1.
Culture of Somalia
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The cultural diffusion of Somali commercial enterprise can be detected in its exotic cuisine, which contains Southeast Asian influences. Somalis have a musical heritage centered on traditional Somali folklore. Most Somali songs are pentatonic, that is, they use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale. Somali art is the culture of the Somali people, both historic and contemporary. These include artistic traditions in pottery, music, architecture, wood carving, Somali art is characterized by its aniconism, partly as a result of the vestigial influence of the pre-Islamic mythology of the Somalis coupled with their ubiquitous Muslim beliefs. The Somali language is the language of Somalia. It is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of it dating from before 1900. Somali dialects are divided into three groups, Northern, Benaadir and Maay. Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali, Benaadir is spoken on the Benadir coast from Adale to south of Merca, including Mogadishu, as well as in the immediate hinterland. The coastal dialects have additional phonemes which do not exist in Standard Somali, Maay is principally spoken by the Digil and Mirifle clans in the southern areas of Somalia. Since Somali had long lost its ancient script, a number of writing systems have used over the years for transcribing the language. The script was developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for the Somali language, besides Ahmeds Latin script, other orthographies that have been used for centuries for writing Somali include the long-established Arabic script and Wadaads writing. In addition to Somali, Arabic is a national language of Somalia. Many Somalis speak it due to ties with the Arab World, the far-reaching influence of the Arabic media. English is also used and taught. Italian used to be a language, but its influence significantly diminished following independence. It is now most frequently heard among older generations who were in contact with the Italians at that time or later as migrants into Italy, other minority languages include Bravanese, a variant of the Bantu Swahili language that is spoken along the coast by the Bravanese people. Sufism, the dimension of Islam, is also well-established
2.
Somali art
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Somali art is the artistic culture of the Somali people, both historic and contemporary. These include artistic traditions in pottery, music, architecture, woodcarving, Somali art is characterized by its aniconism, partly as a result of the vestigial influence of the pre-Islamic mythology of the Somalis coupled with their ubiquitous Muslim beliefs. Instead, intricate patterns and geometric designs, bold colors and monumental architecture was the norm, the oldest evidence of art in the Somali peninsula are pre-historic rock paintings. The rock art of Laas Geel are thought to be some of the best preserved in Africa, the necks of the cows are embellished with a kind of plastron, some of the cows are depicted as wearing decorative robes. The paintings not only show cows, but also a domesticated dogs, several paintings of canidae, in the early modern and contemporary era, poetry and theatrical ventures shaped much of todays Somali artistic culture. Carving, known in Somali as qoris, is a respected profession in Somalia both in historic and modern times. Many wealthy urbanites in the medieval period regularly employed the finest wood and marble carvers in Somalia to work on their interiors, the carvings on the mihrabs and pillars of ancient Somali mosques are some of the oldest on the continent. Artistic carving was considered the province of men similar to how the Somali textile industry was mainly a womens business and it competed with those of the Indians and later the Americans in domestic and foreign markets such as Egypt and Syria. In ancient Somalia, pyramidical structures known in Somali as taalo were a popular burial style, houses were built of dressed stone similar to the ones in Ancient Egypt, and there are examples of courtyards and large stone walls such as the Wargaade Wall enclosing settlements. Many of the new designs such as mosques were built on the ruins of older structures. Visual Art is not new to the Somali communities, Visual art namely paintings focus on rural landscapes, and colorful paintings of the cultural life. Some of the visual artists display their skills through their presence on Somali web sites. Visual Art is emerging as a new chapter in the history of Somali culture, when we talk about art, our attention is immediately drawn into performing art. Indeed, for people, visual art is interpreted as anti religion. There are very few Somali Visual Artists and they are under represented in the world of Modern African Art. Some of the known Somali Visual artists had created their own web sites such as www. osmanart. net/ This webpage is run by a Somali Physician Artist and writer - Mohamed Buwe Osman. There are many Somali visual artists like the known to most of the Somals Mr. Amin Amir. There are as well visual with college degree in Art like Mr. Ali Kulmiye Halane and Mr. Aziz
3.
Cinema of Somalia
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The cinema of Somalia refers to the film industry in Somalia. The earliest forms of public display in the country were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period. Growing out of the Somali peoples rich storytelling tradition, the first few feature-length Somali films and cinematic festivals emerged in the early 1960s, following the creation of the Somali Film Agency regulatory body in 1975, the local film scene began to expand rapidly. In the 1970s and early 1980s, popular musicals known as riwaayado were the driving force behind the Somali movie industry. Epic and period films as well as international co-productions followed suit, facilitated by the proliferation of video technology, in the 1990s and 2000s, a new wave of more entertainment-oriented movies emerged. Storytelling is an ancient custom in Somali culture, Love of cinema in Somalia is but a modern, visual incarnation and continuation of this well-established oral tradition. The earliest forms of public display in Somalia were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period in Italian Somaliland. In the 1930s and 1940s, early Somali actors and film technicians co-operated with Italian crews to domestically produce Fascist films, among the latter productions were Dubaad and Sentinels of Bronze. The movie Sentinels of Bronze was awarded in the Festival di Venezia of 1937 as the Best Italian colonial Film, following independence in 1960, a growing number of privately owned production and distribution companies as well as actual projection theaters sprang up. In 1961, one of the first Somali feature films to be released was Love Does Not Know Obstacles by Hussein Mabrouk. During that same year, the Somali-Chinese collaboration The Horn of Africa won the highest prize at the 4th International African Film Festival held annually in Mogadishu, the Somali director Hadj Mohamed Giumale would produce the popular film Miyo Iyo Magaalo a few years later. In 1966, he and other Somali filmmakers also played a part in helping to establish the continent-wide Fédération Pan-Africaine des Cinéastes. In 1969, another feature film titled Pastoral and Urban Life was released by the director Mohammed Goma Ali. In 1973, Idriss Hassan Dirie directed Dan Iyo Xarrago, an early full-length film, it was processed in the Technicolor studios in Rome. Following a bloodless military coup détat in 1969, the production, distribution and importation of films in the country were nationalized by the newly established Supreme Revolutionary Council, privately owned movie theaters were subsequently replaced with government-controlled film houses, and about 500 films were projected annually. In 1975, the Somali Film Agency, the nations film regulatory body, was established, an adjunct to the federal Ministry of Information and National Guidance, it grew out of the Ministrys visual aids arm. The SFAs duties included overseeing the importation, distribution and censorship of movies in the country and it later also oversaw the production of both long and short films. Most of the films were brought in from Egypt, Italy
4.
Somali cuisine
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Somali cuisine varies from region to region and is a fusion of different Somali culinary traditions, with some East African, Arab, Ethiopian, Yemeni, Turkish, Indian, and Italian influences. It is the product of Somalias tradition of trade and commerce, some notable Somali delicacies include sabayad, lahoh/injera, halva, sambuusa, basbousa, and ful medames. Breakfast is an important meal for Somalis, who start the day with some style of tea or coffee. The tea is often in the form of haleeb shai in the north, the main dish is typically a pancake-like bread similar to Ethiopian injera, but smaller and thinner. It might also be eaten with a stew or soup, canjeero is eaten in different ways. It may be broken into pieces with ghee and sugar. For children, it is mixed with tea and sesame oil until mushy. There may be a dish of liver, goat meat, diced beef cooked in a bed of soup, or jerky. Lahoh is a pancake-like bread originating in Somalia, Djibouti, and it is often eaten along with honey and ghee, and washed down with a cup of tea. During lunch, lahoh is sometimes consumed with curry, soup, sabayad or Kibis is another type of flatbread similar to injera/lahoh, as well as the desi paratha. Polenta or porridge with butter and sugar is eaten in the Mogadishu area, elsewhere in the south, such as in the Merca region, special bread known as rooti abuukey with tea is preferred. This is also known as muufo, and is cooked in a clay oven by sticking the mixture to the walls. Flatbread referred to as rooti is consumed in the north, nationally, a sweeter and greasy version of canjeero known as malawax is a staple of most home-cooked meals. Lunch is often a main dish of pasta or rice spiced with cumin, cardamom, cloves. The diffused use of pasta, such as spaghetti, comes from the Italians and it is frequently presented with a heavier stew than the Italian pasta sauce. As with the rice, it is served with a banana. Spaghetti can also be served with rice, forming a novelty dish referred to as Federation, the dish is usually served with equal portions of rice and spaghetti, split on either side of a large oval plate. It is then layered with assorted stewed meats and vegetables, served with salad and it has been suggested that the name of the dish is derived from the union of two dishes in Somalia and also from the size and quantity of the food
5.
History of Somalia
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Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Somalia was an important centre for commerce with the rest of the ancient world and this occupation lasted until 1941 when it was replaced by a British military administration. On 1 July 1960, the two regions united as planned to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government, the Somali National Assembly, headed by Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf, approved the act uniting the former Italian Somaliland with British Somaliland, establishing the Republic of Somalia. Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic, when the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BC. According to linguists, the first Afro-Asiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic period from the familys proposed urheimat in the Nile Valley, other scholars propose that the Afro-Asiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there. The Laas Geel complex on the outskirts of Hargeisa in northwestern Somalia dates back around 5,000 years, other cave paintings are found in the northern Dhambalin region, which feature one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1000 to 3000 BCE, additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in northern Somalia lies Karinhegane, the site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old, Ancient pyramidical structures, mausoleums, ruined cities and stone walls found in Somalia are evidence of an old sophisticated civilization that once thrived in the Somali peninsula. This supports the hypothesis of Somalia and/or the adjacent Horn territories corresponding with the ancient Land of Punt. An Ancient Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded on the reliefs at Deir el-Bahari, during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu. Ancient Somalis domesticated the camel somewhere between the millennium and second millennium BCE from where it spread to Ancient Egypt and North Africa. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the beden to transport their cargo, however, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference. For centuries, the Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon from Sri Lanka and this is said to have been the best kept secret of the Somali and Gulf Arab merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world. The Romans and Greeks believed the source of cinnamon to have been the Somali peninsula, but in reality, Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeilas two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city, in the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, according to I. M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adals history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia, the Sultanate of Mogadishus first dynasty was established by Sultan Fakr ad-Din. This ruling house was succeeded by the Muzaffar dynasty, and the kingdom subsequently became closely linked with the powerful Somali Ajuran Sultanate, for many years, Mogadishu stood as the pre-eminent city in the بلاد البربر, Bilad-al-Barbar, which was the medieval Arab term for the Somali coast
6.
Somalian literature
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Somali literature refers to the literary tradition of Somalia. It ranges from Islamic poetry and prose produced by the regions scholars, sayyid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, the celebrated religious and nationalist leader, also left a considerable amount of manuscripts. One of the examples of Somali Islamic literature is Majamut al-Mubaraka. Shaykh Abd Al-Rahman bin Ahmad al-Zaylai also produced many Islamic-orientated manuscripts in the 19th century. One of Hassans well-known poems is Gaala Leged, English translation To begin with, but let me set forth what prevented me from sleeping last night Gods Blessing are more numerous than those growing trees. In short, a poem is occasional verse composed to a specific end, with argumentative or persuasive elements. The veteran British anthropologist and Horn of Africa specialist I. M, the form of Somali verse is marked by hikaad and an unwritten practice of meter. Somalis also have an oral tradition when it comes to ancient folktales, stories which were passed on from generation to generation. Coldiid the wise warrior is another popular Somali folktale with a message regarding a waranle who avoids all forms of violence. For this abstinence, he is looked down upon by his peers, however, in the end, he manages to show that violence is no way to earn either respect or love. Caraweelo is a story told to girls in order to make them aware of the pitfalls of exaggerated feminism. A Lions tale is a childrens book in the Somali diaspora wherein two Somali immigrant children struggle to adapt to life in a new environment. They find themselves surrounded by friends that strike them as greedy, a Lions tale has also recently been developed into a school play. Somali scholars have for centuries produced many examples of Islamic literature ranging from poetry to Hadith. Of these modern writers, Nuruddin Farah is probably the most celebrated, books such as From a Crooked Rib and Links are considered important literary achievements, works that have earned Farah, among other accolades, the 1998 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Farah Mohamed Jama Awl is another prominent Somali writer who is perhaps best known for his Dervish era novel, Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame Hadrawi is considered by many to be the greatest living Somali poet. Some have compared him to Shakespeare and his works have been translated internationally, cristina Ali Farah is a famous italo-Somalian writer who was born in Italy to a Somali father and an Italian mother, Farah grew up in Mogadishu from 1976 to 1991. In 2006, Farah won the Italian national literary competition, Lingua Madre and she was also honored by the city of Torino at the International Torino Book Fair
7.
Maritime history of Somalia
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Maritime history of Somalia refers to the seafaring tradition of the Somali people. It includes various stages of Somali navigational technology, shipbuilding and design, in antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the regions commerce with the rest of the ancient world. This tradition of trade was maintained in the early modern period by later Somali states such as the Gobroon Dynasty. This trade network continued all the way into the classical era, Somali sailors used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the beden to transport their cargo. However, they continued to trade in the cities of the Somali peninsula. The Indian merchants for centuries brought large quantities of cinnamon from Ceylon and this is said to have been the best kept secret of the Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world. The Romans and Greeks believed the source of cinnamon to have been the Somali peninsula but in reality, Somali sailors were aware of the regions monsoons, and used them to link themselves with the port cities of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. They also developed a way of defining the islands of the Indian Ocean in their navigational reach. They would name archipelagos or groups of islands after the most important island there, from the Somali point of view. In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in India sailed to Mogadishu with fabric and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax. Trade with the Hormuz went both ways, and Jewish merchants brought their Indian textile and fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for grain, trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century, with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities exchanged. In the early period, successor states of the Adal and Ajuran empires began to flourish in Somalia. The rise of the 19th century Gobroon Dynasty in particular saw a rebirth in Somali maritime enterprise, during this period, the Somali agricultural output to Arabian markets was so great that the coast of Somalia came to be known as the Grain Coast of Yemen and Oman. Somali merchants also operated factories on the Eritrean coast. During the brief period of imperial hegemony over Somalia, Somali sailors and traders frequently joined British and other European ships to the Far East, Europe, Somalia in the pre-civil war period possessed the largest merchant fleet in the Muslim world. It consisted of 12 oil tankers,15 bulk ore carriers, in ancient times, naval engagements between buccaneers and merchant ships were very common in the Gulf of Aden. In the late period, Somali navies regularly engaged their Portuguese counterparts at sea. These tensions significantly worsened during the 16th century, bey agreed and was joined by a Somali fleet, which began attacking Portuguese colonies in Southeast Africa
8.
Media of Somalia
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Media of Somalia includes various radio, television, print and internet outlets. The federal government operates two radio and TV networks, which exist alongside a number of private and foreign stations. Print media in the country is giving way to news radio stations and online portals, as internet connectivity. In February 2013, the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunication also launched a consultative process for the reformation of media legislation. Successively a public service was started in 1938, but was limited to broadcast only in the area of Mogadishu-Genale-Villabbruzzi. Radio Mogadishu is the federal government-run public broadcaster, established in 1951 in Italian Somaliland as a follow up of the Radio Mogadiscio, it initially aired news items in both Somali and Italian. The station was modernized with Russian assistance following independence in 1960. After closing down operations in the early 1990s due to the civil war, actually there are a number of radio news agencies based in Somalia. Radio is the most important and effective communication channel in the country, in total, about one short-wave and over ten private FM radio stations broadcast from the capital, with several radio stations airing from the central and southern regions and from Puntland. Most radio stations in Somalia are members of Network 2013, an association of radio stations. Radio stations of south central Somalia include Radio Dhusamareb, Radio Codka Nabada/Radio Abud-Waq, Codka Mudug, Radio Hobyo, Radio Galguduud, the northeastern Puntland region has over a dozen private radio stations. Radio Garowe is based in Garowe, the administrative capital. Radio Daljir is Puntlands largest radio station, also centered in Bosaso with its studios in Garowe is the Somali Broadcasting Corporation, Puntlands oldest and second largest private radio station. In addition, Horseed Radio, Al Xigma, and One Nation Radio have headquarters in Bosaso, Radio Gaalkacyo, formerly known as Radio Free Somalia, operates from Galkayo in the north-central Mudug province, as does Codka Nabada, and Radio Hage. Other radio stations broadcasting from Puntland include Radio Hikma, Radio Badhan, additionally, the Somaliland region in the northwest has one government-operated radio station, Radio Hargeisa. Established in 1943 in the former British Somaliland protectorate as the first Somali language station, it mostly in Somali but also features news bulletins in Amharic, Arabic. As of 2007, transmissions for two internationally based broadcasters were available, Somalia has one official government-run television station in addition to a number of private networks. The Mogadishu-based Somali National Television is the central government-owned broadcaster, on April 4,2011, the Ministry of Information of the Transitional Federal Government officially re-launched the station as part of an initiative to develop the national telecommunications sector
9.
Music of Somalia
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The of Somalia refers to the musical styles, techniques and sounds of Somalia. Somalia has a musical heritage centered on traditional Somali folklore. That is, they use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale. Somali songs are usually the product of collaboration between lyricists, songwriters, and vocalists, traditional instruments prominently featured in the music of the northern areas include the oud lute. It is often accompanied by drums and a reed flute in the background. However, heavy percussion and metallic sounds are uncommon in the north and this style of music was known as dhaanto, an innovative, urban form of Somali folk dance and song. This period also saw the rise of the Haji Bal Bal Dance Troupe, Somali popular music began with the balwo style, which was created by Abdi Sinimo. This style began in Dilla, and then throughout the area. It was a mixture of poetry and Somali dance music. Abdullahi Qarshe rose to fame in the early 1940s as part of the qaraami style, many qaraami songs from this era are still extremely popular today. This musical style is mostly played on the kaban, prominent Somali kaban players of the 1950s include Ali Feiruz and Mohamed Nahari. During the Siad Barre regime, music was suppressed except for a amount of officially-sanctioned music. There were many protest songs produced during this period, bands such as Waaberi and Horseed have gained a small following outside of the country. Others, like Ahmed Ali Egal, Maryam Mursal and Waayaha Cusub have fused traditional Somali music with pop, rock and roll, bossa nova, jazz, the first radio station in Somalia to air popular Somali music was Radio Kudu based in Hargeisa. It started broadcasting in 1943 in English, Somali and Arabic, Somali music is now regularly broadcast on the state-run Radio Mogadishu, as well as a number of private radio and television networks such as Horn Cable Television. Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Mogadishu, Somalia, Somali Culture and Folklore Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji Historical Dictionary of Somalia. The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1, routledge, ISBN9781136095702 Somali Studio Markacadey Somali Music Interview About Somali Music
10.
Somali mythology
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Somali mythology covers the beliefs, myths, legends and folk tales circulating in Somali society that were passed down to new generations in a timeline spanning several millennia. Many of the things that constitute Somali mythology today are traditions whose accuracy have faded away with time or have transformed considerably with the coming of Islam to the Horn of Africa. Similarly, practitioners of traditional Somali medicine and astronomy also adhere to remnants of an old belief system that once flourished in Somalia. The Somali people in pre-Islamic times are believed to have adhered to a complex henotheistic belief system, religious temples dating from antiquity known as Taalo were the centers where important ceremonies were held led by a Wadaad priest. In Somali mythology, there is an abundance of tales about men and women who defied cultural traditions or acquired heroic, many regions of Somalia have cities or specific areas whose names corroborate the stories told in Somali mythology. Places such as Abudwaq, Ceel Waaq, waaq-ooyi and other towns with the name Waq in it suggest a relation to the old Waaq worship practiced in the Horn. The Tomb of Arawelo is another mythological place in Somalia said to be the final resting place of Queen Arraweello. In modern times, it is considered an important place for Somali women
11.
Religion in Somalia
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The major religion in Somalia is Islam. There is a small Christian community in Somalia mainly living amongst Somali Muslims in the Banaadir region, additionally, some ethnic minorities in the southern part of the country practice traditional faiths. Most residents of Somalia are Muslims, the majority belonging to the Sunni branch of Islam, sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam, is also well-established, with many local jamaa or congregations of the various tariiqa or Sufi orders. Article 2 of the Provisional Constitution of Somalia defines Islam as the religion of the Federal Republic of Somalia. It also stipulates that no law that is inconsistent with the tenets of Sharia can be enacted. Article 11 guarantees equal rights and freedom from persecution for all citizens before the law regardless of religion, additionally, Article 17 protects freedom of religion. Islam entered the very early on, shortly after the hijra. Zeilas two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city, in the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, according to I. M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the Benadir region to the south. Christianity is a minority religion in Somalia, with no more than 1,000 practitioners, according to estimates of the Diocese of Mogadishu there were only about 100 Catholic practitioners in Somalia in 2004. There were also no known Catholic missions in Italian Somaliland during the same period, in the 1970s, during the reign of Somalias then Marxist government, church-run schools were closed and missionaries sent home. There has been no archbishop in the country since 1989, according to the Pew Research Center, less than 0. 1% of Somalias population in 2010 were adherents of traditional or folk religions. These mainly consisted of some ethnic minority groups in the southern parts of the country. In the case of the Bantu, these traditions were inherited from their ancestors in Southeast Africa, and include the practice of possession dances. According to the Pew Research Center, less than 0. 1% of Somalias population in 2010 were adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, christianity in Somalia Islam in Somalia Demographics of Somalia
12.
Sports in Somalia
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Sports in Somalia are regulated by the Ministry of Sports of Somalia. The government ministry works closely with the Somali Olympic Committee and various governing bodies. Football is the most popular sport amongst Somalis, the first football teams in Somalia were established in the 1940s. The competitions were basic in structure, and were associated with the anti-colonial movement, the Somali Youth League, the nations first political party, had put together a team of local youth to play against the Italian expatriate teams. In 1958, the first commissioner for sport in Somalia was also established, the football squad that the SYL had assembled, which would later change its name to Bondhere, won the first several competitions. However, it was not as successful in its early forays against foreign teams, important countrywide competitions are the Somalia League and Somalia Cup. A multi-ethnic squad, Somalia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1972 and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since then, the equally diverse Somali beach soccer team also represents the country in international beach soccer competitions. In addition, several international footballers such as Mohammed Ahamed Jama, Liban Abdi, Ayub Daud, on the 17th December 2015, Horseed FC vs Heegan FC became the first association football match to be aired live in Somalia. In track and field, Abdi Bile, one of the most successful athletes from Somalia, won the 1500 m World Championship in 1987 and he was a two-time Olympian and dominated the event in the late 1980s. Bile was ranked first in the world at the distance in 1989. He was World Cup champion in the 1500 m in 1989, hussein Ahmed Salah, a Somalia-born former long-distance runner from Djibouti, won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He also won medals in this event at the 1987 and 1991 World Championships. Many Somalia-born athletes have found success in the diaspora, Mohamed Suleiman, who competes for Qatar, achieved the greatest success of his career when he won the bronze medal in the Barcelona Olympics, becoming the first-ever Olympic medallist for Qatar. Throughout his career, Suleiman ran several Asian records over 1500 m and he won the gold medal in the 1500 m representing Asia at the 1992 IAAF World Cup. Suleiman ran for Qatar at two further Olympic Games and reached the event finals, although he did not make the podium, suleimans younger brothers Nasser and Abdulrahman Suleiman have also competed internationally in middle-distance running – Abdulrahman was the 2002 Asian champion for the 1500 m. In July 2010, Farah won Britains first-ever mens European gold medal at 10,000 m, mustafa Mohamed, the Somali-Swedish long-distance runner who mainly competes in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Won gold in the 2006 Nordic Cross Country Championships and at the 1st SPAR European Team Championships in Leiria and he beat the 31-year-old Swedish record in 2007. Abdihakem Abdirahman the Somali-American long-distance runner who specializes in the 10,000 metres, the Somalia national basketball team is a member of the International Basketball Federation
13.
Tourism in Somalia
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Tourism in Somalia is regulated by the Federal Government of Somalias Ministry of Tourism. The industry was noted for its numerous historical sites, beaches, waterfalls, mountain ranges. After the start of the war in the early 1990s. It was later re-established in the 2000s, and once again oversees the national tourist industry, the Mogadishu-based Somali Tourism Association provides on-the-ground consulting services. Following Somalias independence in 1960, the Ministry of Tourism was established in order to regulate the national tourist industry, in 1969, the Law on Fauna and Forest Conservation was passed, which defined and provided for the establishment of controlled areas, game reserves and partial game reserves. It was later amended in 1978, under Mire Aware Jama, the Ministry subsequently passed the Tourism Act in 1984. The bill laid down guidelines for the development and modernization of the tourism sector. Among its stated aims was the acquisition of land in the interior, additionally, plans were drawn up for the formation of a tourist resort area on one of the beaches near the capital Mogadishu, in the south-central Banaadir region. By 1989, newer legislation was drafted governing the establishment of parks, game reserves. The conservation of resources was at this time overseen by the Ministry of Livestock, Forestry. Its Department of Wildlife also operated an independent law-enforcement unit, which had created through presidential decree. Following the outbreak of the war in 1991, tourism in Somalia came to a halt. Various international bodies subsequently began issuing travel advisories recommending that potential tourists avoid visiting the area for safety reasons, aside from a handful of adventure seekers, few travelers ventured to the volatile southern provinces. Most instead limited their visits to the relatively stable northern Puntland and Somaliland regions, after the Somali Armed Forces evicted Al-Shabaab militants from Mogadishu in mid-2011, the capital gradually started to experience a renaissance. Local businessmen and returning Somali expatriates built and opened up a number of new hotels and guest houses, newly constructed beachside resorts also accommodated the first tourist families in many years. Tourism in Somalia is regulated by the reconstituted national Ministry of Tourism, the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions maintain their own tourist offices. Somali Tourism Association also provides consulting services from within the country on the national tourist industry, due to the long absence of governmental regulation, it is uncertain how many international inbound tourists visit Somalia per year. However, visas and stay permits are now mandatory for all foreign nationals, as of April 2013, the re-established Somali Immigration Department requires all undocumented foreigners to register at its offices in the capital
14.
Demographics of Somalia
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Somalis constitute the largest ethnic group in Somalia, at approximately 85% of the nations inhabitants. They are organized into groupings, which are important social units, clan membership plays a central part in Somali culture. Clans are patrilineal and are divided into sub-clans, sometimes with many sub-divisions. Through the xeer system, the clan structure has served governmental roles in many rural Somali communities. Somali society is traditionally ethnically endogamous, so to extend ties of alliance, marriage is often to another ethnic Somali from a different clan. Certain clans are traditionally classed as noble clans, referring to their lifestyle in contrast to the sedentary Sab who are either agropastoralists or artisanal castes. The noble clans are Isaaq, Darod, Hawiye and Dir, of these, the Dir and Hawiye are regarded as descended from Irir Samaale, the likely source of the ethnonym Somali. The Darod have separate agnatic traditions of descent through Abdirahman bin Ismail al-Jabarti, sheikh Darod is, in turn, asserted to have married a woman from the Dir, thus establishing matrilateral ties with the Samaale main stem. Sab is the used to refer to minor Somali clans in contrast to Samaale. Both Samaale and Sab are the children of their father Hiil whose is the common ancestor all Somali clans, the Digil and Mirifle are agro-pastoral clans in the area between the Jubba and Shebelle rivers. Many do not follow a lifestyle, live further south. A third group, the clans, have sometimes been treated as outcasts because traditionally they could only marry among themselves. They lived in their own settlements among the populations in the north. Minority Somali clans include the Gaboye, Tumaal, Yibir, Jaji, there is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures. The divisions and subdivisions as given here are partial and simplified, note that some sources state that the Rahanweyn group is made up of the Digil and Mirifle clans, whereas others list the Digil as a separate group from the Rahanweyn. They include Bantus, Bajunis, Eyle, Ethiopians, Indians, Pakistanis, Somali and Arabic are the official languages of Somalia. The Somali language is the tongue of the Somalis, the nations most populous ethnic group. It is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, in addition to Somali, Arabic, which is also an Afroasiatic tongue, is an official national language in Somalia
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Somalis
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Somalis are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, ethnic Somalis number around 16-20 million and are principally concentrated in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. Expatriate Somalis are also found in parts of the Middle East, North America, Oceania, Samaale, the oldest common ancestor of several Somali clans, is generally regarded as the source of the ethnonym Somali. The name Somali is, in turn, held to be derived from the words soo and maal, another plausible etymology proposes that the term Somali is derived from the Arabic for wealthy, again referring to Somali riches in livestock. The first clear reference of the sobriquet Somali, however. Simur was also an ancient Harari alias for the Somali people, Ancient rock paintings, which date back 5000 years, have been found in the northern part of Somalia, these depict early life in the territory. In other places, such as the northern Dhambalin region, a depiction of a man on a horse is postulated as being one of the earliest known examples of a mounted huntsman. Inscriptions have been found many of the rock paintings. During the Stone age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here with their industries and factories. The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to 4th millennium BC. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in northern Somalia are said to be the most important link in evidence of the universality in palaeolithic times between the East and the West. In antiquity, the ancestors of the Somali people were an important link in the Horn of Africa connecting the regions commerce with the rest of the ancient world. According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people, the ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut. The pyramidal structures, temples and ancient houses of dressed stone littered around Somalia are said to date from this period, the city of Mogadishu came to be known as the City of Islam, and controlled the East African gold trade for several centuries. The Sultanate of Ifat, led by the Walashma dynasty with its capital at Zeila, ruled parts of what is now eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti. The historian al-Umari records that Ifat was situated near the Red Sea coast and its army numbered 15,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. Al-Umari also credits Ifat with seven cities, Belqulzar, Kuljura, Shimi, Shewa, Adal, Jamme. The Harla, an early Hamitic group of tall stature who inhabited parts of Somalia, Tchertcher and other areas in the Horn and these masons are believed to have been ancestral to the Somalis
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Bantus (Somalia)
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The Bantu are an ethnic minority group in Somalia who primarily reside in the southern part of the country, near the Juba and Shabelle rivers. Bantus are ethnically, physically, and culturally distinct from Somalis and these Bantu are not to be confused with the members of Swahili society in coastal towns, such as the Bajuni, who speak dialects of the Bantu Swahili language. All in all, the number of Bantu inhabitants in Somalia before the war is thought to have been about 80,000. However, recent estimates place the figure as high as 900,000 persons, the term Somali Bantu is an ethnonym that was invented by humanitarian aid-supplying agencies shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in 1991. The neologism further spread through the media, which repeated verbatim what the aid agencies increasingly began indicating in their reports as the new name for Somalias ethnically Bantu minorities. Prior to the war, the Bantu were simply referred to in the literature as Bantu, Gosha, Mushunguli or Jareer, as they still. This Bantu expansion first introduced Bantu peoples to central, southern and southeastern Africa, the Indian Ocean slave trade was multi-directional and changed over time. From 1800 to 1890, between 25, 000–50,000 black African slaves are thought to have been sold from the market of Zanzibar to the Somali coast. Most of the slaves were from the Majindo, Makua, Nyasa, Yao, Zalama, Zaramo and Zigua ethnic groups of Tanzania, Mozambique, collectively, these Bantu groups are known as Mushunguli, which is a term taken from Mzigula, the Zigua tribes word for people. Bantu slaves were made to work in plantations owned by Somalis along the Shebelle and Jubba rivers, harvesting lucrative cash crops such as grain, in the 1840s, the first fugitive slaves from the Shebelle valley began to settle in the Jubba valley. By the late 1890s, when Italians & British occupied the Jubaland area, the Italian colonial administration abolished slavery in Somalia at the turn of the 20th century by decree of the King of Italy. After World War I, many Somali Bantus, mainly the descendants of former slaves and they were principally concentrated in the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi and Genale plantations. Indeed, in 1895, the first 45 Bantu slaves were freed by the Italian colonial authorities under the administration of the chartered Catholic company Filonardi, the former were later converted to Catholicism. Bantus simply refer to themselves as Bantu and those who can trace their origins to Bantu groups in southeast Africa refer to themselves collectively as Shanbara, Shangama or Wagosha. Those who trace their origins to Bantu tribes inhabiting areas further south call themselves Mushunguli and these Bantu idioms belong to the separate Niger-Congo family, and include languages like Zigua and Mushunguli. Unlike Somalis, most of whom are traditionally nomadic herders, Bantus are mainly subsistence farmers. The Bantus predominant Negroid physical traits also serve to distinguish them from Somalis. Among these phenotypic characteristics of the Bantu are kinky hair, while Somalis are soft-haired, Bantus are also shorter, darker and more muscular, with broad facial features
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Islam in Somalia
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Nearly all people in Somalia are Sunni Muslims. For more than 1400 years, Islam made a part of Somali society. Practicing Islam reinforces distinctions that further set Somalis apart from their immediate neighbors, for generations, Islam in Somalia followed the Ash’ariyah theology, Shafi’i jurisprudence, and Sufism, until recent decades when Salafism has made inroads. Influence of Islamic religious leaders has varied by region, being greater in the north than some groups in the settled regions of the south. Among nomads, the exigencies of pastoral life gave greater weight to the warriors role, the role of religious functionaries began to shrink in the 1950s and 1960s as some of their legal and educational powers and responsibilities were transferred to secular authorities. The position of religious leaders changed substantially after the 1969 revolution, Siad Barre insisted that his version of socialism was compatible with Quranic principles, and he condemned atheism. Religious leaders, however, were warned not to meddle in politics, the new government instituted legal changes that some religious figures saw as contrary to Islamic precepts. The regime reacted sharply to criticism, executing some of the protesters, subsequently, religious leaders seemed to accommodate themselves to the government. Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, zeilas two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn although not dated, is said to have been built back in the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, according to I. M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adals history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia, in 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a military campaign aimed at halting the Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyon Is march toward the city. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Saad ad-Din II, was killed by Emperor Dawit I in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen. In the early 15th century, Adals capital was moved inland to the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din II. Adals headquarters were relocated the following century, this time to Harar. From this new capital, Adal organised an army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi that invaded the Abyssinian empire. This 16th century campaign is known as the Conquest of Abyssinia. Some scholars argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms like the musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons
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Christianity in Somalia
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Christianity is a minority religion in Muslim-majority Somalia. The Somali-born Christian descendants of foreigners descend from Italian colonists and belong to the Evangelical, there is one Catholic diocese for the entire country, the Diocese of Mogadishu. The true number of the segment of Somali Christian practitioners. These are crypto-Christians of Somali Muslim backgroungs who have converted to Christianity covertly, Religious persecution of these unofficial Christians has been prevalent in Nairobi. Underground Somali churches cannot worship openly as leaving Islam is a punishable by death in Somalia. The Diocese of Mogadishu estimates that there were about 100 Roman Catholic practitioners in Somalia in 2004 and this was down from a high of 8,500 adherents at the start of the trusteeship period in 1950, under the Prefecture Apostolic of Benadir of the Vicariate Apostolic of Mogadiscio. Thirty-seven years earlier, in 1913, during the part of the colonial era. Around 100–200 followers existed in the schools and orphanages of the few Catholic missions in the British Somaliland protectorate, no Catholic missions are known to have existed in Italian Somaliland during the same period. They started teaching and providing assistance to the poor and the sick. Jelib set up a colony at the mouth of the Juba river. In 1924 the Consolata Fathers and Sisters arrived, the Fathers to be replaced in the 1930s by the Franciscan Friars Minor from the Milan Province. The cathedral, the biggest in Africa in the 1920s and 1930s, was damaged during the civil war that began in the 1980s. The Bible was first translated into Somali only in 1979, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia, the Somalia Believers Fellowship, the Somalia Mennonite Mission and the Seventh-day Adventists are present in this country. Somalia is included in the Episcopal Area of the Horn of Africa of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, the Adventist Mission indicates that there are no Adventist members in Somalia, and that Christianity in general has seen little growth there. Due to the civil war in the southern part of the country, professing Christians in Somalia have faced persecution. Apart from Mogadishu Cathedral, there are no buildings in the country. Nor is there any legal protection for Christians, some of whom meet in underground churches, however, there have been cases both before and during civil war in which a Muslim has adopted the Christian faith, secretly declaring his/her apostasy. In effect, they were/are practising Christians, but legally Muslims, thus, paramilitary groups in Somalia have also engaged in widespread looting of Christian graves, in addition to the desecration of Sufi Muslim graves and mosques
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Languages of Somalia
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The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic. A number of minority and immigrant languages are also spoken, Somali is the official language of Somalia and the mother tongue of the Somali people, the nations most populous ethnic group. It is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of it dating from before 1900. As of 2006, there were approximately 16.6 million speakers of Somali, the Somali language is spoken by ethnic Somalis in Greater Somalia and the Somali diaspora. It is spoken as a language by a few ethnic minority groups in these regions. Somali dialects are divided into three groups, Northern, Benaadir and Maay. Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali, Benaadir is spoken on the Benadir coast from Cadaley to south of Merca, including Mogadishu, as well as in the immediate hinterland. The coastal dialects have additional phonemes which do not exist in Standard Somali, Maay is principally spoken by the Digil and Mirifle clans in the southern areas of Somalia. The Somali language is regulated by the Regional Somali Language Academy and it is officially mandated with preserving the Somali language. In addition to Somali, Arabic, which is also an Afro-Asiatic tongue, is a national language in Somalia. Many Somalis speak it due to cultural and ethnic ties with the Arab world, the far-reaching influence of the Arabic media. Variants of the Yemeni and Hadhrami dialects are most common, particularly among merchants, Somalis main lexical borrowings come from Arabic. Soravia noted a total of 1,436 Arabic loanwords in Agostini a. o, most of the vocabulary terms consisted of commonly used nouns. These lexical borrowings may have more extensive in the past since a few words that Zaborski observed in the older literature were absent in Agostinis later work. English is widely taught in schools and it used to be a working language in the British Somaliland protectorate. Italian was a language in Italian Somaliland and during the trusteeship period. It is now most frequently heard among older generations, other minority languages include the Bravanese dialect, a variant of the Bantu Swahili language that is spoken along the southern coast by the Bravanese people. Kibajuni is another Swahili dialect that is the tongue of the Bajuni ethnic minority group
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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
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Somali language
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Somali /səˈmɑːli, soʊ-/ is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in Greater Somalia, Somali is an official language of Somalia, a national language in Djibouti, and a working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. It is used as a language by a few neighboring ethnic minority groups. Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, as Lowland East Cushitic along with Afar, Somali is the best-documented Cushitic language, with academic studies of the language dating back to the late 19th century. Somali is spoken by Somalis in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya and it is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups and individuals in these areas. Somali is the second most widely spoken Cushitic language after Oromo, as of 2006, there were approximately 16.6 million speakers of Somali, of which around 8.3 million resided in Somalia. The language is spoken by an estimated 95% of the countrys inhabitants, constitutionally, Somali and Arabic are the two official languages of Somalia. Somali has been a national language since January 1973, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council declared it the Somali Democratic Republics primary language of administration and education. Somali was thereafter established as the language of academic instruction in forms 1 through 4. It later expanded to include all 12 forms in 1979, in 1972, the SRC adopted a Latin orthography as the official national alphabet over several other writing scripts that were then in use. Concurrently, the Italian-language daily newspaper Stella dOttobre was nationalized, renamed to Xiddigta Oktoobar, the state-run Radio Mogadishu has also broadcast in Somali since 1943. Somali is recognized as a working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Although it is not a language of Djibouti, it constitutes a major national language there. Somali is used in television and radio broadcasts, with the government-operated Radio Djibouti transmitting programs in the language from 1943 onwards and it is officially mandated with preserving the Somali language. As of 2013, Somali is also one of the languages available on Google Translate. Somali linguistic varieties are divided into three main groups, Northern, Benadir and Maay. Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali and it is spoken by more than 60% of the entire Somali population, with its speech area stretching from northern Somalia to parts of the eastern and southwestern sections of the country. This widespread modern distribution is a result of a series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral
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Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
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Politics of Somalia
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The politics of Somalia takes place in a framework of federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. According to the Constitution of Somalia, the President of Somalia is head of state, the country has a bicameral legislature, which consists of the Senate and the National Assembly of Somalia. Together, they make up the Federal Parliament of Somalia, with a new constitution and a new parliament representing diverse parties and factions, Somalias political structure subsequently showed signs of stabilization. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug administrations, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. In 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The Transitional Federal Government was the recognised government of Somalia until 20 August 2012. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional Federal Parliament, the Transitional Federal Government officially comprised the executive branch of government, with the TFP serving as the legislative branch. The government was headed by the President of Somalia, to whom the cabinet reported through the Prime Minister, however, it was also used as a general term to refer to all three branches collectively. In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist organization, assumed control of much of the part of the country. On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President, the government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the government controlled most of the country. Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into different factions. Some of the radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns, at the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. To shore up his rule in Mogadishu, Yusuf deployed thousands of his own troops from Puntland to Mogadishu, financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous regions government. This left little revenue for Puntlands own security forces and civil employees, leaving the territory vulnerable to piracy. On 29 December 2008, Yusuf announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia, in his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the countrys seventeen-year conflict as his government had mandated to do. The conference ended with an agreement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in exchange for the cessation of armed confrontation
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Federal Parliament of Somalia
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The Federal Parliament of Somalia is the national parliament of Somalia. Formed in August 2012, it is based in the capital Mogadishu and is bicameral, consisting of an Upper House, the tenth Parliament of Somalia was inaugurated on 27 December 2016. On 23 June, TFG and regional leaders approved a draft constitution after several days of deliberation, 96% of the 645 delegates present voted for it, 2% against it and 2% abstained. To come into effect, it must be ratified by the new parliament, on 18 August 2012, a list of 202 new parliamentarians was released, with a total of 215 legislators eventually sworn in on 20 August. A further 15 nominated lawmakers were approved by the Technical Selection Committee, however, verification of their paperwork was still pending before they could be officially sworn into parliament. The TSC also based its screening procedure on detailed information on the parliamentary candidates that was forwarded to it by the United Nations. The inaugural session of parliament was held on 20 August 2012, the tenth Parliament of Somalia was inaugurated on 27 December 2016. On 20 August 2012, former Somali National Army General Muse Hassan Sheikh Sayid Abdulle was appointed Interim Speaker and Acting President. Voting for a new Speaker of Parliament was held on 28 August 2012, with former Minister of Transportation and Minister of Labor, jaylaani Nur Ikar and Mahad Abdalle Awad are serving as his First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker, respectively. The Federal Parliament of Somalia constitutes the legislative branch of government, the parliament elects the President, Speaker of Parliament and Deputy Speakers. It also has the authority to pass and veto laws, in addition, the national parliament is tasked with selecting the ultimate number and boundaries of the autonomous regional states within the Federal Republic of Somalia. On 2 April 2014, the committee of interior and security announced that it would soon establish a committee to oversee the federalism process in Somalias constituent provinces. The Federal Parliament of Somalia is bicameral, consisting of an Upper House and it includes many professionals, university graduates and women. At least 30% of seats are reserved for women, a quota secured by Somali parliamentary consultant Hodan Ahmed. Ahmed had also helped form the Somali Women Parliamentary Association in 2009 in the preceding Transitional Federal Parliament, an official list of Members of the Federal Parliament was first published on 17 August 2012 by the Office of the Somali Parliament. Formation of the house is pending, and is capped at 54 representatives. The House of the People, or lower house, is expected to comprise 275 MPs. In December 2014, the first Somali Youth Parliament was established and it comprises 275 youngsters between the ages of 16 and 30, who were selected from local universities
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Somali Armed Forces
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The Somali National Armed Forces are the military forces of Somalia, officially known as the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the President as Commander in Chief, they are mandated to ensure the nations sovereignty, independence. The SAF was initially made up of the Army, Navy, in the post-independence period, it grew to become among the larger militaries in Africa. Due to patrimonial and repressive policies, the military had by 1988 begun to disintegrate. By the time President Siad Barre fled in 1991, the forces had dissolved. As of January 2014, the security sector is overseen by the Federal Government of Somalias Ministry of Defence, Ministry of National Security, the Somaliland, Puntland and Khaatumo regional governments maintain their own security and police forces. Historically, Somali society conferred distinction upon warriors and rewarded military acumen, all Somali males were regarded as potential soldiers, except for the odd religious cleric. Somalias many Sultanates each maintained regular troops, in the early Middle Ages, the conquest of Shewa by the Ifat Sultanate ignited a rivalry for supremacy with the Solomonic dynasty. Many similar battles were fought between the succeeding Sultanate of Adal and the Solomonids, with both sides achieving victory and suffering defeat. However, both polities in the process exhausted their resources and manpower, which resulted in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come, many historians trace the origins of hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia to this war. Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of such as the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons. In Italian Somaliland, eight Arab-Somali infantry battalions, the Ascari and these units served as frontier guards and police. There were also Somali artillery and zaptié units forming part of the Italian Royal Corps of Colonial Troops from 1889 to 1941, between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the Italo-Turkish War. Most of the troops stationed never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. In 1914, the Somaliland Camel Corps was formed in the British Somaliland protectorate and saw service before, during, just prior to independence in 1960, the Trust Territory of Somalia established a national army to defend the nascent Somali Republics borders. A law to that effect was passed on 6 April 1960, thus the Somali Police Forces Mobile Group was formed. 12 April 1960 has since been marked as Armed Forces Day, British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, and the Trust Territory of Somalia followed suit five days later. On 1 July 1960, the two united to form the Somali Republic
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Economy of Somalia
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Somalia is classified by the United Nations as a least developed country. Despite experiencing two decades of war, the country has maintained an informal economy, based mainly on livestock, remittance/money transfers from abroad. Due to a dearth of formal government statistics and the recent civil war, for 1994, the CIA estimated the GDP at purchasing power parity to be $3.3 billion. In 2001, it was estimated to be $4.1 billion, by 2009, the CIA estimated that the PPP GDP had grown to $5.731 billion, with a projected real growth rate of 2. 6%. In 2014, the International Monetary Fund estimated economic activity to have expanded by 3.7 percent primarily driven by growth in the primary sector, according to a 2007 British Chambers of Commerce report, the private sector has experienced growth, particularly in the service sector.285. This would rank amongst the lowest in the world if comparable data were available, the UNDP notes that inequalities across different social groups, a major driver of conflict, have been widening. Somalias economy consists of traditional and modern production, with a gradual shift to more modern industrial techniques. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, about 80% of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists, the nomads also gather resins and gums to supplement their income. According to the World Bank, Somalias economy has suffered as a result of the failure that accompanied the countrys civil war. Some economists, including libertarian Peter T. Leeson, have argued instead that state collapse has actually helped improve economic welfare, according to the African Development Bank, Somalia is characterized by a severe lack of basic economic and social statistics. This situation has been exacerbated by the war and institutional collapse, although even prior to Somalias state failure. The World Bank reports that Somalias GDP was $917.0 million in 1990 and its population was 10.81 in 2014. The United Nations Statistics Division reports a GDP figure of $1.306 billion for 2012, compared to $2.316 billion in 2005 and $1.071 billion in 2010. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, sometime in the 2000s the countrys GDP per capita according to the World Bank was $226, the 2012 Human Development Report estimates per capita GDP to be $284, compared with an average across sub-Saharan Africa of $1,300 per capita. This GDP per capita figure is the fourth lowest in the world, about 43% of the population live on less than 1 US dollar a day, with about 24% of those found in urban areas and 54% living in rural areas.285. This would rank amongst the lowest in the world if comparable data were available, the UNDP notes that inequalities across different social groups, a major driver of conflict, have been widening. The UN has classified Somalia as a least developed country since its Committee for Development Policy began categorising states in this way in 1971. An International Monetary Fund mission to Somalia reports estimated GDP growth of 3. 7% in 2014 and CPI inflation of 1. 3%, and projected growth of 2. 7% and inflation of 4% in 2015
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Judiciary of Somalia
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The judiciary of Somalia is defined by the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia. It stipulates that the court structure is to be organized into three tiers, the Constitutional Court, Federal Government level courts, and Federal Member State level courts. A future nine-member Judicial Service Commission is empowered to appoint any federal tier member of the judiciary and it also selects and presents potential Constitutional Court judges to the House of the People of the Federal Parliament for approval. If endorsed, the President then appoints the candidate as a judge of the Constitutional Court, the five-member Constitutional Court is likewise empowered to adjudicate issues pertaining to the constitution, in addition to various federal and sub-national matters. As of 2014, pending the adoption of new legislation, the pre-civil war judicial structure, courts, in May 2014, the Council of Ministers approved a new Constitutional Review and Implementation Commission. Additionally, the Somali Bar Association has recommended that several federal and regional courts should be established to handle cases on a provincial basis, in this capacity, new local courts have been set up in areas that have been re-captured by the central government. As part of an effort at reforming the judiciary, the office of the Attorney General also hired six additional women lawyers in April 2015. They are among 17 new attorneys attached to the office within the Ministry of Justice, according to Article 105 of the constitution, the courts have judicial authority. The judicial structure is, in turn, regulated by a parliamentary law, Article 106 establishes the functional independence of the judiciary from the federal governments other executive and legislative branches, subject only to the law. A judge cannot be pursued in civil or criminal proceedings for exercising a judicial function. Authorization to search a judge or his or her home must also first be obtained from the Judicial Service Commission, situations that may warrant this include matters relating to national security, juveniles, rape, ethics or witness protection. Additionally, all parties in a proceeding must first be accorded the opportunity to present their case before a decision can be rendered. Judicial decisions likewise should be accompanied with reasons explaining them, at the Federal Government tier, the highest court is the Federal High Court. The Federal Member State High Court is, in turn, the highest court at the Federal Member State level, Article 109 formalizes the proceedings of the National Courts. It states that whenever a case pertaining to the Federal Government is presented before a court, constitution-related cases may likewise be referred to the Constitutional Court. Furthermore, the government as well as any individual or groups may tender a reference application to the Constitutional Court on subjects of public interest, Article 109A establishes the authority of a Judicial Service Commission consisting of nine members. In June 2014, the Federal Parliament approved a new law formalizing the commission, the Judicial Service Commission elects its chairperson from within its membership ranks. All members serve a term of five years, and are eligible for one term after their initial term has ended
28.
Transport in Somalia
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Transport in Somalia refers to the transportation networks and modes of transport in effect in Somalia. They include highways, airports and seaports, in addition to various forms of public and private vehicular, maritime, Somalias network of roads is 21,830 km long. As of 2010,2,757 km of streets are paved,844 km are gravel,2,559 km are primary roads,4,850 km are secondary roads, and 14,421 km are rural/feeder roads. As of May 2015, over 70,000 vehicles are registered with the Puntland Ministry of Works, a 750 km highway connects major cities in the northern part of the country, such as Bosaso, Galkayo and Garowe, with towns in the south. In 2012, the Puntland Highway Authority completed rehabilitation work on the central artery linking Garowe with Galkayo, the transportation body also began an upgrade and repair project in June 2012 on the large Garowe–Bosaso Highway. Additionally, renovations were initiated in October 2012 on the central artery linking Bosaso with Qardho, plans are also in the works to construct new roads connecting littoral towns in the region to the main thoroughfare. In September 2013, the Somali federal government signed a cooperation agreement with its Chinese counterpart in Mogadishu as part of a five-year national recovery plan. In June 2014, the Puntland administration inaugurated a new 5.9 km paved road in the city, the construction project leads to the Bosaso seaport, and was completed in conjunction with UNHABITAT. The Puntland government plans to invest at least 23 million Euros in contributions from partners in similar road infrastructure development initiatives. In October 2014, the Puntland Highway Authority began construction on a new highway connecting the palace in Garowe with various other parts of the administrative capital. Financing for the project was provided by the Puntland government, according to the Head of the PHA Mohamud Abdinur Adan, the new thoroughfare aims to facilitate local transportation and movement. Puntland Minister of Public Works Mohamed Hersi also indicated that the Puntland authorities plan to build, in December 2014, Galkayo District Mayor Yacqub Mohamed Abdalla and other Puntland officials likewise laid the foundation for a new tarmac road in western Galkayo. The project was funded by the Puntland administration, with roads in the broader district also slated to be paved with bitumen in 2015. Among the latter streets, a tar construction project began on the Durdur road in the Garsor suburb in February 2015, the main road in the Central Business District as well as the airport road are concurrently scheduled to be paved. In January 2015, the Interim Juba Administration launched a beautification, part of a broader urbanization drive, the initiative includes the clearing of clogged streets and lanes, razing of illegal buildings therein, and further development of the municipal road network. The initiative also involves an annual maintenance program, which focuses on side brushing, clearing bridges after floods, drainage and culvert clearance. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority is Somalias national civil aviation authority body, based at Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, it is under the aegis of the federal Ministry of Air and Land Transport. In 2012, the ministry along with the Somali Civil Aviation Steering Committee set a three-year window for reconstruction of the civil aviation capacity
29.
Communications in Somalia
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Communications in Somalia encompasses the communications services and capacity of Somalia. Telecommunications, internet, radio, print, television and postal services in the nation are largely concentrated in the private sector, several of the telecom firms have begun expanding their activities abroad. The Federal government operates two radio and television networks, which exist alongside a number of private and foreign stations. Print media in the country is progressively giving way to news radio stations and online portals, as internet connectivity. Additionally, the postal service is slated to be officially relaunched in 2013 after a long absence. After the start of the war, various new telecommunications companies began to spring up in the country. Somalia now offers some of the most technologically advanced and competitively priced telecommunications, customers can conduct money transfers and other banking activities via mobile phones, as well as easily gain wireless Internet access. After forming partnerships with corporations such as Sprint, ITT and Telenor. These Somali telecommunication companies also provide services to city, town. There are presently around 25 mainlines per 1,000 persons, prominent Somali telecommunications companies include Somtel Network, Golis Telecom Group, Hormuud Telecom, Somafone, Nationlink, Netco, Telcom and Somali Telecom Group. Hormuud Telecom alone grosses about $40 million a year, the acquisition provided Dahabshiil with the necessary platform for a subsequent expansion into mobile banking, a growth industry in the regional banking sector. In 2014, Somalias three largest telecommunication operators, Hormuud Telecom, NationLink and Somtel, also signed an interconnection agreement, the cooperative deal will see the firms establish the Somali Telecommunication Company, which will allow their mobile clients to communicate across the three networks. Investment in the industry is held to be one of the clearest signs that Somalias economy has continued to develop. The sector provides key services, and in the process facilitates job creation. The bill was passed following consultations between government representatives and communications, academic and civil society stakeholders, companies providing telecommunication services in Somalia include, The Somali Postal Service is the national postal service of the Federal Government of Somalia. It is part of the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunication, the national postal infrastructure was completely destroyed during the civil war. In order to fill the vacuum, Somali Post signed an agreement in 2003 with the United Arab Emirates Emirates Post to process mail to, concurrently, the Somali Transitional Federal Government began preparations to revive the national postal service. The governments overall reconstruction plan for Somali Post is structured into three Phases spread out over a period of ten years
30.
Education in Somalia
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Education in Somalia refers to the academic system within Somalia. The Ministry of Education is officially responsible for education in Somalia, the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland macro-regions maintain their own Ministries of Education. Much of this deals with the educational system of Puntland due to a dearth of detailed. Following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991, the task of running schools in Somalia was initially taken up by community education committees established in 94% of the local schools. Within the Puntland government, the Ministry of Education is responsible for developing and managing the regions educational needs. It is headed by the Minister Mohamud Bile Dubbe, under whom a Vice Minister and Director General help oversee a Post-Primary Education Division, the educational system of Puntland comprises two years of Early Childhood Development, eight years of primary education and four years of secondary education. University education comprises an average of four years, thus, it is a 2-4-4-4 system. Puntlands Ministry of Education also recognizes non-formal and technical and vocational education as integral parts of the educational system. Quranic education also forms a component of ECD, ECD is offered to children in the 0-5 age bracket, with the focus on stimulating and developing the cognitive, affective and psycho-motor skills of the toddler and his/her holistic development. It also prepares children for school and facilitates the transition from home to primary school, primary education features nine compulsory subjects, Arabic, Islamic studies, Somali, mathematics, science, social studies, English, physical education and arts and crafts. Lower and upper primary students are taught for 36 and 42 lesson periods, each lasting 35 and 40 minutes, respectively, the language of instruction is Somali in subjects other than Arabic and Islam, English is taught as a subject from Grades 2 to 8. Secondary school education is offered for four years to pupils between the ages of 15-18, and leads to a Puntland Secondary School Certificate Examination. Ten subjects are taught in schools, namely, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, Somali, Arabic, Islamic studies, English, physical education, geography. All subjects, with the exception of physical education, are compulsory, English is the language of instruction in secondary schools, except in the Somali, Arabic, and Islamic courses. Each school week is composed of 40 periods of 45 minutes each, tertiary education in Somalia refers to education offered on completion of secondary education. Teacher education, for convenience, is grouped under this category, tertiary education in the context of Puntland thus includes university education, instruction offered through diploma–level institutions such as community and teacher colleges. In the Sanaag region, Maakhir University in Badhan offers undergraduate courses, nugaal University in Las Anod also provides tertiary instruction to residents of Sool. In the Awdal province, Amoud University in Borama serves the local community, the Gedo region is also home to Bardera Polytechnic, the regions first polytechnic school
31.
Engineering
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The term Engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning cleverness and ingeniare, meaning to contrive, devise. Engineering has existed since ancient times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel, each of these inventions is essentially consistent with the modern definition of engineering. The term engineering is derived from the engineer, which itself dates back to 1390 when an engineer originally referred to a constructor of military engines. In this context, now obsolete, a referred to a military machine. Notable examples of the obsolete usage which have survived to the present day are military engineering corps, the word engine itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium, meaning innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention. The earliest civil engineer known by name is Imhotep, as one of the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he probably designed and supervised the construction of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt around 2630–2611 BC. Ancient Greece developed machines in both civilian and military domains, the Antikythera mechanism, the first known mechanical computer, and the mechanical inventions of Archimedes are examples of early mechanical engineering. In the Middle Ages, the trebuchet was developed, the first steam engine was built in 1698 by Thomas Savery. The development of this gave rise to the Industrial Revolution in the coming decades. With the rise of engineering as a profession in the 18th century, similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering, the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering. The inventions of Thomas Newcomen and the Scottish engineer James Watt gave rise to mechanical engineering. The development of specialized machines and machine tools during the revolution led to the rapid growth of mechanical engineering both in its birthplace Britain and abroad. John Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer and is regarded as the father of civil engineering. He was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and he was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse where he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime and his lighthouse remained in use until 1877 and was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeatons Tower. The United States census of 1850 listed the occupation of engineer for the first time with a count of 2,000, there were fewer than 50 engineering graduates in the U. S. before 1865. In 1870 there were a dozen U. S. mechanical engineering graduates, in 1890 there were 6,000 engineers in civil, mining, mechanical and electrical. There was no chair of applied mechanism and applied mechanics established at Cambridge until 1875, the theoretical work of James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz in the late 19th century gave rise to the field of electronics
32.
Design
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Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction. Design has different connotations in different fields, in some cases, the direct construction of an object is also considered to use design thinking. Designing often necessitates considering the aesthetic, functional, economic, and it may involve considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design. Meanwhile, diverse kinds of objects may be designed, including clothing, graphical user interfaces, skyscrapers, corporate identities, business processes, and even methods or processes of designing. Thus design may be a substantive referring to an abstraction of a created thing or things. It is an act of creativity and innovation, here, a specification can be manifested as either a plan or a finished product, and primitives are the elements from which the design object is composed. With such a broad denotation, there is no language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject, the person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used for people who work professionally in one of the various design areas usually specifying which area is being dealt with. A designers sequence of activities is called a process while the scientific study of design is called design science. Another definition of design is planning to manufacture an object, system, thus the word design can be used as a noun or a verb. In a broader sense, the design is an applied art, while the definition of design is fairly broad, design has a myriad of specifications that professionals utilize in their fields. Substantial disagreement exists concerning how designers in many fields, whether amateur or professional, alone or in teams, the prevailing view has been called The Rational Model, Technical Problem Solving and The Reason-Centric Perspective. The alternative view has been called Reflection-in-Action, Evolutionary Design, co-evolution, the Rational Model was independently developed by Herbert A. Simon, an American scientist, and Gerhard Pahl and Wolfgang Beitz, two German engineering design theorists. The Rational Model is based on a rationalist philosophy and underlies the waterfall model, systems development life cycle, according to the rationalist philosophy, design is informed by research and knowledge in a predictable and controlled manner. Technical rationality is at the center of the process, each stage has many associated best practices. Unrealistic assumptions – goals are often unknown when a design project begins, the Action-Centric Perspective is a label given to a collection of interrelated concepts, which are antithetical to The Rational Model. Substantial empirical evidence supports the veracity of this perspective in describing the actions of real designers, like the Rational Model, the Action-Centric model sees design as informed by research and knowledge. Designers context-dependent experience and professional judgment take center stage more than technical rationality, at least two views of design activity are consistent with the Action-Centric Perspective
33.
Construction
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Construction is the process of constructing a building or infrastructure. Construction as an industry comprises six to nine percent of the domestic product of developed countries. Construction starts with planning, design, and financing, and continues until the project is built, large-scale construction requires collaboration across multiple disciplines. An architect normally manages the job, and a manager, design engineer. For the successful execution of a project, effective planning is essential, the largest construction projects are referred to as megaprojects. Construction is a term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations. Construction is used as a verb, the act of building, and a noun, how a building was built, in general, there are three sectors of construction, buildings, infrastructure and industrial. Building construction is further divided into residential and non-residential. Infrastructure is often called heavy/highway, heavy civil or heavy engineering and it includes large public works, dams, bridges, highways, water/wastewater and utility distribution. Industrial includes refineries, process chemical, power generation, mills, there are other ways to break the industry into sectors or markets. Engineering News-Record is a magazine for the construction industry. Each year, ENR compiles and reports on data about the size of design and they publish a list of the largest companies in the United States and also a list the largest global firms. In 2014, ENR compiled the data in nine market segments and it was divided as transportation, petroleum, buildings, power, industrial, water, manufacturing, sewer/waste, telecom, hazardous waste plus a tenth category for other projects. In their reporting on the Top 400, they used data on transportation, sewer, hazardous waste, the Standard Industrial Classification and the newer North American Industry Classification System have a classification system for companies that perform or otherwise engage in construction. To recognize the differences of companies in this sector, it is divided into three subsectors, building construction, heavy and civil engineering construction, and specialty trade contractors, there are also categories for construction service firms and construction managers. Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property or construction of buildings, the majority of building construction jobs are small renovations, such as addition of a room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster, for this reason, those with experience in the field make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome. Residential construction practices, technologies, and resources must conform to local building authority regulations, materials readily available in the area generally dictate the construction materials used
34.
Castle
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A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
35.
Citadel
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A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a fortress, castle, or fortified center, the term is a diminutive of city and thus means little city, so called because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. It is positioned to be the last line of defense, should the enemy breach the other components of the fortification system, a citadel is also a term of the third part of a medieval castle, with higher walls than the rest. It was to be the last line of defense before the keep itself, some of the oldest known structures which have served as citadels were built by the Indus Valley Civilization, harappan, where the citadel represented a centralised authority. The main citadel in Indus Valley was almost 12 meters tall, the purpose of these structures, however, remains debated. Though the structures found in the ruins of Mohenjo-daro were walled, rather, they may have been built to divert flood waters. The most well-known is the Acropolis of Athens, but nearly every Greek city-state had one – the Acrocorinth famed as a strong fortress. In a much later period, when Greece was ruled by the Latin Empire, rebels who took power in the city but with the citadel still held by the former rulers could by no means regard their tenure of power as secure. One such incident played an important part in the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, the Hellenistic garrison of Jerusalem and local supporters of the Seleucids held out for many years in the Acra citadel, making Maccabean rule in the rest of Jerusalem precarious. When finally gaining possession of the place, the Maccabeans pointedly destroyed and razed the Acra, a city where the citadel held out against an invading army was not considered conquered. In the Philippines The Ivatan people of the islands of Batanes often built fortifications to protect themselves during times of war. They built their so-called idjangs on hills and elevated areas. These fortifications were likened to European castles because of their purpose. Usually, the entrance to the castles would be via a rope ladder that would only be lowered for the villagers. In time of war the citadel in many cases afforded retreat to the living in the areas around the town. For example, during the Dutch Wars of 1664-67, King Charles II of England constructed a Royal Citadel at Plymouth, barcelona had a great citadel built in 1714 to intimidate the Catalans against repeating their mid-17th- and early-18th-century rebellions against the Spanish central government. A similar example is the Citadella in Budapest, Hungary, the Citadelle of Québec still survives as the largest citadel still in official military operation in North America. It is home to the Royal 22nd Regiment of Canada, citadels since the mid 20th century, are commonly military command and control centres built to resist attack commonly aerial or nuclear bombardment. The Military citadels under London such as the underground complex beneath the Ministry of Defense called Pindar is one such example
36.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
37.
Mosque
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A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. There are strict and detailed requirements in Sunni jurisprudence for a place of worship to be considered a mosque, many mosques have elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls, in varying styles of architecture. Mosques originated on the Arabian Peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents, the mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat as well as a center for information, education, social welfare, and dispute settlement. The imam leads the congregation in prayer, the first mosque in the world is often considered to be the area around the Kaaba in Mecca now known as the Masjid al-Haram. Others regard the first mosque in history to be the Quba Mosque in present-day Medina since it was the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622. The Islamic Prophet Muhammad went on to another mosque in Medina. Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Masjid al-Nabawi introduced some of the still common in todays mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab. The Masjid al-Nabawi was also constructed with a courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then. Mosques had been built in Iraq and North Africa by the end of the 7th century, the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala is reportedly one of the oldest mosques in Iraq, although its present form – typical of Persian architecture – only goes back to the 11th century. The shrine, while operating as a mosque, remains one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, as it honors the death of the third Shia imam. The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As was reportedly the first mosque in Egypt, serving as a religious, like the Imam Husayn Shrine, though, nothing of its original structure remains. With the later Shia Fatimid Caliphate, mosques throughout Egypt evolved to include schools, hospitals and it was the first to incorporate a square minaret and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusian mosques, including the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb. The first mosque in East Asia was reportedly established in the 8th century in Xian, however, the Great Mosque of Xian, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Indeed, minarets were initially prohibited by the state, mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesias Austronesian neighbors—Malaysia, Brunei, Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the 7th century, reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles
38.
Temple
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A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. It is typically used for such buildings belonging to all faiths where a specific term such as church. These include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism among religions with many modern followers, the form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the house of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, the degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly, often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings. The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest and it has the same root as the word template, a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the places of a god or gods. Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history, there is evidence of use of sacred ground as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. Hindu temples have been built in countries around the world, including Cambodia, Nepal, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Great Britain. They include the structures called stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions, Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace, a Jain temple is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Some famous Jain temples are Shikharji, Palitana Jain Temples, Ranakpur Jain Temple, Shravan Belgola, Dilwara Temples, Jain temples are built with various architectural designs. Jain temples in North India are completely different from the Jain temples in South India, additionally, a Manastambha is a pillar that is often constructed in front of Jain temples. The temple of Mesopotamia derived from the cult of gods and deities in the Mesopotamian religion and it spanned several civilizations, from Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the deities to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and thus it was the purpose of a temple as well. Ancient Egyptian temples were also of significance to Egyptian society
39.
Aqueduct (water supply)
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An aqueduct is a watercourse constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the aqueduct is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels. The term aqueduct also often refers specifically to a bridge on an artificial watercourse, the word is derived from the Latin aqua and ducere. Aqueducts were used in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and ancient Rome, in modern times, the largest aqueducts of all have been built in the United States to supply the countrys biggest cities. The simplest aqueducts are small ditches cut into the earth, much larger channels may be used in modern aqueducts. Aqueducts sometimes run for some or all of their path through tunnels constructed underground, modern aqueducts may also use pipelines. Historically, agricultural societies have constructed aqueducts to irrigate crops and supply large cities with drinking water, the Indian subcontinent is believed to have some of the earliest aqueducts. Evidence can be found at the sites of present-day Hampi, Karnataka, the massive aqueducts near river Tungabhadra supplying irrigation water were once 15 miles long. The waterways supplied water to royal bath tubs, in Persia from early times a system of underground aqueducts called qanāts were constructed, a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping tunnels. This technique, taps into subterranean water in a manner that water to the surface without need for pumping. The water drains relying on gravity, with the lower than the source. Allows water to be transported long distances in hot dry climates without losing a large proportion of the water to seepage. Throughout Petra, Jordan, the Nabataean engineers took advantage of natural spring. They constructed aqueducts and piping systems that allowed water to flow across mountains, through gorges and into the temples, homes, and gardens of Petras citizens. Walking through the Siq, one can spot the remains of channels that directed water to the city center. On the island of Samos, the Tunnel of Eupalinos was built during the reign of Polycrates and it is considered an underground aqueduct and brought fresh water to Pythagoreion for roughly a thousand years. Roman aqueducts were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they totaled over 415 kilometres. The aqueducts supplied water to public baths and for drinking water, in large cities across the empire
40.
Lighthouse
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Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
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Tomb
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A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber and its central feature is a single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. Sarcophagus – a stone container for a body or coffin, often decorated and perhaps part of a monument, sepulchre – a cavernous rock-cut space for interment, generally in the Jewish or Christian faiths. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgräber or kurgans, a cairn, might also be originally a tumulus. A long barrow is a tumulus, usually for numbers of burials. As indicated, tombs are located in or under religious buildings, such as churches. However, they may also be found in catacombs, on land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs. The tomb of Emperor Nintoku is the largest in the world by area, however, the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is the largest by volume
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Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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Early modern period
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The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals, and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, Venice, the early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization, politically and economically. Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, plants, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
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Somalia
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Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has the longest coastline on Africas mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with monsoon winds. Somalia has an population of around 12.3 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions, the official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni, in antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt, during the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. The toponym Somalia was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. British Somaliland would remain a protectorate, while Italian Somaliland in 1949 became a United Nations Trusteeship under Italian administration, in 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, led by Mohamed Siad Barre, this government later collapsed in 1991 as the Somali Civil War broke out. Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum, during this period, due to the absence of a central government, Somalia was a failed state, and residents returned to customary and religious law in most regions. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland and Puntland administrations emerged in the north, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government in 2004, in 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nations southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, by mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory that they had seized. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched, within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, which reformed Somalia as a federation. Somalia has maintained an informal economy, mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE
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Contemporary architecture
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Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. Contemporary buildings are designed to be noticed and to astonish, Some feature concrete structures wrapped in glass or aluminum screens, very asymmetric facades, and cantilevered sections which hang over the street. Skyscrapers twist, or break into crystal-like facets, facades are designed to shimmer or change color at different times of day. Most of the landmarks of contemporary architecture are the works of a group of architects who work on an international scale. Some of the most striking and innovative works of architecture are art museums, which are often examples of sculptural architecture. The Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Its structure includes a movable, wing-like brise soleil that opens up for a wingspan of 217 feet during the day, folding over the tall and it also harmonizes with two stone churches opposite. Inside, the walls of the galleries are all different, sloping, Libeskind completed another striking museum, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, also known as The Crystal, a building whose form, resembles a shattered crystal. Libeskinds museums have been admired and attacked by critics. The De Young Museum in San Francisco was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and it opened in 2005, replacing an older structure that was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1989. The new museum was designed to blend with the landscape of the park. The building can move up to three feet on ball-bearing sliding plates and viscous fluid dampers that absorb kinetic energy, the Zentrum Paul Klee by Renzo Piano is an art museum near Berne Switzerland located next to an autoroute in the Swiss countryside. The museum blends into the landscape by taking the form of three rolling hills, made of steel and glass, one building houses the gallery while the other two hills contain an education center and administrative offices. The roofs geometry is irregular, featuring curves and counter-curves over the entire building, the entire wooden structure is covered with a white fibreglass membrane and a coating of teflon, which protects from direct sunlight, but allows light to pass through. The Louis Vuitton Foundation by Frank Gehry is gallery of art located adjacent to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris was opened in October 2014. Gehry had to work within strict height and volume restrictions, which required any part of the building two stories to be made of glass. Because of the limits, the building is low, sited in an artificial lake with water cascading beneath the building. The interior gallery structures are covered in a white fiber-reinforced concrete called Ductal, similar in concept to Gehrys Walt Disney Concert Hall, the building is wrapped in curving glass panels resembling sails inflated by the wind
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Cairn
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A cairn is a human-made pile of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic, càrn, cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present. In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. Cairns are used as markers in many parts of the world, in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, as well as in barren deserts. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, whether for increased visibility or for religious reasons. An ancient example is the inuksuk, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, inuksuit are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks, different types of cairns exist from rough piles of stones to interlocking dry stone round cylinders. The most important cairns commonly used around the world are interlocking stone survey cairns constructed around a central survey mark about every 30 km on the tallest peaks across a nation. These physical survey mark cairn systems by surveyors as the basis for national survey grids to interconnect individual land survey measurements for entire nations, on occasion these permanent interlocking stone cairns were taken down then reconstructed for survey mark for measurements to increase the accuracy of the national survey grid. They can also be used in unpopulated country as emergency location points, for example, the extensive trail network maintained by the DNT, the Norwegian Trekking Association, extensively uses cairns in conjunction with T-painted rock faces to mark trails. Other examples of these can be seen in the fields of Volcanoes National Park to mark several hikes. Placed at regular intervals, a series of cairns can be used to indicate a path across stony or barren terrain, such cairns are often placed at junctions or in places where the trail direction is not obvious. They may also be used to indicate an obscured danger such as a sudden drop, most trail cairns are small, usually being a foot or less in height. However, they may be built taller so as to protrude through a layer of snow, hikers passing by often add a stone, as a small bit of maintenance to counteract the erosive effects of severe weather. North American trail marks are sometimes called ducks or duckies, because they sometimes have a beak pointing in the direction of the route. The expression two rocks do not make a duck reminds hikers that just one rock resting upon another could be the result of accident or nature rather than intentional trail marking. The building of cairns for recreational purposes along trails, to ones personal passage through the area. This distracts from cairns used as navigational guides, and also conflicts with the Leave No Trace ethic
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