Republic of Ireland
Ireland known as the Republic of Ireland, is a country in north-western Europe occupying 26 of 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, located on the eastern part of the island, whose metropolitan area is home to around a third of the country's over 4.8 million inhabitants. The sovereign state shares its only land border with a part of the United Kingdom, it is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south-east, the Irish Sea to the east. It is a parliamentary republic; the legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann, an upper house, Seanad Éireann, an elected President who serves as the ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach, elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President; the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It had the status of Dominion until 1937 when a new constitution was adopted, in which the state was named "Ireland" and became a republic, with an elected non-executive president as head of state.
It was declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948. Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955, it joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, in 1973. The state had no formal relations with Northern Ireland for most of the twentieth century, but during the 1980s and 1990s the British and Irish governments worked with the Northern Ireland parties towards a resolution to "the Troubles". Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the Irish government and Northern Ireland Executive have co-operated on a number of policy areas under the North-South Ministerial Council created by the Agreement. Ireland ranks among the top twenty-five wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita, as the tenth most prosperous country in the world according to The Legatum Prosperity Index 2015. After joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth.
The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which became known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by an unprecedented financial crisis that began in 2008, in conjunction with the concurrent global economic crash. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index, it performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a founding member of the Council of Europe and the OECD; the Irish government has followed a policy of military neutrality through non-alignment since prior to World War II and the country is not a member of NATO, although it is a member of Partnership for Peace. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was "styled and known as the Irish Free State".
The Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that "the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland". Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, "It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland." The 1948 Act does not name the state as "Republic of Ireland", because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name "Eire" and, from 1949, "Republic of Ireland", for the state; as well as "Ireland", "Éire" or "the Republic of Ireland", the state is referred to as "the Republic", "Southern Ireland" or "the South". In an Irish republican context it is referred to as "the Free State" or "the 26 Counties". From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, the island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the island's population of over 8 million fell by 30%. One million Irish died of starvation and/or disease and another 1.5 million emigrated to the United States.
This set the pattern of emigration for the century to come, resulting in constant population decline up to the 1960s. From 1874, under Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880, the Irish Parliamentary Party gained prominence; this was firstly through widespread agrarian agitation via the Irish Land League, that won land reforms for tenants in the form of the Irish Land Acts, secondly through its attempts to achieve Home Rule, via two unsuccessful bills which would have granted Ireland limited national autonomy. These led to "grass-roots" control of national affairs, under the Local Government Act 1898, in the hands of landlord-dominated grand juries of the Protestant Ascendancy. Home Rule seemed certain when the Parliament Act 1911 abolished the veto of the House of Lords, John Redmond secured the Third Home Rule Act in 1914. However, the Unionist movement had been growing since 1886 among Irish Protestants after the introduction of the first home rule bill, fearing discrimination and loss of economic and social privileges if Irish Catholics achieved real political power
Time in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland uses Irish Standard Time in the summer months and Greenwich Mean Time in the winter period. In Ireland, the Standard Time Act 1968 established that the time for general purposes in the State shall be one hour in advance of Greenwich mean time throughout the year; this act was amended by the Standard Time Act 1971, which established Greenwich Mean Time as a winter time period. Ireland therefore operates one hour behind standard time during the winter period, reverts to standard time in the summer months; this is defined in contrast to the other states in the European Union, which operate one hour ahead of standard time during the summer period, but produces the same end result. The instant of transition to and from daylight saving time is synchronised across Europe. In Ireland, winter time begins at 02:00 IST on the last Sunday in October, ends at 01:00 GMT on the last Sunday in March; the following table lists recent past and near-future starting and ending dates of Irish Standard Time or Irish Summer Time: Before 1880, the legal time at any place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was defined as local mean time, as held by the appeal in the 1858 court case Curtis v. March.
The Statutes Act, 1880 defined Dublin Mean Time as the legal time for Ireland. This was the local mean time at Dunsink Observatory outside Dublin, was about 25 minutes 21 seconds behind Greenwich Mean Time, defined by the same act to be the legal time for Great Britain. After the Easter Rising, the time difference between Ireland and Britain was found inconvenient for telegraphic communication and the Time Act, 1916 provided that Irish time would be the same as British time, from 2:00 am Dublin Mean Time on Sunday 1 October 1916. Summer time had been introduced in May 1916 across the United Kingdom as a temporary efficiency measure for the First World War, the changeover from Dublin time to Greenwich time was simultaneous with the changeover from summer time to winter time. John Dillon opposed the first reading of the Time Bill for having been introduced without consultation of the Irish Parliamentary Party. T. M. Healy opposed the second reading on the basis that "while the Daylight Saving Bill added to the length of your daylight, this Bill adds to the length of your darkness".
After the Irish Free State became independent in 1922, subsequent developments tended to mirror those in the United Kingdom. This avoided having different times on either side of the border with Northern Ireland. Summer time was provided on a one-off basis by acts in 1923 and 1924, on an ongoing basis by the Summer Time Act, 1925; the 1925 act provided a default summer time period. Double summer time was considered but not introduced during the Emergency of World War II. From 1968 standard time was observed all year round, with no winter time change; this was an experiment in the run-up to Ireland's 1973 accession to the EEC, was undone in 1971. In those years, time in Ireland was the same as in the six EEC countries, except in the summer in Italy, which switched to Central European Summer Time. One artefact of the 1968 legislation is that "standard time" refers to summer time. From the 1980s, the dates of switch between winter and summer time have been synchronised across the European Union; the statutory instruments that have been issued under the Standard Time Acts are listed below, in format year/SI-number, linking to the Irish Statute Database text of the SI.
Except where stated, those issued up to 1967 were called "Summer Time Order <year>", while those issued from 1981 are "Winter Time Order <year>". 1926/, 1947/71, 1948/128, 1949/23, 1950/41, 1951/27, 1952/73, 1961/11, 1961/232, 1962/182, 1963/167, 1964/257, 1967/198, 1981/67, 1982/212, 1986/45, 1988/264, 1990/52, 1992/371, 1994/395, 1997/484, 2001/506 Possible adjustments to the Irish practice were discussed by the Oireachtas joint committee on Justice and Equality in November 2011, but the government stated it had no plans to change. In November 2012, Tommy Broughan introduced a private member's bill to permit a three-year trial of advancing time by one hour, to CET in winter and CEST in summer. Debate on the bill's second stage was adjourned on 5 July 2013, when Alan Shatter, the Minister for Justice and Equality, agreed to refer the matter to the joint committee for review, suggested that it consult with the British parliament and devolved assemblies. In July 2014, the joint committee issued an invitation for submissions on the bill.
On 8 February 2018, the European Parliament voted to ask the European Commission to re-evaluate the principle of Summer Time in Europe. After a web survey showing high support for not switching clocks twice annually, on 12 September 2018 the European Commission decided to propose that an end be put to seasonal clock changes In order for this to be valid, the European Union legislative procedure must be followed that the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament must both approve the proposal; the United Kingdom is due to have left the EU by and, if the UK does not follow the reform and contin
Oliver Plunkett
Oliver Plunkett, was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, thus becoming the first new Irish saint for seven hundred years. Oliver Plunkett was born on 1 November 1625 in Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland, to well-to-do parents with Hiberno-Norman ancestors, he was related by birth to a number of landed families, such as the ennobled Earls of Roscommon, as well as the long-established Earls of Fingall, Lords Louth and Lords Dunsany. Until his sixteenth year, the boy's education was entrusted to his cousin Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary's, Dublin and brother of Luke Plunkett, the first Earl of Fingall, who became successively Bishop of Ardagh and of Meath; as an aspirant to the priesthood he set out for Rome in 1647, under the care of Father Pierfrancesco Scarampi of the Roman Oratory. At this time the Irish Confederate Wars were raging in Ireland. Scarampi was the Papal envoy to the Catholic movement known as the Confederation of Ireland.
Many of Plunkett's relatives were involved in this organisation. He was proved to be an able pupil, he was ordained a priest in 1654, deputed by the Irish bishops to act as their representative in Rome. Meanwhile, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland had defeated the Catholic cause in Ireland; as a result, it was impossible for Plunkett to return to Ireland for many years. He, in 1657, became a professor of theology. Throughout the period of the Commonwealth and the first years of Charles II's reign, he pleaded the cause of the Irish Catholic Church, served as theological professor at the College of Propaganda Fide. At the Congregation of Propaganda Fide on 9 July 1669 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, the Irish primatial see, was consecrated on 30 November at Ghent by the Bishop of Ghent, Eugeen-Albert, count d'Allamont, he set foot on Irish soil again on 7 March 1670, as the English Restoration of 1660 had begun on a basis of toleration. The pallium was granted him in the Consistory of 28 July 1670.
After arriving back in Ireland, he tackled drunkenness among the clergy, writing: "Let us remove this defect from an Irish priest, he will be a saint". The Penal Laws had been relaxed in line with the Declaration of Breda in 1660 and he was able to establish a Jesuit College in Drogheda in 1670. A year 150 students attended the college, no fewer than 40 of whom were Protestant, making this college the first integrated school in Ireland, his ministry was a successful one and he is said to have confirmed 48,000 Catholics over a 4-year period. The government in Dublin under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Ormonde extended a generous measure of toleration to the Catholic hierarchy until the mid-1670s. On the enactment of the Test Act in 1673, to which Plunkett would not agree for doctrinal reasons, the college was closed and demolished. Plunkett went into hiding, travelling only in disguise, refused a government edict to register at a seaport to await passage into exile. For the next few years he was left in peace since the Dublin government, except when put under pressure from the English government in London, preferred to leave the Catholic bishops alone.
In 1678 the so-called Popish Plot, concocted in England by clergyman Titus Oates, led to further anti-Catholic action. Archbishop Peter Talbot of Dublin was arrested, Plunkett again went into hiding; the Privy Council in London was told. The moving spirit behind the campaign is said to have been Arthur Capell, the first Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and hoped to resume the office by discrediting the Duke of Ormonde; however Essex was not a ruthless or unprincipled man and his plea for mercy suggests that he had never intended that Plunkett should die. Despite being on the run and with a price on his head, Plunkett refused to leave his flock. At some point before his final incarceration, he took refuge in a church that once stood in the townland of Killartry, in the parish of Clogherhead in County Louth, seven miles outside Drogheda, he was arrested in Dublin in December 1679 and imprisoned in Dublin Castle, where he gave absolution to the dying Talbot. Plunkett was tried at Dundalk for conspiring against the state by plotting to bring 20,000 French soldiers into the country, for levying a tax on his clergy to support 70,000 men for rebellion.
Though this was unproven, some in government circles were worried about the possibility that a repetition of the Irish rebellion of 1641 was being planned and in any case this was a convenient excuse for proceeding against Plunkett. The Duke of Ormonde, aware that Lord Essex was using the crisis to undermine him, did not defend Plunkett in public. In private however he made clear his belief in Plunkett's innocence and his contempt for the informers against him: "silly drunken vagabonds... whom no schoolboy would trust to rob an orchard". Plunkett did not object to facing an all-Protestant jury, but the trial soon collapsed as the prosecution witnesses were themselves wanted men and afraid to turn up in court. Lord Shaftesbury knew Plunkett would never be convicted in Ireland, irrespective of the jury's c
12th century
The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and is sometimes called the Age of the Cistercians. In Song dynasty China an invasion by Jurchens caused a political schism of south; the Khmer Empire of Cambodia flourished during this century, while the Fatimids of Egypt were overtaken by the Ayyubid dynasty. China is under the Northern Song dynasty. Early in the century, Zhang Zeduan paints Along the River During the Qingming Festival, it will end up in the Palace Museum, Beijing. In southeast Asia, there is conflict between the Champa. Angkor Wat is built under the Hindu king Suryavarman II. By the end of the century the Buddhist Jayavarman VII becomes the ruler. Japan is in its Heian period; the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga is made and attributed to Toba Sōjō. It ends up at the Kyoto. In Oceania, the Tuʻi Tonga Empire expands to a much greater area. Europe undergoes the Renaissance of the 12th century.
The blast furnace for the smelting of cast iron is imported from China, appearing around Lapphyttan, Sweden, as early as 1150. Alexander Neckam is the first European to document the mariner's compass, first documented by Shen Kuo during the previous century. Christian humanism becomes a self-conscious philosophical tendency in Europe. Christianity is introduced to Estonia and Karelia; the first medieval universities are founded. Pierre Abelard teaches. Middle English begins to develop, literacy begins to spread outside the Church throughout Europe. In addition, churchmen are willing to take on secular roles. By the end of the century, at least a third of England's bishops act as royal judges in secular matters; the Ars antiqua period in the history of the classical music of Western Europe begins. The earliest recorded miracle play is performed in England. Gothic architecture and trouvère music begin in France. During the middle of the century, the Cappella Palatina is built in Palermo and the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript illustrates the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes.
Fire and plague insurance first become available in Iceland, the first documented outbreaks of influenza there happens. The medieval state of Serbia is formed by Stefan Nemanja and continued by the Nemanjić dynasty. By the end of the century, both the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Anjou are relying on mercenaries in their militaries. Paid soldiers are available year-round, unlike knights who expected certain periods off to maintain their manor lifestyles. In India, Hoysala architecture reaches a peak. In the Middle East, the icon of Theotokos of Vladimir is painted in Constantinople. Everything but the faces will be retouched, the icon will go to the Tretyakov Gallery of Moscow; the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli composes his epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin. Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi founds his "school of illumination". In North Africa, the kasbah of Marrakesh is built, including the city gate Bab Agnaou and the Koutoubia mosque. In sub-Saharan Africa, Kente cloth is first woven. In France, the first piedfort coins in the history of numismatics were minted.
The city of Tula burns down, marking the end of the Toltec Empire List of 12th-century inventions 1104—The Venice Arsenal of Venice, Italy, is founded. It employed some 16,000 people for the mass production of sailing ships in large assembly lines, hundreds of years before the Industrial Revolution. 1106—Finished building of Gelati. 1107—The Chinese engineer Wu Deren combines the mechanical compass vehicle of the south-pointing chariot with the distance-measuring odometer device. 1111—The Chinese Donglin Academy is founded. 1165—The Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, is built. 1170—The Christian notion of Purgatory is defined. 1185—First record of windmills. 1100: On August 5, Henry I is crowned King of England. 1100: On December 25, Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 1101: In July, the Treaty of Alton is signed between Henry I of England and his older brother Robert, Duke of Normandy in which Robert agrees to recognize Henry as king of England in exchange for a yearly stipend and other concessions.
The agreement temporarily ends a crisis in the succession of the Anglo-Norman kings. 1101–1103: David the Builder takes over Kakheti and Hereti. 1102: King Coloman unites Hungary and Croatia under the Hungarian Crown. 1102: Muslims conquer Señorio de Valencia 1103-1104: A church council is convened by King David the Builder in Urbnisi to reorganize the Georgian Orthodox Church. 1104: In the Battle of Ertsukhi, King David the Builder defeats an army of Seljuks. 1104: King Jayawarsa of Kadiri ascends to the throne. 1106: Battle of Tinchebray 1107–1111: Sigurd I of Norway becomes the first Norwegian king to embark on a crusade to the Holy Land. He fights in Lisbon and on various Mediterranean isles, helps the King of Jerusalem to take Sidon from the Muslims. 1108: By the Treaty of Devol, signed in September, Bohemond I of Antioch has to submit to the Byzantine Empire, becoming the vassal of Alexius I. 1109: On June 10, Bertrand of Toulouse captures the County of Tripoli. 1109: In the Battle of Nakło, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians and re-establishes Polish access to the sea.
1109: On August 24, in the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V of Germany and stops German expansion eastward. 1111: On April 14, during Henry V's first expedition to Rome, he is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1113: Paramavishnulok is crowned as King Suryavarman II in Cambodia. He expands the Khmer Empire and builds Angkor Wat
Dunshaughlin
Dunshaughlin (Irish: Dún Seachlainn or locally Irish: Domhnach Seachnaill is a town in County Meath, Ireland. Dunshaughlin is named for Saint Seachnall; the oldest reference to the place name is an entry in the Annála Uladh from the year 801, where the name takes the form "Domnaig Sechnaill". The word "Domnach", used in this way, can be attributed to churches which originate from the beginnings of Christianity in Ireland. Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill was an ancestor from which the principal family of Brega, Ó Maoilsheachlainn, is descended. Dunshaughlin is famous for an ancient crannóg or settlement from the 7th century where a number of Irish antiquities were discovered. 1.6 km south of the village is a preserved workhouse from An Gorta Mór, abolished in the early 1920s. Dunshaughlin is 29 km from Dublin on the R147, is a growing satellite town of that city. According to the 2011 census, the town had a population of 3,900; as of 2017, it had increased to 5,600. Several housing estates centre on a main street, with multiple retail units consisting of newsagents, take-away food outlets, clothing stores, banks.
There is a business park on the outskirts of the town. Dunshaughlin houses numerous public amenities, including a library, a health centre, the Meath County Council civic offices. A large community and sports centre was opened on the grounds of Dunshaughlin Community College in 2000; the centre is operated by a voluntary board of management. Dunshuaghlin is twined with Mississippi. Dunshaughlin has two primary schools, Gaelscoil na Ríthe and St. Seachnall's, one secondary school, Dunshaughlin Community College. St. Seachnall's was founded in 1835; as of 2018, it has both boys and girls. Gaelscoil na Ríthe was established in 1985 when a group of parents from the Dunshaughlin and Culmullen areas set about providing an all-Irish education for their young children; the school enjoyed sustained growth over the years with a new building provided in 1996. At present the school caters to a full stream of eight classes, with over 200 pupils and twelve teaching staff. DCC, established in 1933, is a co-educational school, part of the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board.
Construction was completed on an extension at the school in 2013, was opened on 29 November 2014. Dunshaughlin is served by Bus Éireann commuter services to Dublin running at a frequency of every half-hour, with plans to increase frequency to every 15 minutes. Subject to the reopening of the Dublin–Navan railway line, there is a new station planned; the town is represented in sport by a Men Ladies Gaelic football team. The Men's team were Meath county champions 3 years in a row from 2000-2003, their main sponsor is SuperValu Dunshaughlin. The local soccer club is Dunshaughlin Youths, a progressive club active both in the local community and in the North Dublin Schoolboys league. Basketball is a growing sport in the community; the local club, Dunshaughlin Rockets, have seen much success in recent years competing in both the North East Basketball League and the Dublin Ladies Basketball League. Dunshaughlin community college has won both a girl's u16 All-Ireland title, a second year girl's All-Ireland a boy's u19 All-Ireland title.
Dunshaughlin Athletic Club is traditionally considered a long-distance running club. However, the club has enjoyed the success of many juvenile sprinters of late, who have excelled at county and national level; the town's golfing community takes great pride in its golf course, "The Black Bush Golf Club". Around 3 km outside the village a new golfing resort designed by Jack Nicklaus has been created at Killeen Castle; the course hosted the 2011 Solheim Cup. The town has a strong association with horse racing, in particular National Hunt racing; the leading flat race sprinter Sole Power, dual winner of both the Nunthorpe Stakes and the King's Stand Stakes, is trained near the town by Edward Lynam. The Dunshaughlin workhouse was erected in 1840-41 on 2 hectares, 2.5 km south of Dunshaughlin. Designed to accommodate 400 inmates, it cost about £6,000 to build, all told, it was declared fit for habitation on 12 May 1841, received its first admissions on 17 May. During the Irish Famine in the mid-1840s, elements of the workhouse were converted to accommodate additional inmates, a burial ground was located to the rear.
Occupancy declined after the Famine. During the First World War, the building was used to house Belgian refugees, some of whom died there and were buried in the paupers' graveyard. In 1920-21, the building was taken over by the Black and Tans, who used it as a barracks during the Irish War of Independence. After the workhouse system was abolished in 1922, following the conclusion of the war and the establishment of Irish Free State, the facility served as a school and factory; as of 2002, parts of the building were being used as a guest residence. The Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival is a three-day culture festival taking place towards the end of September, it is a non-profit event and run by local volunteers. List of towns and villages in Ireland Black Bush Golf Club Dunshaughlin Community College Meath Event Guide Dunshaughlin & District Road Racing Supporters Club Bannon Auctioneers
17th century
The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1, 1601, to December 31, 1700, in the Gregorian calendar. It falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and in that continent was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Spanish Golden Age, the Dutch Golden Age, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution, according to some historians, the General Crisis; the greatest military conflicts were the Thirty Years' War, the Great Turkish War, the Dutch-Portuguese War. It was during this period that European colonization of the Americas began in earnest, including the exploitation of the silver deposits, which resulted in bouts of inflation as wealth was drawn into Europe. In the Islamic world, the Ottoman and Mughal empires grew in strength. In the Indian subcontinent, Mughal architecture and art reached its zenith, while the empire itself is believed to have had the world's largest economy, bigger than the entirety of Western Europe and worth 25% of global GDP.
In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the century, beginning the Edo period. In China, the collapsing Ming dynasty was challenged by a series of conquests led by the Manchu warlord Nurhaci, which were consolidated by his son Hong Taiji and consummated by his grandson, the Shunzi Emperor, founder of the Qing dynasty. From the middle decades of the 17th century, European politics were dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde; the semi-feudal territorial French nobility was weakened and subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the reinvention of the Palace of Versailles from a hunting lodge to a gilded prison, in which a expanded royal court could be more kept under surveillance. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded, it was during this century that English monarch became a symbolic figurehead and Parliament was the dominant force in government – a contrast to most of Europe, in particular France.
By the end of the century and Indians were aware of logarithms, the telescope and microscope, universal gravitation, Newton's Laws of Motion, air pressure and calculating machines due to the work of the first scientists of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, René Descartes, Pierre Fermat, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Christiaan Huygens, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It was a period of development of culture in general. 1600: Michael the Brave unifies the three Romanian countries: Wallachia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599. 1601: Battle of Kinsale, England defeats Irish and Spanish forces at the town of Kinsale, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system. 1601–1603: The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills one-third of Russia. 1602: Matteo Ricci produces the Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, a world map that will be used throughout East Asia for centuries.
1602: The Dutch East India Company is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies. Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age. 1603: Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. 1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu takes the title of shōgun, establishing the Tokugawa shogunate. This begins the Edo period, which will last until 1868. 1605: The King of Gowa, a Makassarese kingdom in South Sulawesi, converts to Islam 1606: The Long War between the Ottoman Empire and Austria is ended with the Peace of Zsitvatorok—Austria abandons Transylvania. 1606: Treaty of Vienna ends anti-Habsburg uprising in Royal Hungary. 1607: Flight of the Earls occurs from County Donegal in the west of Ulster in Ireland. 1607: Iskandar Muda becomes the Sultan of Aceh. He will launch a series of naval conquests that will transform Aceh into a great power in the western Malay Archipelago. 1610: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth army defeats combined Russian- Swedish forces at the Battle of Klushino and conquers Moscow.
1610: King Henry IV of France is assassinated by François Ravaillac. 1611: The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, the oldest existing university in Asia, established by the Dominican Order in Manila 1611: The first publication of the King James Bible. 1612: Costwold Olympic Games, Robert Dover 1613: The Time of Troubles in Russia ends with the establishment of the House of Romanov, which rules until 1917. 1613–1617: Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is invaded by the Tatars dozens of times. 1613: The Dutch East India Company is forced to evacuate Gresik because of the Mataram siege of neighboring Surabaya. The VOC is allowed to set up a trading post in Jepara. 1615: The Battle of Osaka ends. 1616: The last remaining Moriscos in Spain are expelled. 1616: English poet and playwright William Shakespeare dies. 1618: The Defenestration of Prague. 1618: The Bohemian Revolt precipitates the Thirty Years' War, which devastates Europe in the years 1618–48. 1618: The Manchus start invading China.
Their conquest topples the Ming dynasty. 1619: Dutch East India Company, English East India Company, Sultanate of Banten all fighting over port city of Ja
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces. At the same time, they were used as an aristocrat's residence, around which a castle town was constructed. After their initial appearance in Ireland, Basque Country and England during the High Middle Ages, tower houses were built in other parts of western Europe as early as the late 14th century in parts of France and Italy. In Italian medieval communes, tower houses were built by the local barons as power centres during times of internal strife. Scotland has many fine examples of medieval tower houses, including Crathes Castle, Craigievar Castle and Castle Fraser, in the unstable Scottish Marches along the border between England and Scotland the peel tower was the typical residence of the wealthy, with others being built by the government.
In seventeenth century Scotland these castles became the pleasurable retreats of the upper-classes. While able to adopt a military nature, they were furnished for social interaction. Tower houses are commonly found in northern Spain in the Basque Country, some of them dating back to the 8th century, they were used as noble residences and were able to provide shelter against several enemies, starting with the Arabs and Castile and Aragon. However, due to complex legal charters, few had boroughs attached to them, and, why they are found standing alone in some strategic spot like a crossroad, rather than on a height. During the petty wars among the Basque nobles from 1379 to 1456, the upper floors of most of them were demolished. Few have survived unscathed to the present day. Since they have been used only as residences by their traditional noble owners or converted into farm houses. To the west of the Basque Country, in Cantabria and Asturias similar tower houses are found. Furthest west in the Iberian peninsula in Galicia, medieval tower houses are in the origin of many Modern Age pazos, noble residences as well as strongholds.
In the Balkans, a distinctive type of tower house was built during the Ottoman occupation, developed in the 17th century by both Christians and Muslims in a period of decline of Ottoman authority and insecurity. The tower house served the purpose of protecting the extended family. In the Baltic states, the Teutonic Order and other crusaders erected fortified tower houses in the Middle Ages, locally known as "vassal castles", as a means of exercising control over the conquered areas; these tower houses were not intended to be used in any major military actions. A number of such tower houses still exist, well-preserved examples include Purtse and Kiiu castles in Estonia. In Svaneti, there are some medieval settlements famous of their tower houses, like Chazhashi and Ushguli; the Yemeni city of Shibam has hundreds of tower houses. Many other buildings in the Asir and Al-Bahah provinces of Saudi Arabia have many stone towers and tower houses, called a "qasaba". There are numerous examples of tower houses in Georgia in the Caucasus, where there was a clanlike social structure in a country where fierce competition over limited natural resources led to chronic feuding between neighbours.
One theory suggests that private tower-like structures proliferate in areas where central authority is weak, leading to a need for a status symbol incorporating private defences against small-scale attacks. Hundreds of Tibetan tower houses dot the so-called Tribal Corridor in Western Sichuan, some 50 metres high with as many as 13 star-like points, the oldest are thought to be 1,200 years old. Most notable in the New World might be considered a focal element of the Mesa Verde Anasazi ruin in Colorado, United States. There is a prominent structure at that site, in fact called the "tower house" and has the general appearance characteristics of its counterparts in Britain and Ireland; this four-storey building was constructed of adobe bricks about 1350 AD, its rather well preserved ruins are nestled within a cliff overhang. The towers of the ancient Pueblo people are, both of smaller ground plan than Old World tower houses, are only parts of complexes housing communities, rather than isolated structures housing an individual family and their retainers, as in Europe.
Aul Nakh architecture Diaolou Bastle house Castle Keep Ksar L Plan Castle Manor house Peel tower The Fortified House in Scotland Fortified house Pazo Qasaba Z-plan castle Culă Johnson Westropp, Thomas. "Notes on the Lesser Castles or'Peel Towers' of the County Clare". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 20: 348–365. Greville Pounds, Norman John; the Culture of the English People: Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 10 May 2012. Ernst J. Grube, George Michell. Architecture of the Islamic world: its history and social meaning, with a complete survey of key monuments. Morrow. Retrieved 10 May 2012. Media related to Tower houses at Wikimedia Commons Cutaway drawing Of Urquhart Castle tower house
