Ancient Rome
In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire. The civilization began as an Italic settlement in the Italian Peninsula, conventionally founded in 753 BC, that grew into the city of Rome and which subsequently gave its name to the empire over which it ruled and to the widespread civilisation the empire developed; the Roman Empire expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world, though still ruled from the city, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants and covering 5.0 million square kilometres at its height in AD 117. In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and to an autocratic semi-elective empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it dominated the North African coast and most of Western Europe, the Balkans and much of the Middle East.
It is grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern language, society, law, government, art, literature and engineering. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France, it achieved impressive technological and architectural feats, such as the construction of an extensive system of aqueducts and roads, as well as the construction of large monuments and public facilities. The Punic Wars with Carthage were decisive in establishing Rome as a world power. In this series of wars Rome gained control of the strategic islands of Corsica and Sicily. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond: its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia and from the mouth of the Rhine to North Africa.
The Roman Empire emerged with the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman–Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia. It would become the longest conflict in human history, have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, it stretched from the entire Mediterranean Basin to the beaches of the North Sea in the north, to the shores of the Red and Caspian Seas in the East. Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would temporarily divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the western part of the empire broke up into independent "barbarian" kingdoms in the 5th century; this splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of universal history from the pre-medieval "Dark Ages" of Europe.
The eastern part of the empire endured through the 5th century and remained a power throughout the "Dark Ages" and medieval times until its fall in 1453 AD. Although the citizens of the empire made no distinction, the empire is most referred to as the "Byzantine Empire" by modern historians during the Middle Ages to differentiate between the state of antiquity and the nation it grew into. According to the founding myth of Rome, the city was founded on 21 April 753 BC on the banks of the river Tiber in central Italy, by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas, who were grandsons of the Latin King Numitor of Alba Longa. King Numitor was deposed by his brother, while Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to the twins. Since Rhea Silvia had been raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine; the new king, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so he ordered them to be drowned. A she-wolf saved and raised them, when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor.
The twins founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over the location of the Roman Kingdom, though some sources state the quarrel was about, going to rule or give his name to the city. Romulus became the source of the city's name. In order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent and unwanted; this caused a problem, in that Rome was bereft of women. Romulus visited neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables he was refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins with the Sabines. Another legend, recorded by Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, says that Prince Aeneas led a group of Trojans on a sea voyage to found a new Troy, since the original was destroyed at the end of the Trojan War. After a long time in rough seas, they landed on the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, but the women who were traveling with them did not want to leave.
One woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent their leaving
Los Adaes
. Los Adaes was the capital of Tejas on the northeastern frontier of New Spain from 1729 to 1770, it included a mission, San Miguel de Linares de los Adaes, a presidio, Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes. The name Adaes represents the indigenous Adai people; the site, now preserved in the state-run Los Adaes State Historic Site, is located on Louisiana Highway 485 in present-day Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Although Spain claimed much of the Gulf Coast of North America as part of its colonial territory, it ignored the region to the east of the Rio Grande throughout the 17th century. In 1699, French forts were established at Biloxi Bay and on the Mississippi River, ending Spain's exclusive control of the Gulf Coast; the Spanish recognized that French encroachment could threaten other Spanish areas, they ordered the reoccupation of Texas as a buffer between New Spain and French settlements in Louisiana. On April 12, 1716, an expedition led by Domingo Ramón left San Juan Bautista for Tejas, intending to establish four missions and a presidio.
At the same time, the French were building a fort in Natchitoches, having founded the town in 1714. The Spanish countered by founding two more missions just west of Natchitoches, including San Miguel de los Adaes; the latter two missions were located in a disputed area. In 1719, European powers embarked on the War of the Quadruple Alliance. In June 1719, 7 Frenchmen from Natchitoches took control of the mission of San Miguel de los Adaes from its sole defender, who did not know that the nations were at war; the French soldiers explained. The Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo volunteered to reconquer Spanish Texas and raised an army of 500 soldiers. By July 1721 Aguayo reached the Neches River, his expedition encountered a French force en route to attack San Antonio de Bexar. The outnumbered Frenchmen agreed to retreat to Louisiana. Aguayo ordered the building of a new presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes, located near present-day Robeline, only 12 miles from Natchitoches; the new fort became the first capital of Texas, it was guarded by 6 cannon and a garrison of 100 soldiers.
All six of the eastern Tejas missions were reopened, under the protection of the new presidio. Spain discouraged manufacturing in its colonies and limited trade to Spanish goods handled by Spanish merchants and carried on Spanish vessels. Most of the ports, including all of those in Texas, were closed to commercial vessels in the hopes of dissuading smugglers. By law, all goods bound for Texas had to be shipped to Vera Cruz and transported over the mountains to Mexico City before being sent to Texas; this caused the goods to be expensive in the Texas settlements. Because of the great distance between Los Adaes and the rest of the populated portions of Texas, the settlers in the area turned most to the French colonists in neighboring Natchitoches, for trade. Without many goods to trade, the Spanish missionaries and colonists had little to offer the Indians, who remained loyal to the French traders. Although the Spanish settlers in the area did not encounter hostile Native Americans, since the local Caddoan-speaking peoples were friendly, the Franciscan missionaries were unsuccessful in converting the local people to Catholicism.
After many years of frustration in this regard, in 1768 the College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas, the sponsor of the missionaries at Los Adaes, recalled their missionaries, the mission was closed. On November 3, 1762, as part of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, France ceded the portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain. With France no longer a threat to Spain's North American interests, the Spanish monarchy commissioned the Marquis de Rubi to inspect all of the presidios on the northern frontier of New Spain and make recommendations for the future. Rubi recommended that eastern Texas be abandoned, with all the population moving to San Antonio. With Louisiana in Spanish control, there was no need for Los Adaes to reside so to Natchitoches after the missions had relocated to San Antonio. In August 1768, the acting governor, Juan María Vicencio, Baron de Ripperdá, moved his headquarters and the garrison to San Antonio, in 1772 San Antonio became the new capital of Tejas.
The settlers who had lived near Los Adaes were forced to resettle in San Antonio, in 1773. In the six years between the inspection and the removal of the settlers, the population of eastern Tejas had increased from 200 settlers of European descent to 500 people, a mixture of Spanish, Indians, a few blacks; the settlers were given only five days to prepare for the move to San Antonio. Many of them perished during the three-month trek and others died soon after arriving. After vociferously protesting, the former residents of eastern Tejas were allowed to leave San Antonio the following year. In 1779, the Comanches began raiding the new settlement; the former Los Adaes settlers chose to move farther east to the old mission of Nacogdoches, where they founded the town of the same name. The new town became a waystation for contraband; the site of Los Adaes was declared a National Histo
Portugal
Portugal the Portuguese Republic, is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe, being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain, its territory includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. Portugal is the oldest state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe, its territory having been continuously settled and fought over since prehistoric times; the pre-Celtic people, Celts and Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigoths and Suebi Germanic peoples. Portugal as a country was established during the Christian Reconquista against the Moors who had invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD. Founded in 868, the County of Portugal gained prominence after the Battle of São Mamede in 1128; the Kingdom of Portugal was proclaimed following the Battle of Ourique in 1139, independence from León was recognised by the Treaty of Zamora in 1143.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the world's major economic and military powers. During this period, today referred to as the Age of Discovery, Portuguese explorers pioneered maritime exploration, notably under royal patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator and King John II, with such notable voyages as Bartolomeu Dias' sailing beyond the Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India and the European discovery of Brazil. During this time Portugal monopolized the spice trade, divided the world into hemispheres of dominion with Castille, the empire expanded with military campaigns in Asia. However, events such as the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the country's occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, the independence of Brazil, a late industrialization compared to other European powers, erased to a great extent Portugal's prior opulence. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established being superseded by the Estado Novo right-wing authoritarian regime.
Democracy was restored after the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to all its overseas territories; the handover of Macau to China in 1999 marked the end of what can be considered the longest-lived colonial empire. Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe, a legacy of around 250 million Portuguese speakers, many Portuguese-based creoles, it is a developed country with a high-income advanced economy and high living standards. Additionally, it is placed in rankings of moral freedom, democracy, press freedom, social progress, LGBT rights. A member of the United Nations and the European Union, Portugal was one of the founding members of NATO, the eurozone, the OECD, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries; the word Portugal derives from the Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale. Portus, the Latin word for port or harbour, Cala or Cailleach was the name of a Celtic goddess – in Scotland she is known as Beira – and the name of an early settlement located at the mouth of the Douro River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean in the north of what is now Portugal.
At the time the land of a specific people was named after its deity. Those names are the origins of the - gal in Galicia. Incidentally, the meaning of Cale or Calle is a derivation of the Celtic word for port which would confirm old links to pre-Roman, Celtic languages which compare to today's Irish caladh or Scottish cala, both meaning port; some French scholars believe it may have come from ` Portus Gallus', the port of the Celts. Around 200 BC, the Romans took the Iberian Peninsula from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, in the process conquered Cale and renamed it Portus Cale incorporating it to the province of Gaellicia with capital in Bracara Augusta. During the Middle Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Suebi and Visigoths as Portucale; the name Portucale evolved into Portugale during the 7th and 8th centuries, by the 9th century, that term was used extensively to refer to the region between the rivers Douro and Minho. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugallia or Portvgalliae was referred to as Portugal.
The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe. The name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale; the region was settled by Pre-Celts and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the Gallaeci, Lusitanians and Cynetes, visited by Phoenicians, Ancient Greeks and Carthaginians, incorporated in the Roman Republic dominions as Lusitania and part of Gallaecia, after 45 BC until 298 AD. The region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula; these were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, did form organized societies. Neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing, it is believed by some scholars that early in the first millennium BC, several waves of Celts invaded Portugal from Central Europe and inter-married with the local populations, forming differe
Wimberley, Texas
Wimberley is a city in Hays County, United States. The population was 2,626 at the 2010 census. Wimberley started as a trading post settlement near Cypress Creek in 1848, the year Hays County was organized. After William Carvin Winters built a gristmill at the site in 1856, it took on the name "Winters' Mill"; when the mill was sold in 1864 to the Cude family, its name was changed to "Cude's Mill". It took on his name. Over the years, the mill was expanded to process lumber, flour and cotton; the mill is gone, but Winter's c. 1856 home survives and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1880, Alfred vom Stein, a postmaster from San Marcos, applied to have a post office established in the community, calling it "Wimberleyville"; the application was granted. Although the mill was shut down in 1925, the community was established and continued to grow becoming known as a resort town and becoming popular with tourists. Prior to its incorporation in May 2000, it was a census-designated place.
On May 25, 2015, the town was hit by catastrophic flooding during the 2015 Texas–Oklahoma floods, along the Blanco River which flows through town. The river crested at an estimated 41.5 feet, 30 feet above flood stage. Wimberley is located in western Hays County at 29°59′44″N 98°06′03″W, 38 miles by road southwest of Austin and 58 miles northeast of San Antonio. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 9.0 square miles, all of it land. Cypress Creek joins the Blanco River in Wimberley; the Blanco joins the San Marcos River near the city of 16 miles southeast of Wimberley. Blue Hole and Jacob's Well are located along Cypress Creek; the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Wimberley has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps; as of the census of 2010, there were 2,626 people, 1,145 households, 726 families residing in the city. There were 1,482 housing units, of which or 22.7 %, were vacant.
245 of the vacant units were for recreational use. The racial makeup of the city was 93.5% white, 0.5% African American, 1.5% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 2.8% some other race, 1.5% from two or more races. 11.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 1,145 households, 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were headed by married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.6% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, 15.4% were someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21, the average family size was 2.72. In the city, 16.8% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.8% were from 18 to 24, 16.0% from 25 to 44, 35.4% from 45 to 64, 26.9% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.4 males. For the period 2012-2016, the estimated median annual income for a household was $68,359, the median income for a family was $88,958.
Male full-time workers had a median income of $61,429 versus $38,611 for females. The per capita income for the city was $44,219. 8.8% of the population and 7.5% of families were below the poverty line. 17.3% of the population under the age of 18 and 3.8% of those 65 or older were living in poverty. Wimberley Public Schools are part of the Wimberley Independent School District; the district has one primary school, one elementary school, one junior high school, two high schools. Students attend Wimberley High School or Katherine Anne Porter School, Scudder Primary School, Jacob's Well Elementary School and Danforth Junior High School. Nathan Brown Poet Laureate of Oklahoma, moved to Wimberley, where he now lives. Ray Wylie Hubbard, Texas music legend, moved to Wimberley in his early 40s. Sarah Jarosz, bluegrass singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, was raised in Wimberley. Leon Jaworski, special prosecutor in the Watergate Scandal, died in Wimberley in 1982 while chopping wood at his Circle J Ranch Rupert Neve, British creator of audio recording equipment bearing his name, moved to Wimberley in his 70s.
Kevin Welch, singer-songwriter, moved to Wimberley in his early 50s. Lathan Mckay, historian, actor-writer and co-founder of the Evel Knievel museum moved to Wimberley in his late 30s. Kerbow, Dorothy Wimberley. Wimberley, Texas: Historic Belle of the Blanco. Eakin Press Company. ISBN 978-0-89015-964-4. City of Wimberley official website Wimberley Valley Chamber of Commerce Wimberley from the Handbook of Texas Online
Aqueduct (bridge)
Bridges for conveying water, called aqueducts or water bridges, are constructed to convey watercourses across gaps such as valleys or ravines. The term aqueduct may be used to refer to the entire watercourse, as well as the bridge. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each end; the word is derived from ducere. A modern version of an aqueduct is a pipeline bridge, they may take the form of underground tunnels, networks of surface channels and canals, covered clay pipes or monumental bridges. Although associated with the Romans, aqueducts were first used by the Minoans around 2000 BCE; the Minoans had developed what was an advanced irrigation system, including several aqueducts. In the seventh century BCE, the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh. Bridges were a distinctive feature of Roman aqueducts which were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, in the city of Rome, where they supplied water to public baths and for drinking.
Roman aqueducts set a standard of engineering, not surpassed for more than a thousand years. Navigable aqueducts called water bridges, are water-filled bridges to allow vessels on a waterway to cross ravines or valleys. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, navigable aqueducts were constructed as part of the boom in canal-building. A notable revolving aqueduct has been made on the Bridgewater Canal; this allowed vessels to cross at high and low levels while conserving water that would be lost in the operation of locks. The Pont du Gard in southern France Barbegal aqueduct, France Aqueduto de São Sebastião, in Coimbra, Portugal Eifel aqueduct, Germany Caesarea Maritima, Israel Patras, Greece Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain Acueducto de los Milagros, Mérida, Spain Tarragona, Spain Almuñécar, Spain Valens Aqueduct, Turkey Aqua Augusta, Italy Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus, as part of the Porta Maggiore, Italy Skopje Aqueduct, Republic of Macedonia Wignacourt Aqueduct, Malta. Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque, Hidalgo Mexico – built between 1553 and 1570 Aqueduct of Morelia, Michoacán, built between 1735 and 1738 Aqueduct of Los Remedios, Mexico, 1765 Aqueduct of Acámbaro, built in 1528 Chapultepec aqueduct, Mexico D.
F. Kavala aqueduct, 16th-century Ottoman aqueduct in Kavala, Greece High Bridge, part of the former Croton Aqueduct, built in 1848, is the oldest surviving bridge in New York City Rostokino Aqueduct in Moscow, Russia Boothtown Aqueduct in Sydney, Australia Aqueduct of Bogotá, built in 1955, notable by being the most modern aqueduct of Latin America in the 20th century; the Veluwemeer Aqueduct, Harderwijk,Netherlands. Since it open in 2002, The Veluwemeer Aqueduct is a magnificent engineering structure where the waterway was constructed over N302 road, where 28000 vehicles pass each day. Ancient Roman architecture List of aqueducts List of canal aqueducts in the United Kingdom List of Roman aqueduct bridges Pipeline – some used to carry water Roman engineering Water resources Imperial Rome Water Systems 600 Roman aqueducts with 25 descriptions in detail
France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
United States
