1.
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
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
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The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
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Regions where French is the main language
French language
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Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
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An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
3.
Flag of Mali
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The national flag of Mali is a tricolour with three equal vertical stripes. From the hoist the colours are green, gold, and red, the flag of Mali is almost identical to the flag of Guinea, with the exception that the colors are in reverse order. The flags colors have different meanings, the green stands for fertility of the land, gold means purity and mineral wealth and lastly red symbolizes the blood shed for independence from the French. The current flag was adopted on March 1,1961, the original flag was adopted on April 4,1959, when Mali joined the Mali Federation. This flag was the same, except the golden stripe had a stick figure. The figure was removed due to the opposition, in a country population is 90% Muslim. The flag adopted in 1959 for the federation was an imitation of the Flag of Ghana and it was charged with a black emblem known as a kanaga, a stylized human figure. The colors were intended to reflect a unity with other African nations, after the two countries split in 1960, the flag was kept for use in Mali until March 1,1961, when the kanaga emblem was dropped. Mali at Flags of the World
Flag of Mali
–
Mali
4.
Coat of arms of Mali
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The coat of arms of Mali is a national emblem consisting of a circle charged with a bird at the top, a mosque in the centre flanked by two bows and arrows, and the rising sun at the bottom. Adopted thirteen years after the country gained independence, it has been the seal of the Republic of Mali since 1973 and it is utilized on official documents as a coat of arms. Mali gained independence in August 1960, when it separated from Senegal and became an independent country on its own, a seal for Mali was designed soon afterwards, which is almost identical to the current seal save for the colour scheme. It featured a red circle surrounded by a green border, the current seal was officially adopted 20 October 1973, under Ordinance no.56 of the CMLN. It is utilized on official documents in place of a coat of arms, the colours and objects on the seal carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The mosque depicted at the centre of the seal is the Great Mosque of Djenné and it represents Islam, the countrys majority religion—practised by 94. 8% of the population. Featured above the structure is a bird – the species it belongs to is disputed, although the 1973 ordinance gives the description that it is a legendary vulture originating from Malian folklore, other sources claim it is actually a dove that symbolizes peace. The Djenné mosque is flanked by two bows and arrows, with the rising sun pictured at the very bottom, the countrys motto—One People, One Goal, One Faith —is exactly the same as Senegals. It is featured on that coat of arms as well
Coat of arms of Mali
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Coat of arms of Mali
5.
Le Mali
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Le Mali is the national anthem of Mali. The words were written by Seydou Badian Kouyaté and the music was by Banzumana Sissoko, adopted as the national anthem in 1962, its themes are patriotism, national, and African unity. It states the willingness of the people of Mali to lay down their lives for their nation, a common theme throughout the song is the desire to strive for a united Africa. Its music is a traditional European style military march and it was officially adopted less than a year after independence, by loi n° 62-72 du 9 août 1962. It is traditionally played at state ceremonies by the band of the Garde Républicaine of the Armed Forces of Mali, the Malian Young Pioneer movement of the 1960s translated the anthem in the Bambara language for its rallies. Mali, Le Mali - Audio of the anthem of Mali, with information and lyrics Presidency of Mali, Symboles de la République, L’Hymne National du Mali, history and lyrics
Le Mali
–
Le Mali
6.
Bamako
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Bamako is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a population of 1.8 million. In 2006, it was estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and it is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the administrative center. The city proper is a cercle in its own right, bamakos river port is located in nearby Koulikoro, along with a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh-largest West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano, Ibadan, Dakar, locally manufactured goods include textiles, processed meat, and metal goods. Commercial fishing occurs on the Niger River, the name Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning crocodile tail. The area of the city has evidence of settlements since the Palaeolithic era, the early inhabitants traded gold, ivory, kola nuts, and salt. By the 11th century, the Empire of Ghana became the first kingdom to dominate the area, Bamako had become a major market town, and a centre for Islamic scholars, with the establishment of two universities and numerous mosques in medieval times. The Mali Empire grew during the early Middle Ages and replaced Ghana as the dominant kingdom in west Africa, dominating Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, in the 14th century, the Mali Empire became increasingly wealthy because of the trade of cotton, gold and salt. By the late 19th century, the French dominated much of western Africa, and in 1883, present-day Mali became part of the colony of French Sudan, cotton and rice farming was encouraged through large irrigation projects and a new railroad connected Mali to Dakar on the Atlantic coast. Mali was annexed then into French West Africa, a federation which lasted from 1895 to 1959, Mali gained independence from France in April 1960, and the Republic of Mali was later established. At this time, Bamako had a population of around 160,000, during the 1960s, the country became socialist and Bamako was subject to Soviet investment and influence. However, the economy declined as state enterprises collapsed and unrest was widespread, eventually, Moussa Traoré led a successful coup and ruled Mali for 23 years. However his rule was characterised by severe droughts and poor government management, in the late 1980s the people of Bamako and Mali campaigned for a free-market economy and multiparty democracy. In 1990, the National Congress for Democratic Initiative was set up by the lawyer Mountaga Tall, and these with the Association des élèves et étudiants du Mali and the Association Malienne des Droits de lHomme aimed to oust Moussa Traoré. Under the old constitution, all unions had to belong to one confederation. When the leadership of the UNTM broke from the government in 1990, students, even children, played an increasing role in the protest marches in Bamako, and homes and businesses of those associated with the regime were ransacked by crowds. On 22 March 1991, a large-scale protest march in central Bamako was violently suppressed, four days later, a military coup deposed Traoré
Bamako
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Bamako on the Niger River
Bamako
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French Fort of Bammakou 1883
Bamako
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Pont des Martyrs
Bamako
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Taxi vans in Bamako
7.
National language
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A national language is a that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with people and the territory they occupy. There is little consistency in the use of this term, one or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National and/or official languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions, the last is usually given the title of official language. Standard languages, such as Standard German, Standard French, and Standard Spanish, may serve as national, regional, National language and official language are best understood as two concepts or legal categories with ranges of meaning that may coincide, or may be intentionally separate. Stateless nations are not in the position to legislate an official language, some languages may be recognized popularly as national languages, while others may enjoy official recognition in use and/or promotion. Albanian is the language in Albania and Kosovo and a regional national language for parts of Macedonia. Arabic is the language in Algeria. Berber is also an official language, French has no official status but is widely used in education, business and the media. Andorras national language is Catalan, moreover Catalan is a language in several territories in Spain. Azerbaijan Azerbaijani language is the language in Azerbaijan. Australia has no language, but is largely monolingual with English being the de facto national language. A considerable proportion of first and second generation migrants are bilingual, according to Ethnologue, 81% of people spoke English at home, including L2 speakers. Other languages spoken at home included Chinese 2. 9%, Italian 1. 2%, Arabic 1. 1%, Greek 1%, Vietnamese 0. 9%, there were almost 400 languages spoken by Indigenous Australians prior to the arrival of Europeans. Only about 70 of these languages have survived and all but 30 of these are now endangered, bengali is the sole official language of Bangladesh. Bulgarian is the language in Bulgaria. Canadas official languages since the Official Languages Act of 1969 are English, Quebec nationalists consider Quebec French the national language of the Quebec nation. As well, two of Canadas northern territories legislate a variety of Indigenous languages, as these official languages are legislated at a territorial level, they can be construed as national languages. Notably the Cree language is spoken from Alberta to Labrador, Anishinaabemowin is spoken across central Canada, there are many languages spoken across China, with most people speaking one of several varieties of Chinese
National language
–
The logo of the
Swiss Federal administration, in the
four national languages of Switzerland.
8.
Minyanka language
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Minyanka is a northern Senufo language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mali. It is closely related to Supyire, Minyanka is one of the national languages of Mali. Senufo language Dombrowsky-Hahn, Klaudia Phénomènes de contact entre les langues Minyanka et Bambara, prost, André Contributrion à létude des langues Voltaiques. Dakar, Institut Francophone de lAfrique Noire, minyanka-French-Bambara-English Dictionary to view online or download, from the Association for the Promotion of the Mamara language, Koutiala, Mali. Resources in Mamara from SIL Mali PanAfrican L10n page on Suppire/Minianka
Minyanka language
–
Map showing where Mamara is spoken.
9.
Ethnic groups
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
Ethnic groups
–
Before the 1970s, the
Korowai people of
Papua were an
uncontacted people. Their population numbers no more than 3,000.
Ethnic groups
–
The
Assyrians are the indigenous peoples of
Northern Iraq.
Ethnic groups
–
Some European ethnic groups, such as
Basque people, do not constitute a majority in any one country.
10.
Fula people
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The Fula people or Fulani or Fulɓe, numbering between 20 and 25 million people in total, are one of the largest and a widely dispersed Muslim ethnic group in Sahel and West Africa. The Fula people are believed to have roots in the people from North Africa and the Middle East. As an ethnic group they are bound together by the Fula language, culture, history, their religious affiliation and their efforts to spread Islam in Sahel region and the West Africa. A significant proportion of the Fula – a third, or an estimated 7 to 8 million – are pastoral people, the majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people, as well as sedentary settled farmers, artisans, merchants and nobility. Spread over many countries, they are mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa. Many Fulbe was also taken to the New World during 16th to 19th century Atlantic Slave Trade and they were largely captured from the Senegal and Guinea with a significant percentage also taken from Mali and Cameroon. Some of the Fulbe of note were Bilali Muhammad, Ayuba Diallo, Salih Bilali, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, some of Bilali Muhammads known descendants still live on Salepo Island Georgia and he also left descendants in the Bahama Archipelago who are not known. Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori and many others have many descendants in the USA, there are many names used in other languages to refer to the Fulɓe. Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term, Fula, from Manding languages, is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah. Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa, the French borrowed the Wolof term Pël, which is variously spelled, Peul, Peulh, and even Peuhl. More recently the Fulfulde / Pulaar term Fulɓe, which is a noun has been Anglicised as Fulbe. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used, the terms Fallata Fallatah or Fellata are of Kanuri origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in Sudan. The Fula people are distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. Alongside, many speak other languages of the countries they inhabit. Such languages include Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, and Arabic and this is the area known as the Fombina, literally meaning The South in Adamawa Fulfulde, because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa. In this area, Fulfulde is the lingua franca. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, the Fulani People occupy a vast geographical expanse located roughly in a longitudinal East-West band immediately south of the Sahara, and just north of the coastal rain forest and swamps. There are an estimated 20-25 million Fulani people, there are generally three different types of Fulani based on settlement patterns, viz, the Nomadic/Pastoral or Mbororo, The Semi-Nomadic and the Settled or Town Fulani
Fula people
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Fulani, Fula, Fulɓe
Fula people
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Fulani calabashes used for
cheese production
Fula people
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Tassili rock art
11.
Senufo people
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The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, Syénambélé and Bamana, are a African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali, one sub-group, the Nafana, is found in north-western Ghana. The Senufo people are predominantly animists, with some who are Muslims and they are regionally famous for their handicrafts, many of which feature their cultural themes and religious beliefs. In the 1980s, estimates placed the total ethnic population of Senufo people somewhere between 1.5 and 2.7 million. A2013 estimate places the total over 3 million, with majority of living in Ivory Coast in places such as Katiola. Their highest population densities are found in the land between the Black Volta river, Bagoe River and Bani River, the Senufo people are typically studied in three large subgroups which have been relatively isolated. The northern Senufo are called Supide or Kenedougou, found near Odienne, the third group is very small and isolated from both northern and southern Senufo. Some sociologists such as the French scholar Holas mentions fifteen identifiable sub-groups of Senufo people, with thirty dialects and they speak the various Senufo languages. It belongs to the Gur-branch of the Niger-Congo language family, and consists of four languages namely Suppire in Mali, and Palaka, Dyimini. Korhogo, an ancient town in northern Ivory Coast dating from the 13th century, is linked to the Senufo people and this separation of languages and sub-ethnic groups may be linked to the 14th-century migrations with its founding along with the Bambara trade-route. The Senufo people emerged as a group sometime about 15th to 16th century and they were a significant part of the 17th to 19th-century Kénédougou Kingdom with the capital of Sikasso. This region saw many wars including the rule of Daoula Ba Traoré, the Islamization of Senufo people began during the Kénédougou rule, but it was the chiefs who converted, while the general Senufo population refused. Daoula Ba Traoré attempted to Islamize his kingdom, destroyed many villages within the kingdom such as Guiembe, the Kénédougou dynastic rulers attacked their neighbors as well, such as the Zarma people and they in turn attacked back many times between 1883 to 1898. The pre-colonial wars and violence led to their migration into Burkina Faso in regions that became towns such as Tiembara in Kiembara Department, the Kénédougou kingdom and the Traoré dynasty was dissolved in 1898 with the arrival of French colonial rule. The Senufo people were victims of slavery, and they victimized other ethnic groups with slavery. They were enslaved by various African ethnic groups as the Denkyira and they themselves bought and sold slaves to Muslim merchants, Asante people and Baoulé people. As refugees from other West African ethnic groups escaped wars, states Paul Lovejoy, some of them moved into the Senufo lands, seized their lands and enslaved them. The largest demand for slaves came from the markets of Sudan
Senufo people
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Map showing the approximate distribution of Senufo peoples and some neighbouring peoples in Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
12.
Bwa people
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The Bwa or Bwaba, or Bobo-Wule, are an ethnic group indigenous to central Burkina Faso and Mali. They are known for their use of masks, made from leaves or wood, in the 18th century, Bwa lands were occupied by the Bamana empire who made the Bwa pay taxes. The places left unconquered were raided by the Bamana, which led to a weakening of the Bwa social and political systems, in the 19th century, the Bamana declined and the area was dominated by the Fulani who raided and enslaved the Bwa and stole their livestock. The end of the 19th century brought French mercenaries who used the Fulani to help control the area, the Bwa traditions of storing crops for use in lean years were undermined by the crippling taxation systems of the French and they suffered further from famine from 1911–1913. The French demanded military recruits from the Bwa and in 1915 and this war lasted about a year and ended with the destruction of many Bwa villages. The Bwa live in central Burkina Faso and south-east Mali, between Malis Bani River and the Mouhoun River in Burkina Faso and their total population is approximately 300,000. The major towns occupied by the Bwa are Houndé, Boni, Bagassi, Dossi, like many of their neighbours, the Bwa are predominantly farmers, their main cash crop being cotton. They also farm millet, rice, sorghum, yams, Bwa villages are autonomous and they do not recognise any outside political authority. They are led by a council of elders who make all the major decisions. Villages are structured with a cluster of mud walled buildings around a space where livestock are guarded at night. The Bwa speak Bwa languages, a related group of Gur languages of the Niger–Congo family. Some speak Jula for trading and communication with outsiders, and French is also used, most Bwa still retain traditional animist beliefs. Approximately 5% are Muslim, approximately 10% are Christian and approximately 85% are animists, the creator god of the Bwa is known as Wuro, Difini or Dobweni. He created the world by setting his creations up in balanced opposing pairs, the Bwa have to work to maintain the balance. Wuro left the earth after being wounded by a woman pounding millet and he had three sons, Dwo, god of new life and rebirth, Soxo, god of the wilderness and Kwere, the god of lightning. Wuro sent Dwo, with his brothers, to earth as his messenger, the Bwa, worship Dwo as an intermediary between man and nature. The religious leader of each village is an earth priest called the labie, the congregation of Dwo is a strong cohesive force in Bwa villages. The Bwa share their Dwo religion with the neighbouring Bobo people, in the late 19th century, following decades of oppression and misfortune, many southern Bwa villages abandoned the cult of Dwo and adopted the religion of their Nuna neighbours
Bwa people
–
Plank mask with abstract design of geometric patterns, all of which are symbolic.
Birmingham Museum of Art.
13.
Tuareg people
–
The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic confederation. They principally inhabit the Sahara desert, in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages, which belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, the Tuaregs have been called the blue people for the indigo-dye colored clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. A semi-nomadic Muslim people, they are believed to be descendants of the Berber autochthones of North Africa, the Tuaregs have been one of the ethnic groups that have been historically influential in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region. Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation, the Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes, and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial era. The origin and the meaning of the name Tuareg have long been debated and it would appear that Twārəg is derived from the broken plural of Tārgi, a name whose former meaning was inhabitant of Targa, the Tuareg name of the Libyan region commonly known as Fezzan. Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi, the term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh, the term for a woman Tamajaq. Spellings of the appellation vary by Tuareg dialect, however, they all reflect the same linguistic root, expressing the notion of freemen. As such, the endonym strictly refers only to the Tuareg nobility, not the artisanal client castes, the English exonym Blue People is similarly derived from the indigo color of the tagelmust veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath. Another term for the Tuareg is Imuhagh or Imushagh, a cognate to the northern Berber self-name Imazighen, the Tuareg today inhabit a vast area in the Sahara, stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Their combined population in these territories exceeds 2.5 million, with a population in Niger of around 2 million. The Tuareg are also the majority group in the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali. The Tuareg traditionally speak the Tuareg languages, also known as Tamasheq, Tamachen, Tamashekin, Tomacheck and these tongues belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. According to Ethnologue, there are an estimated 1.2 million Tuareg speakers, around half this number consists of speakers of the Eastern dialect. The exact number of Tuareg speakers per territory is uncertain, the CIA estimates that the Tuareg population in Mali constitutes approximately 0. 9% of the national population, whereas about 3. 5% of local inhabitants speak Tuareg as a primary language. In contrast, Imperato estimates that the Tuareg represent around 3% of Malis population, in antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the Tafilalt region into the Sahel under the Tuareg founding queen Tin Hinan, who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th century. The matriarchs 1,500 year old tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Hoggar Mountains of southern Algeria. Vestiges of an inscription in Tifinagh, the Tuaregs traditional Libyco-Berber writing script, have found on one of the ancient sepulchres walls
Tuareg people
–
Tuareg
Tuareg people
–
Tin Hinan Queen of
Hoggar (today
South Algeria)
Tuareg people
–
Tuareg in
Mali, 1974
Tuareg people
–
Tuareg
separatist rebels in Mali, January 2012
14.
Moors
–
Moors are not a distinct or self-defined people, and mainstream scholars observed in 1911 that The term Moors has no real ethnological value. Medieval and early modern Europeans variously applied the name to Arabs, Berber North Africans and Muslim Europeans. The term has also used in Europe in a broader, somewhat derogatory sense to refer to Muslims in general, especially those of Arab or Berber descent. During the colonial era, the Portuguese introduced the names Ceylon Moors and Indian Moors in Sri Lanka, in 711, troops mostly formed by Moors from North Africa led the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. The Iberian peninsula then came to be known in classical Arabic as Al-Andalus, in 827, the Moors occupied Mazara on Sicily, developing it as a port. They eventually consolidated the rest of the island and some of southern Italy, in 1224 the Muslims were expelled from Sicily to the settlement of Lucera, which was destroyed by European Christians in 1300. The fall of Granada in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Iberia, the Berber tribes of the region were noted in Classical literature as Mauri, which was subsequently rendered as Moors in English and in related variations in other European languages. Mauri is recorded as the name by Strabo in the early 1st century. This appellation was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was Maurusii, in medieval Romance languages, variations of the Latin word for the Moors developed different applications and connotations. During the context of the Crusades and the Reconquista, the term Moors included the suggestion of infidels. Apart from these associations and context, Moor and Moorish designate a specific ethnic group speaking Hassaniya Arabic. They inhabit Mauritania and parts of Algeria, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, in Niger and Mali, these peoples are also known as the Azawagh Arabs, after the Azawagh region of the Sahara. Some authors have pointed out that in modern colloquial Spanish use of the term moro is derogatory for Moroccans in particular, however, this designation has gained more acceptance in the south. In the Philippines, a former Spanish colony, many modern Filipinos call the large, local Muslim minority concentrated in Mindanao, the word is a catch-all term, as Moro may come from several distinct ethno-linguistic groups such as the Maranao people. The term was introduced by Spanish colonisers, and has since been appropriated by Filipino Muslims as an endonym, moreno can mean dark-skinned in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and the Philippines. Also in Spanish, morapio is a name for wine, especially that which has not been baptized or mixed with water. Among Spanish speakers, moro came to have a broader meaning, Moro refers to all things dark, as in Moor, moreno, etc. It was also used as a nickname, for instance, the Milanese Duke Ludovico Sforza was called Il Moro because of his dark complexion, in Portugal, mouro may refer to supernatural beings known as enchanted moura, where moor implies alien and non-Christian
Moors
–
Depiction of Moors in
Iberia. Taken from the
Tale of Bayad and Riyad
Moors
–
Depiction of three Moorish knights found on
Alhambra 's Ladies Tower
Moors
–
Castillian ambassadors attempting to convince Moorish Almohad king
Abu Hafs Umar al-Murtada to join their alliance (contemporary depiction from The Cantigas de Santa María)
Moors
–
Reconstruction of costumes of Moorish
nobility from a German book published in 1880
15.
Songhai people
–
The Songhai people are an ethnic group in West Africa who speak Songhai languages. Their history and lingua franca is linked to the Songhai Empire which dominated the western Sahel in the 15th and 16th century, predominantly a Muslim community, the Songhai are found primarily throughout Mali in the Western sudanic region. The name Songhai is historically neither an ethnic nor a linguistic designation, speakers in Mali have adopted it as an ethnic self-designation but other Songhay-speaking groups identify themselves by other ethnic terms such as Zarma or Isawaghen. The dialect of Koyraboro Senni spoken in Gao is unintelligible to speakers of the Zarma dialect of Niger, the Songhay languages are commonly taken to be Nilo-Saharan but this classification remains controversial, Dimmendaal believes that for now it is best considered an independent language family. It was from one of Malis former conquests, the kingdom of Gao, although the city of Gao had been occupied by a Songhai dynasty prior to being conquered by Mansa Musas forces in 1325, it was not until much later that the Songhai empire emerged. The empire saw its pre-eminent rise under the military strategist and influential Songhai king and it began its rise in 1468 when Sonni Ali conquered much of the weakening Mali empires territory as well as Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenné. Among the countrys most noted scholars was Ahmed Baba—a highly distinguished historian frequently quoted in the Tarikh al-Sudan, the people consisted of mostly fishermen and traders. Following Sonni Alis death, Muslim factions rebelled against his successor and installed Soninke general, under the Askias, the Songhai empire reached its zenith. Following Askia Muhammad, the empire began to collapse and it was enormous and could not be kept under control. The kingdom of Morocco saw Songhays still flourishing salt and gold trade, the Dendi people are a subgroup of the Songhai. The language, society and culture of the Songhai people is barely distinguishable from the Zarma people, some scholars consider the Zarma people to be a part of and the largest ethnic sub-group of the Songhai. Some study the group together as Zarma-Songhai people, however, both groups see themselves as two different peoples. The Songhai people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with castes, according to the medieval and colonial era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous. Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit, some scholars such as John Shoup list these strata in three categories, free, servile, and the slave class. The servile group were required to be endogamous, while the slaves could be emancipated over four generations. The highest social level, states Shoup, claim to have descended from King Sonni Ali Ber, the traditionally free strata of the Zerma people have owned property and herds, and these have dominated the political system and governments during and after the French colonial rule. Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of marriages is a norm. This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other groups in West Africa
Songhai people
–
A man of the Songhai people from Mali, in 2012.
16.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
17.
Politics of Mali
–
Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Under Malis 1992 constitution, the president is chief of state, the president is elected to 5-year terms by direct popular vote. He is limited to two terms, the president appoints the prime minister as head of government. The president chairs the Council of Ministers, which adopts a proposals for laws submitted to the National Assembly for approval of them, the National Assembly has 160 members, elected for a five-year term,147 members elected in single-seat constituencies and 13 members elected by Malians abroad. The National Assembly is the legislative arm of the government. Representation is apportioned according to the population of administrative districts, election is direct and by party list. The term of office is 5 years, the Assembly meets for two regular sessions each year. It debates and votes on legislation proposed either by one of its members or by the government and has the right to government ministers about government actions. Eight political parties, aggregated into four groups, are represented in the Assembly. ADEMA currently holds the majority, minority parties are represented in all committees, Malis constitution provides for a multi-party democracy, with the only restriction being a prohibition against parties based on ethnic, religious, regional, or gender lines. In addition to political parties represented in the National Assembly. Malis Government has a 49. 9% life expectancy for males Malis legal system is based on codes inherited at independence from France, new laws have been enacted to make the system conform to Malian life, but French colonial laws not abrogated still have the force of law. The constitution provides for the independence of the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice appoints judges and supervises both law enforcement and judicial functions. The Supreme Court has both judicial and administrative powers, under the constitution, there is a separate constitutional court and a high court of justice with the power to try senior government officials in cases of treason. Administratively, Mali is divided into eight regions and the district of Bamako. Each region consists of five to nine districts, administered by Prefects, cercles are divided into communes, which, in turn, are divided into villages or quarters. Other changes included greater control over finances, and the reduction of administrative control by the central government
Politics of Mali
–
Mali
18.
Unitary state
–
The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193 UN member states,165 of them are governed as unitary states, unitary states are contrasted with federal states. In a unitary state, sub-national units are created and abolished, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy, in such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, in federal states, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the units have a right of existence. The United States of America is an example of a federal state, under the U. S. Constitution, powers are shared between the federal government and the states
Unitary state
–
Unitary states
19.
Semi-presidential
–
A semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of a state. There are two subtypes of semi-presidentialism, premier-presidentialism and president-parliamentarism. Under the premier-presidential system, the minister and cabinet are exclusively accountable to parliament. The president chooses the prime minister and cabinet, but only the parliament may remove them from office with a vote of no confidence, the president does not have the right to dismiss the prime minister or the cabinet. However, in cases, the president can circumvent this limitation by exercising the discretionary power of dissolving the assembly. This subtype is used in Burkina Faso, France, Georgia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. Under the president-parliamentary system, the minister and cabinet are dually accountable to the president. The president chooses the prime minister and the cabinet but must have the support of the parliament majority for his choice. In order to remove a prime minister or the cabinet from power. This form of semi-presidentialism is much closer to pure presidentialism and it is used in Armenia, Georgia between 2004 and 2013, Mozambique, Namibia, Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine between 1996 and 2005, and again from 2010 to 2014. It was used in Germany during the Weimarer Republik, as the regime between 1919 and 1933 is called unofficially. The powers that are divided between president and prime minister can vary greatly between countries and it is up to the president to decide, how much autonomy he leaves to his prime minister to act on his own. Semi-presidential systems may experience periods in which the President and the Prime Minister are from differing political parties. This is called cohabitation, a term originated in France when the situation first arose in the 1980s. In most cases, cohabitation results from a system in which the two executives are not elected at the time or for the same term. For example, in 1981, France elected both a Socialist president and legislature, which yielded a Socialist premier, but whereas the presidents term of office was for seven years, the National Assembly only served for five. When, in the 1986 legislative election, the French people elected a right-of-centre Assembly, however, in 2000, amendments to the French Constitution reduced the length of the French Presidents term from seven to five years. This has significantly lowered the chances of occurring, as parliamentary
Semi-presidential
–
Presidential republics with a full
presidential system.
20.
National Assembly (Mali)
–
The National Assembly of Mali is the unicameral countrys legislative body of 147 voting members. Members of the National Assembly, called deputies, are elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term. Members are directly elected in single-member districts using a voting system where candidates must receive an absolute majority of votes in order to win. The Assembly normally meets twice a year, on the first Monday in October for no more than 75 days, the Prime Minister or a majority of the members can call an extra session. If the session is held by the demand of the Assembly members, the 2013 elections were the first held after the 2012 Malian coup détat which led to the overthrow of President Amadou Toumani Touré. The current National Assembly was formed following two rounds of elections, held on 24 November and 15 December. The Rally for Mali party and its allies were victorious, capturing 115 of the 147 seats, RPM Deputy Issaka Sidibé was elected President of the National Assembly on 22 January 2014. Nearly 85% of members are serving their first term. 13 of the 147 elected members are women, one less than the previous Assembly, on 12 November 2015, the National Assembly adopted a law requiring that at least 30% of elected or appointed officials must be women
National Assembly (Mali)
21.
History of Mali
–
They are artificial, and unite part of the larger Sudan region with parts of the Sahara. As a consequence, Mali is a country, with a majority of its population consisting of Mandé peoples. Malis history is dominated by its role in trade, connecting West Africa. The Mali Empire became Islamic in the early 14th century, under Musa I of Mali, from that time until the 19th century, Timbuktu remained important as an outpost at the southwestern fringe of the Muslim world and a hub of the Arab slave trade. Mandinka from c.1230 to c, the empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became known for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws. It extended over an area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms. The Mali Empire began to weaken in the 15th century, and it survived into the 16th century, but by then had lost much of its former strength and importance. The Mali Empire began to weaken by the mid 14th century, the Songhai took advantage of this and asserted their independence. The Songhai made Gao their capital and began an expansion of their own throughout the western Sahel. And by 1420, Songhai was strong enough to exact tribute from Masina, the emerging Songhai Empire and the declining Mali Empire co-existed during much of the later 14th and throughout the 15th century. In the later 15th century, control of Timbuktu shifted to the Songhai Empire, the Songhay empire eventually collapsed under the pressure from the Moroccan Saadi dynasty. The turning-point was the Battle of Tondibi of 13 March 1591), morocco subsequently controlled Gao, Timbuktu, Djenné, and related trade routes with much difficulty until around the end of the 17th century. After the collapse of the Songhai Empire, no state controlled the region. The Moroccans only succeeded in occupying a few portions of the country, the most notable in what is now Mali were, The Bambara Empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 to 1861, was based at Ségou, and ruled parts of central and southern Mali. It existed until El Hadj Umar Tall, a Toucouleur conqueror swept across West Africa from Futa Tooro, Umar Talls mujahideen readily defeated the Bambara, seizing Ségou itself on March 10,1861 and declaring an end to the empire. A split in the Coulibaly dynasty in Ségou led to the establishment of a second Bambara state and it was defeated in 1854 by Umar Tall, leader of Toucouleur Empire, before his war with Ségou. The Senufo Kenedugu Kingdom originated in the 17th century in the area around what is now the border of Mali, in 1876 the capital was moved to Sikasso
History of Mali
22.
Geography of Mali
–
Mali is a landlocked nation in West Africa, located southwest of Algeria, extending south-west from the southern Sahara Desert through the Sahel to the Sudanian savanna zone. Malis size is 1,240,192 square kilometres, Desert or semi-desert covers about 65 percent of Malis area. The Niger River creates a large and fertile inland delta as it arcs northeast through Mali from Guinea before turning south, Malis territory encompasses three natural zones, the southern cultivated Sudanese zone, central semi-desert Sahelian zone, and northern desert Saharan zone. The terrain is primarily savanna in the south and flat to rolling plains or high plateau in the north, there are rugged hills in the northeast, with elevations of up to 1,000 meters. Desert or semi-desert covers about 65 percent of Malis area, the Niger River creates a large and fertile inland delta as it arcs northeast through Mali from Guinea before turning south and eventually emptying into the Gulf of Guinea. The Niger and Senegal are Mali’s two largest rivers, the Niger is generally described as Mali’s lifeblood, a source of food, drinking water, irrigation, and transportation. The countrys lowest point is on the Senegal River and its highest point is Hombori Tondo, Mali is one of the hottest countries in the world. During this time, flooding of the Niger River is common, the vast northern desert part of Mali has a hot desert climate with long, extremely hot summers and scarce rainfall which decreases northwards. The central area has a hot climate with very high temperatures year-round, a long, intense dry season. The little southern band possesses a tropical wet and dry climate very high temperatures year-round with a dry season, during the hottest season of the year, temperatures are high throughout the country. Timbuktu, Taoudenni, Araouane, Gao, Kidal, Tessalit are some of the hottest spots on Earth during their warmest months, kayes, with an average high temperature of about 44° in April is nicknamed the pressure cooker of Africa due to his extreme heat year-round. Mali has overall a hot, sunny and dry climate dominated by the subtropical ridge, geologically, Mali consists mostly of vast flatlands of granite and shale covered by sandstone and alluvial quartz. The suture zone is to the west of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, there may also be petroleum reserves in the Taoudeni basin. Not all deposits are being exploited, and some may not be commercially viable, sixty-five percent of Mali’s land area is desert or semi-desert. According to estimates in 2011, only 5.63 percent of Mali’s area can be classified as arable land, Mali was estimated to have 2,358 square kilometers of irrigated land in 2003. Mali has 100 cubic kilometers of total water resources as off 2011 estimates. Mali faces numerous challenges, including desertification, deforestation, soil erosion, drought. Deforestation is a serious and growing problem
Geography of Mali
–
A map of Mali
23.
Demographics of Mali
–
In July 2007, Malis population was an estimated 12.0 million, with an annual growth rate of 2. 7%. The population is rural, and 5–10% of Malians are nomadic. More than 90% of the lives in the southern part of the country, especially in Bamako. In 2007, about 48% of Malians were less than 15 years old, 49% were 15–64 years old, the median age was 15.9 years. The birth rate in 2007 was 49.6 births per 1,000, the death rate in 2007 was 16.5 deaths per 1,000. Life expectancy at birth was 49.5 years total, Mali has one of the worlds highest rates of infant mortality, with 106 deaths per 1,000 live births. The total population was 15,370,000 in 2010, the proportion of the population aged below 15 in 2010 was 47. 2%. 50. 6% of the population were aged between 15 and 65 years of age,2. 2% of the population were aged 65 years or older. Exceptions are two nomadic northern groups, the Tuaregs, a Berber people, and Maurs, of Arabo-Berber origins, the Tuaregs traditionally have opposed the central government. Starting in June 1990 in the north, Tuaregs seeking greater autonomy led to clashes with the military, in April 1992, the government and most opposing factions signed a pact to end the fighting and restore stability in the north. Its major aims are to allow greater autonomy to the north, the peace agreement was celebrated in 1996 in Timbuktu during an official and highly publicized ceremony called Flamme de la Paix--. Historically, interethnic relations throughout the rest of the country were facilitated by easy mobility on the Niger River, each ethnic group was traditionally tied to a specific occupation, all working within proximity to each other, although the distinctions were often blurred. The Bambara, Malinké, Sarakole, Dogon and Songhay are farmers, the Fula or Fulani, Maur, in recent years this linkage has shifted considerably, as ethnic groups seek nontraditional sources of income. Registration of vital events is in Mali not complete, the Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Births and deaths Total Fertility Rate and Crude Birth Rate, Fertility data as of 2012-2013, about 3 million Malians are believed to reside in Côte dIvoire and France. Conversely, according to a 2003 estimate, Mali hosts about 11,000 Mauritanians, in addition, there are several thousand refugees from Côte dIvoire, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in Bamako and other urban areas of Mali. Although each ethnic group speaks a language, nearly 80% of Malians communicate over ethnic borders in Bambara. French is the official language and is spoken somewhat by 30% of Malians
Demographics of Mali
–
A family in
Djenné, Mali.
24.
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
This is a list of countries and dependent territories by population. For instance, the United Kingdom is considered as a single entity while the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are considered separately, in addition, this list includes certain states with limited recognition not found in ISO 3166-1. The population figures do not reflect the practice of countries that report significantly different populations of citizens domestically, some countries, notably Thailand, do not report total population, exclusively counting citizens, for total populations an international agency must issue an estimate. Also given in percent is each countrys population compared to the population of the world, figures used in this chart are based on the most up to date estimate or projections by the national census authority where available, and are usually rounded off. Where updated national data are not available, figures are based on the projections for 2016 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Because the compiled figures are not collected at the time in every country, or at the same level of accuracy. Furthermore, the addition of figures from all countries may not equal the world total, a handful of nations have not conducted a census in over 30 years, providing high error margin estimates only. Areas that form parts of sovereign states, such as the countries of the United Kingdom, are counted as part of the sovereign states concerned. Note, All dependent territories or constituent countries that are parts of states are shown in italics
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
A map of world population in 2014
25.
Gross domestic product
–
Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
Gross domestic product
–
Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order
26.
Purchasing power parity
–
Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes
Purchasing power parity
–
Big Mac hamburgers, like this one from
Japan, are similar worldwide.
Purchasing power parity
–
GDP Per capita by
countries in 2014, calculated using PPP
exchange rates, based on
IMF data.
27.
Gini coefficient
–
The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nations residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. It was developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini, the Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where all values are the same, a Gini coefficient of 1 expresses maximal inequality among values. However, a greater than one may occur if some persons represent negative contribution to the total. For larger groups, values close to or above 1 are very unlikely in practice, the exception to this is in the redistribution of wealth resulting in a minimum income for all people. When the population is sorted, if their distribution were to approximate a well known function. The Gini coefficient was proposed by Gini as a measure of inequality of income or wealth, the global income Gini coefficient in 2005 has been estimated to be between 0.61 and 0.68 by various sources. There are some issues in interpreting a Gini coefficient, the same value may result from many different distribution curves. The demographic structure should be taken into account, Countries with an aging population, or with a baby boom, experience an increasing pre-tax Gini coefficient even if real income distribution for working adults remains constant. Scholars have devised over a dozen variants of the Gini coefficient, the line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve over the total area under the line of equality. It is also equal to 2A and to 1 - 2B due to the fact that A + B =0.5. If all people have non-negative income, the Gini coefficient can theoretically range from 0 to 1, in practice, both extreme values are not quite reached. If negative values are possible, then the Gini coefficient could theoretically be more than 1, normally the mean is assumed positive, which rules out a Gini coefficient less than zero. An alternative approach would be to consider the Gini coefficient as half of the mean absolute difference. The effects of income policy due to redistribution can be seen in the linear relationships. An informative simplified case just distinguishes two levels of income, low and high, if the high income group is u % of the population and earns a fraction f % of all income, then the Gini coefficient is f − u. An actual more graded distribution with these same values u and f will always have a higher Gini coefficient than f − u, the proverbial case where the richest 20% have 80% of all income would lead to an income Gini coefficient of at least 60%
Gini coefficient
–
Graphical representation of the Gini coefficient The graph shows that the Gini coefficient is equal to the area marked A divided by the sum of the areas marked A and B, that is, Gini = A / (A + B). It is also equal to 2* A due to the fact that A + B = 0.5 (since the axes scale from 0 to 1).
28.
Human Development Index
–
The Human Development Index is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the level is higher. The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, while the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the actual level of human development, and the HDI can be viewed as an index of potential human development. The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the Human Development Reports Office of the United Nations Development Programme, nobel laureate Amartya Sen, utilized Haqs work in his own work on human capabilities. The following three indices are used,1, Life Expectancy Index = LE −2085 −20 LEI is 1 when Life expectancy at birth is 85 and 0 when Life expectancy at birth is 20. Education Index = MYSI + EYSI22.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index = MYS15 Fifteen is the maximum of this indicator for 2025. 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index = EYS18 Eighteen is equivalent to achieving a degree in most countries. Income Index = ln − ln ln − ln II is 1 when GNI per capita is $75,000 and 0 when GNI per capita is $100. Finally, the HDI is the mean of the previous three normalized indices, HDI = LEI ⋅ EI ⋅ II3. Standard of living, as indicated by the logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. This methodology was used by the UNDP until their 2011 report, the formula defining the HDI is promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme. The 2016 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on March 21,2017, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2015 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. The rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data. Countries in the top quartile of HDI with a missing IHDI, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Brunei, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The 2015 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on December 14,2015, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2014 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. Note, The green arrows, red arrows, and blue dashes represent changes in rank, the rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data
Human Development Index
–
Mahbub ul Haq
Human Development Index
–
Amartya Sen
29.
List of countries by Human Development Index
–
This is a list of all the countries by the Human Development Index as included in a United Nations Development Programmes Human Development Report. The latest report was released on 21 March 2017 and compiled on the basis of estimates for 2015, in the 2010 Human Development Report a further Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index was introduced. While the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the level of human development. The Human Development Index is a statistic of life expectancy, education. A country scores higher HDI when the life expectancy at birth is longer, the period is longer. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, the average HDI of regions of the World and groups of countries are also included for comparison. Countries fall into four broad human development categories, Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development, because of the new methodology adopted since the 2010 Human Development Report, the new reported HDI figures appear lower than the HDI figures in previous reports. From 2007 to 2010, the first category was referred to as developed countries, the original high human development category has been split into two as above in the report for 2007. The country with the largest decrease in HDI since 1998 is Zimbabwe, the country with the largest decrease since 2009 is Cape Verde, which decreased by 0.170. The only year without a Human Development Report since 1990 was 2012, the latest report was launched on 21 March 2017
List of countries by Human Development Index
–
0.900 and over
30.
West African CFA franc
–
The West African CFA franc is the currency of eight independent states in West Africa, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. These eight countries have a population of 105.7 million people. The acronym CFA stands for Communauté Financière dAfrique or Communauté Financière Africaine, the currency is issued by the BCEAO, located in Dakar, Senegal, for the members of the UEMOA. The franc is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes but no centime denominations have been issued, the Central African CFA franc is of equal value to the West African CFA franc, and is in circulation in several central African states. They are both the CFA franc, the CFA franc was introduced to the French colonies in West Africa in 1945, replacing the French West African franc. The West African colonies and territories using the CFA franc were Ivory Coast, Dahomey, French Sudan, Mauritania, Niger, Sénégal, Togo and Upper Volta. The currency continued in use when these colonies gained their independence, except in Mali, in 1973, Mauritania replaced the CFA franc with the ouguiya at a rate of 1 ouguiya =5 francs. Mali readopted the CFA franc in 1984, at a rate of 1 CFA franc =2 Malian francs, the former Portuguese colony of Guinea-Bissau adopted the CFA franc in 1997, replacing the Guinea Bissau peso at a rate of 1 CFA franc =65 pesos. In 1948, aluminium 1- and 2-franc coins were introduced and these were followed in 1956 by aluminium-bronze 5,10 and 25 francs. All carried the name Afrique Occidentale Française, in 1957, 10- and 25-franc coins were issued with the name of Togo added. From 1959, coins have been issued by the BCEAO, nickel 100-franc coins were introduced in 1967, followed by the cupro-nickel 50-franc coins in 1972. Small, steel 1-franc coins were introduced in 1976, followed by bimetallic 250 francs in 1992, in 2003, bimetallic 200- and 500-franc coins were introduced. When the CFA franc was introduced, notes issued by the Banque Centrale des États de lAfrique Occidentale in denominations of 5,10,25,50,100 and 1000 francs were in circulation. 500-franc notes were added in 1946, followed by those of 5,000 francs in 1948, in 1955, the Institut dEmission de lA. O. F. Et du Togo took over the production of money, issuing notes for 50,100,500 and 1000 francs. In 1959, the BCEAO took over the issuance of money and reintroduced a 5. With the exception of a few issues, the notes of the BCEAO carry a letter to indicate the country of issuance. 50-franc notes were last issued in 1959, with 100 francs not issued since 1965, the newer notes contain updated security features and are more modern in design
West African CFA franc
–
Current coins of the West African CFA franc.
31.
ISO 4217
–
The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
ISO 4217
–
An
airline ticket showing the price in the ISO 4217 code "
EUR " (bottom left) and not the
currency sign €
ISO 4217
–
A list of exchange rates for various base currencies given by a
money changer in Thailand, with the Thailand Baht as the counter (or quote) currency.
32.
Greenwich Mean Time
–
Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. GMT was formerly used as the civil time standard, now superseded in that function by Coordinated Universal Time. Today GMT is considered equivalent to UTC for UK civil purposes and for navigation is considered equivalent to UT1, consequently, the term GMT should not be used for precise purposes. Due to Earths uneven speed in its orbit and its axial tilt, noon GMT is rarely the exact moment the sun crosses the Greenwich meridian. This event may occur up to 16 minutes before or after noon GMT, noon GMT is the annual average moment of this event, which accounts for the word mean in Greenwich Mean Time. Originally, astronomers considered a GMT day to start at noon while for almost everyone else it started at midnight, to avoid confusion, the name Universal Time was introduced to denote GMT as counted from midnight. Astronomers preferred the old convention to simplify their observational data, so each night was logged under a single calendar date. Today Universal Time usually refers to UTC or UT1, in some countries Greenwich Mean Time is the legal time in the winter and the population uses the term. For an explanation of why this is, see GMT in legislation below, synchronisation of the chronometer on GMT did not affect shipboard time, which was still solar time. Most time zones were based upon GMT, as an offset of a number of hours ahead of GMT or behind GMT and it was gradually adopted for other purposes, but a legal case in 1858 held local mean time to be the official time. On 14 May 1880, a signed by Clerk to Justices appeared in The Times, stating that Greenwich time is now kept almost throughout England. For example, our polling booths were opened, say, at 813 and closed at 413 PM. This was changed later in 1880, GMT was adopted on the Isle of Man in 1883, Jersey in 1898 and Guernsey in 1913. Ireland adopted GMT in 1916, supplanting Dublin Mean Time, hourly time signals from Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast on 5 February 1924, rendering the time ball at the observatory redundant in the process. The daily rotation of the Earth is irregular and constantly slows, on 1 January 1972, GMT was superseded as the international civil time standard by Coordinated Universal Time, maintained by an ensemble of atomic clocks around the world. Indeed, even the Greenwich meridian itself is not quite what it used to be—defined by the centre of the instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich. Nevertheless, the line in the old observatorys courtyard today differs no more than a few metres from that line which is now the prime meridian of the world. Historically GMT has been used two different conventions for numbering hours. The long-standing astronomical convention dating from the work of Ptolemy, was to refer to noon as zero hours and this contrasted with the civil convention of referring to midnight as zero hours dating from the Romans
Greenwich Mean Time
–
Greenwich clock with standard measurements
Greenwich Mean Time
–
light blue
Greenwich Mean Time
–
This arch that stretches over a
highway indicates the
prime meridian in
Spain.
33.
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Key concepts
Coordinated Universal Time
–
World map of current time zones
34.
Right- and left-hand traffic
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This is so fundamental to traffic flow that it is sometimes referred to as the rule of the road. About two-thirds of the population use RHT, with the remaining 76 countries and territories using LHT. Countries that use LHT account for about a sixth of the worlds area, in the early 1900s some countries including Canada, Spain, and Brazil had different rules in different parts of the country. During the 1900s many countries standardised within their jurisdictions, and changed from LHT to RHT, in 1919,104 of the worlds territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. From 1919 to 1986,34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT, many of the countries with LHT are former British colonies in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, in Europe, only four countries still drive on the left, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. Nearly all countries use one side or the other throughout their entire territory, most exceptions are due to historical considerations and involve islands with no road connection to the main part of a country. China is RHT except the Special Administrative Regions of China of Hong Kong, the United States is RHT except the United States Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom is LHT, but its overseas territories of Gibraltar, according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, water traffic is RHT. For aircraft the US Federal Aviation Regulations provide for passing on the right, light rail vehicles generally operate on the same side as other road traffic in the country. Many countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems, in some countries rail traffic remained LHT after automobile traffic switched to RHT, for example in China, Brazil, and Argentina. However, France, Belgium, and Switzerland have used RHT for automobiles since their introduction, there is no technical reason to prefer one side over the other. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman troops kept to the left when marching, in 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved double track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The first reference in English law to an order for LHT was in 1756, northcote Parkinson, believed that ancient travellers on horseback or on foot generally kept to the left, since most people were right handed. If two men riding on horseback were to start a fight, each would edge toward the left, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left. In the late 1700s, traffic in the United States was RHT based on use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons, in France, traditionally foot traffic had kept right, while carriage traffic kept left
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
A sign on
Australia 's
Great Ocean Road reminding foreign motorists to keep left. Such signs are placed at the exit of parking areas associated with scenic views, where other road traffic may at times be sparse.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
Right-hand traffic
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
One of many road signs in the British county of
Kent placed on the right-hand side of the road.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
The change of traffic directions at the Laos–Thai border takes place on Lao territory just off the
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge.
35.
Sudanese Republic
–
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
Sudanese Republic
–
The pages above are from
Timbuktu Manuscripts written in Sudani script (a form of
Arabic) from the
Mali Empire showing established knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Today there are close to a million of these manuscripts found in
Timbuktu alone.
Sudanese Republic
–
Flag
Sudanese Republic
–
Griots of
Sambala, king of Médina (
Fula people, Mali), 1890.
Sudanese Republic
–
Cotton being processed in
Niono into 180 kg (400 lb) bales for export to other parts of Africa and to France, c. 1950.
36.
Senegal
–
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
Senegal
–
Slave traders in
Gorée, 18th century.
Senegal
–
Flag
Senegal
–
Colonial
Saint Louis c. 1900. Europeans and Africans on the Rue Lebon.
Senegal
–
Macky Sall, current president of Senegal (2012 until now)
37.
Mali Federation
–
The Mali Federation was a Federation in West Africa linking the French colonies of Senegal and the Sudanese Republic for a period of only two months in 1960. It was founded on 4 April 1959 as a territory with self-rule within the French Community, the Sudanese Republic officials resisted this dissolution, cut off diplomatic relations with Senegal, and defiantly changed the name of their country to Mali. After World War II, the colonies of French West Africa began pushing significantly for increased self-determination, following the May 1958 crisis, the colonies of French West Africa were given the chance to vote for immediate independence or to join a reorganized French Community. Only Guinea voted for independence and the other colonies of French West Africa voted to join the French Community. In the 1958 election to decide the issue of independence, two parties split the countries of west Africa, the African Democratic Rally and the African Regroupment Party. The two regional groupings of parties struggled against one another on the issue of independence and the extent of ties with France. The RDA was the party in the Ivory Coast colony, the French Sudan colony. The two parties also were part of governments in French Upper Volta, Niger, and French Dahomey. While the two struggled with one another to shape the political future of the region, Mauritania often became a neutral party which would break any deadlocks. The vote of 1958 revealed a number of divisions within the parties, the resulting deadlock was so severe that the meeting was officially said to have never taken place. In late November 1958, French Sudan, Senegal, Upper Volta and Dahomey all declared the intention to join the French Community, French Sudan called for representatives of each of the four countries to Bamako on 28 to 30 December to discuss the formation of the federation. The result is only the colonies of French Sudan and Senegal were engaged in the discussions of the formation of the federation by 1959. Elections in March 1959 in both French Sudan and Senegal cemented the power of the major parties pushing for the formation of a federation, although Senghor won the elections by a large margin, some conservative Islamist marabouts supported the candidacy of Cheikh Tidjane Sy. Sy was arrested on election day as a result of rioting which was blamed on his party. After the elections, the assemblies of Senegal and French Sudan approved the federation and this involved three different political projects with the principle of parity enshrined in each, A federal government, united social movements, and a shared political party for both countries. The federal government was going to have an assembly composed of 20 members from each of the colonies, a President, until the President was elected, the Premier of the Mali Federation was to be Keïta and the vice-Premier was to be Mamadou Dia from Senegal. Further, as part of the parity principle, any legislative initiatives required a signature by both the Premier and the responsible for that issue. The colonies were to share the import and export taxes raised in the port of Dakar between them and this sharing was to the advantage of French Sudan which had almost a third of its 1959 budget provided by this tax income
Mali Federation
Mali Federation
–
Flag
Mali Federation
Mali Federation
38.
Landlocked country
–
A landlocked state or landlocked country is a sovereign state entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are currently 49 such countries, including five partially recognised states, only two, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America, lie outside Afro-Eurasia. As a rule, being landlocked creates political and economic handicaps that access to the high seas avoids, for this reason, states large and small across history have striven to gain access to open waters, even at great expense in wealth, bloodshed, and political capital. The economic disadvantages of being landlocked can be alleviated or aggravated depending on degree of development, language barriers, some historically landlocked countries are quite affluent, such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Austria, all of which frequently employ neutrality to their political advantage. The majority, however, are classified as Landlocked Developing Countries,9 of the 12 countries with the lowest Human Development Indices are landlocked. Historically, being landlocked has been disadvantageous to a countrys development and it cuts a nation off from such important sea resources as fishing, and impedes or prevents direct access to seaborne trade, a crucial component of economic and social advance. As such, coastal regions tended to be wealthier and more populated than inland ones. Paul Collier in his book The Bottom Billion argues that being landlocked in a poor geographic neighborhood is one of four major development traps by which a country can be held back. In general, he found that when a neighboring country experiences better growth, for landlocked countries, the effect is particularly strong, as they are limited in their trading activity with the rest of the world. He states, If you are coastal, you serve the world, if you are landlocked, others have argued that being landlocked may actually be a blessing as it creates a natural tariff barrier which protects the country from cheap imports. In some instances, this has led to more robust local food systems, Landlocked developing countries have significantly higher costs of international cargo transportation compared to coastal developing countries. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a new country, railways and ports have not been built for its need, there is no freight port along its short coastline at Neum, making it effectively landlocked, although there are plans to change this. Instead the port of Ploče in Croatia is used, after World War I, in the Treaty of Versailles, a part of Germany designated the Polish corridor was given to the new Second Polish Republic, for access to the Baltic Sea. This gave Poland a short coastline, but without a large harbour and this was also the pretext for making Danzig with its harbour the Free City of Danzig, to which Poland was given free access. However, the Germans placed obstacles to free access, especially when it came to military material. In response, the fishing harbour of Gdynia was soon greatly enlarged. Stettin was annexed by Poland after World War II, but Hamburg continued the contract so that part of the port may still be used for sea trade by a successor of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic. The Danube is a waterway, and thus landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia
Landlocked country
–
Bolivia 's loss of its coast in the
War of the Pacific (1879–1884) remains a major political issue
Landlocked country
–
Landlocked countries: 42 landlocked (green), 2 doubly landlocked (purple)
39.
West African Craton
–
These land masses came together in the late Precambrian and early Palaeozoic eras to form the African continent. At one time, volcanic action around the rim of the craton may have contributed to a global warming event. The craton appears to have formed when three Archean cratons fused, Leo-Man-Ghana, Taoudeni and Reguibat, the first two docked around 2.1 Ga, and the Reguibat Craton docked with the craton around 2 Ga. The roots of the combined craton extend to a depth of over 300 km in the lithospheric mantle. The West African Craton stretches from the Little Atlas mountains of Morocco to the Gulf of Guinea, the oldest rocks were metamorphosed 2.9 to 2.5 billion years ago. In the Sahara they are covered by more recent sediments from the Phanerozoic Eon. Further south, younger volcanic and sedimentary rocks outcrop in Ghana, Ivory Coast, the Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. As it cooled the lithosphere, consisting of the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle solidified, the lithosphere rides on the asthenosphere, which is also solid but can flow like a liquid on geological time scales. Proponents of the Snowball Earth theory claim that sometime before 650 million years ago the Earth was going through a cold period. The oceans were frozen to depths, and their snow covering reflected the heat from the sun through cloudless skies. Only simple forms of life could survive in such as deep oceanic hydrothermal vents. At the end of this period the edges of the West African craton became highly active, the thermal activity was caused by excessive mantle heat that had built up below the craton, insulated by the lithosphere. The volcanic eruptions created an effect on massive scale, melting the ice. The climate quickly switched to one much warmer than today, resulting in the Cambrian explosion of life forms. During its wanderings, at different times covered by ice sheets, forests, marshes or arid desert, in most places the original rocks are buried far below more recent volcanic and sedimentary deposits. The visible features are usually of comparatively recent origin, erosion has reduced the Little Atlas range so that it is today lower than the High Atlas range to the north. South of the mountains, the West African Craton is relatively flat, however, below the surface there are ancient sedimentary basins such as the Taoudeni basin that may contain large reserves of oil and gas. The southern region of the West African Craton is interrupted by the remains of weathered volcanoes that are younger than the craton itself, the boundaries of the West African Craton, with special reference to the basement of the Moroccan metacratonic Anti-Atlas belt
West African Craton
–
Volcanoes may have had a role in ending the global ice age of Snowball Earth.
West African Craton
–
West Africa
West African Craton
–
Atlas Mountains in North Africa.
40.
Africa
–
Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
Africa
–
Map of Africa
Africa
–
Africa
Africa
–
Lucy, an
Australopithecus afarensis skeleton discovered on November 24, 1974, in the
Awash Valley of
Ethiopia 's
Afar Depression
Africa
–
Colossal statues of
Ramesses II at
Abu Simbel, Egypt, date from around 1400 BC.
41.
Sahara Desert
–
The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometres is comparable to the area of the United States. The desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south, it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of tropical savanna around the Niger River valley. The Sahara can be divided into several regions including, the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, the name Sahara is derived from ṣaḥārā, the plural of the Arabic word for desert. The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and it covers 9 million square kilometres, amounting to 31% of Africa. If all areas with an annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included. It is one of three physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division. The Sahara is mainly rocky hamada, Ergs form only a minor part, wind or rare rainfall shape the desert features, sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys, dry lakes, and salt flats. Unusual landforms include the Richat Structure in Mauritania, several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad. The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation, the northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are subdivisions of the great desert, Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years, the northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, the southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha, or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel. According to climatic criteria, the limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. The Sahara is the worlds largest low-latitude hot desert and this steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere
Sahara Desert
–
A satellite image of the Sahara by
NASA World Wind.
Sahara Desert
–
Tadrart Acacus desert in western
Libya, part of the Sahara.
Sahara Desert
–
The top image shows the Safsaf Oasis on the surface of the Sahara. The bottom (using
radar) is the rock layer underneath, revealing black channels cut by the meandering of an ancient river that once fed the
oasis.
Sahara Desert
–
A geographical map of Africa, showing the ecological break that defines the Saharan area.
42.
Niger River
–
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4,180 km. Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km2 in area and its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded only by the Nile and its main tributary is the Benue River. The Scottish explorer Mungo Park was the first Westerner known to have travelled to the portion of the Niger River. The earliest use of the name Niger for the river is by Leo Africanus in his Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che iui sono published in Italian in 1550, the name may come from Berber phrase ger-n-ger meaning river of rivers. As Timbuktu was the end of the principal Trans-Saharan trade route to the western Mediterranean. When European colonial powers began to send ships along the West coast of Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Niger Delta, pouring into the Atlantic through mangrove swamps and thousands of distributaries along more than 160 kilometres, was thought to be no more than coastal wetlands. The Niger River is a clear river, carrying only a tenth as much sediment as the Nile because the Nigers headwaters lie in ancient rocks that provide little silt. Like the Nile, the Niger floods yearly, this begins in September, peaks in November, an unusual feature of the river is the Inner Niger Delta, which forms where its gradient suddenly decreases. The result is a region of braided streams, marshes, and lakes the size of Belgium, the river loses nearly two-thirds of its potential flow in the Inner Delta between Ségou and Timbuktu to seepage and evaporation. All the water from the Bani River, which flows into the Delta at Mopti, the average loss is estimated at 31 km3/year, but varies considerably between years. The river is joined by various tributaries, but also loses more water to evaporation. The quantity of water entering Nigeria measured in Yola was estimated at 25 km3/year before the 1980s, the most important tributary of the Niger in Nigeria is the Benue River which merges with the river at Lokoja in Nigeria. The Niger takes one of the most unusual routes of any major river and this strange geography apparently came about because the Niger River is two ancient rivers joined together. Over time upstream erosion by the lower Niger resulted in capture of the upper Niger by the lower Niger. The northern part of the river, known as the Niger bend, is an important area because it is the major river and this made it the focal point of trade across the western Sahara, and the centre of the Sahelian kingdoms of Mali and Gao. The surrounding Niger River Basin is one of the distinct physiographic sections of the Sudan province, the origin of the rivers name remains unclear. What is clear is that Niger was an appellation applied in the Mediterranean world from at least the Classical era, when knowledge of the area by Europeans was slightly better than fable
Niger River
–
The Niger at
Koulikoro,
Mali.
Niger River
–
The great bend of the Niger River, seen from space, creates a green arc through the brown of the
Sahel and Savanna. The green mass on the left is the
Inner Niger Delta, and on the far left are tributaries of the
Senegal River.
Niger River
–
Mud houses on the center island at
Lake Debo, a wide section of the Niger River
Niger River
–
A reconstruction of the
Ravenna Cosmography placed on a
Ptolemaic map. The River Ger is visible at bottom. Note it is placed, following
Ptolemy, as just south of the land of the
Garamantes, in modern
Libya, constricting the continent to the land from the central
Sahara north.
43.
Senegal River
–
The Senegal River is a 1,086 km long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania. The Senegals headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which originate in Guinea, they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali. From there, the Senegal river flows west and then north through Talari Gorges near Galougo and over the Gouina Falls, then more gently past Kayes. The Senegal further flows through semi-arid land in the north of Senegal, forming the border with Mauritania, in Kaedi it accepts the Gorgol from Mauritania. Flowing through Bogué it reaches Richard Toll where it is joined by the Ferlo coming from inland Senegals Lac de Guiers and it passes through Rosso and, approaching its mouth, around the Senegalese island on which the city of Saint-Louis is located, to then turn south. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a strip of sand called the Langue de Barbarie before it pours into the ocean itself. In between Manantali and Maka-Diama is the Félou Hydroelectric Plant which was completed in 1927 and uses a weir. The power station was replaced in 2014, in 2013, construction of the Gouina Hydroelectric Plant upstream of Felou at Gouina Falls began. The Senegal River has a basin of 270,000 km2, a mean flow of 680 m3/s. Important tributaries are the Falémé River, Karakoro River, and the Gorgol River, downstream of Kaédi the river divides into two branches. The left branch called the Doué runs parallel to the river to the north. After 200 km the two branches rejoin a few kilometres downstream of Pondor, the long strip of land between the two branches is called the Île á Morfil. In 1972 Mali, Mauritania and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal to manage the river basin, at the present time, only very limited use is made of the river for the transport of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at the feasibility of creating a navigable channel 55 m in width between the town of Ambidédi in Mali and Saint-Louis, a distance of 905 km. It would give landlocked Mali a direct route to the Atlantic Ocean, although the species richness is moderately high, only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. The existence of the Senegal River was known to the early Mediterranean civilizations and it was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy. It was visited by Hanno the Carthaginian around 450 BCE at his navigation from Carthage through the pillars of Herakles to Theon Ochema in the Gulf of Guinea. There was trade from here to the Mediterranean World, until the destruction of Carthage, in the Early Middle Ages, the Senegal River restored contact with the Mediterranean world with the establishment of the Trans-Saharan trade route between Morocco and the Ghana Empire
Senegal River
–
Fishermen on the bank of the Senegal River estuary at the outskirts of
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Senegal River
–
Western Nile (Senegal-Niger River) according to
al-Bakri (1068)
Senegal River
–
Western Nile (Senegal-Niger River) according to
Muhammad al-Idrisi (1154)
Senegal River
–
Course of the "River of Gold" (Senegal-Niger) in the 1413 portolan chart of Mecia de Viladestes.
44.
International poverty line
–
The poverty threshold, poverty limit or poverty line is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In 2008, the World Bank came out with a figure of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity, the new IPL replaces the $1.25 per day figure, which used 2005 data. Most scholars agree that it better reflects todays reality, particularly new price levels in developing countries, the common international poverty line has in the past been roughly $1 a day. At present the percentage of the population living under extreme poverty is likely to fall below 10% according to the World Bank projections released in 2015. Determining the poverty line is usually done by finding the total cost of all the resources that an average human adult consumes in one year. Individual factors are used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a parent, elderly. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually, charles Booth, a pioneering investigator of poverty in London at the turn of the 20th century, popularised the idea of a poverty line, a concept originally conceived by the London School Board. Booth set the line at 10 to 20 shillings per week, to secure the necessaries of a healthy life, which included fuel and light, rent, food, clothing, and household and personal items. Based on data from leading nutritionists of the period, he calculated the cheapest price for the minimum calorific intake and nutritional balance necessary and he considered this amount to set his poverty line and concluded that 27. 84% of the total population of York lived below this poverty line. Rowntree distinguished between primary poverty, those lacking in income and secondary poverty, those who had enough income, Absolute poverty is the level of poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter. For the measure to be absolute, the line must be the same in different countries, cultures, such an absolute measure should look only at the individuals power to consume and it should be independent of any changes in income distribution. Notice that if real income in an economy increases. Measuring poverty by a threshold has the advantage of applying the same standard across different locations and time periods. For example, a living in far northern Scandinavia requires a source of heat during colder months. The term absolute poverty is sometimes used as a synonym for extreme poverty. Absolute poverty is the absence of resources to secure basic life necessities. It depends not only on income but also on access to services, safe drinking water, Water must not come solely from rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby
International poverty line
–
Percentage of population living on less than
$ 1.25 per day.
UN estimates 2000–2007.
45.
Muslim
–
A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
Muslim
–
Afghan Muslims praying inside
Gardens of Babur in
Kabul,
Afghanistan.
Muslim
–
Famous
Muslim converts from various fields.
46.
African empires
–
Listed below are known African empires and their respective capital cities. The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of medieval empires centred on the sahel, the first major state to rise in this region was the Ghana Empire. The name Ghana, often used by historians, was the title given to the ruler of the Wagadu empire. Centered in what is today Senegal and Mauritania, it was the first to benefit from the introduction of gold mining, Ghana dominated the region between about 750 and 1078. Smaller states in the region at this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai Empire centred on Gao to the east. When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed, notably that of the Sosso, after 1235, the Mali Empire rose to dominate the region. Located on the Niger River to the west of Ghana in what is today Niger and Mali, it reached its peak in the 1350s, the most powerful of these states was the Songhai Empire, which expanded rapidly beginning with king Sonni Ali in the 1460s. By 1500, it had risen to stretch from Cameroon to the Maghreb and it too was quite short-lived and collapsed in 1591 as a result of Moroccan musketry. Far to the east, on Lake Chad, the state of Kanem-Bornu, founded as Kanem in the 9th century, to their west, the loosely united Hausa city-states became dominant. These two states coexisted uneasily, but were quite stable, in 1810, the Sokoto Caliphate rose and conquered the Hausa, creating a more centralized state. It and Kanem-Bornu would continue to exist until the arrival of Europeans, jolof Empire From the 15th century until the final Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century a number of empires were also established south of the Sahel, especially in West Africa. The West African empires of this period peaked in power in the late 18th century and these empires implemented a culture of permanent warfare in order to generate the required numbers of captives required to satisfy the demand for slaves by the European colonies. The Nok Civilization is considered to be one of the most advanced ancient sub-Saharan civilizations in African history, beginning some time around 1500 BCE, it was largely concentrated in what is now Nigeria but produced some of the first sub-Saharan iron smelting and terracotta architecture. Mysteriously died out around 200 CE, the Kingdom of Nri was the West African medieval state of the Nri-Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over much of Igboland, the eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and was the possessor of divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire was a West African empire of what is today western Nigeria, the empire was established by the Yoruba in the 15th century and grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose to preeminence through wealth gained from trade and its possession of a powerful cavalry, benin Empire, a pre-colonial African state of modern Nigeria
African empires
–
Diachronic map of
pre-colonial African kingdoms.
47.
Trans-Saharan trade
–
Trans-Saharan trade requires travel across the Sahara to reach sub-Saharan Africa from the North African coast, Europe, to the Levant. While existing from prehistoric times, the peak of trade extended from the 8th century until the early 17th century, the Sahara once had a very different environment. In Libya and Algeria, from at least 7000 BC, there was pastoralism, herding of sheep and goats, large settlements, cattle were introduced to the Central Sahara from 4000 to 3500 BC. Remarkable rock paintings, in places which are very dry, portray vegetation. As a desert, Sahara is now a hostile expanse that separates the Mediterranean economy from the economy of the Niger basin, as Fernand Braudel points out that crossing such a zone is worthwhile only when exceptional circumstances cause the expected gain to outweigh the cost and danger. The Sahara has always been home to groups of people practicing trade on a regular, Trade, beginning around 300 CE, was conducted by caravans of camels. These camels would be fattened for a number of months on the plains of either the Maghreb or the Sahel before being assembled into a caravan. According to Ibn Battuta, the explorer who accompanied one of the caravans, the caravans would be guided by highly paid Berbers who knew the desert and could ensure safe passage from their fellow desert nomads. The survival of a caravan was precarious and would rely on careful coordination, in the middle of the 14th century Ibn Battuta crossed the desert from Sijilmasa via the salt mines at Taghaza to the oasis of Oualata. A guide was sent ahead and water was brought on a journey of four days from Oualata to meet the caravan, Ancient trade spanned the northeastern corner of the Sahara in the Naqadan era. Predynastic Egyptians in the Naqada I period traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the Western Desert to the west, many trading routes went from oasis to oasis to resupply on both food and water. They also imported obsidian from Ethiopia to shape blades and other objects, Ancient cities dating to the First Dynasty of Egypt arose along both its Nile and Red Sea junctions, testifying to the routes ancient popularity. It became a route from Thebes to the Red Sea port of Elim. Records exist documenting knowledge of the route among Senusret I, Seti, Ramesses IV and also, later, later, Ancient Romans would protect the route by lining it with varied forts and small outposts, some guarding large settlements complete with cultivation. Described by Herodotus as a road traversed, in forty days, it became by his time an important land route facilitating trade between Nubia and Egypt, and subsequently became known as the Forty Days Road. From Kobbei,40 kilometres north of al-Fashir, the route passed through the desert to Bir Natrum, another oasis and salt mine, the Darb el-Arbain trade route was the easternmost of the central routes. The westernmost of the three routes was the Ghadames Road, which ran from the Niger River at Gao north to Ghat. Next was the easiest of the three routes, the Garamantean Road, named after the rulers of the land it passed through
Trans-Saharan trade
–
A building in
Oualata, southeast
Mauritania
Trans-Saharan trade
–
The
Bilma oasis in northeast
Niger, with the
Kaouar escarpment in the background
Trans-Saharan trade
–
Modern-day camel caravan near the
Ahaggar Mountains in the central Sahara, 2006
Trans-Saharan trade
–
Azalai salt caravan from
Agadez to
Bilma, 1985
48.
Ghana Empire
–
The Ghana Empire, properly known as Awkar was located in what is now southeastern Mauritania and western Mali. By the time of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century the camel had changed the ancient more irregular trade routes into a trade running from Morocco to the Niger river. The Ghana Empire grew rich from this increased trade in gold. It furthermore encouraged territorial expansion to gain control over the different trade-routes, when Ghanas ruling dynasty began is uncertain, it as mentioned for the first time in written records by Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 830. In the 11th century the Cordoban scholar Abu Ubayd al-Bakri collected stories from a number of travelers to the region, and gave a detailed description of the kingdom. He claimed that the Ghana could put 200,000 men into the field, more than 40,000 of them archers, as the empire declined it was finally made a vassal to the rising Mali Empire at some point in the 13th century. The origins of Ghana have often been obscured by fights between ethno-historic accounts and interpretations and archaeology, the earliest discussions of its origins are found in the Sudanese chronicles of Mahmud Kati and Abd al-Rahman as-Sadi. In addressing the origin, the Tarikh al-Fettash provides three different opinions, one that they were Black, another that they were Wangara, which are a Soninke group. Al-Kati favored another interpretation in view of the fact that their genealogies linked them to this group and he says that 22 kings ruled before the Hijra and 22 after. While these early views lead to many interpretations of a foreign origin of Wagadu. In addition, the archaeologist and historian Raymond Mauny argues that al-Katis and al-Sadis view of a foreign origin cannot be regarded as reliable, modern scholars, particularly African Muslim scholars, have argued about the extension of the Ghana Empire and tenure of its reign. Islamic religion was very well around the Asian-African-European area. Several such traditions were recorded and published, while there are variants, these traditions called the most ancient polity they knew of Wagadu, or the place of the Wago the term current in the nineteenth century for the local nobility. Upon Dingas death, his two sons Khine and Dyabe contested the kingship, and Dyabe was victorious, founding the kingdom. While Delafosse produced a theory of an invasion by Judeo-Syrians. Raymond Mauny, synthesizing early archaeology, various traditions, and the Arabic materials in 1961 concluded that trade was vital to the empires foundation. While there has not been much study of either traditions or documents, archaeologists have added considerable nuance to the ultimate play of forces. Archaeological research was slow to enter the picture, the Dar Tichitt site had clearly become a complex civilization by 1600 BCE and had architectural and material culture elements that seemed to match the site at Koumbi-Saleh
Ghana Empire
–
The Western Nile according to
al-Bakri (1068)
Ghana Empire
–
Ghana Empire at its Greatest Extent
Ghana Empire
–
The Western Nile according to
Muhammad al-Idrisi (1154)
.svg)
_-_MLI_-_UNOCHA.svg)
0.442[6]
listen); French: [mali]), officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali), is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi). The population of Mali is 18 million[8]. Its capital is Bamako. Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara Desert, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Senegal rivers. The country's economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Mali's prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent,[9] and salt. About half the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 (U.S.) a day.[10] A majority of the population (90%) are Muslims.[11]
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