1.
Emirate of Sharjah
–
The Emirate of Sharjah is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates. The emirate covers 2,590 square kilometres and has a population of over 800,000, the emirate of Sharjah comprises the capital city of Sharjah, after which it is named, and other minor towns and exclaves such as Kalba, Dibba Al-Hisn and Khor Fakkan. The emirate is a constitutional monarchy and it has been ruled by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi since 1972. Historically the emirate was one of the wealthiest towns in the region, around 1727, the Al Qasimi clan took control of Sharjah and declared the polity independent. The first in a series of maritime skirmishes between the Al Qasimi and British vessels took place in 1797, when the British-flagged Bassein Snow was seized and released two days later. The cruiser Viper was subsequently attacked off Bushire, on 8 January 1820, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi signed the General Maritime Treaty with Britain, accepting protectorate status in order to resist Ottoman domination. Like four of its neighbours, Ajman, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sharjah was an important pearl fishing port. A British marine survey of 1830 found three to four hundred boats fishing in the season, earning the ruler 100,000 Maria Theresa Dollars, in 1932, Imperial Airways established a regular air service through Sharjah, which was an overnight stop on the Eastern British Empire route. Al Mahatta Fort was built to house the airlines guests, on 2 December 1971, Sheikh Khalid bin Muhammad Al Qasimi joined Sharjah to the United Arab Emirates. On 24 January 1972 the former ruler Sheikh Saqr staged a leftist coup, having previously deposed Saqr, Sheikh Khalid had ordered the demolition of Sharjah Fort to expiate Saqrs memory. Saqr took over Khalids palace, holding him inside and in the ensuing confusion Sheikh Khalid was killed, Saqr was arrested and Khalids brother, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, an author and historian, came to power. In 1987 Sultans brother Abdulaziz staged a coup while Sultan was abroad, huge state debt was stated as the reason. UAE President Zayed vehemently denounced the coup, and a deal was reached for Sultan to be restored, Sultan, however, dismissed Abdulaziz quite quickly. In 1999, the Crown Prince died while on vacation in their palace in England, Sultan made the decision to testify in front of a UK court. The new Crown Prince was appointed from a branch of the family. Sharjah is the third largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, the emirate covers 2,590 square kilometres which is equivalent to 3.3 per cent of the UAEs total area, excluding the islands. It has a population of over 800,000, the emirate of Sharjah comprises the city of Sharjah, and other minor towns and enclaves. The city of Sharjah, which overlooks the Persian Gulf, has a population of 519,000, Sharjah City borders Dubai to the south and Ajmân to the north, and the three form a conurbation
2.
Umm al-Quwain
–
Umm al-Quwain is the least populous of the seven sovereign emirates in the United Arab Emirates, located in the north of the country. The emirate is ruled by Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, the emirate had 72,000 inhabitants in 2007 and has an area of 750 km2. Umm al-Quwain holds significant archaeological interest, with finds at both Tell Abraq and Al Dour. Arrowheads and other polished flint tools have been unearthed in various sites across the UAE while pieces of Ubaid pottery have been unearthed along the shores of the emirate. All evidence obtained so far indicate that contact with Mesopotamia existed as early as the 5th millennium BC as a ceramic industry did not emerge until the 3rd century BC. During the Bronze Age, semi-nomadic tribes inhabited the region, they moved in groups from place to place foraging for timber from the indigenous acacia for smelting copper, the metal was sent to all the prominent ports on the Persian Gulf, Umm Al Nar being one of them. Ties with Mesopotamia were jealously maintained and consequently the trade in copper ushered in prosperity in the region, during the Bronze Age, agriculture flourished, with dates being the prominent crop. Wheat, millet and other grains were also cultivated wherever there was water for irrigation. It is now believed that the climate during the period was more temperate than now. During the Umm al-Nar period, buildings and fortress towers came up in Umm Al Quwain, the most common buildings associated with this era are the circular burial tombs. In 1775, Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, founder of the ruling Al Mu’alla lineage of the Al Ali tribe, established an independent Sheikhdom in Umm al-Quwain. On 8 January 1820, Sheikh Abdullah I signed the General Maritime Treaty with the United Kingdom, like Ajman, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah, its position on the route to India made it important enough to be recognized as a salute state with a three gun salute. On 2 December 1971, Sheikh Ahmad II joined its neighbors Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah in forming the United Arab Emirates, the rainfall is minimal and averages 42 mm a year. The coastline experiences cooling sea breezes during the day, the UAE culture mainly revolves around the religion of Islam and traditional Arab culture. The influence of Islamic and Arab culture on its architecture, music, attire, cuisine, five times every day, Muslims are called to prayer from the minarets of mosques which are scattered around the country. Since 2006, the weekend has been Friday-Saturday, as a compromise between Fridays holiness to Muslims and the Western weekend of Saturday-Sunday. Al-Sinniyah island, close to the town of Umm al-Qaiwain is home to the UAEs largest Socotra cormorant colony, arabian gazelle have been introduced to Sinniyah and appear to be prospering. Marine life is remarkable for its abundance and diversity, blacktip reef sharks patrol the outer shoreline, while green turtles are ubiquitous in the inner leads in particular
3.
United Arab Emirates
–
In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds seventeenth-largest, Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost
4.
Ancient Near East
–
The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
5.
Mesopotamia
–
In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
6.
Indus Valley Civilisation
–
The Indus Valley Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation mainly in the northwestern regions of South Asia, extending from what today is northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread, at its peak, the Indus Civilisation may have had a population of over five million. Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley developed new techniques in handicraft, the Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings. The discovery of Harappa, and soon afterwards, Mohenjo-Daro, was the culmination of work beginning in 1861 with the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj, excavation of Harappan sites has been ongoing since 1920, with important breakthroughs occurring as recently as 1999. This Harappan civilisation is called the Mature Harappan culture to distinguish it from the cultures immediately preceding and following it. The early Harappan cultures were preceded by local Neolithic agricultural villages, as of 1999, over 1,056 cities and settlements had been found, of which 96 have been excavated, mainly in the general region of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra Rivers and their tributaries. Among the settlements were the urban centres of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan. The Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation is uncertain since the Indus script is still undeciphered, a relationship with the Dravidian or Elamo-Dravidian language family is favoured by a section of scholars. Recently, Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistans northwestern Frontier Province as well, other IVC colonies can be found in Afghanistan while smaller isolated colonies can be found as far away as Turkmenistan and in Maharashtra. The largest number of colonies are in the Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on the ancient seacoast, for example, Balakot, and on islands, for example, Dholavira. There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Hakra channel in Pakistan, many Indus Valley sites have been discovered along the Ghaggar-Hakra beds. Among them are, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi, Kalibangan, Harappan Civilisation remains the correct one, according to the common archaeological usage of naming a civilisation after its first findspot. John wrote, I was much exercised in my mind how we were to get ballast for the line of the railway and they were told of an ancient ruined city near the lines, called Brahminabad. Visiting the city, he found it full of hard well-burnt bricks, and, convinced there was a grand quarry for the ballast I wanted. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles of the track running from Karachi to Lahore. In 1872–75, Alexander Cunningham published the first Harappan seal and it was half a century later, in 1912, that more Harappan seals were discovered by J. J. H. MacKay, and Marshall. By 1931, much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations continued, such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before the independence in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani, Brij Basi Lal, Nani Gopal Majumdar, and Sir Marc Aurel Stein
7.
Harappa
–
Harappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about 24 km west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is 6 km from the ancient site, although modern Harappa has a legacy railway station from the period of the British Raj, it is today just a small crossroads town of population 15,000. The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, centered in Sindh and the Punjab. Per archaeological convention of naming a previously unknown civilization by its first excavated site, the ancient city of Harappa was heavily damaged under British rule, when bricks from the ruins were used as track ballast in the construction of the Lahore-Multan Railway. In 2005, an amusement park scheme at the site was abandoned when builders unearthed many archaeological artifacts during the early stages of building work. A plea from the Pakistani archaeologist Ahmad Hasan Dani to the Ministry of Culture resulted in a restoration of the site, the Indus Valley Civilization has its earliest roots in cultures such as that of Mehrgarh, approximately 6000 BCE. The two greatest cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, emerged circa 2600 BCE along the Indus River valley in Punjab, the bricks discovered were made of red sand, clay, stones and were baked at very high temperature. As early as 1826 Harappa located in west Punjab attracted the attention of a British officer in India, Indus Valley civilization was mainly an urban culture sustained by surplus agricultural production and commerce, the latter including trade with Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Both Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are generally characterized as having differentiated living quarters, flat-roofed brick houses, the weights and measures of the Indus Valley Civilization, on the other hand, were highly standardized, and conform to a set scale of gradations. Distinctive seals were used, among other applications, perhaps for identification of property, although copper and bronze were in use, iron was not yet employed. Wheel-made pottery—some of it adorned with animal and geometric motifs—has been found in profusion at all the major Indus sites, harappans had many trade routes along the Indus River that went as far as the Persian Gulf, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Some of the most valuable things traded were carnelian and lapis lazuli, what is clear is that Harappan society was not entirely peaceful, with the human skeletal remains demonstrating some of the highest rates of injury found in South Asian prehistory. The excavators of the site have proposed the following chronology of Harappas occupation, Ravi Aspect of the Hakra phase, kot Dijian phase, c.2800 –2600 BC. Harappan Phase, c.2600 –1900 BC, transitional Phase, c.1900 –1800 BC. Late Harappan Phase, c.1800 –1300 BC, by far the most exquisite and obscure artifacts unearthed to date are the small, square steatite seals engraved with human or animal motifs. A large number of seals have been found at sites as Mohenjo-Daro. Many bear pictographic inscriptions generally thought to be a form of writing or script, despite the efforts of philologists from all parts of the world, and despite the use of modern cryptographic analysis, the signs remain undeciphered
8.
Dilmun
–
Dilmun, or Telmun, was an ancient Semitic-speaking country mentioned throughout the history of Mesopotamia from the 3rd millennium BC onwards. It is regarded as one of the oldest civilizations in the Middle East, based on textual evidence, it is located in the Persian Gulf on a trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilisation, close to the sea and to artesian springs. Dilmun was an important trading centre, at the height of its power, it controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. According to some theories, the Sumerians regarded Dilmun as a sacred place. Dilmun was mentioned by the Mesopotamians as a partner, a source of copper. The scholarly consensus is that Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and this area is certainly what is meant by references to Dilmun among the lands conquered by King Sargon of Akkad and his descendants. It is often stated that the Sumerians described Dilmun as a garden paradise in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sumerian tale of the paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story. However, that is modern speculation since the home of Utnapishtim is never indicated as Dilmun. Dilmun was an important trading center from the fourth millennium to 800 BC. At the height of its power, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes, Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium. Dilmuns commercial power began to decline between 1000 BC and 800 BC because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf, in 600 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later the Persian Empire, ruled Dilmun. The Dilmun civilization is mentioned first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna. The adjective Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official, one of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash found in a door-socket, The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands. Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II recovered from Nippur, during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon and these letters were from a provincial official, Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur. The names referred to are Akkadian and these letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun, there are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun. One of the sites discovered in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked northeast Arabia
9.
Bahrain
–
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. Bahrains population is 1,234,567, including 666,172 non-nationals and it is 780 km2 in size, making it the third smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation and it has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries, which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam, following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was occupied by the Portuguese in 1521, who in turn were expelled in 1602 by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and it has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family, in the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Formerly a state, Bahrain was declared a Kingdom in 2002, in 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring. Bahrain had the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, since the late 20th century, Bahrain has invested in the banking and tourism sectors. Many large financial institutions have a presence in Manama, the countrys capital, Bahrain has a high Human Development Index and was recognised by the World Bank as a high income economy. In Arabic, Bahrayn is the form of bahr, so al-Bahrayn means the two seas, although which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Quran, but does not refer to the modern island—originally known to the Arabs as Awal— but rather to all of Eastern Arabia. Today, Bahrains two seas are generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island. In addition to wells, there are areas of the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the water as noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory with regard to Bahrains toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, another supposition by al-Jawahari suggests that the more formal name Bahri would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. Until the late Middle Ages, Bahrain referred to the region of Eastern Arabia that included Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, the region stretched from Basra in Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in Oman. This was Iqlīm al-Bahrayns Bahrayn Province, the exact date at which the term Bahrain began to refer solely to the Awal archipelago is unknown. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as Bahrain for a millennium, the island and kingdom were also commonly spelled Bahrein into the 1950s. Bahrain was home to the Dilmun civilization, an important Bronze Age trade centre linking Mesopotamia, Bahrain was later ruled by the Assyrians and Babylonians. From the 6th to 3rd century BC, Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire ruled by the Achaemenian dynasty, by about 250 BC, Parthia brought the Persian Gulf under its control and extended its influence as far as Oman
10.
University of Copenhagen
–
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479 as a studium generale, it is the second oldest institution for education in Scandinavia after Uppsala University. The university has 23,473 undergraduate students,17,398 postgraduate students,2,968 doctoral students, the university has four campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the headquarters located in central Copenhagen. Most courses are taught in Danish, however, many courses are offered in English. The university has several thousands of students, about half of whom come from Nordic countries. The university has had 8 alumni become Nobel laureates and has produced one Turing Award recipient, the rector, the prorector and the director of the university is appointed by the university board. The rector in turn appoints directors of the different parts of the central administration, the deans appoint heads of 50 departments. There is no faculty senate and faculty is not involved in the appointment of rector, deans, hence the university has no faculty governance, although there are elected Academic Boards at faculty level who advise the deans. The governing body manages a budget of about BDKK8.3. The University is organized into six faculties and about 100 departments, the University employs about 5,600 academic staff and 4,400 technical and administrative staff. The total number of enrolled students is about 40,000 annually, UCPH has established an international graduate talent program which provides grants for international Ph. D, students and a tenure track carrier system. UCPH operates about fifty master’s programmes taught in English, and has arranged about 150 exchange agreements with institutions and 800 Erasmus agreements. Each year there are about 1,700 incoming exchange students,2,000 outbound exchange students and 4,000 international degree-seeking students, about 3,000 Ph. D. students study there each year. South Campus – houses the Faculty of Humanities and a proportion of the Faculty of Science. In the winter of 2016–2017, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Theology will also move to South Campus, frederiksberg Campus – home to sections of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science also use the Taastrup Campus, the Faculty of Science also has facilities in Helsingør, Hørsholm and Nødebo. The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1479 and is the oldest university in Denmark, between the closing of the Studium Generale in Lund in 1536 and the establishment of the University of Aarhus in the late 1920s, it was the only university in Denmark. The university became a centre of Roman Catholic theological learning, but also had faculties for the study of law, medicine, between 1675 and 1788, the university introduced the concept of degree examinations
11.
Denmark
–
The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
12.
Bryn Mawr College
–
Bryn Mawr College is a womens liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The school has an enrollment of about 1300 undergraduate students and 450 graduate students, Bryn Mawr College is a private womens liberal arts college founded in 1885. The phrase bryn mawr means large hill in Welsh, literally hill large and it is named after the town of Bryn Mawr, in which the campus is located, which had been renamed by a representative of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bryn Mawr was the name of an estate granted to Rowland Ellis by William Penn in the 1680s. Elliss former home, also called Bryn Mawr, was a house near Dolgellau, Merionnydd, Gwynedd, the College was largely founded through the bequest of Joseph W. Taylor, and its first president was James Evans Rhoads. Bryn Mawr was one of the first institutions of education in the United States to offer graduate degrees, including doctorates. The first class included 36 undergraduate women and eight graduate students, Bryn Mawr was originally affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends, but by 1893 had become non-denominational. In 1912, Bryn Mawr became the first college in the United States to offer doctorates in social work, through the Department of Social Economy and this department became the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research in 1970. In 1931, Bryn Mawr began accepting men as graduate students, from 1921 to 1938 the Bryn Mawr campus was home to the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, which was founded as part of the labor education movement and the womens labor movement. The school taught women workers political economy, science, and literature, a June 3,2008, article in The New York Times discussed the move by womens colleges in the United States to promote their schools in the Middle East. The article noted that in doing so, the schools promote the work of alumnae of womens colleges such as Hillary Clinton, Emily Dickinson, Diane Sawyer, Katharine Hepburn and Madeleine Albright. The Dean of Admissions of Bryn Mawr noted, We still prepare a number of women scientists We’re really about the empowerment of women. Middle Eastern students who attend these colleges tell of a transition that can be jarring. The College celebrated its 125th anniversary of bold vision, for women, on February 9,2015, the Board of Trustees announced approval of a working group recommendation to expand the undergraduate applicant pool. Trans women and intersex individuals identifying as women may now apply for admission and this official decision made Bryn Mawr the fourth womens college in the United States to accept trans women. In 2011, Travel+Leisure named Bryn Mawr as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States. The majority of Bryn Mawr students live on campus in residence halls, many of the older residence halls were designed by Cope & Stewardson and are known for their Collegiate Gothic architecture, modeled after Cambridge University. Each is named after a county town in Wales, Brecon, Denbigh, Merion, and Radnor, Rhoads North and South was named after the colleges first president, James E. Rhoads, Rockefeller is named after its donor, John D. Rockefeller
13.
Third Dynasty of Ur
–
The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as Ur III by historians studying the period. The Third Dynasty of Ur was the last Sumerian dynasty which came to preeminent power in Mesopotamia and it began after several centuries of control by Akkadian and Gutian kings. It controlled the cities of Isin, Larsa and Eshnunna and extended as far north as the Jazira, the Third Dynasty of Ur arose some time after the fall of the Akkad Dynasty. Their last king, Tirigan, was out by Utu-hengal of Uruk. Following Utu-Hengals reign, Ur-Nammu founded the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerian King List tells us that Utu-hengal had reigned for seven years, although only one year-name for him is known from records, that of his accession, suggesting a shorter reign. It is possible that Ur-Nammu was originally his governor, there are two stelae discovered in Ur that include this detail in an inscription about Ur-Nammus life. Some scholars theorize that Ur-Nammu led a revolt against Utu-hengal, deposed him, another hypothesis is that Ur-Nammu was a close relative to Utu-hengal, and the latter had asked the former to rule over the city of Ur in his name. After four years of ruling in Ur, Ur-Nammu rose to prominence as a warrior-king when he crushed the ruler of Lagash in battle, after this battle, Ur-Nammu seems to have earned the title king of Sumer and Agade. Urs dominance over the Neo-Sumerian Empire was consolidated with the famous Code of Ur-Nammu, many significant changes occurred in the empire under Shulgis reign. He took steps to centralize and standardize the procedures of the empire and he is credited with standardizing administrative processes, archival documentation, the tax system, and the national calendar. He established an army of Ur. Shulgi was deified during his lifetime, an honor reserved for dead kings. With the fall of the Ur III Dynasty after an Elamite invasion in 2004/1940 BC, assyriologists employ many complicated methods for establishing the most precise dates possible for this period, but controversy still exists. Generally, scholars use either the conventional or the low chronologies and they are as follows, The land ruled by the Ur III kings was divided up into provinces that were each run by a governor. In certain tumultuous regions, military commanders assumed more power in governing, each province contained a redistribution center where provincial taxes, called bala, would all go to be shipped to the capital. Taxes could be payable in forms, from crops to livestock to land. The government would then apportion out goods as needed, including giving food rations to the needy and this is an area where scholars have many different views. It had long been posited that the laborer was nothing more than a serf
14.
Cities of the ancient Near East
–
The earliest cities in history appear in the ancient Near East. The largest cities of the Bronze Age Near East housed several tens of thousands, memphis in the Early Bronze Age with some 30,000 inhabitants was the largest city of the time by far. The KI
15.
Barbar Temple
–
The Barbar Temple is an archaeological site located in the village of Barbar, Bahrain, and considered to be part of the Dilmun culture. The most recent of the three Barbar temples was rediscovered by a Danish archaeological team in 1954, a further two temples were discovered on the site with the oldest dating back to 3000 BC. The temples were built of blocks, believed to have been carved out from Jidda Island. The three temples were built atop one another with the second built approximately 500 years later and the third added between 2100 BC and 2000 BC. It is thought that the temples were constructed to worship the god Enki, the god of wisdom and freshwater, the temple contains two altars and a natural water spring that is thought to have held spiritual significance for the worshipers. During the excavation of the many tools, weapons, pottery. The most famous find was a bulls head The site is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage The site was discovered by P. V. Excavations, by a Danish team led by Hellmuth Andersen and Peder Mortensen, began that year, work at the site resumed in 2004. Temple I, the earliest temple was built on a platform approximately 25m long and 16 to 18m wide. This was originally constructed on a bed of sand, which appears to have been consolidated by a layer of blue clay. The temple was covered by a layer of clean sand. Also copper objects were deposited in small heaps or singly, in the south-western corner of this early temple, steps led down to a square-built well. The central terrace was preserved in its height,2 metres, with the remains of trapezoid shrine in the center. This first one was built from local Bahraini stone, the cult features the subterranean shrine, the temple well and the oval sacrificial court. The skill with which this task was carried out may be seen in the temple walls. A double circular altar and a table stood in the center of the shrine. To the south were three cult stones shaped like the anchors of the merchant ships, although the central one bore a protruding animal head, like the altars depicted on the seals. A temple treasure lay in the stone pit in the north-east comer. The central terrace was crowned by a shrine built of cut stone with stone paving
16.
Dibba Al-Hisn
–
Dibba Al-Hisn is a pene-exclave of the emirate of Al-Sharjah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates. It is bordered by the Gulf of Oman from the East, Dibba Al-Baya from the North and it is also geographically part of the Dibba region. It is the smallest in size among the Dibbas and it is mostly known for the its fish market and the ancient fortress, from which it got its name. Also, it is known for its density of population relative to the other Dibbas. Dibba Al-Hisn has been an important site of trade and settlement since the pre-Islamic era. Under the Sasanians and their Omani clients the Al-Juland, an important market existed at Dibba, Dibba was sometimes the capital of Oman. According to Ibn Habib, merchants from Sindh, India, China, since Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, this faction committed an act of Ridda, according to Islamic beliefs. The plain behind the Omani part of Dibba, Dibba Al-Baya, still contains a large cemetery, which, according to local tradition, represents the fallen apostates of Dibba. During the time of the Abbasid caliph Al Mutadid, a battle was fought at Dibba during the conquest of Oman by the Abbasid governor of Iraq and Bahrain. Dibba Al-Hisn is believed to be the site where the Portuguese during the Habsburg Dynasty built a fort, in August 1648, the Arabs besieged Muscat, Oman, and on October 31,1648, a treaty was signed between the two opponents. The terms required the Portuguese to build the fortress of Kuriyat, Dibba Al-Hisn, under a Hakim Sheikh Ahmad ibn Sultan al-Qasimi. This timeline states events related to Dibba of UAE — Dibba Al-Fujairah, june 3,1973, UAE president Sheikh Zayed began an inspection tour of the Northern Emirates, including Ras al-Khaimah, Al-Rams, Dibba Al-Hisn, Dibba Al-Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, Fujairah, and Masafi. September 10,1974, Mohammad Khalifa Al Kindi signed a AED52 million contract for the construction, the Council of Ministers approved the construction of the highway between Dibba Al-Fujairah and Masafi at a cost of AED94.5 Million. July 23,1976, Sheikh Zayed visited Fujairah and he also inspected the new Dibba Al-Fujairah - Khor Fakkan highway project and visited Falaj Al-Mualla village. January 19,1977, The Federal Council of Ministers approved a number of projects costing AED56 million, including water distribution in Ajman, january 10,1978, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi opened the wharf at Dibba Al-Hisn, which can accommodate 80 fishing boats. Part of the port will be used as ships berths, february 7,1978, The Ministry of Water and Electricity announced that the east coast from Dibba to Fujairah had been connected through an electrical feeder station. January 11,1979, The AED14 million electrical plant in Dibba Al-Fujairah was opened by Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, may 27,1980, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum ordered the immediate commencement of the 100-bed extension to the Dibba Al-Fujairah and Khor Fakkan hospitals. November 19,1980, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi laid the stone for the AED350 million Fujairah Cement Factory in Dibba Al-Fujairah
17.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
18.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
