1.
Arabian Peninsula
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The Arabian Peninsula, simplified Arabia is a peninsula of Western Asia situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian plate. From a geological perspective, it is considered a subcontinent of Asia and it is the largest peninsula in the world, at 3,237,500 km2. The Arabian Peninsula consists of the countries Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Middle East and the Arab world due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Before the modern era, it was divided into four regions, Hejaz, Najd, Southern Arabia. Hejaz and Najd make up most of Saudi Arabia, Southern Arabia consists of Yemen and some parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Eastern Arabia consists of the coastal strip of the Persian Gulf. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges, harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria. The peninsulas constituent countries are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula. Six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council, however, this is a disputed term. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the live in Saudi Arabia. The peninsula contains the worlds largest reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a peninsula in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, though historically lightly populated, political Arabia is noted for a high population growth rate - as the result of both very strong inflows of migrant labor as well as sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be young and heavily skewed gender ratio dominated by males. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry, the four smallest states, which have their entire coastlines on the Persian Gulf, exhibit the worlds most extreme population growth, roughly tripling every 20 years. In 2014, the population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936. Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Arabia Haplogroup J is the most abundant component in the Arabian peninsula and its two main subclades, show opposite latitudinal gradients in the Middle East
2.
Damascus
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Damascus is the capital and likely the largest city of Syria, following the decline in population of Aleppo due to the ongoing battle for the city. It is commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine, in addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious centre of the Levant. The city has an population of 1,711,000 as of 2009. Located in south-western Syria, Damascus is the centre of a metropolitan area of 2.6 million people. The Barada River flows through Damascus, first settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad, Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the government and all of the government ministries. The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list of Thutmose III as T-m-ś-q in the 15th century BC, the etymology of the ancient name T-m-ś-q is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as Dimašqa in Akkadian, T-ms-ḳw in Egyptian, Dammaśq in Old Aramaic, the Akkadian spelling is found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BC. Later Aramaic spellings of the name include a intrusive resh, perhaps influenced by the root dr. Thus, the English and Latin name of the city is Damascus which was imported from originated from the Qumranic Darmeśeq, and Darmsûq in Syriac, meaning a well-watered land. In Arabic, the city is called Dimašqu š-Šāmi, although this is shortened to either Dimašq or aš-Šām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbours. Aš-Šām is an Arabic term for Levant and for Syria, the latter, the Anti-Lebanon mountains mark the border between Syria and Lebanon. The range has peaks of over 10,000 ft. and blocks precipitation from the Mediterranean sea, however, in ancient times this was mitigated by the Barada River, which originates from mountain streams fed by melting snow. Damascus is surrounded by the Ghouta, irrigated farmland where many vegetables, cereals, maps of Roman Syria indicate that the Barada river emptied into a lake of some size east of Damascus. Today it is called Bahira Atayba, the hesitant lake, because in years of severe drought it does not even exist, the modern city has an area of 105 km2, out of which 77 km2 is urban, while Jabal Qasioun occupies the rest. The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, to the south-east, north and north-east it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages, Midan in the south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These neighbourhoods originally arose on roads leading out of the city and these new neighbourhoods were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule
3.
Tangier
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Tangier is a major city in northwestern Morocco. It is located on the Maghreb coast at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is the capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah prefecture of Morocco, the history of Tangier is very rich, due to the historical presence of many civilisations and cultures starting from before the 5th century BC. Between the period of being a strategic Berber town and then a Phoenician trading centre to the era around the 1950s. In 1923, it was considered as having international status by foreign colonial powers, the city is currently undergoing rapid development and modernisation. Projects include new tourism projects along the bay, a business district called Tangier City Center, a new airport terminal. Tangiers economy is set to benefit greatly from the new Tanger-Med port. The citys name is said to come from Tingis, the daughter of Atlas, however, it more likely derives from the Semitic word tigisis, meaning harbour. Tangier is also referred to as Boughaz or nicknamed as the bride of the north by the Moroccans, Tangier was founded in the early 5th century BC by Carthaginian colonists, who were probably the first ones to settle around the coast. The Greeks ascribed the citys establishment to the giant Antaios, whose tomb and skeleton are pointed out in the vicinity, the cave of Hercules, a few miles from the city, is a major tourist attraction. It is believed that Hercules slept there before attempting one of his twelve labours, the commercial town of Tingi came under Roman rule during the 2nd century BC. It was initially autonomous, and then, under Augustus, became a colony and it was the scene of the martyrdoms of Saint Marcellus of Tangier. Tingis was the main Roman city of Mauretania Tingitana in the 4th century and enjoyed huge development, in the 5th century, Vandals conquered and occupied Tingi and from here swept across the Maghreb. A century later, Tangier fell to the Byzantine Empire, before coming under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate in 702, due to its Christian past, it is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. When the Portuguese, driven in part by religious fervour, started their colonial expansion by taking Ceuta in 1415. They failed to capture the city in 1437 but finally occupied it in 1471, a partial plan of the original kasbah was found in 2009–12, in a Portuguese document now preserved in the Military Archives of Sweden in Stockholm. The Portuguese rule lasted until 1662, when it was given to Englands King Charles II as part of the dowry from the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza, the English gave the city a garrison and a charter which made it equal to English towns. The English planned to improve the harbour by building a mole, with an improved harbour the town would have played the same role that Gibraltar later played in British naval strategy
4.
Samarkand
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Samarkand, alternatively Samarqand or Samarcand, is a city in modern-day Uzbekistan and is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Central Asia. Prospering from its location on the Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean, at times Samarkand was one of the greatest cities of Central Asia, by the time of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, it was the capital of the Sogdian satrapy. The city was taken by Alexander the Great in 329 BC, the city was ruled by a succession of Iranian, Persian, and Turkic peoples until the Mongols under Genghis Khan conquered Samarkand in 1220. Today, Samarkand is the capital of Samarqand Region, and Uzbekistans second largest city, the city is noted for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century it became the capital of the empire of Timur and is the site of his mausoleum, the Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the citys most notable landmarks. The Registan was the ancient center of the city, the city has carefully preserved the traditions of ancient crafts, embroidery, gold embroidery, silk weaving, engraving on copper, ceramics, carving, and painting on wood. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures, the name probably originates in the Sogdian words asmara, stone, rock and kand, fort, town. Along with Bukhara, Samarkand is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Central Asia, archeological excavations held within the city limits as well as suburban areas unearthed evidence of human activity as early as 40,000 years old, in the late Paleolithic era. A group of Mesolithic era archeological sites were discovered at Sazagon-1, Zamichatosh, the Syob and Dargom canals, supplying the city and its suburbs with water, appeared around the 7th to 5th centuries BC. There is no evidence when Samarkand was founded. Researchers of the Institute of Archeology of Samarkand argue for the existence of the city between the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Samarkand has been one of the main centres of Sogdian civilization from its early days. By the time of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia it had become the capital of the Sogdian satrapy, Alexander the Great conquered Samarkand in 329 BC. The city was known as Maracanda by the Greeks, written sources offer small clues as to the subsequent system of government. They tell of an Orepius who became ruler not from ancestors, while Samarkand suffered significant damage during Alexanders initial conquest, the city recovered rapidly and under the new Hellenic influence flourished. There were also major new construction techniques, oblong bricks were replaced with square ones and superior methods of masonry, Alexanders conquests introduced into Central Asia classical Greek culture, at least for a time the Greek models were followed closely by the local artisans. After the Kushan era the city declined, it did not really revive until the 5th century, Samarkand was conquered by the Sassanians around 260 AD. Under Sassanian rule, the became an essential site for Manichaeism. After the Hephtalites conquered Samarkand, they controlled it until the Göktürks, in an alliance with the Sassanid Persians, the Turks ruled over Samarkand until they were defeated by the Sassanids during the Göktürk–Persian Wars
5.
Mocha, Yemen
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Mocha or Mokha is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and Hodeida eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mocha was the port for Yemens capital Sanaa. Mocha is famous for being the major marketplace for coffee from the 15th century until the early 18th century, even after other sources of coffee were found, Mocha beans continued to be prized for their distinctive flavor—and remain so even today. The coffee itself did not grow in Mocha, but was transported from places inland to the port in Mocha, where it was shipped abroad. Lobo adds that its importance as a port was also due to the Ottoman law that all ships entering the Red Sea to put in at Mocha. Mocha reached its zenith in the 17th century, owing to its trade in coffee, the city boasted of a stone wall that enclosed a citadel, as well as a labyrinth of thatched huts that surrounded the wall from without. Of these, some four-hundred were Jewish households who occupied in trade and he also found a number of European ships in the harbor, three French, four English, two Dutch, and one Portuguese. In the 18th century, a plague decimated half of the citys population, English, Dutch, French and Danish East India companies maintained factories at Mocha, which remained a major emporium and coffee exporting port until the early 19th century. William Moffat, her captain, took the opportunity to prepare a chart of the mouth of the Red Sea, in December 1820, HMS Topaze and ships and troops belonging to the British East India Company attacked the North and South Forts, destroying them. The action was in pursuit of British demands on the government of the city, a decade and a half later, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt would also attack the city and destroy its fortified wall closest to the sea, as well as its citadel. Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited Mocha in the 1830s and he noted that Turkish rebels possessed Mocha. The Turks took it over after they left Egypt while being disgruntled with the rule of Muhammad Ali of Egypt and these rebels, consisting of confederates throughout Arabia, had banded together under one leader named Turkie ben al Mas. When the British took control over Aden, the port in Mocha fell into disuse and it exceeds all my expectations, with regard to the destruction. It looks like a city destroyed by earthquakes, etc. ”Mocha was among the population centers in southern Yemen taken over by the Houthis during their military offensive in March 2015. The city is currently contested by pro-Hadi forces trying to seize the city form Houthis with conflict ongoing, at present, Mocha is no longer utilized as a major trade route and the current local economy is largely based upon fishing and small amounts of tourism. The village of Mocha was officially relocated 3 kilometres west along the Red Sea shore to accommodate the building, köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert. Tadjoura, Djibouti Mocha coffee bean Caffè mocha Published in the 19th century William Milburn, Mocha, Oriental Commerce, London, Black, OCLC6856418 Jedidiah Morse, Richard C. Morse, Mocha, A New Universal Gazetteer, New Haven, S. Converse Josiah Conder, Mocha, Dictionary of Geography, London, Published in the 20th century Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Mokha
6.
Sana'a
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Sanaa is the largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governorate, but forms the administrative district of Amanat Al-Asemah. Under the Yemeni constitution, Sanaa is the capital of the country, Aden was declared as the temporary capital by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in March 2015. Sanaa is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, at an elevation of 2,300 metres, it is also one of the highest capital cities in the world. Sanaa has a population of approximately 1,937,500, in the conflict that raged in 2015, bombs hit UNESCO sites. Located here is the Great Mosque of Sanaa, the largest in the city, Sanaa is one of the oldest populated places in the world. According to popular legend, it was founded by Shem, the son of Noah and it was known as Azal in ancient times, which has been connected to Uzal, a son of Qahtan, a great-grandson of Shem, in the biblical accounts of Genesis. The Arab historian al-Hamdani wrote that Sanaa was walled by the Sabeans under their ruler Shar Awtar, because of its location, Sanaa has served as an urban center for the surrounding tribes of the region and as a nucleus of regional trade in southern Arabia. It was positioned at the crossroad of two ancient trade routes linking Marib in the east to the Red Sea in the west. When King Yousef Athar, the last of the Himyarite kings, was in power, from the dawn of Islam until the founding of independent sub-states in many parts of the Yemen Islamic Caliphate, Sanaa persisted as the governing seat. The Caliphs deputy ran the affairs of one of Yemens three Makhalifs, Mikhlaf Sanaa, Mikhlaf al-Janad and Mikhlaf Hadhramawt, the city of Sanaa regularly regained an important status and all Yemenite States competed to control it. Imam al-Shafii, the 8th-century Islamic jurist and founder of the Shafii school of jurisprudence and he praised the city, writing La budda min Ṣanʻāʼ, or Sanaa must be seen. Later in the 10th-century, the Persian geographer Ibn Rustah wrote of Sanaa It is the city of Yemen—there not being found, a city greater, more populous or more prosperous, of nobler origin or more delicious food than it. In 1062 Sanaa was taken over by the Sulayhid dynasty led by Ali al-Sulayhi and his wife and he made the city capital of his relatively small kingdom, which also included the Haraz Mountains. The Sulayhids were aligned with the Ismaili Muslim-leaning Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, al-Sulayhi ruled for about 20 years but he was assassinated by his principal local rivals, the Zabid-based Najahids. Following his death, al-Sulayhis daughter, Arwa al-Sulayhi, inherited the throne and she withdrew from Sanaa, transferring the Sulayhid capital to Jibla, where she ruled much of Yemen from 1067 to 1138. As a result of the Sulayhid departure, the Hamdanid dynasty took control of Sanaa, in 1173 Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, sent his brother Turan-Shah on an expedition to conquer Yemen. The Ayyubids gained control of Sanaa in 1175 and united the various Yemeni tribal states, except for the northern mountains controlled by the Zaydi imams, the Ayyubids switched the countrys official religious allegiance to the Sunni Muslim Abbasids
7.
Taiz
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Taiz is a city in the Yemeni Highlands, near the famous Mocha port on the Red Sea, lying at an elevation of about 1,400 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate, with a population of over 600,000 in 2005, it is the third largest city in Yemen after the capital Sanaa and the southern port of Aden. When Yemen was at peace, it was considered to be the capital of Yemen. During the 2011 Yemeni Revolution, a battle in Taiz between supporters and opponents of Ali Abdullah Saleh led to a rebel victory, as part of the 2015 Yemeni Civil War, the city endured a military confrontation between Houthis and the forces loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The city was effectively under siege and the United Nations warned of an extreme, in 130 CE the Jewish quarter was established in the city. Taiz was ruled by Turan-Shah, the brother of Saladin. Turan-Shah built the citadel on the hill overlooking the old city, the second Rasulid King, Almaddhafar, established Taiz as the second capital of the Rasulid Dynasty after Zabid. Ibn Battutah visited Taiz in the century and described it as one of the largest and most beautiful cities of Yemen. Taiz remained a city until 1948 when Imam Ahmed made it the second capital of Yemen. The Taiz shooting took place on March 25 and 261994, a Yemenite killed eleven women and seven men, among them his wife and his mother, before he was arrested by police. When he was led away he managed to wrest the gun from an officer and kill another four people. A total of 23 people were killed, including the suspect During the 2011 Yemeni uprising fighting in Taiz resulted in anti-government forces seizing control of the city. On 22 March 2015, the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh took the city in the aftermath of their coup détat in Sanaa, in August 2015 Yemeni MP Muhammad Muqbil Al-Himyari reported Houthi attacks on civilians in Taiz and appealed for help on Suhail TV. 1175, Taiz is made capital of Yemen as it was incorporated into dominions of the Ayyubid dynasty by Turan-Shah,1500, The capital is moved to Sanaa by the ruler of the Taharid dynasty. 1516, Taiz comes under Ottoman control,1918, The Ottomans lose Taiz to the new independent Yemen. 1948, Taiz becomes the capital of Yemen, as it is made the residence of the imam. 1962, State administrations move back to Sanaa, 1960s, The first purified water system in Yemen is opened in Taiz. Taiz has a Humid subtropical climate, the average daily temperature high during August is 33 °C
8.
Gendarmerie General Command
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The Gendarmerie is essentially a governmental armed security and law enforcement force of military nature. It also operates the Askeri İnzibat provost service, policing the armed forces, the Commander of the Gendarmerie reports to the Minister of the Interior. The Gendarmerie has its roots in the Ottoman Empire military law enforcement organization Subaşı, a similar, earlier force was called Şurta during the medieval Seljuq Empire. Therefore, taking the June 14 of June 14,1869, on which Asâkir-i Zaptiye Nizâmnâmesi was adopted, after 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, Ottoman prime minister Mehmed Said Pasha decided to bring some officers from Britain and France to establish a modern law enforcement organization. After the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Gendarmerie achieved great successes, in 1909, the Gendarmerie was affiliated with the Ministry of War, and its name was changed to the Gendarmerie General Command. The Gendarmerie organization achieved its current legal status after Law No.1706 entered into force on June 10,1930, in 1939, the Gendarmerie organization was restructured, having three groups, Fixed Gendarmerie Units, Mobile Gendarmerie Units, and Gendarmerie Training Units and Schools. In 1957, Gendarmerie Border Units were transformed into brigades, in 1961, Gendarmerie Regional Commands were established. In 1968, the first Gendarmerie Aviation Unit was established in Diyarbakır under the name of Light Helicopter Company Command, in 1974, Gendarmerie Commando Units and Gendarmerie Aviation Units took part in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Law No.2692 which entered force in 1982 assigned the duty of protecting the coasts. Law No.2803 on the Organization, Duties and Responsibilities of the Gendarmerie entered into force in 1983, Crime Scene Examination Teams, Explosive Material Disposal Units, Fingerprints and Palm Prints Branches and Crime Scene Examination Units were also established. Since 1984, Gendarmerie units have been the most important element of the conflict against Kurdish separatists, list of General Commanders of the Gendarmerie of Turkey Constabulary Gendarmerie Military equipment of Turkey General Command of Gendarmerie Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı
9.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
10.
Hodeida
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Al Hudaydah, also known in English as Hodeda, Hodeida, Hudaida, and Hodeidah, is the Fourth-largest city in Yemen. It boasts a population of 400,000 people and is the centre of the Al Hudaydah Governorate, after a disastrous fire in January 1961 destroyed much of Al-Hudaydah, it was rebuilt, particularly the port facilities, with Soviet aid. A highway to Sanaa, the capital, was completed in 1961, the city was also the site of a Soviet naval base in the 1970s and 1980s. Al-Hudaydah has a number of historical places, particularly in Zabid. The city is not large but it has more than one hundred old mosques, furthermore, it used to have a university, which is as old as al-Azhar. The city was occupied by Saudi forces during the Saudi–Yemeni War of 1934. During the 2015 Yemeni Civil War, the Houthi-controlled citys port was bombed by the Saudi-led coalition on August 18. The ports four cranes were destroyed and several warehouses were also damaged. The coalition asserted that the port was housing a hostile naval base, situated on the Red Sea, it is an important port, exporting coffee, cotton, dates and hides. It was developed as a seaport in the century by the Ottoman Turks. As of 1920, the British described Al Hudaydahs port as being a poor harbor, with two entrances, it was only able to provide adequate storage and shelter for small boats, with larger boats and ships having to dock over two miles away. In 1908, a new pier was built, which had trouble with depth, coal was often available for visiting vessels. A new harbor was built 10 miles northwest of the town by the Turkish government, with a train line leading to Al Hudaydah. A French company built the system, which was halted upon the Italo-Turkish War breakout. As of 1909, the port was bringing in less than the port at Jeddah and that year,172 steam ships visited the port. Majority of the goods were from the United Kingdom, with Italy, Russia, german imports had grown from 1905 to 1909, with British shipping declining. Despite struggles with a quality harbor, the town was described as being the center of dhow building, the city was known for producing striped coarse cotton cloth, woven by hand. The artisans making the cloth were relocated to Al Hudaydah from Zabīd, the city was also a center for tanning and sandal making. In the late 19th-century, Al Hudaydah was an exporter of coffee
11.
Siwa Oasis
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The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Western Desert, nearly 50 km east of the Libyan border, and 560 km from Cairo. Its fame lies primarily in its ancient role as the home to an oracle of Ammon, historically, it is part of Ancient Libya. The Siwa oasis is in a depression that reaches below sea level. To the west the Jaghbub oasis lies in a similar depression, the oasis was called Ammonium in ancient times. Early Arab geographers termed it Santariyyah and its modern name Siwa, first attested in the 15th century, is of uncertain origin. Although the oasis is known to have settled since at least the 10th millennium BC, the earliest evidence of connection with ancient Egypt is the 26th Dynasty. During the Ptolemaid period of Egypt its ancient Egyptian name was sḫ. t-ỉm3w, Greek settlers at Cyrene made contact with the oasis around the same time, and the oracle temple of Amun, who, Herodotus was told, took the image here of a ram. Herodotus knew of a fountain of the Sun that ran coldest in the noontide heat, during his campaign to conquer the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great reached the oasis, supposedly by following birds across the desert. Evidence of Christianity at Siwa is uncertain, but in 708 the Siwans resisted an Islamic army, a local manuscript mentions only seven families totaling 40 men living at the oasis in 1203. In the 12th century Al-Idrisi mentions it as being inhabited mainly by Berbers, with an Arab minority, the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi travelled to Siwa in the 15th century and described how the language spoken there is similar to the language of the Zenata. The first European to visit since Roman times was the English traveler William George Browne, the oasis was officially added to Egypt by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1819. In the Spring of 1893, German explorer and photographer, Hermann Burchardt, took photographs of the architecture of the town of Siwa, consequently, Arab rule from distant Cairo was at first tenuous and marked by several revolts. Siwa was also the site of fighting during World War I. The British Armys Long Range Desert Group was based here, German soldiers went skinny dipping in the lake of the oracle, contrary to local customs which prohibit public nudity. In 1942 while the Italian 136th Infantry Division Giovani Fascisti occupied the oasis, the oasis makes a brief appearance as a base of the LRDG in the 1958 war film Ice Cold in Alex. The ancient fortress of Siwa, known as the Shali Ghadi, was built on rock and made of kershif. Only one building in the Shali complex has been repaired and is in use, gradually eroded by infrequent rains and slowly collapsing, the Shali remains a prominent feature, towering five stories above the modern town and lit at night by floodlights. It is most easily approached from its southwest side, south of the end of the road which curves around from the north side of the Shali
12.
Basra
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Basra, also al-Baṣrah, is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab between Kuwait and Iran. It had an population of 1.5 million in 2012. Basra is also Iraqs main port, although it not have deep water access. The city is part of the location of Sumer, one of the ports from which Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. It played an important role in early Islamic history and was built in 636, Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding 50 °C. The city was called by many throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. In Arabic the word means the overwatcher, which might have been an allusion to the citys origin as an Arab military base against the Sassanids. Some sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, others have argued that the name is derived from the Aramaic word basratha, meaning place of huts, settlement. During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by names, including the mother of Iraq, the reservoir of Arabs, the prosperous city. The name Al-Basrah, which in Arabic means the over watching or the seeing everything, was given to it because of its role as a base against the Sassanid Empire. However, other sources claim the name originates from the Persian word Bas-rāh or Bassorāh meaning where many ways come together, in 639 Umar established this encampment as a city with five districts, and appointed Abu Musa al-Ashari as its first governor. Abu Musa led the conquest of Khuzestan from 639 to 642 and was ordered by Umar to aid Uthman ibn Abu al-ʿAs, then fighting Iran from a new, more easterly miṣr at Tawwaj. In 650, the Rashidun Caliph Uthman reorganised the Persian frontier, installed ʿAbdullah ibn Amir as Basras governor, Ibn Amir led his forces to their final victory over Yazdegerd III, the Sassanid King of Kings. In 656, Uthman was murdered and Ali was appointed Caliph, Ali first installed Uthman ibn Hanif as Basras governor, who was followed by ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas. These men held the city for Ali until the death in 661. The Sufyanids held Basra until Yazid Is death in 683, the Sufyanids first governor was Umayyad ʿAbdullah, a renowned military leader, commanding fealty and financial demands from Karballah, but poor governor. In 664, Muʿawiyah I replaced him with Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan, often called ibn Abihi, on Ziyads death in 673, his son ʿUbaydullah ibn Ziyad became governor
13.
Kuwait
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Kuwait /kuːˈweɪt/, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq. As of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.2 million people,1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates, expatriates account for 70% of the population. Oil reserves were discovered in 1938, from 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability, in 1990, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. The Iraqi occupation came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by coalition forces, at the end of the war, there were extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure. Kuwait is a constitutional emirate with a political system. It has an income economy backed by the worlds sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world, according to the World Bank, the country has the fourth highest per capita income in the world. The Constitution was promulgated in 1962, making Kuwait the most democratic country in the region, Kuwait ranks highly in regional metrics of gender equality, as it has the regions highest Global Gender Gap ranking. During the Ubaid period, Kuwait was the site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic Eastern Arabia, mainly centered in As-Subiya in northern Kuwait. The earliest evidence of habitation in Kuwait dates back 8000 B. C. where Mesolithic tools were found in Burgan. As-Subiya in northern Kuwait is the earliest evidence of urbanization in the whole Persian Gulf basin area, mesopotamians first settled in the Kuwaiti island of Failaka in 2000 B. C. Traders from the Sumerian city of Ur inhabited Failaka and ran a mercantile business, the island had many Mesopotamian-style buildings typical of those found in Iraq dating from around 2000 B. C. The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the worlds earliest maritime traders, one of the worlds earliest reed-boats was discovered in northern Kuwait dating back to the Ubaid period. In 3rd century BC, the ancient Greeks colonized the bay of Kuwait under Alexander the Great, according to Strabo and Arrian, Alexander the Great named Failaka Ikaros because it resembled the Aegean island of that name in size and shape. Remains of Greek colonization include a large Hellenistic fort and Greek temples, in 224 AD, Kuwait became part of the Sassanid Empire. At the time of the Sassanid Empire, Kuwait was known as Meshan, Akkaz was a Partho-Sassanian site, the Sassanid religions tower of silence was discovered in northern Akkaz
14.
Bahrain
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Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. Bahrains population is 1,234,567, including 666,172 non-nationals and it is 780 km2 in size, making it the third smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation and it has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries, which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam, following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was occupied by the Portuguese in 1521, who in turn were expelled in 1602 by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and it has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family, in the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Formerly a state, Bahrain was declared a Kingdom in 2002, in 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring. Bahrain had the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, since the late 20th century, Bahrain has invested in the banking and tourism sectors. Many large financial institutions have a presence in Manama, the countrys capital, Bahrain has a high Human Development Index and was recognised by the World Bank as a high income economy. In Arabic, Bahrayn is the form of bahr, so al-Bahrayn means the two seas, although which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Quran, but does not refer to the modern island—originally known to the Arabs as Awal— but rather to all of Eastern Arabia. Today, Bahrains two seas are generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island. In addition to wells, there are areas of the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the water as noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory with regard to Bahrains toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, another supposition by al-Jawahari suggests that the more formal name Bahri would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. Until the late Middle Ages, Bahrain referred to the region of Eastern Arabia that included Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, the region stretched from Basra in Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in Oman. This was Iqlīm al-Bahrayns Bahrayn Province, the exact date at which the term Bahrain began to refer solely to the Awal archipelago is unknown. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as Bahrain for a millennium, the island and kingdom were also commonly spelled Bahrein into the 1950s. Bahrain was home to the Dilmun civilization, an important Bronze Age trade centre linking Mesopotamia, Bahrain was later ruled by the Assyrians and Babylonians. From the 6th to 3rd century BC, Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire ruled by the Achaemenian dynasty, by about 250 BC, Parthia brought the Persian Gulf under its control and extended its influence as far as Oman
15.
Hofuf
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Al-Hofuf is the major urban center in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It is also well known for being one of the largest date producers in the world. The city proper has a population of 1,500,000 and is part of a larger populated oasis area of towns and it is located inland, southwest of Abqaiq and the Dhahran–Dammam–Al-Khobar metropolitan area on the road south to Haradh. It is the closest city to the famous Ghawar oil field, Hofuf is one of the major cultural centers in Saudi Arabia. A lot of families live there. The faculties of agriculture, veterinary medicine and animal resources for King Faisal University are located in the city, the Hofuf campus also has facilities where Saudi women can study medicine, dentistry and home economics. Legend places this as the place of Laila and Majnoon. The Queen of Sheba is also fabled to have visited this city from her kingdom in Yemen, german explorer, Hermann Burchardt, photographed the city in 1904. Historically, Hofuf made textiles out of wool, silk, the town was also renowned for its fruit of the date palm, the Arabs considering the khalasi variety of dates, grown in Hofuf, as also the fardh variety of Oman, among the best. As of 1920, the city was known for making coffee pots from silver, Hofuf has a desert climate with long, very hot summers and mild, short winters. The International Random Film Festival was hosted in Hofuf in January 2015, although the city has two airports, it is served by King Fahd International Airport which is 130 km away in Dammam. All railways in Saudi Arabia are organized by the Saudi Railways Organization, Hofuf on www. The-Saudi. net Jabal Qarah, Splendid Arabia, A travel site with photos and routes
16.
Qatar
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Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a sovereign country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait in the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the island country of Bahrain, as well as sharing maritime borders with the United Arab Emirates. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971, Qatar has been ruled by the House of Thani since the early 19th century. Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani was the founder of the State of Qatar, Qatar is a hereditary monarchy and its head of state is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Whether it should be regarded as a constitutional or a monarchy is a matter of opinion. In 2003, the constitution was approved in a referendum. In early 2017, Qatars total population was 2.3 million,313,000 Qatari citizens and 2.6 million expatriates, Qatar is a high income economy and is a developed country, backed by the worlds third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves. The country has the highest per capita income in the world, Qatar is classified by the UN as a country of very high human development and is the most advanced Arab state for human development. Qatar is a significant power in the Arab world, supporting several rebel groups during the Arab Spring both financially and through its globally expanding media group, Al Jazeera Media Network. For its size, Qatar wields disproportionate influence in the world, Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Arab country to do so. A century later, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the peninsula, the map also referenced a town named Cadara to the east of the peninsula. The term Catara was exclusively used until the 18th century, after which Katara emerged as the most commonly recognised spelling, eventually, the modern derivative Qatar was adopted as the countrys name. In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced, while in the local dialect it is, Human habitation of Qatar dates back to 50,000 years ago. Settlements and tools dating back to the Stone Age have been unearthed in the peninsula, Mesopotamian artefacts originating from the Ubaid period have been discovered in abandoned coastal settlements. Al Daasa, a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most important Ubaid site in the country and is believed to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment. Kassite Babylonian material dating back to the second millennium BC found in Al Khor Islands attests to trade relations between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Kassites in modern-day Bahrain, among the findings were 3,000,000 crushed snail shells and Kassite potsherds. It has been suggested that Qatar is the earliest known site of shellfish dye production, in 224 AD, the Sasanian Empire gained control over the territories surrounding the Persian Gulf
17.
Abu Dhabi
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Abu Dhabi is the capital and the second most populous city of the United Arab Emirates, and also capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the largest of the UAEs seven emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the western coast. The city proper had a population of 1.5 million in 2014, Abu Dhabi houses federal government offices, is the seat of the United Arab Emirates Government, home to the Abu Dhabi Emiri Family and the President of the UAE, who is from this family. Abu Dhabis rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the high average income of its population, has transformed the city into a large. Today the city is the center of political and industrial activities. Abu Dhabi accounts for about two-thirds of the roughly $400-billion United Arab Emirates economy, Abu Dhabi is the fourth most expensive city for expatriate employees in the region, and in 2014 was the 68th most expensive big city in the world. Abu Dhabi is full of evidence that points to civilizations, such as the Umm an-Nar Culture. Settlements were also found farther outside the city of Abu Dhabi. There is evidence of civilizations around the mountain of Hafeet and this location is very strategic because it is the UAE’s second tallest mountain, so it would have great visibility. It also contains a lot of moisture in its springs and lakes, origin of the name Abu Dhabi The origin of the name Abu Dhabi is uncertain. Meaning Father of the Gazelle, when translated from Arabic. According to Bilal al-Budoor, assistant under-secretary for Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, The area had a lot of dhibaa, an old story tells about a man who used to chase deer and was named the father of the animal. Abu Dhabis original name was Milh salt, possibly referring to the salty water of the Persian Gulf, some Bedouins called the city Umm Dhabi, while British records refer to the place as Abu Dhabi. According to some accounts, the name Abu Dhabi was first used more than 300 years ago. The first word of Abu Dhabi is pronounced Bu by inhabitants on the western coast. In the eastern part of the city, the pronunciation is Abu, origins of the Al Nahyan family The Bani Yas bedouin were originally centered on the Liwa Oasis. This tribe was the most significant in the area, having over 20 subsections, in 1793, the Al Bu Falah subsection migrated to the island of Abu Dhabi on the coast of the Persian Gulf due to the discovery of fresh water there. One family within this section was the Al Nahyan family and this family makes up the rulers of Abu Dhabi today
18.
Dubai
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Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the countrys legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the northern coastline. Dubai will host World Expo 2020, Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubais economy was based on revenues from trade and, to an extent, oil exploration concessions. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969, Dubais oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low, today, less than 5% of the emirates revenue comes from oil. The emirates Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, Dubai was recently named the best destination for Muslim travellers by Salam Standard. Dubai has recently attracted attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the worlds tallest building, Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the citys largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. As of 2012, Dubai was the 22nd most expensive city in the world, in 2014, Dubais hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world, after Geneva. Dubai was rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East by U. S. global consulting firm Mercer, Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word Dubai. One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, another theory states that the name came from a word meaning money, as people from Dubai were commonly believed to be rich due to the thriving trading centre of the location. An Arabic proverb says Daba Dubai, meaning They came with a lot of money, according to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAEs history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, an inhabitant or native of the city is a Dubaian. Although stone tools have been found at archaeological sites, little is known about the UAEs early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds, the remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries
19.
Muscat
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Muscat is the capital and largest metropolitan city of Oman. It is also the seat of government and largest city in the Governorate of Muscat, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information, the total population of Muscat Governorate reached 1.56 million as of September 2015. The metropolitan area spans approximately 3,500 km2 and includes six provinces called wilayats, a regional military power in the 18th century, Muscats influence extended as far as East Africa and Zanzibar. As an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman, Muscat attracted foreign tradesmen and settlers such as the Persians and the Balochis. Since the ascension of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy. The rocky Western Al Hajar Mountains dominate the landscape of Muscat, the city lies on the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman and is in the proximity of the strategic Straits of Hormuz. Low-lying white buildings typify most of Muscats urban landscape, while the port-district of Muttrah, with its corniche and harbour, Muscats economy is dominated by trade, petroleum and porting. Ptolemys Map of Arabia identifies the territories of Cryptus Portus and Moscha Portus, scholars are divided in opinion on which of the two related to the city of Muscat. Similarly, Arrianus references Omana and Moscha in Voyage of Nearchus, interpretations of Arrianus work by William Vincent and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon dAnville conclude that Omana was a reference to Oman, while Moscha referred to Muscat. Similarly, other scholars identify Pliny the Elders reference to Amithoscuta to be Muscat, the origin of the word Muscat is disputed. Some authors claim that the word has Arabic origins – from moscha, other authors claim that the name Muscat means anchorage or the place of letting fall the anchor. Other derivations include muscat from Old Persian, meaning strong-scented, or from Arabic, meaning falling-place, Cryptus Portus is synonymous with Oman. But Ov-man, and the old Sumerian name Magan, means sea-people in Arabic, an inhabitant is a Muscatter, Muscatian, Muscatite or Muscatan. Evidence of communal activity in the area around Muscat dates back to the 6th millennium BCE in Ras al-Hamra, the graves appear to be well formed and indicate the existence of burial rituals. South of Muscat, remnants of Harappan pottery indicate some level of contact with the Indus Valley Civilisation. Muscats notability as a port was acknowledged as early as the 1st century CE by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, who referred to it as Cryptus Portus, and by Pliny the Elder, who called it Amithoscuta. The port fell to a Sassanid invasion in the 3rd century CE, under the rule of Shapur I, Muscats importance as a trading port continued to grow in the centuries that followed, under the influence of the Azd dynasty, a local tribe. The establishment of the First Imamate in the 9th century CE was the first step in consolidating disparate Omani tribal factions under the banner of an Ibadi state, however, tribal skirmishes continued, allowing the Abbasids of Baghdad to conquer Oman
20.
Oman
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Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast, the Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandams coastal boundaries. From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was an empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, as its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat was the trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean, the Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said has been the hereditary leader of the country since 1970. Sultan Qaboos is the current ruler in the Middle East. Oman has modest oil reserves, ranking 25th globally, nevertheless, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A significant portion of its economy is tourism and trade of fish, dates and this sets it apart from its neighbors solely oil-dependent economies. Oman is categorized as an economy and ranks as the 74th most peaceful country in the world according to the Global Peace Index. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old and this supports the proposition that early human populations moved from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene. Dereaze, located in the city of Ibri, is the oldest known settlement in the area. Archaeological remains have been discovered here from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, findings have included stone implements, animal bones, shells and fire hearths, with the latter dating back to 7615 BC as the oldest signs of human settlement in the area. Other discoveries include hand-molded pottery bearing distinguishing pre-Bronze Age marks, heavy flint implements, pointed tools, sumerian tablets refer to a country called Magan or Makan, a name believed to refer to Omans ancient copper mines. Mazoon, another used for the region, is derived from the word muzn. The present-day name of the country, Oman, is believed to originate from the Arab tribes who migrated to its territory from the Uman region of Yemen. Many such tribes settled in Oman, making a living by fishing, herding or stock breeding, from the 6th century BC to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, Oman was controlled and/or influenced by three Persian dynasties, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids. A few scholars believe that in the 6th century BC, the Achaemenids exerted a strong degree of control over the Omani peninsula, Central Oman has its own indigenous so-called Late Iron Age cultural assemblage, the Samad al-Shan
21.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
22.
Yemen
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Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, although Yemens constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, the city has been under rebel control since February 2015. Because of this, Yemens capital has been relocated to the port city of Aden. Yemens territory includes more than 200 islands, the largest of these is Socotra, Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans, a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and probably also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom, Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established. Islam spread quickly in the century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests. Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult, several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the twentieth century. The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later, a Marxist state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990, Yemen is a developing country, and the poorest country in the Middle East. Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen was described as a kleptocracy, according to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed. President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency. In September 2014, the Houthis took over Sanaa, later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup détat, since then, a Saudi-led intervention has taken place, however, it could not stop the civil war. Instead, the Saudis and the others have destroyed some hospitals, schools and homes, Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions as Yamnat. In Arabic literature, the term includes much greater territory than that of the republic of Yemen. It stretches from the northern Asir Region in southwestern Saudi Arabia to Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, one etymology derives Yemen from yumn, meaning felicity, as much of the country is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix, as opposed to Arabia Deserta, al-Yaman significantly plays on the notion of the land to the right, when in Mecca facing the dawn, complementary to Al-Sham, the Land to the Left, referring to the Levant
23.
Rada'a District
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Radaa is a walled city in south-east Yemen, although today the city is grown considerably beyond its walls. Located in the Al-Bayda governorate, Radaa is the largest and most important of its cities and it was once the home of the second largest Jewish community in Yemen, after Sanaa. Radaa is located some 31 miles from Dhamar, the citys most prominent feature is Radaa castle
24.
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
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The Ethnological Museum of Berlin is one of the Berlin State Museums, the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in the complex in Dahlem, along with the Museum of Asian Art. The museum holds more than 500,000 objects and is one of the largest and most important collections of works of art, as the museum’s collections expanded in the early twentieth century, the museum quickly outgrew its facility in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße. A new building was erected in Dahlem to house the museum’s store rooms, in the Second World War, the main building of the museum was heavily damaged. It was demolished in 1961, and the buildings in Dahlem were reconfigured to serve as the exhibition spaces. Following German reunification, although many of the Berlin museum collections were relocated, starting in 2000, concrete plans were developed to relocate the collections back to the center of the city. Beginning in January 2016, the Ethnological Museum began the process of dismantling its exhibitions in preparation for its move to the Humboldt Forum. Until January 2017, the museum remain open to the public, and its permanent exhibitions of works from Africa, Mesoamerican archaeology. Highlights include the collections of painted Maya vases and drinking cups, Benin bronzes, sculpture from Cameroon, the collections themselves encompass more than 500,000 from around the world. In addition, the museum more than 280,000 historical photographs, a substantial archive, more than 125,000 sound recordings. The collection is organized according to geography as well as methodological approaches, the main divisions are Africa, Oceania, East-and North-Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, American ethnology, American archaeology, and ethnomusicology. The museum also houses a reference library of more than 140,000 volumes relating to ethnology, non-European art. These collections are all housed in the complex in Dahlem. The museums first building in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße was already too small to accommodate the collections when it opened in 1886, by 1906, the first construction began on a second facility for the museum in Dahlem. The museum intended to use space in Dahlem to store and conduct research on the large collections, but to continue to exhibit portions of the collection in the building in the city center. Plans were developed for a complex in Dahlem, consisting of four large buildings, one for each of the non-European geographical regions of the globe, Asia, Africa, Oceania. Construction began in 1914, the architect Bruno Paul was commissioned to build the structure to house the Asian collections, the work was stopped, however, because of the First World War and was only completed in 1921. However, the museum lacked the resources to erect the other three planned buildings, the museum continued to function with two separate facilities housing its collections until the Second World War
25.
National Library of Israel
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The National Library of Israel, formerly Jewish National and University Library, is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Jewish heritage. The library holds more than 5 million books, and is located on the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the National Library owns the worlds largest collections of Hebraica and Judaica, and is the repository of many rare and unique manuscripts, books and artifacts. The Bnai Brith library, founded in Jerusalem in 1892, was the first public library in Palestine to serve the Jewish community, the library was located on Bnai Brith street, between the Meah Shearim neighborhood and the Russian Compound. Ten years later, the Bet Midrash Abrabanel library, as it was then known, in 1920, when plans were drawn up for the Hebrew University, the Bnai Brith collection became the basis for a university library. The books were moved to Mount Scopus when the university opened five years later, in 1948, when access to the university campus on Mount Scopus was blocked, most of the books were moved to the universitys temporary quarters in the Terra Sancta building in Rehavia. By that time, the university collection included over one million books, for lack of space, some of the books were placed in storerooms around the city. In 1960, they were moved to the new JNUL building in Givat Ram, in the 1990s, the building suffered from maintenance problems such as rainwater leaks and insect infestation. In 2007 the library was recognized as The National Library of the State of Israel after the passage of the National Library Law. In 2011, the library launched a website granting public access to books, periodicals, maps, photos, in 2014, the project for a new home of the Library in Jerusalem was unveiled. The 34,000 square meters building, designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, is scheduled for completion in 2019. By law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be deposited in the National Library, in 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media. Many manuscripts, including some of the librarys unique volumes such the 14th century Nuremberg Mahzor, have been scanned and are now available on the Internet, the library also possesses some of Isaac Newtons manuscripts dealing with theological subjects. The library houses the archives of Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem. These collections included those of Henry Cattan, Khalil Beidas, Khalil al-Sakakini, about 30,000 books were removed from homes in West Jerusalem, with another 40,000 taken from other cities in Mandatory Palestine. It is unclear whether the books were being kept and protected or if they were looted from the houses of their owners. About 6,000 of these books are in the library today indexed with the label AP – Abandoned Property, the books are cataloged, can be viewed from the Librarys general catalog and are regularly consulted by the public, including Arab scholars from all over the world. List of national and state libraries Union List of Israel Official website
26.
Hauran
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Auranitis, also spelled Hawran, Houran and Horan, is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area and a people located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of Jordan. It gets its name from the Aramaic Hawran, meaning cave land, in geographic and geomorphic terms, it extends from near Damascus and Mount Hermon in the north to the Ajloun mountains of Jordan in the south. It includes the Golan Heights in the west and is bounded there by the Jordan Rift Valley, it also includes Jabal al-Druze in the east and is bounded there by more arid steppe and desert terrains. The Yarmouk River drains much of the Hauran to the west and is the largest tributary of the Jordan River, however, the name is used colloquially by both the inhabitants of the region and outsiders, to refer to the area and its people. The volcanic soils of Hauran make it one of the most fertile regions in Syria, the region receives above-average annual precipitation but has few rivers. Hauran relies mainly on annual snow and rain during winter and spring and many of the ancient sites contain cisterns, the area is unlike other historical fertile areas of Syria, which rely on controlled irrigation systems for their farming productivity. Since the mid-1980s, Syria has built a number of seasonal storage dams within the headwaters of the Yarmouk River drainage basin. The plains of Auranitis appear to have been inhabited by small bands of hunters and gatherers. By circa 12,000 BC, microliths and bone tools were becoming part of daily lifestyle. By this time Natufians settled in Taiyiba in southern Houran, and southwest of Houran in Tabqat Fahl, to their east, circa 8,300 BC wheat was domesticated and their neighbors to the west in Canaan and to the East in Mesopotamia started living in oval houses. Between 8,000 and 7,000 BC, people of Hauran were eating mostly hunted gazelles and foxes, between 7000 and 6000 BC their daily food was mostly domesticated animals and domesticated cereals. By the 4th millennium BC there were many Chalcolithic settlements in the valley of the Yarmouk river, the Auranitis is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible including the boundary area of the Israelite northern kingdom at the time. The countrys most distinguished citizen is said to have been the prophet Job, at the time, the Hauran also included the northern cities of the Decapolis. Atypically, its name is part of that of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Bosra-Haūrān, in alphabetical order, including article and disregarding hyphens
27.
Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
28.
Max von Oppenheim
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Max von Oppenheim was a German lawyer, diplomat, ancient historian, and archaeologist. He was a member of the Oppenheim banking dynasty, abandoning his career in diplomacy, he discovered the site of Tell Halaf in 1899 and conducted excavations there in 1911-13 and again in 1929. Bringing many of his finds to Berlin, he exhibited them in a private museum and this was destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II. However, most of the findings were recently restored and have been exhibited again at Berlin, Oppenheim was a controversial figure before and during World War I because he was considered a spy by the French and British. He did in fact engage in anti-Allied propaganda, aimed at stirring up the Muslim populations of the Allied-controlled territories against their colonial masters, Max Oppenheim was born on 15 July 1860 in Cologne as the son of Albert Oppenheim and Pauline Engels. Albert Oppenheim, a member of the Jewish Oppenheim family of bankers had converted to Catholicism in 1858 to marry Catholic Pauline Engels, in 1867, Max grandfather, Simon, was awarded the title of Freiherr in Austria-Hungary. As the title was valid in Prussia, the family now styled itself von Oppenheim. Max grew up as one of five siblings and from an age he was exposed to art, as his father was an avid collector. Although his father wanted him to work in the house of Sal. According to his memoirs, it was a Christmas gift of The Thousand. Max attended school at Cologne from 1866–79, finishing with the Abitur at the Apostel-Gymnasium and he then followed the wish of his father and began to study law at the University of Strasbourg. However, rather than study, he spent most of time at the Studentenverbindung Palatia and he then transferred to Berlin University but his lack of academic progress caused his father to recall him to Cologne where he finished his 1. Staatsexamen and the exam in 1883. During his time as Referendar he learned Arabic and began to collect Oriental art, at that time, Max also did his military service in the 15th Uhlan Guards regiment. He finished his Referendariat in 1891 by passing the exam as Assessor, in 1892, Oppenheim travelled to Spain, the Maghreb and on to Cairo where he stayed for seven months, studying Arabic and Islam. Unusually, he moved out of a European-style hotel to live in a quarter inhabited by locals, in 1893-94, Oppenheim then travelled from Cairo through the Syrian desert, Mesopotamia to Basra. He passed through areas not visited by any European explorer before him, T. E Lawrence, whom Oppenheim later met at Carchemish in 1912, called Oppenheims work the best book on the area I know. In 1895, Oppenheim visited Constantinople and was received for an audience by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, interested in politics and diplomacy, Oppenheim tried to join the diplomatic corps but the Auswärtiges Amt rejected him due to the Jewish background of his father
29.
Yemenite Jews
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Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen. The term may refer to the descendants of the Yemenite Jewish community. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the majority of Yemens Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. After several waves of persecution throughout Yemen, most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, while small communities are found in the United States, only a handful remain in Yemen. The few remaining Jews experience intense, and at times violent, Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that marks them out as separate from Ashkenazi, Sephardi and other Jewish groups. Some Jewish families have preserved traditions relating to their tribal affiliation, in Yemen, for example, some Jews trace their lineage to Judah, others to Benjamin, while yet others to Levi and Reuben. Of particular interest is one distinguished Jewish family of Yemen who traced their lineage to Bani, one of the sons of Peretz, there are numerous accounts and traditions concerning the arrival of Jews in various regions in Southern Arabia. One tradition suggests that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold, another legend says that Yemeni tribes converted to Judaism after the Queen of Shebas visit to king Solomon. The Sanaite Jews have a tradition that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple and it is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen. Another legend states that when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, according to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action Ezra was denied burial in Israel. As a result of local tradition, which can not be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of some Yemenites, however, some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story as myth, if not outright blasphemy. Archaeological records referring to Judaism in Yemen started to appear during the rule of the Himyarite Kingdom, various inscription in Musnad script in the second century CE refer to constructions of synagogues approved by Himyarite Kings. According to local legends, the kingdoms aristocracy converted to Judaism in the 6th century CE, the Christian missionary, Theophilos, who came to Yemen in the mid-fourth century, complained that he had found great numbers of Jews. By 380 A. D, Himyarites religious practices have undergone fundamental changes, the inscriptions were no longer addressed to El Maqah or Athtar, but to a single deity called Rahman. Debate among scholars continues as to whether the Himyarite monotheism was influenced by Judaism or Christianity. Jews became especially numerous and powerful in the part of Arabia, a rich and fertile land of incense and spices and a way station on the routes to Africa, India
30.
Leipzig
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Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 570,087 inhabitants it is Germanys tenth most populous city, Leipzig is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, Leipzig was once one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. Leipzig became an urban center within the German Democratic Republic after the Second World War. Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in, Leipzig today is an economic center and the most livable city in Germany, according to the GfK marketing research institution. Since the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel in 2013, Leipzig forms the centerpiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Leipzig is currently listed as Gamma World City and Germanys Boomtown. Outside of Leipzig the Neuseenland district forms a lake area of approximately 300 square kilometres. Leipzig is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means settlement where the linden trees stand, an older spelling of the name in English is Leipsic. The Latin name Lipsia was also used, the name is cognate with Lipetsk in Russia and Liepāja in Latvia. In 1937 the Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, the common usage of this nickname for Leipzig up until the present is reflected, for example, in the name of a popular blog for local arts and culture, Heldenstadt. de. Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city, Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, became an event of international importance and is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. During the Thirty Years War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, about 8 kilometres outside Leipzig city walls, the first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side, on 24 December 1701, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and a coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden. It was the largest battle in Europe prior to the First World War, in 1913 the Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed. The railway station has two entrance halls, the eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways
31.
Baalbek
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The capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Baalbek has a population of approximately 82,608, mostly Shia Muslims, followed by Sunni Muslims and a minority of Christians. It is reckoned a stronghold of the Shia Hezbollah movement and it is home to the annual Baalbeck International Festival. Heliopolis is the latinisation of the Greek Hēlioúpolis, meaning Sun City in reference to the solar cult there and it is the earlier attested of the two names, appearing under the Seleucids and Ptolemies. Ammianus Marcellinus, however, does note that earlier Assyrian names of Levantine towns continued to be used alongside the official Greek ones imposed by the successors of Alexander, in Greek religion, Helios was both the sun in the sky and its personification as a god. It was sometimes described as Heliopolis in Syria or Coelesyria to distinguish it from its namesake in Egypt, in Catholicism, its titular see is distinguished as Heliopolis in Phoenicia, from its former Roman province Phoenice. The importance of the cult is also attested in the name Biḳāʿ al-ʿAzīz borne by the plateau surrounding Baalbek, as it references an earlier solar deity and not later men. In Greek and Roman antiquity, it was known as Heliopolis and it still possesses some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in Lebanon, including one of the largest temples of the empire. The gods that were worshipped there were equivalents of the Canaanite deities Hadad, local influences are seen in the planning and layout of the temples, as they vary from the classic Roman design. The name BʿLBK is first attested in two early 5th-century Syriac manuscripts, a c. 411 translation of Eusebiuss Theophania and a c. 435 life of Rabbula and it was pronounced as Baʿlabakka or Baʿlabakku in Classical Arabic. In Modern Standard Arabic, its vowels are marked as Baʿlabak or Baʿlabekk or Bʿalbik, the half ring ⟨ ʿ ⟩ or apostrophe ⟨ ⟩ in these romanisations marks the words pharyngeal stop. The etymology of Baalbek has been debated indecisively since the 18th century, cook took it to mean Lord of the Beka and Donne as City of the Sun. Lendering asserts that it is probably a contraction of Baʿal Nebeq, steiner proposes a Semitic adaption of Lord Bacchus, from the classical temple complex. The hilltop of Tell Baalbek, part of a valley to the east of the northern Beqaa Valley and it was well-watered both from a stream running from the Rās-el-ʿAin spring SE of the citadel and, during the spring, from numerous rills formed by meltwater from the Anti-Lebanons. Macrobius later credited the foundation to a colony of Egyptian or Assyrian priests. The settlements religious, commercial, and strategic importance was minor enough, however and its enviable position in a fertile valley, major watershed, and along the route from Tyre to Palmyra should have made it a wealthy and splendid site from an early age. During the Canaanite period, the temples were largely devoted to the Heliopolitan Triad, a male god, his consort. The site of the present Temple of Jupiter was probably the focus of worship, as its altar was located at the hills precise summit. Following Alexander the Greats conquest of Persia in the 330s BC and it was annexed by the Romans during their eastern wars
32.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
33.
German Archaeological Institute
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The German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology, and a scientific corporation, under the auspices of the federal Foreign Office of Germany. Eduard Gerhard was the founder of the institute, according to the homepage of DAI, there are offices in many other cities, currently including Madrid, Rome, Istanbul, Athens, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran and Sanaa. Hans-Joachim Gehrke was President of the Institute from March 2008 to April 2011, an important retired employee is Jutta Meischner. She retired after 35 years of service in the German Archeological Institute in 2000, during this time she continued her studies of late antique portraiture, which culminated in a brief monograph entitled Portraits of Late Antiquity. German Historical Institute German Archaeological Institute at Athens Projekt Dyabola Arachne
34.
Open access
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Open access refers to online research outputs that are free of all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use. These additional usage rights are granted through the use of various specific Creative Commons licenses. There are multiple ways authors can provide access to their work. One way is to publish it and then self-archive it in a repository where it can be accessed for free, such as their institutional repository and this is known as green open access. Some publishers require delays, or an embargo, on when an output in a repository may be made open access. Several initiatives provide an alternative to the American and English language dominance of existing publication indexing systems, including Index Copernicus, SciELO and Redalyc. A second way authors can make their work open access is by publishing it in such a way that makes their research output immediately available from the publisher. This is known as open access, and within the sciences this often takes the form of publishing an article in either an open access journal. Pure open access journals do not charge fees, and may have one of a variety of business models. Many, however, do charge an article processing fee, widespread public access to the World Wide Web in the late 1990s and early 2000s fueled the open access movement, and prompted both the green open access way and the creation of open access journals. Conventional non-open access journals cover publishing costs through access tolls such as subscriptions, some non-open access journals provide open access after an embargo period of 6–12 months or longer. The Budapest statement defined open access as follows, There are many degrees, despite these statements emerging in the 2000s, the idea and practise of providing free online access to journal articles began at least a decade before the term open access was formally coined. Computer scientists had been self-archiving in anonymous ftp archives since the 1970s, the Subversive Proposal to generalize the practice was posted in 1994. Gratis OA refers to online access, and libre OA refers to free online access plus some additional re-use rights. The Budapest, Bethesda, and Berlin definitions had corresponded only to libre OA, the re-use rights of libre OA are often specified by various specific Creative Commons licenses, these almost all require attribution of authorship to the original authors. Open access itself began to be sought and provided worldwide by researchers when the possibility itself was opened by the advent of Internet, the momentum was further increased by a growing movement for academic journal publishing reform, and with it gold and libre OA. Electronic publishing created new benefits as compared to paper publishing but beyond that, rather than applying traditional notions of copyright to academic publications, they could be libre or free to build upon. The intended audience of research articles is usually other researchers, Open access helps researchers as readers by opening up access to articles that their libraries do not subscribe to
35.
Shelomo Dov Goitein
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Shelomo Dov Goitein was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza. Shelomo Dov Goitein was born in the town of Burgkunstadt in Upper Franconia, Germany, his father, the name Goitein points probably to Kojetín in Moravia as the city of origin of the family. He was brought up with both secular and Talmudic education, in 1914 his father died and the family moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he finished high school and university. During 1918–23 he studied Arabic and Islam at the University of Frankfurt under the guidance of the famous scholar Josef Horovitz and he left the university with a dissertation on prayer in Islam. In the year 1923, Goitein fulfilled his dream and immigrated together with Gershom Scholem sailing to Palestine. He lived four years in Haifa until he was invited to lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, he married Theresa Gottlieb, a eurhythmics teacher who composed songs and plays for children. They had three children, Ayala, Ofra, and Elon, in 1957 he moved to the United States where he felt more able to remain focused on his studies. He settled in Philadelphia and worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 1918–23, Goitein attended the universities of Frankfurt and Berlin and studied Islamic history under Josef Horovitz. His Ph. D. thesis was on prayer in Islam and he also pursued Jewish studies, and was a leader in the Zionist Youth Movement. In 1923 he immigrated to Palestine, where he taught Bible, in 1927 he wrote a play called Pulcellina about the blood libel killings in Blois in 1171. In 1928, he was appointed professor of Islamic History and Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he was founder of the School of Asian and African studies and of the Israel Oriental Society. In 1928, he began his research of the language, culture, in 1949, he did research in Aden, questioning the Jews who gathered there from all parts of Yemen before being flown to Israel. In 1938-1948, he served as an education officer in Mandatory Palestine, responsible for Jewish and Arab Schools. From 1948, Goitein began his lifes work on the Cairo Geniza documents, an especially rich geniza with a large volume of correspondence was discovered in Old Cairo containing thousands of documents dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Since Jews began every letter or document with the words With the help of God, the documents included many letters from Jewish traders en route from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen and ultimately to India. The papers were written in Judeo-Arabic characters. Although the documents were written by Jews, they reflect the surrounding Moslem and Christian environments not only in countries bordering the Mediterranean and this has thrown new light on the whole study of the Middle Ages. Goitein was awarded degrees from many universities
36.
Bibsys
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BIBSYS is an administrative agency set up and organized by the Ministry of Education and Research in Norway. They are a provider, focusing on the exchange, storage and retrieval of data pertaining to research. BIBSYS are collaborating with all Norwegian universities and university colleges as well as research institutions, Bibsys is formally organized as a unit at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, located in Trondheim, Norway. The board of directors is appointed by Norwegian Ministry of Education, BIBSYS offer researchers, students and others an easy access to library resources by providing the unified search service Oria. no and other library services. They also deliver integrated products for the operation for research. As a DataCite member BIBSYS act as a national DataCite representative in Norway and thereby allow all of Norways higher education, all their products and services are developed in cooperation with their member institutions. The purpose of the project was to automate internal library routines, since 1972 Bibsys has evolved from a library system supplier for two libraries in Trondheim, to developing and operating a national library system for Norwegian research and special libraries. The target group has expanded to include the customers of research and special libraries. BIBSYS is an administrative agency answerable to the Ministry of Education and Research. In addition to BIBSYS Library System, the product consists of BISBYS Ask, BIBSYS Brage, BIBSYS Galleri. All operation of applications and databases is performed centrally by BIBSYS, BIBSYS also offer a range of services, both in connection with their products and separate services independent of the products they supply
37.
Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
38.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
