1.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
2.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
3.
Downtown
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Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a citys core or central business district, often in a geographical or commercial sense. The term is not generally used in British English, whose speakers use the term city centre. The term downtown is thought to have been coined in New York City, uptown also spread, but to a much lesser extent. In both cases, though, the directionality of both words was lost, so that a Bostonian might refer to going downtown, even though it was north of where they were. Downtown lay to the south in Detroit, but to the north in Cleveland, to the east in St. Louis, in Boston, a resident pointed out in 1880, downtown was in the center of the city. Uptown was north of downtown in Cincinnati, but south of downtown in New Orleans, notably, downtown was not included in dictionaries as late as the 1880s. It was the location of the department stores and hotels, as well as the theatres, clubs, cabarets, and dance halls. It was also frequently, at first, the part of a city that was electrified. It was also the place where street congestion was the worst, but most of all, downtown was the place where the city did its business. Inside its small precincts, sometimes as small as several hundred acres, the majority of the trading, selling, there were hubs of business in other places around the city and its environs, but the downtown area was the chief one, truly the central business district. And as more and more business was done downtown, those who had their homes there were gradually pushed out, selling their property, the skyscraper would become the hallmark of the downtown area. What limited them then was the thickness of the masonry needed at the base to hold the weight of the building above it. As the buildings got taller, the thickness of the masonry, although first used in Chicago, the steel-framed skyscraper caught on most quickly in New York City in the 1880s, and from there spread to most other American cities in the 1890s and 1900s. In the short run, the proponents of height limits were successful in their efforts, what was worse, at least to real estate interests, the building dumped 1.2 million square feet of office space on what was a sluggish real estate market. To many in the real estate industry, the law was an example of a reasonable restriction. This was the time when the central business district began to appear as more-or-less synonymous with the downtown area. The phrase acknowledged the existence of business districts in the city. Real estate interests were concerned about the tendency of downtown to move because the downtown area had by far the highest land values in each city
4.
Beirut
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Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been done but in 2007 estimates ranged from more than 1 million to slightly less than 2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanons Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the countrys largest and it is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters dating from the 15th century BC, the Beirut River runs south to north on the eastern edge of the city. Beirut is Lebanons seat of government and plays a role in the Lebanese economy, with most banks and corporations based in its Central District, Badaro, Rue Verdun, Hamra. Following the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beiruts cultural landscape underwent major reconstruction, identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, Beirut is ranked as a Beta World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In May 2015, Beirut was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz. Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as Beyrouth ville by Louis Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent, the site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900. The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P. E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around 100 metres above sea level, the site had been built on and destroyed by 1948. Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have located on the left bank of the Beirut River. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland, P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were found at this site. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces, the site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen, Raoul Describes and Auguste Bergy. Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, a large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings. Levallois flints and bones and similar material were found amongst brecciated deposits. The area has now built on
5.
Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
6.
Lebanese Civil War
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The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. As of 2012, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon, there was also an exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war. The government of Lebanon had been run under a significant influence of the elites among the Maronite Christians, however, the country had a large Muslim population and many pan-Arabist and left-wing groups opposed the pro-western government. Fighting between Maronite and Palestinian forces began in 1975, then Leftist, pan-Arabist and Muslim Lebanese groups formed an alliance with the Palestinians, during the course of the fighting, alliances shifted rapidly and unpredictably. Furthermore, foreign powers, such as Israel and Syria, became involved in the war, Peace keeping forces, such as the Multinational Force in Lebanon & UNIFIL, were also stationed in Lebanon. The 1989 Taif Agreement marked the beginning of the end of the fighting, in January 1989, a committee appointed by the Arab League began to formulate solutions to the conflict. In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that all political crimes prior to its enactment. In May 1991, the militias were dissolved, with the exception of Hezbollah, religious tensions between Sunnis and Shias remained after the war. An 1860 civil war between Druze and Maronites erupted in the Ottoman Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, which had been divided between them in 1842 and it resulted in the massacre of about 10,000 Christians and at least 6,000 Druzes. The 1860 war was considered by the Druze as a military victory, World War I was hard for the Lebanese. While the rest of the world was occupied with the World War, with the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish rule ended. France took control of the area under the French Mandate for Syria, the French created the state of Greater Lebanon as a safe haven for the Maronites, but included a large Muslim population within the borders. In 1926, Lebanon was declared a republic, and a constitution was adopted, however, the constitution was suspended in 1932. Various factions sought unity with Syria, or independence from the French, in 1934, the countrys first census was conducted. In 1936, the Maronite Phalange party was founded by Pierre Gemayel, World War II and the 1940s brought great change to Lebanon and the Middle East. Lebanon was promised independence and on 22 November 1943, during World War II, Free French troops, who had invaded Lebanon in 1941 to rid Beirut of the Vichy French forces, left the country in 1946. The Maronites assumed power over the country and economy, a parliament was created, in which both Muslims and Christians each had a set quota of seats. Accordingly, the President was to be a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in late 1947 led to civil war in Palestine, the end of Mandatory Palestine, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948
7.
Petit Serail
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The Petit Serail, was a historic administrative Ottoman building that housed the seat of the Wali of Syria and Beirut. It was situated to the side of Martyrs Square at the heart of the Beirut Central District. The building was the scene of important historical events, but plans to enlarge Beiruts main square led to its destruction in 1950 and it was one of several Ottoman era building projects that shaped the architecture of Lebanon in Beirut. Inaugurated in 1884, the Petit Serail was the seat of Beirut’s governor general in 1888, demolished in 1950, its foundations were uncovered and preserved in the mid-1990s. In the later half of the century, the Beiruti authorities thought to move the seat of governorship from the decaying Emir Assaf saray also called Dar al-Wilaya. The medieval structure was built in 1572 by Mohammad Assaf, the son of the Turkmen Emir Mansour Assaf, on 11 September 1840, the British fleet bombarded Beirut to evacuate Ibrahim Pashas troops from the city and damaged the old saray in the process. The saray was restored in 1843 by the wali of Beirut Assaad Mukhles Pasha, in 1882 the board of administration of the Sanjak of Beirut decided to build a new administrative building and put up the Emir Assaf Saray for auction. The saray was sold in April 1882 to Mohammad Ayyas and then to members of the Sursock, the Petit Serail was planned as a civic center following the Tanzimat reform and according to the Beirut municipality project of 1878. The northern side of Sahet el-Bourj was chosen as a site since it occupied the heart of the new extra-mural city. The new structure was commissioned by Beirut mayor Ibrahim Fakhri Bey, Hamdi Pasha took up a loan form the Ottoman Bank, mortgaged public buildings and imposed new taxes in order to furnish the new serails offices. In 1883, a park was inaugurated in the square in front of the Serail, the park was called Hamidie in honor of the reigning Sultan Abdul Hamid II, but was more commonly known as the Menshieh garden. The Petit Serail was inaugurated three years after the beginning of works in 1884. Under the French Mandate, urban planner De La Halle planned the enlargement of the al-Bourj Square and he proposed in his 1939 plan to destroy the Serail to open up the square the waterfront through a series of landscaped terraces. The destruction of the Petit Serail did not take place until 1950, nevertheless, the planned clearing of the square was aborted and the Regent Hotel and the Rivoli building were constructed at the site of the Serail in 1953. The Serail was built to serve as the seat of the Vilayet of Syria, in 1888 Beirut became the provincial capital of the Beirut Vilayet and the Petit Serail hosted the seat of the Wali. Beirut Wali Azmi Bey transferred the seat of the vilayet to the Grand Serail, while the municipal offices, the body of the two-story building was raised on a plinth, giving the building a greater stature. The oblong facade was built in Sandstone and is decorated with neo-baroque windows, the main entrance was flanked by an imposing marble gate giving way to a central court and to the buildings floors. A crenelated cornice ran the entire surface of the roof complete with bartizans flanking the corners, in the central axis of the main facade stood a large ornate gable decorated with volutes surrounding a clock
8.
Beirut Central District
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The Beirut Central District or Centre Ville is the name given to Beirut’s historical and geographical core, the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country. ”At the heart of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut Central District is an area thousands of years old, traditionally a focus of business, finance, culture and leisure. It is situated on the northern coast and is easily accessible from all parts of the city. This includes the adjacent Beirut Seaport and Rafik Hariri International Airport, major roads converge on it or from boundaries to the east, south and west, or line its 1.5 km long seafront to the north. Ever since, Beirut Central District has evolved into an integrated business, the Heritage trail is a pedestrian circuit in the citys historic core and the traditional Beirut city center. The trail connects the main sites, places of historic interest, monuments. The Heritage Trail is planned to start and end at the City History Museum on the ancient Tell Area, the trail is divided into four major sections, First Route, The first route in the heritage trail covers the ancient archaeological Tell Area. The future site museum will display remains from the Tell area, a sinuous underground path guides visitors through Canaanite, Phoenician-Persian, Hellinistic, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval ages. etc. The route will also stroll along the streets of Maarad leading up to the Grand Theater historic building and numerous stone churches. Third Route, This segment of the pedestrian circuit revolves largely around the Roman Baths Garden, fourth Route, The fourth route in the Heritage trail lies substantially within the Beirut Souks area. This route contains the Phoenician-Persian quarter, Roman-Byzantine findings, part of the Medieval moat, some mosaics, remains, or arcades will be integrated into the new buildings. Other points of interest along the route are the Zawiyat Ibin Iraq shrine, Majidiyya Mosque, the Shoreline Walk is a proposes sequence of connected spaces which form part of the reconstruction of the Beirut city centre. The city was known for its rocky shoreline Cornice, with its avenues of palms and cafés. Areas have been preserved and demolished by the new master plan, whilst the remediated landfill is set to become a new district. Rather than leave the old coastline land-locked and redundant, it was decided to create a route that straddled the old. The ‘Shoreline Walk’ is placed between the topography and rationalised medieval street layout of the old city, and the engineered grid of the new land-filled area. Research revealed the evolution of Beiruts coastline, the first Phoenician settlers arrived in 1220 BC, followed by Romans in 64 BC, Mamluks in 1291 AD, Ottomans in 1516 and the French in 1918. Successive civilisations adjusted the coastline to create harbors that brought wealth to the city, along the Shoreline Walk five squares provide areas to pause and relax, Harbour Square, All Saints Square, Shoreline Gardens, Zeytoune Square and Santiyeh Garden. Research into each space revealed remnants of the character of the city that had been forgotten or destroyed
9.
District
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A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by local government. Across the world, areas known as districts vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions of municipalities, school district, in Afghanistan, a district is a subdivision of a province. There are almost 400 districts in the country, electoral districts are used in state elections. Districts were also used in several states as cadastral units for land titles, some were used as squatting districts. New South Wales had several different types of districts used in the 21st century, in Austria, a district is an administrative division normally encompassing several municipalities, roughly equivalent to the Landkreis in Germany. The administrative office of a district, the Bezirkshauptmannschaft, is headed by a Bezirkshauptmann, while there are matters of administrative law the municipalities themselves are in charge of, or where there are special bodies, the district is the basic unit of general administration in Austria. Officials on the level are not elected, but appointed by the state government. There are also independent cities in Austria and they are called Statutarstadt in Austrian administrative law. These urban districts do have the same tasks as a normal district, the State of Vienna, which is at the same time a municipality, is also subdivided in twenty-three districts, which, however, have a somewhat different function than in the rest of the country. Legally, the Magistratisches Bezirksamt is an office of the municipalitys administration. However, representatives on the level are elected, and they in turn elect the head of the district. Those representative bodies are supposed to serve as immediate contacts for the locals on the political, in practice, they have some power, e. g. concerning matters of traffic. Bangladeshi districts are administrative units. In all, there are 64 districts in Bangladesh, originally, there were 21 greater districts with several subdivisions in each district. In 1984, the government made all these subdivisions into districts, each district has several sub districts called Upazila in Bengali. In Belgian municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, on initiative of the local council, as such, only Antwerp, having over 460,000 inhabitants, became subdivided into nine districts. The Belgian arrondissements, a level between province and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English sometimes called districts as well. Bhutanese districts are administrative units consisting of village blocks called gewog
