1.
Itchan Kala
–
Ichan Kala is the walled inner town of the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan. Since 1990, it has protected as a World Heritage Site. The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the tenth century and rebuilt from 1788 to 1789, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures. The most spectacular features of Ichan Kala are its crenellated brick walls and four gates, although the foundations are believed to have been laid in the tenth century, present-day 10-meters-high walls were erected mostly in the late seventeenth century and later repaired. Ichan Kala - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
2.
Uzbekistan
–
Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Located in Central Asia, it is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries, Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Once part of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the region that includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population, however, Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and others. A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims, Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, UN, and the SCO. While officially a republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Uzbekistans economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic import substitution. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometres and it is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the 4th largest by area, Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres from west to east and 930 kilometres from north to south, Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country and it is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world, the other being Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert and mountains, the climate in the Republic of Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually. The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C, while the winter low temperature is around −23 °C. Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than 50% of its former area, reliable, or even approximate data, have not been collected, stored or provided by any organization or official agency
3.
Xorazm Region
–
Xorazm Region or Khorezm Region as it is still more commonly known, is a viloyat of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country in the lower reaches of the Amu-Darya River. It borders with Turkmenistan, Karakalpakstan, and Bukhara Region and it covers an area of 6,300 square kilometres. The population is estimated to be around 1,200,000, Khorezm Region is divided into 10 administrative districts. Other major towns include Xonqa, Khiva, Shovot, and Pitnak, the climate is a typically arid continental climate, with cold winters and extremely hot, dry summers. The city of Khiva in Khorezm Region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with world famous architectural monuments, the economy of Khorezm Region is primarily based on cotton. Cotton is by far the main crop, although production has increased significantly in the last several years. There are also orchards and vineyards, melon and gourd plantations. Khorezm Region is famous for its gurvak melon in Uzbekistan, industry is also heavily oriented to cotton, with cotton refining, cottonseed oil extraction and textiles predominating. Khorezm is a place where many scholars were born, such as Abu Rayhan Biruni. The famous terms algorithm and algebra come from the works of the latter, algorithm is a modified spelling of Khwārizmī and algebra derives from his famous work al-jabr wa-l-muqābala. The region has a well-developed transportation infrastructure, with over 130 km of railways and 2000 km of surfaced roads, the region is connected by rail to European Russia and the Caucasus
4.
Uzbek language
–
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has 27 million native speakers and is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan, Uzbek belongs to the Eastern Turkic, or Karluk, branch of the Turkic language family. External influences include Persian, Arabic and Russian, one of the most noticeable distinctions of Uzbek from other Turkic languages is the rounding of the vowel /a/ to /ɒ/ or /ɔ/, a feature that was influenced by Persian. In the language itself, Uzbek is oʻzbek tili or oʻzbekcha, in Cyrillic, the same names are written ўзбек тили and ўзбекча, in Arabic script, ازبېک تیلی and ازبېجه. The first Turkic dynasty in the region was that of the Kara-Khanid Khanate in the 9th–12th centuries, the language was championed by Ali-Shir Navai in the 15th and 16th centuries. Navai was the greatest representative of Chagatai language literature and he significantly contributed to the development of the Chagatay language and its direct descendant Uzbek and is widely considered to be the founder of Uzbek literature. Ultimately based on the Karluk variant of the Turkic languages, Chagatay contained large numbers of Persian, by the 19th century it was rarely used for literary composition, but disappeared only in the early 20th century. The term Uzbek as applied to language has meant different things at different times, all three dialects continue to exist within modern spoken Uzbek. Edward A. Allworth argued that this badly distorted the history of the region and was used to give authors such as the 15th century author Ali-Shir Navai an Uzbek identity. Estimates of the number of speakers of Uzbek vary widely, the Swedish encyclopedia Nationalencyklopedin estimates the number of native speakers to be 26 million, and the CIA World Factbook estimates 25 million. The influence of Islam, and by extension, Arabic, is evident in Uzbek loanwords, there is also a residual influence of Russian, from the time when Uzbeks were under the rule of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Uzbek vocabulary has also heavily influenced by Persian through its historic roots. The Uzbek language has many dialects, varying widely from region to region, however, there is a commonly understood dialect which is used in mass media and in most printed materials. Among the most-widespread dialects are the Tashkent dialect, Afghan dialect, the Ferghana dialect, the Khorezm dialect, the Chimkent-Turkestan dialect, 1928–1940, the Latin-based Yañalif used officially. 1940–1992, the Cyrillic script used officially, since 1992, Yañalif is official in Uzbekistan, although the Cyrillic script is still widely used. Despite the official status of the Latin script in Uzbekistan, the use of Cyrillic is still widespread, especially in advertisements, in newspapers, scripts may be mixed, with headlines in Latin and articles in Cyrillic. The Arabic script is no longer used in Uzbekistan except symbolically in limited texts or for the studies of Chagatai. In the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where there is an Uzbek minority, however, the Uyghur Arabic alphabet is sometimes used
5.
Persian language
–
Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and it is mostly written in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script. Its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages, Persian gets its name from its origin at the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persis, hence the name Persian. A Persian-speaking person may be referred to as Persophone, there are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, with the language holding official status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. For centuries, Persian has also been a cultural language in other regions of Western Asia, Central Asia. It also exerted influence on Arabic, particularly Bahrani Arabic. Persian is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-European family, other Western Iranian languages are the Kurdish languages, Gilaki, Mazanderani, Talysh, and Balochi. Persian is classified as a member of the Southwestern subgroup within Western Iranian along with Lari, Kumzari, in Persian, the language is known by several names, Western Persian, Parsi or Farsi has been the name used by all native speakers until the 20th century. Since the latter decades of the 20th century, for reasons, in English. Tajiki is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by the Tajiks, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Native Iranian Persian speakers call it Fārsi, Farsi is the Arabicized form of Pārsi, subsequent to Muslim conquest of Persia, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The origin of the name Farsi and the place of origin of the language which is Fars Province is the Arabicized form of Pārs, in English, this language has historically been known as Persian, though Farsi has also gained some currency. Farsi is encountered in some literature as a name for the language. In modern English the word Farsi refers to the language while Parsi describes Zoroastrians, some Persian language scholars such as Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, and University of Arizona professor Kamran Talattof, have also rejected the usage of Farsi in their articles. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa, as its system is mostly based on the local names. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the name Persian for the dialect continuum spoken across Iran and Afghanistan and this consists of the individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. Currently, Voice of America, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also includes a Tajik service and an Afghan service. This is also the case for the American Association of Teachers of Persian, The Centre for Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, Persian is an Iranian language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages
6.
Khwarezm
–
It was the center of the Iranian Khwarezmian civilization and a series of kingdoms such as the Persian Empire, whose capitals were Kath, Gurganj and – from the 16th century on – Khiva. Today Khwarezm belongs partly to Uzbekistan, partly to Kazakhstan and partly to Turkmenistan, Khwarezm has been known also as Chorasmia, Khwarezmia, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, Khoresm, Khorasam, Kharazm, Harezm, Horezm, and Chorezm. C. E. Bosworth, however, believes the Persian name to be made up of xor and zam, designating the land from which the sun rises, another view is that the Iranian compound stands for lowland from khar low and zam land. Khwarezm is indeed the lowest region in Central Asia, located on the delta of the Amu Darya on the shores of the Aral Sea. Some of the early scholars believed Khwarezm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as Airyanem Vaejah. These sources claim that Old Urgench, which was the capital of ancient Khwarezm for many years, was actually Ourva, the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad. Al-Biruni starts giving names only with the Afrighid line of Khwarazmshahs, having placed the ascension of Afrighids in 616 of the Seleucid era, like Soghdiana, Khwarezm was an expansion of the BMAC culture during the Bronze Age which later fused with Indo-Iranians during their migrations around 1000 BC. Early Iron Age states arose from this cultural exchange, ruled by the native Afrighid Dynasty. It was at point that Khwarezm entered the historical record with the Achamenid expansion. An East Iranian language, known as Khwarezmian language, was spoken in Khwarezm proper until soon after the Mongol invasion and it was closely related to Sogdian. In the very part of its history, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian stock. Sometime before the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Greats death in 530 BC, while he was dying, he appointed his son Smerdis/Bardiya as the governor of the region, along with Bactriana, Carmania, and the other eastern provinces of the empire. And the Persian poet Ferdowsi mentions Persian cities like Afrasiab and Chach in abundance in his epic Shahnama, the kings emissary offered to lead Alexanders armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea. Although largely independent during the Seleucid, Bactrian and Arsacid dynasties, it is known that Khwarezm, yaqut al-Hamawi verifies that Khwarezm was a regional capital of the Sassanid empire. It was also vassal kingdom during periods of Kushans, Hephthalites, the Afrighids were a native Chorasmian dynasty which ruled over the kingdom of Khwarezm from 305 until 995 A. D. Sometimes it was under Sassanid control, in 712 Khwarezm was conquered by the Arab Umayyads. In 995, they overthrew the Afrighids of Kath and themselves assumed the traditional title of Khwarazm-Shah. Briefly, the area was under Samanid suzerainty, before it passed to Mahmud of Ghazna in 1017, in the 12th century, the Khwarezmid Empire was founded and, in the early 13th century, ruled over all of Persia under the Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muhammad II
7.
Khanate of Khiva
–
The Khanate of Khiva was a Central Asian Turkic state that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid occupation by Nadir Shah between 1740–1746. The Khans were the descendants of Shayban, the fifth son of Jochi. It covered present western Uzbekistan, southwestern Kazakhstan and much of Turkmenistan before Russian arrival at second half of 19th century, in 1873, the Khanate of Khiva was much reduced in size and became a Russian protectorate. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiva had a revolution too, in 1924, the area was formally incorporated into the Soviet Union and today is largely a part of Karakalpakstan and Xorazm Province in Uzbekistan. The region that would become the Khanate of Khiva was a part of the Chagatai Khanate with its capital at Old Urgench, however, Timur regarded the state as a rival to Samarkand, and after a course of five campaigns, he destroyed Old Urgench completely in 1388. In 1505, Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani captured Khwarezm from the Timurids, the Safavids defeated Shaybani in 1510 and took control of the region. But in 1511, the Uzbek group the Yadigarid Shaybanids rebelled against Safavid rule, due to a shift in the course of the Amu-Darya in 1576, Old Urgench was finally abandoned. The political center of the region shifted southward, and, in 1619, much of Khivas later history was framed against the khanates relationship with the great powers Russia and Britain. Upon receiving the men, the Khivan khan, Shir Ghazi, set up camp under the pretense of goodwill, then ambushed and slaughtered the envoys, peter the Great, indebted after wars with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden, did nothing. The khanate was a dependency of Nadir Shahs Persia between 1740-1747, Tsar Paul I also attempted to conquer the khanate, but his expedition was woefully undermanned and undersupplied, and was recalled en route due to his assassination. Tsar Alexander I had no ambitions, and it was under Tsars Nicholas I. A notable episode during The Great Game involved a Russian expedition to Khiva in 1839, the expedition, led by General V. A. Perovsky, the commander of the Orenburg garrison, consisted of 5,200 infantry, at the same time, Britain, anxious to annex Khiva, launched its own effort to free the slaves. Major Todd, the senior British political officer stationed in Herat dispatched Captain James Abbott, disguised as an Afghan, on Christmas Eve,1839, for Khiva. Abbott arrived in late January 1840 and, although the khan was suspicious of his identity and he left on 7 March 1840, for Fort Alexandrovsk, and was subsequently betrayed by his guide, robbed, then released when the bandits realized the origin and destination of his letter. His superiors in Herat, not knowing of his fate, sent another officer, Lieutenant Richmond Shakespear, after him. Shakespear had more success than Abbott, he convinced the khan to free all Russian subjects under his control, the freed slaves and Shakespear arrived in Fort Alexandrovsk on 15 August 1840, and Russia lost its primary motive for the conquest of Khiva, for the time being. A permanent Russian presence on the Aral Sea began in 1848 with the building of Fort Aralsk at the mouth of the Syr Darya
8.
World Heritage List
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
9.
Al-Biruni
–
Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī, known as Al-Biruni in English, was an Iranian scholar and polymath from Khwarezm. He studied almost all fields of science and was compensated for his research, royalty and powerful members of society sought out Al-Biruni to conduct research and study in order to uncover certain findings. He lived during the Islamic Golden Age, in which scholarly thought went hand in hand with the thinking and methodology of the Islamic religion. In addition to type of influence, Al-Biruni was also influenced by other nations, such as the Greek. He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and he spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored Tarikh Al-Hind after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India and he was given the title founder of Indology. He was a writer on customs and creeds of various nations. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the father of geodesy for his important contributions to that field and he was born in the outer district of Kath, the capital of the Afrighid dynasty of Khwarezm. The word Biruni means from the outer-district in Persian, and so became his nisba. Al-Birunis relatives also took interest in the studies of science as well and he even had ties to royalty as there are links in his family to the families of prestigious elites. In order to conduct his research, Al-Biruni used different types of methods to tackle the different fields he studied, people consider Al-Biruni to be one of the greatest scientists in history and especially of Islam because of his discoveries and methodology. He lived during the Islamic Golden Age, which promoted astronomy and he was sympathetic to the Afrighids, who were overthrown by the rival dynasty of Mamunids in 995. He left his homeland for Bukhara, then under the Samanid ruler Mansur II the son of Nuh, there he corresponded with Avicenna and there are extant exchanges of views between these two scholars. In 998, he went to the court of the Ziyarid amir of Tabaristan and he also visited the court of the Bavandid ruler Al-Marzuban. Accepting the definite demise of the Afrighids at the hands of the Mamunids and their court at Gorganj was gaining fame for its gathering of brilliant scientists. In 1017, Mahmud of Ghazni took Rey, most scholars, including al-Biruni, were taken to Ghazni, the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty. Biruni was made court astrologer and accompanied Mahmud on his invasions into India and he was forty-four years old when he went on the journeys with Mahmud of Ghazni. Biruni became acquainted with all related to India
10.
Noah
–
In the Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs. The story of Noahs Ark is told in the Bibles Genesis flood narrative, the biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Canaan. Noah was the subject of much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, the primary account of Noah in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis. Noah was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs and his father was Lamech and his mother is unknown. When Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, the Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. They were also told that all fowls, land animals, furthermore, as well as green plants, every moving thing would be their food with the exception that the blood was not to be eaten. Mans life blood would be required from the beasts and from man, whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950, the maximum human lifespan, as depicted by the Bible, diminishes rapidly thereafter, from almost 1,000 years to the 120 years of Moses. After the flood, Noah became a husbandman and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent. Noahs son Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brethren, in Jewish tradition and rabbinic literature, rabbis blame Satan for the intoxicating properties of the wine. In the field of biblical criticism, J. H. Ellens and W. G. Rollins address the narrative of Genesis 9. Because of its brevity and textual inconsistencies, it has suggested that this narrative is a splinter from a more substantial tale. A fuller account would explain what exactly Ham had done to his father, or why Noah directed a curse at Canaan for Hams misdeed, or how Noah came to know what occurred. The narrator relates two facts, Noah became drunken and he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Thus, these passages revolve around sexuality and the exposure of genitalia as compared with other Hebrew Bible texts, such as Habakkuk 2,15 and Lamentations 4,21. Genesis 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, among Japheth’s descendants were the maritime nations. Ham’s son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon, from there Asshur went and built Nineveh
11.
Shem
–
Shem was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. Genesis 10,21 refers to ages of Shem and his brother Japheth. The verse is translated in the KJV as Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. However, the New American Standard Bible gives, Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the older brother of Japheth, children were born. Genesis 11,10 records that Shem was 100 years old at the birth of Arphaxad, two years after the flood, and that he lived for another 500 years after this, making his age at death 600 years. The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs, was one of the descendants of Arphaxad. Islamic literature describes Shem as one of the sons of Noah. Some sources even identify Shem as a prophet in his own right, in one Muslim legend, Shem was one of the people whom God made Jesus resurrect as a sign to the Children of Israel. According to some Jewish traditions, Shem is believed to have been Melchizedek, King of Salem whom Abraham is recorded to have met after the battle of the four kings. Shem is mentioned in Genesis 5,32,6,10,7,13,9,18,23, 26-27,10,11,10, some have reconstructed more complete genealogies based on this information as follows, Shem. Also Sem Literal meanings are named or renown, the sons of Shem were, Elam eternity - Asshur a step or strong - Arphaxad - Chaldeans, Hebrews Ziezi - son of Shem and a grandson of Noah. His name is mentioned in the excerpt Ziezi ex quo vulgares meaning Ziezi, of whom the Bulgars, according to Luke 3,36 Jesus is a descendant of Shem. Early Islamic historians like Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham always included Shems name in the genealogy of Muhammad, the following family tree contains information from the Hebrew Bible, without data from any other sources. According to Luke 3, a figure named Cainan is the son of Arpachshad. Finnegans Wake Wives aboard the Ark Herbermann, Charles, ed. Sem
12.
Vasily Vereshchagin
–
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin transcribed in English as Basil Verestchagin was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited, Vereshchagin was born at Cherepovets, Novgorod Governorate, Russia in 1842 as the middle of three brothers. His father was a landowner of noble birth, when he was eight years old he was sent to Tsarskoe Selo to enter the Alexander Cadet Corps, and three years later he entered the Sea Cadet Corps at St Petersburg, making his first voyage in 1858. He served on the frigate Kamchatka, which sailed to Denmark, France, Vereshchagin graduated first in the list at the naval school, but left the service immediately to begin the study of drawing in earnest. He won a two years later, in 1863, from the St Petersburg Academy for his Ulysses Slaying the Suitors. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, in the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufmans expedition to Turkestan and he was granted the rank of ensign. His heroism at the siege of Samarkand from June 2–8,1868 resulted an award of the Cross of St George. He was a traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made an exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873. He made another exhibition of his works in St, in late 1874, he departed for an extensive tour of the Himalayas, India and Tibet, spending over two years in travel. He returned to Paris in late 1876, with the start of the Russo-Turkish War, Vereshchagin left Paris and returned to active service with the Imperial Russian Army. At the conclusion of the war, he acted as secretary to General Skobelev at San Stefano, after the war, Vereshchagin settled at Munich, where he produced his war pictures so rapidly that he was freely accused of employing assistants. Vereshchagin painted several scenes of imperial rule in British India and his epic portrayal of The State Procession of the Prince of Wales into Jaipur in 1876 is claimed to be the third largest painting in the world. In 1882–1883, he traveled to India. He aroused much controversy by his series of three pictures of a Roman execution, of sepoys blown from the guns in India, and his picture Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English depicted executions carried out by tying victims to the barrels of guns. Vereshchagins detractors argued that executions had only occurred in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Because of its style, the painting appeared to present itself as an impartial record of a real event
13.
Aryan
–
Aryan is a term meaning noble which was used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people. The closely related Iranian people also used the term as a label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures. It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans. Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an Aryan was religious, cultural and linguistic, through Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineaus ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology, which also saw Aryan peoples as innately superior to other putative racial groups. The English word Aryan is borrowed from the Sanskrit word ārya, आर्य and it was reintroduced into English with the new spelling by William Jones in the 18th century. Philologist J. P. Mallory argues that As an ethnic designation, the word is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, in early Vedic literature, the term Āryāvarta was the name given to northern India, where the Indo-Aryan culture was based. The Manusmṛti gives the name Āryāvarta to the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern to the Western Sea, initially the term was used as a national name to designate those who worshipped the Vedic deities and followed Vedic culture. The Sanskrit term comes from proto-Indo-Iranian *arya- or *aryo-, the used by the Indo-Iranians to designate themselves. The Zend airya venerable and Old Persian ariya are also derivates of *aryo-, in Iranian languages, the original self-identifier lives on in ethnic names like Alans and Iron. Similarly, the name of Iran is the Persian word for land/place of the Aryans, the Proto-Indo-Iranian term is hypothesized to have proto-Indo-European origins, while according to Szemerényi it is probably a Near-Eastern loanword from the Ugaritic ary, kinsmen. It has been postulated the Proto-Indo-European root word is *haerós with the members of ones own group, peer. The word *haerós itself is believed to have come from the root *haer meaning put together, the original meaning in Proto-Indo-European had a clear emphasis on the in-group status as distinguished from that of outsiders, particularly those captured and incoporated into the group as slaves. While in Anatolia, the word has come to emphasize personal relationship. A review of other ideas, and the various problems with each is given by Oswald Szemerényi. Proto-Indo-Europeans, during the 19th century, it was proposed that Aryan was also the self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, Aryan language family, the Indo-Aryan languages, Iranian languages and Nuristani languages, Indo-Aryan languages specifically, also called Indic. The term Aryan is used by Indian nationalists and Iranian nationalists to refer themselves as Aryan in contrast to the Indo-Aryan migration theory, during the 19th century it was proposed that Aryan was also the self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Based on speculations that the Proto-Indo-European homeland was located in northern Europe, a 19th-century hypothesis which is now abandoned and it has been used in Nazi racial theory to describe persons corresponding to the Nordic physical ideal of Nazi Germany. In Sanskrit and related Indic languages, ārya means one who does noble deeds, Āryāvarta abode of the āryas is a common name for North India in Sanskrit literature
14.
Turkic languages
–
The Turkic languages are a language family of at least thirty-five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China. Turkic languages are spoken as a language by some 170 million people. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish, spoken mainly in Anatolia and the Balkans, characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family. Apparent similarities with the Uralic languages family even caused these families to be regarded as one for a time under the hypothesis of Ural-Altaic languages. Turkic languages are languages, have vowel harmony, extensive agglutination by means of suffixes, and lack of grammatical articles, noun classes. Subject–object–verb word order is universal within the family, the geographical distribution of Turkic-speaking peoples across Eurasia ranges from the North-East of Siberia to Turkey in the West, since the Ottoman era. The two groups shared a religion, Tengrism, and there exists a multitude of evident loanwords between Turkic languages and Mongolic languages, although the loans were bidirectional, today Turkic loanwords constitute the largest foreign component in Mongolian vocabulary. The most famous of these loanwords include lion, gold, the Compendium of the Turkic Dialects, written during the 11th century AD by Kaşgarlı Mahmud of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, constitutes an early linguistic treatment of the family. The Compendium is the first comprehensive dictionary of the Turkic languages and it mainly pertains to the Southwestern branch of the family. The earliest records of the language spoken by Volga Bulgars, the parent to todays Chuvash language, are dated to the 13th–14th centuries AD. With the Turkic expansion during the Early Middle Ages, Turkic languages, in the course of just a few centuries, spread across Central Asia, various terminologies from the Turkic languages have passed into Persian, Hindustani, Russian, Chinese, and to a lesser extent, Arabic. This has obscured the historical developments within each language and/or language group, the modern genetic classification schemes for Turkic are still largely indebted to Samoilovich. It is not clear when two major types of Turkic can be assumed to have actually diverged. With less certainty, the Southwestern, Northwestern, Southeastern and Oghur groups may further be summarized as West Turkic, the following isoglosses are traditionally used in the classification of the Turkic languages, Rhoticisation, e. g. in the last consonant of the word for nine *toqqız. This separates the Oghur branch, which exhibits /r/, from the rest of Turkic, in this case, rhoticisation refers to the development of *-/r/, *-/z/, and *-/d/ to /r/, *-/k/, *-/kh/ in this branch. See Antonov and Jacques on the debate concerning rhotacism and lambdacism in Turkic and this separates Khalaj as a peripheral language. The following table is based upon the classification presented by Lars Johanson The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Turkic language family. Also, there may be shifts in the meaning from one language to another, in some cases the form given is found only in some dialects of the language, or a loanword is much more common
15.
Astrakhan Khanate
–
The Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar Turkic state that appeared after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the adjacent to the mouth of the Volga river. Its khans were the descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi. The Khanate was established in the 1460s by Mäxmüd of Astrakhan, the capital was the city of Xacítarxan, also known as Astrakhan in Russian chronicles. Its territory included the Lower Volga valley and the Volga Delta, including most of what is now Astrakhan Oblast, the North-Western Caspian seaside was a southern boundary and the Crimean Khanate bounded Astrakhan on the west. The area surrounding the lower Volga was populated by various Turkic tribes since the 6th century AD, there were, for example, the Khazars. Following the invasion of Mongol tribes from the east and the splintering of their empire and this empire, too, was wracked by civil war, and the semi-independent Astrakhan Khanate was established by Qasim I around 1466. Meñli I Giray, the khan of the Crimea who had destroyed the Big Hordes capital of Sarai-al-Jadid caused significant destruction to the khanate, most of the population of the Astrakhan khanate were Astrakhan Tatars and Nogays. Merchants carried on a trade between Muscovy, Kazan, Crimea, Central Asia, and the Transcaucasus region. The nobility consisted of feudal ranks, which were, from highest to lowest, the rest of the population were known as qara xalıq, black people - the standard Turkic designation for commoners. With its conquest by the Russians in 1556, Islam was largely replaced by Russian Orthodox Christianity, in the 1530s Astrakhan cooperated with the Crimean Khanate and the Nogay Horde in a campaign against Russia. Later, Astrakhan was involved in conflicts against its erstwhile Tatar allies, in 1552 Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, better known as Ivan the Terrible, captured Kazan, shortly thereafter a pro-Muscovite party took power in Astrakhan. Ivan dispatched soldiers to Astrakhan, establishing Darwish Khan as a ruler of the Astrakhan Khanate in 1554. Pro-muscovite nobles and Nogay tribesmen supported Russian forces occupying Astrakhan, after the threat of Crimean raid against Astrakhan had subsided, Darwish Khan conspired with the Crimean Khanate to drive the Russians out of the region. Ivan IV sent Russian Strelets and Cossack armies, who conquered and annexed the region in 1556, Xacitarxan was besieged, burned, the khanate was absorbed by Russians and abolished. Darwish Khan escaped to the castle of Azov, after the fall of khanate, Tatars were attacked by Kalmyks, that displaced Nogai nomads. Many Nogay were transplanted in Kazakhstan and Daghestan, however, approximately 70,000 Astrakhan Tatars still live in Astrakhan Oblast. The capital of the khanate was Xacitarxan, located about 12 km from modern Astrakhan, merchants and subjects of Mughal rule are known to have traded in Astrakhan
16.
Genghis Khan
–
Genghis Khan, born Temüjin, was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the tribes of Northeast Asia. After founding the Empire and being proclaimed Genghis Khan, he started the Mongol invasions that conquered most of Eurasia, campaigns initiated in his lifetime include those against the Qara Khitai, Caucasus, and Khwarazmian, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were accompanied by large-scale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in the Khwarazmian. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a portion of Central Asia. Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ögedei Khan as his successor and he died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia, many of these invasions repeated the earlier large-scale slaughters of local populations. As a result, Genghis Khan and his empire have a reputation in local histories. Beyond his military accomplishments, Genghis Khan also advanced the Mongol Empire in other ways and he decreed the adoption of the Uyghur script as the Mongol Empires writing system. He also practiced meritocracy and encouraged religious tolerance in the Mongol Empire, present-day Mongolians regard him as the founding father of Mongolia. This brought communication and trade from Northeast Asia into Muslim Southwest Asia and Christian Europe, Temüjin was related on his fathers side to Khabul Khan, Ambaghai, and Hotula Khan, who had headed the Khamag Mongol confederation and were descendants of Bodonchar Munkhag. When the Jurchen Jin dynasty switched support from the Mongols to the Tatars in 1161, Temüjins father, Yesügei, emerged as the head of the ruling Mongol clan. This position was contested by the rival Tayichiud clan, who descended directly from Ambaghai, when the Tatars grew too powerful after 1161, the Jin switched their support from the Tatars to the Keraites. Little is known about Temüjins early life, due to the lack of written records. The few sources that give insight into this period often contradict, Temüjins name was derived from the Mongol word temür meaning of iron, while jin denotes agency thus temüjin means blacksmith. Temüjin was probably born in 1162 in Delüün Boldog, near the mountain Burkhan Khaldun, the Secret History of the Mongols reports that Temüjin was born grasping a blood clot in his fist, a traditional sign that he was destined to become a great leader. He was the son of his father Yesügei who was a Kiyad chief prominent in the Khamag Mongol confederation. Temüjin was the first son of his mother Hoelun, according to the Secret History, Temüjin was named after the Tatar chief Temüjin-üge whom his father had just captured
17.
Russian Empire
–
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
18.
Konstantin von Kaufman
–
Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann was the first Governor-General of Russian Turkestan. His family was German in origin, but had been in the service of the Tsars for over 100 years, Kaufman graduated from Nikolayev Engineering Institute, now Military Engineering-Technical University, as a military engineer. Von Kaufman entered the engineering field in 1838, served in the campaigns in the Caucasus, was promoted to the rank of colonel. On the capitulation of Kars he was deputed to settle the terms with General William Fenwick Williams, in 1861, he became director-general of engineers at the War Office, assisting Count Dmitry Milyutin, the Minister of War, in the reorganization of the army. The western part of the Khanate of Kokand along the Syr Darya had already captured. He accomplished a successful campaign in 1868 against the Emirate of Bukhara, capturing Samarkand, during the Khivan campaign of 1873, he attacked Khanate of Khiva, took the capital, and forced the Khan to become a vassal of Russia. This was followed in 1875 by the campaign against Kokand, in which Kaufmann defeated the khan, Nasreddin, after an anti-Russian uprising against the previous ruler. The fiction of Kokands independence was ended, and the rump of the Khanate in the Ferghana Valley was annexed. This rapid absorption of these Khanates brought Russia into proximity to Afghanistan, the various temporary statutes under which Turkestan was administered from 1867-1886 gave von Kaufman a great deal of latitude in policy. In 1868 he contacted experts in Moscow to identify Alexie to create an expedition to document the countries natural history, whilst Kaufman was still extending the borders of the Russian Empire, he was creating a team to investigate and document the new territory. Kaufmans team included statisticians, the Fedchenkos, the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin, Kaufman wanted an investigation of a newly and scarcely explored region. Kaufman set up a Tashkent outpost of the Moscow Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, the Fenchenkos made three separate explorations between 1868 and 1872. Kaufman targeted the 1872 Moscow All-Russian Technical Exhibition as an opportunity to display the research of this new part of the Russian empire. Skobelev, although being the military governor of the Fergana valley, directing matters from Margelan. General Cherniaev, the conqueror of Tashkent in 1865, was appointed as his successor, there are various species of plants are named after him including Eremurus kaufmannii, Eremostachys kaufmanniana, Tulipa kaufmanniana, Gentiana kaufmanniana, and Statice kaufmanniana. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Kaufmann. «Кауфман» in the Русский Биографический Словарь, jean-Marie Thiebaud, Personnages marquants dAsie centrale, du Turkestan et de lOuzbékistan, Paris, LHarmattan,2004
19.
Bolsheviks
–
The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk in Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues and they ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks or Reds came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, with the Reds defeating the Whites, and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism, in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means, Julius Martov suggested by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the partys organisations. Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a core of active members. A main source of the factions could be attributed to Lenin’s steadfast opinion. It was obvious at early stages in Lenin’s revolutionary practices that he would not be willing to concede on any party policy that conflicted with his own predetermined ideas and it was the loyalty that he had to his own self-envisioned utopia that caused the party split. He was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow minded that he believed there were only two types of people, Friend and enemy—those who followed him, and all the rest. Leon Trotsky, one of Lenins fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Robespierre, Lenins view of politics as verbal and ideological warfare and his inability to accept criticism even if it came from his own dedicated followers was the reason behind this accusation. The root of the split was a book titled What is to be Done. that Lenin wrote while serving a sentence of exile, in Germany, the book was published in 1902, in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution. One of the points of Lenin’s writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by the strong leadership of one person over the masses. After the proposed revolution had overthrown the government, this individual leader must release power. Lenin also wrote that revolutionary leaders must dedicate their lives to the cause in order for it to be successful. Lenins view of a socialist intelligentsia showed that he was not a supporter of Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist idea of eliminating social classes, most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral, and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society, so Lenin’s variations caused the party internal dissonance. Although the party split of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks would not become official until 1903, as discussed in What is to be Done. Lenin firmly believed that a political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution
20.
October Revolution
–
It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd on 25 October 1917. During this time, urban workers began to organize into councils wherein revolutionaries criticized the provisional government and this immediately initiated the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the worlds first self-proclaimed socialist state. The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks, who used their influence in the Petrograd Soviet to organize the armed forces, Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Military Revolutionary Committee began the takeover of government buildings on 24 October 1917. The following day, the Winter Palace, was captured, the long-awaited Constituent Assembly elections were held on 12 November 1917. The Bolsheviks only won 175 seats in the 715-seat legislative body, coming in second behind the Socialist Revolutionary party, the Constituent Assembly was to first meet on 28 November 1917, but its convocation was delayed until 5 January 1918 by the Bolsheviks. On its first and only day in session, the body rejected Soviet decrees on peace and land, as the revolution was not universally recognized, there followed the struggles of the Russian Civil War and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. At first, the event was referred to as the October coup or the Uprising of 25th, in Russian, however, переворот has a similar meaning to revolution and also means upheaval or overturn, so coup is not necessarily the correct translation. With time, the term October Revolution came into use and it is also known as the November Revolution having occurred in November according to the Gregorian Calendar. The Great October Socialist Revolution was the name for the October Revolution in the Soviet Union after the 10th anniversary of the Revolution in 1927. The February Revolution had toppled Tsar Nicolas II of Russia, however, the provisional government was weak and riven by internal dissension. It continued to wage World War I, which became increasingly unpopular, a nationwide crisis developed in Russia, affecting social, economic, and political relations. Disorder in industry and transport had intensified, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased, gross industrial production in 1917 had decreased by over 36% from what it had been in 1914. In the autumn, as much as 50% of all enterprises were closed down in the Urals, the Donbas, at the same time, the cost of living increased sharply. Real wages fell about 50% from what they had been in 1913, russias national debt in October 1917 had risen to 50 billion rubles. Of this, debts to foreign governments constituted more than 11 billion rubles, the country faced the threat of financial bankruptcy. In these months alone, more than a million took part in strikes. Workers established control over production and distribution in many factories and plants in a social revolution, by October 1917, there had been over 4,000 peasant uprisings against landowners. When the Provisional Government sent punitive detachments, it only enraged the peasants
21.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
22.
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
–
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as Soviet Uzbekistan or the Republic of Uzbekistan was one of the republics of the Soviet Union existed from 1924 to 1991. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist Party, from 1990 to 1991, it was the sovereign part of the Soviet Union with its own legislation. Beginning 20 June 1990, Uzbek SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty within its borders, Islam Karimov became the republics inaugural president. On 31 August 1991, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Republic of Uzbekistan, a doubly landlocked Soviet republic in Central Asia. Uzbekistan was bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kirghizia to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, the name, Uzbekistan, literally means Home of the Free, taken from an amalgamation of uz, bek, and -stan. Officially, the name Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was the name as defined by its 1937 and 1978 Constitutions. In 1924, the borders of political units in Central Asia were changed along ethnic lines determined by Vladimir Lenin’s Commissar for Nationalities, the next year Uzbekistan became one of the republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1928, the collectivization of land into state farms was initiated, Uzbekistan included the Tajik ASSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to an equal status. In 1930, the Uzbek SSR capital was relocated from Samarkand to Tashkent, in 1936, Uzbekistan was enlarged with the addition of the Karakalpak ASSR taken from the Kazakh SSR in the last stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. That same year in December, it was renamed to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, further bits and pieces of territory were transferred several times between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after World War II. In 1937–38, during the Great Purge, a number of alleged nationalists were executed, including Faizullah Khojaev, during World War II, many industries were relocated to Uzbekistan from vulnerable locations in western regions of the USSR to keep them safe. Large numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and other nationalities accompanied the factories and this included large numbers of ethnic Koreans, Crimean Tatars, and Chechens. During the Soviet period, Islam became a point for the anti-religious drives of Communist authorities. The government closed most mosques, and religious schools became anti-religious museums, on the positive side was the virtual elimination of illiteracy, even in rural areas. Only a small percentage of the population was literate before 1917, another major development, one with future catastrophic impact, was the drive initiated in the early 1960s to substantially increase cotton production in the republic. This drive led to overzealous irrigation withdrawals of irrigation water from the Amu Darya, towards the end of the Soviet–Afghan War, several troops crossed the Uzbek border from Afghanistan as part of the its withdrawal on 15 February 1989. The Communist Party was the legal party in the Uzbek SSR until 1990. The first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan was consistently an Uzbek, long-time leader of the Uzbek SSR was Sharof Rashidov, head of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1983
23.
Hypostyle
–
In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a roof which is supported by columns. The word hypostyle comes from the Ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος hypóstȳlos meaning under columns, the roof may be constructed of with bridging lintels of stone, wood or other rigid material such as cast iron, steel or reinforced concrete. The architectural form has many applications, occurring in the cella of Ancient Greek temples and in many Asian buildings, with a combination of columns and arches, the hypostyle hall became one of the two main types of mosque construction. In many mosques, especially the early congregational mosques, the hall has the hypostyle form. One of the finest examples of the mosques is the Great Mosque of Kairouan in the city of Kairouan. The hypostyle is widely used in modern architecture, peristyle Portico Apadana Ancient Egyptian architecture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Hypostyle
24.
Iran
–
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
25.
Nishapur
–
It had an estimated population of 239,185 as of 2011 and its county 433,105. Nearby are the mines that have supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. The city was founded in the 3rd century by Shapur I as a Sasanian satrapy capital, Nishapur later became the capital of Tahirid dynasty and was reformed by Abdullah Tahir in 830, and was later selected as the capital of Seljuq dynasty by Tughril in 1037. From the Abbasid era to the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center within the Islamic world. Nishapur reached the height of its prosperity under the Samanids in the 10th century, but was destroyed by Mongols in 1221 and they worked at Nishapur between 1935 and 1940, returning for a final season in the winter of 1947–48. What remains of old Nishapur region is a 3500-hectare Kohandejh area, little archaeology has been done on this vast and complicated site. George Curzon remarked that Nishapur had been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any city in history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook excavations from 1935 that were interrupted in 1940, searching largely for museum-worthy trophies that they shared with the government of the Shah, the Metropolitans publications were limited to its own Nishapur ceramics. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War II, shadiyakh was one of the main palaces of old Nishapur up to the 9th century AD, which became more important and populated after that. Some notable people like Attar lived there, attars tomb is nowadays in that area. This palace was completely ruined in the 13th century. Nishapur occupies an important strategic position astride the old Silk Road that linked Anatolia, on the Silk Road, Nishapur has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. The town derived its name from its founder, the Sassanian king Shapur I. Nearby are the mines that supplied the world with turquoise for at least two millennia. In the year 1000 CE, it was among the ten largest cities on earth, after the husband of Genghis Khans daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221, she or Genghis ordered the death of the entire population of the city, which was reputedly 1.7 million. Their skulls were reputedly piled in pyramids by the Mongols and this massacre, combined with subsequent earthquakes destroyed the pottery industry. US band Santana released a track entitled Incident at Neshabur on their 1970 LP release. Carlos Santana says this was a reference to a place in Haiti, yo-Yo Ma released an instrumental track entitled Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur as part of the Silk Road Project
26.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
–
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, formerly Latinized as Algoritmi, was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer during the Abbasid Caliphate, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. In the 12th century, Latin translations of his work on the Indian numerals introduced the decimal number system to the Western world. Al-Khwārizmīs The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing presented the first systematic solution of linear and he is often considered one of the fathers of algebra. He revised Ptolemys Geography and wrote on astronomy and astrology, some words reflect the importance of al-Khwārizmīs contributions to mathematics. Algebra is derived from al-jabr, one of the two operations he used to solve quadratic equations, algorism and algorithm stem from Algoritmi, the Latin form of his name. His name is also the origin of guarismo and of algarismo, few details of al-Khwārizmīs life are known with certainty. He was born in a Persian family and Ibn al-Nadim gives his birthplace as Khwarezm in Greater Khorasan, muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari gives his name as Muḥammad ibn Musá al-Khwārizmiyy al-Majūsiyy al-Quṭrubbaliyy. The epithet al-Qutrubbulli could indicate he might instead have come from Qutrubbul and this would not be worth mentioning if a series of errors concerning the personality of al-Khwārizmī, occasionally even the origins of his knowledge, had not been made. Recently, G. J. Toomer. with naive confidence constructed an entire fantasy on the error which cannot be denied the merit of amusing the reader. Regarding al-Khwārizmīs religion, Toomer writes, Another epithet given to him by al-Ṭabarī, al-Majūsī, Ibn al-Nadīms Kitāb al-Fihrist includes a short biography on al-Khwārizmī together with a list of the books he wrote. Al-Khwārizmī accomplished most of his work in the period between 813 and 833, douglas Morton Dunlop suggests that it may have been possible that Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī was in fact the same person as Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir, the eldest of the three Banū Mūsā. Al-Khwārizmīs contributions to mathematics, geography, astronomy, and cartography established the basis for innovation in algebra, on the Calculation with Hindu Numerals written about 825, was principally responsible for spreading the Hindu–Arabic numeral system throughout the Middle East and Europe. It was translated into Latin as Algoritmi de numero Indorum, al-Khwārizmī, rendered as Algoritmi, led to the term algorithm. Some of his work was based on Persian and Babylonian astronomy, Indian numbers, al-Khwārizmī systematized and corrected Ptolemys data for Africa and the Middle East. Another major book was Kitab surat al-ard, presenting the coordinates of places based on those in the Geography of Ptolemy but with improved values for the Mediterranean Sea, Asia and he also wrote on mechanical devices like the astrolabe and sundial. He assisted a project to determine the circumference of the Earth and in making a map for al-Mamun. When, in the 12th century, his works spread to Europe through Latin translations, the Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing is a mathematical book written approximately 830 CE. The term algebra is derived from the name of one of the operations with equations described in this book
27.
Trolleybuses in Urgench
–
The Urgench trolleybus system links Urgench, the capital city of Khorezm Province in western Uzbekistan, with the neighbouring city of Khiva. Since the closure of the Tashkent trolleybus system in 2010, it has been Uzbekistans only trolleybus system, the cross country line is 31.3 km long, a further urban line in Urgench has been abandoned. On 20 October 1997, urban trolleybuses came to Urgench, with the inauguration of line 1 between Aeroport and Temir Yul Vokzali, Urgench thereby became the last city in Uzbekistan in which a trolleybus system was opened. In 1998 came the overland line 2 to Khiva, near the border with Turkmenistan, as early as 2002, the urban line 1 was closed. Since then, only the overland line 2 has remained, on 26 October 2009, the Government of Uzbekistan decided to close the remaining trolleybus systems in Jizzakh and Namangan at the end of 2009, and in the capital Tashkent during 2010. The Urgench system was the one not slated for closure, instead of that. Since then, an extension section in Khiva, including a link to a depot, has been under construction. The short section of the wire from the city centre to the railway station. Line 2 essentially follows the course of the Urgench–Khiva road, in the city centres of Urgench and Khiva, the route followed by this line is determined by one-way streets. The Aeroport terminus, which operates only when required, is located just outside Urgench Airport, the Khiva terminus is on the northern edge of the Itchan Kala fortress, east of its north gate. West of the fortress is another, unused, short section of overhead wire and this section is not connected by switches with the regularly used section, but can be used to short cut the regular round trip. Another, not yet operational section, branches off immediately after the Khiva terminus, for the opening of the system in 1997, Škoda delivered six 14Tr trolleybuses with the numbers 001 to 006, and three more modern 14TrM trolleybuses numbered 007 to 009. They had been manufactured in the factory in Ostrov nad Ohri in the Czech Republic. The primary external difference between the 14Trs and the 14TrMs is the display on the latter models front. In Urgench, this display is not used to show destinations, as at 2010, all nine vehicles were still in service. The systems depot is in Urgench and it is connected with the operating lines by a service line approximately 3 km long. However, there are no switches between the line and the operating lines. List of trolleybus systems Trolleybuses in former Soviet Union countries Haseldine, media related to Trolleybuses in Urgench at Wikimedia Commons Trolleybus city, Urgench
28.
International Standard Book Number
–
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
29.
Frederick Gustavus Burnaby
–
Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby was a British Army intelligence officer. Burnabys adventurous spirit, pioneering achievements, and swashbuckling courage earned an affection in the minds of Victorian imperial idealists and his popularity was legendary, appearing in a number of stories and tales of empire. His sister Mary married John Manners-Sutton, Fred was educated at Bedford School, Harrow, Oswestry School, where he was a contemporary with William Archibald Spooner, and in Germany. Legend has it he could carry two boys under both arms up the stairs of school house, Burnaby was a huge man for his times,6 ft 4in tall and 20 stone when fully grown. Like so many Household cavalry his outsize personality and strength became the legend of imperial might. He entered the Royal Horse Guards in 1859, finding no chance for active service, his spirit of adventure sought outlets in balloon ascents and in travels through Spain and Russia with his firm friend, George Radford. This took Burnaby as far as Khartoum, returning to England in March 1875, he formulated his plans for a journey on horseback to the Khanate of Khiva through Russian Asia, which had just been closed to travellers. War had broken out between the Russian army and the Turcoman tribesmen of the desert and he planned to visit St Petersburg to meet Count Milyutin, Minister of War to the Tsar. Travelling at his own expense carrying an 85 lb pack, he departed London Victoria station on 30 November 1875, the Russians announced they would protect the soldier along the route, but to all intents and purposes this proved impossible. The accomplishment of this task, in the winter of 1875–1876, with the aim of reciprocity for India and the Tsarist State, was described in his book A Ride to Khiva, the city of Merv was highly inaccessible, but presented a potential military flashpoint. The Russians knew that British Intelligence gathered information along the frontier, similar expeditions had taken place under Captain George Napier and Colonel Charles MacGregor. By Christmas, Burnaby had arrived at Orenburg, in receipt of orders prohibiting progress into Persia from Russian held territory, he was warned not to advance. A fluent Russian speaker, he was not coerced, arriving at a Russian garrison, hiring a servant and horses his party trudged through the snow to Kazala intending a crossing into Afghanistan from Merv. Extreme winter blizzards brought frostbite, treated with naphtha, a Cossack emetic, close to death, Burnaby took three weeks to recover. Having received conflicted accounts of the privilege of Russian hospitality it was a welcome release, he later told his book. It was another 400 miles south to Khiva, when he was requested to divert to Petro Alexandrovsk, lurid tales of wild tribesmen awaiting his desert travails ready to gouge out his eyes were intended to discourage. Contrarily he ignored the escort, believing the tribes more friendly than the Russians, intending to go via Bokhara and Merv, he deviated, cutting two days off the journey. Leaving Kazala on 12 January 1876 with a servant, guide, a local mullah wrote an introduction note to the Khan, and clad in furs they traversed the freezing desert
30.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
31.
Urgench
–
Urgench is a city in western Uzbekistan. The population of Urgench on April 24,2014 was approximately 150,110 and it is the capital of the Khorezm Region, on the Amu Darya River and the Shavat canal. The city is situated 450 km west of Bukhara across the Kyzylkum Desert and it is located at a latitude 41°3260N and a longitude of 60°3760E, at an altitude of 91 meters. The history of the city back to the second half of the 19th century. The city should not be confused with the city of Konya-Urgench in Turkmenistan. The city of Old Urgench was left after the Amu Darya river changed its course in the 16th century, leaving the old town high and dry and without water. New Urgench was founded by Russians in the half of the 19th century at the site of a little trade station of the Khanate of Khiva. Modern Urgench is a Soviet-style city with cotton motifs adorning many objects, a flat, drab place, Urgench is the main gateway for tourists to Khiva 35 kilometres to the southeast, whose old city, known as Itchan Kala, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Old Urgench, Konye-Urgench in north Turkmenistan Trolleybuses in Urgench Urgench International Airport
.jpg)
.jpg)
_(5596932909).jpg)
Uzbekistan
.jpg)
_(5586448125).jpg)
Khiva travel guide from Wikivoyage
.jpg)
_.jpg){kind=link}