteries promise the highest performance-to-weight ratio. Lithium-ion batteries can pose unique safety hazards since they contain a flammable electrolyte, an expert notes If a battery cell is charged too quickly, it can cause a short circuit, leading to explosions and fires. Because of these risks, testing standards are more stringent than those for acid-electrolyte batteries, there have been battery-related recalls by some companies, including the 2016 Samsung Note 7 recall for battery fires. This article covers just the topics and general principles of lithium-ion batteries. Nearly all facets have elements that are impacted by currently very active development or research, a cell is a basic electrochemical unit that contains the basic components, such as electrodes, separator, and electrolyte. In the case of cells, this is the single cylindrical, prismatic or pouch unit. In this regard, the simplest battery is a cell with perhaps a small electronic circuit for protection. In many cases, distinguishing between cell and battery is not important, however, this should be done when dealing with specific applications, for example, battery electric vehicles, where battery may indicate a high voltage system of 400 V, and not a single cell. The term module is used as an intermediate topology, with the understanding that a battery pack is made of modules. In electrochemistry, the anode is the electrode where oxidation is taking place in the battery, i. e. electrons get free, however, this happens on opposite electrodes during charge vs. discharge. Historically, for lithium cells, which started as single use discharge cells and this is true on discharge, but with a rechargeable system, the negative electrode chemically becomes the cathode while charging
Lion
–
An example of a Li-ion battery (used on the
Nokia 3310 mobile phone)
Lion
Lion
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Varta lithium-ion battery,
Museum Autovision,
Altlussheim, Germany
Lion
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Cylindrical 18650 lithium iron phosphate cell before closing
28.
Tumulus
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A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, a cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus. Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape, in this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows has a range, the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. The method of inhumation may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe. The funeral of Patroclus is described in book 23 of the Iliad, Patroclus is burned on a pyre, and his bones are collected into a golden urn in two layers of fat. The barrow is built on the location of the pyre, achilles then sponsors funeral games, consisting of a chariot race, boxing, wrestling, running, a duel between two champions to the first blood, discus throwing, archery and spear throwing. Beowulfs body is taken to Hronesness, where it is burned on a funeral pyre, during cremation, the Geats lament the death of their lord, a widows lament being mentioned in particular, singing dirges as they circumambulate the barrow. Afterwards, a mound is built on top of a hill, overlooking the sea, a band of twelve of the best warriors ride around the barrow, singing dirges in praise of their lord. Parallels have also drawn to the account of Attilas burial in Jordanes Getica. Jordanes tells that as Attilas body was lying in state, the best horsemen of the Huns circled it, as in circus games. An Old Irish Life of Columcille reports that every funeral procession halted at a mound called Eala, whereupon the corpse was laid, archaeologists often classify tumuli according to their location, form, and date of construction. Some British types are listed below, Bank barrow Bell barrow Bowl barrow D-shaped barrow - round barrow with a flat edge at one side often defined by stone slabs. Disc barrow Fancy barrow - generic term for any Bronze Age barrows more elaborate than a hemispherical shape. Long barrow Oval barrow - a Neolithic long barrow consisting of an elliptical, platform barrow - The least common of the recognised types of round barrow, consisting of a flat, wide circular mound that may be surrounded by a ditch. They occur widely across southern England with a concentration in East and West Sussex. Pond barrow - a barrow consisting of a circular depression, surrounded by a bank running around the rim of the depression
Tumulus
–
The
Royal mounds of
Gamla Uppsala in
Sweden from the fifth and the sixth centuries, originally, the site had 2000 to 3000 tumuli, but due to quarrying and agriculture only 250 remain
Tumulus
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La Cambe German war cemetery
Tumulus
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One of the
Hallstatt culture -era tumuli in the
Sulm valley necropolis
Tumulus
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Burial of
Oleg of Novgorod in a tumulus in 912. Painting by
Viktor Vasnetsov
29.
Alazani
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The Alazani is a river that flows through the Caucasus. It is the tributary of the Kura in eastern Georgia. Part of its path forms the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan, before it meets the Kura at the Mingəçevir Reservoir, the Alazani originates in the Greater Caucasus, south of the main ridge, in the northwestern part of the Akhmeta District. It flows initially to the south towards the town Akhmeta, then through the fruitful Alazani Valley of Kakheti towards the southeast, the Alazani is the center of the Georgian wine industry. For centuries, it was a gateway for Persian invaders. The Alazani dries up during the winter, but in the spring, snow melt from the mountains swells the river enormously. The river is used for irrigation and for drinking water. In the 1990s, Chinese investors built many small power plants. The river is popular with tourists for rafting trips. A light pollution of the river with biological substances comes from untreated sewage from the cities and other communities, in the districts of Kvareli and Lagodekhi, water quality is said to be quite bad. Alazani serves also as the name of different Georgian wines, among them the semi-dry brands of Marani Alazani Valley, the information in this article is a based on and/or translated from that in its German equivalent
Alazani
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Alazani River near
Akhmeta
Alazani
–
Alazani Valley
30.
Gelati Monastery
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Gelati is a medieval monastic complex near Kutaisi, in the Imereti region of western Georgia. A masterpiece of the Georgian Golden Age, Gelati was founded in 1106 by King David IV of Georgia and is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, historically, Gelati was one of the main cultural and intellectual centers in Georgia. Among the religious authors were celebrated scholars as Ioane Petritsi and Arsen Ikaltoeli, due to the extensive work carried out by the Gelati Academy, people of the time called it a new Hellas and a second Athos. The Gelati Monastery has preserved a number of murals and manuscripts dating back to the 12th to 17th centuries. The Khakhuli triptych was enshrined at Gelati until being stolen in 1859, Gelati is the burial site of its founder and one of the greatest Georgian kings David IV. Near King Davids grave are the gates of Ganja, which were taken as a trophy by King Demetrius I of Georgia in 1138
Gelati Monastery
–
The monastic complex of Gelati
Gelati Monastery
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Archangel Michael, mosaic fresco
Gelati Monastery
–
The
Ascension, mural
Gelati Monastery
–
Gelati monastery, church of Virgin Mary the Blessed. Mural of
Christ Pantokrator on ceiling of the central dome (12th century)
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Georgia (except Abkhazia and South Ossetia)
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