Ibn Battuta
He is known for his extensive travels, accounts of which were published in his Travels. Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands and his journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China. He claimed descent from a Berber tribe known as the Lawata, as a young man he would have studied at a Sunni Maliki madhhab, the dominant form of education in North Africa at that time. Maliki Muslims requested Ibn Battuta serve as their religious judge as he was from an area where it was practiced. In June 1325, at the age of twenty-one, Ibn Battuta set off from his hometown on a hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca and he would not see Morocco again for twenty-four years. So I braced my resolution to quit my dear ones and male and my parents being yet in the bonds of life, it weighed sorely upon me to part from them, and both they and I were afflicted with sorrow at this separation.
He travelled to Mecca overland, following the North African coast across the sultanates of Abd al-Wadid and Hafsid, the route took him through Tlemcen, Béjaïa, and Tunis, where he stayed for two months. For safety, Ibn Battuta usually joined a caravan to reduce the risk of being robbed and he took a bride in the town of Sfax, the first in a series of marriages that would feature in his travels. In the early spring of 1326, after a journey of over 3,500 km, Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Alexandria and he met two ascetic pious men in Alexandria. One was Sheikh Burhanuddin who is supposed to have foretold the destiny of Ibn Battuta as a world traveller saying It seems to me that you are fond of foreign travel and you will visit my brother Fariduddin in India, Rukonuddin in Sind and Burhanuddin in China. Another pious man Sheikh Murshidi interpreted the meaning of a dream of Ibn Battuta that he was meant to be a world traveller and he spent several weeks visiting sites in the area, and headed inland to Cairo, the capital of the Mamluk Sultanate and an important city.
After spending about a month in Cairo, he embarked on the first of many detours within the safety of Mamluk territory. Of the three routes to Mecca, Ibn Battuta chose the least-travelled, which involved a journey up the Nile valley. Upon approaching the town, however, a local rebellion forced him to turn back, Ibn Battuta returned to Cairo and took a second side trip, this time to Mamluk-controlled Damascus. During his first trip he had encountered a man who prophesied that he would only reach Mecca by travelling through Syria. Without this help many travellers would be robbed and murdered, after spending the Muslim month of Ramadan in Damascus, he joined a caravan travelling the 1,300 km south to Medina, site of the tomb of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. After four days in the town, he journeyed on to Mecca, rather than returning home, Ibn Battuta instead decided to continue on, choosing as his next destination the Ilkhanate, a Mongol Khanate, to the northeast. On 17 November 1326, following a month spent in Mecca, the group headed north to Medina and then, travelling at night, turned northeast across the Najd plateau to Najaf, on a journey that lasted about two weeks
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur, it is crimped, Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the layer of the skin called the epidermis. Follicles can be classed as primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber, medullated fibers and true wool fibers, secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp, Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out. Wools scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a specific heat coefficient, so it impedes heat transfer in general.
This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation, felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together. The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers, a fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while coarser wool like karakul may have as few as one or two. In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, on sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. Wool fibers readily absorb moisture, but are not hollow, Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics and it is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown and random mixes. Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers, Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool is usually specified for garments for firefighters, Wool is considered by the medical profession to be allergenic.
Sheep shearing is the process by which the fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four categories, broken, bellies. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, staple length, staple strength, the sheep is given a dip in antiseptic solution after shearing, so as to cure the wounds caused during shearing
Yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, crocheting, weaving and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine, modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for hand or machine embroidery, the word yarn comes from Middle English, from the Old English gearn, akin to Old High Germans garn yarn, Greeks chordē string, and Sanskrits hira band. Yarn can be made from a number of natural or synthetic fibers, many types of yarn are made differently though. There are two types of yarn and filament. The most common plant fiber is cotton, which is spun into fine yarn for mechanical weaving or knitting into cloth. Cotton and polyester are the most commonly spun fibers in the world, cotton is grown throughout the world, harvested and prepared for yarn spinning. Polyester is extruded from polymers derived from gas and oil.
Synthetic fibers are generally extruded in continuous strands of gel-state materials and these strands are drawn and cured to obtain properties desirable for processing. Synthetic fibers come in three forms, staple and filament. Staple is cut fibers, generally sold in lengths up to 120mm, tow is a continuous rope of fibers consisting of many filaments loosely joined side-to-side. Filament is a continuous strand consisting of anything from 1 filament to many, synthetic fiber is most often measured in a weight per linear measurement basis, along with cut length. Denier and Dtex are the most common weight to length measures, cut-length only applies to staple fiber. Filament extrusion is sometimes referred to as spinning but most people equate spinning with spun yarn production, the most commonly spun animal fiber is wool harvested from sheep. For hand knitting and hobby knitting, thick and acrylic yarns are frequently used, other animal fibers used include alpaca, mohair, llama and silk. More rarely, yarn may be spun from camel, possum, musk ox, dog, rabbit, or buffalo hair, and even turkey or ostrich feathers.
Natural fibers such as these have the advantage of being slightly elastic and very breathable, while trapping a great deal of air, other natural fibers that can be used for yarn include linen and cotton. These tend to be much less elastic, and retain less warmth than the animal-hair yarns, the finished product will look rather different from the woollen yarns
Richard II of England
Richard II, known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed on 30 September 1399. Richard, a son of Edward, the Black Prince, was born in Bordeaux during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III. Richard was the brother of Edward of Angoulême, upon whose death, Richard. Upon the death of Richards father prior to the death of Edward III, Richard, by primogeniture, with Edward IIIs death the following year, Richard succeeded to the throne at the age of ten. During Richards first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of councils, most of the aristocracy preferred this to a regency led by the kings uncle, John of Gaunt, yet Gaunt remained highly influential. The first major challenge of the reign was the Peasants Revolt in 1381, the young king played a major part in the successful suppression of this crisis. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, Richard took his revenge on the appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled, the next two years have been described by historians as Richards tyranny.
In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the king disinherited Gaunts son, Henry of Bolingbroke, Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Claiming initially that his goal was only to reclaim his patrimony, meeting little resistance, Bolingbroke deposed Richard and had himself crowned as King Henry IV. Richard died in captivity in February 1400, he is thought to have starved to death. Richard was said to have tall, good-looking and intelligent. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years War that Edward III had started, modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. While probably not insane, as historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed, Richard of Bordeaux was the younger son of Edward, the Black Prince, and Joan of Kent. Edward, heir to the throne of England, had distinguished himself as a commander in the early phases of the Hundred Years War.
After further military adventures, however, he contracted dysentery in Spain in 1370 and he never fully recovered and had to return to England the next year. Joan of Kent had been at the centre of a dispute between Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, and William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, from which Holland emerged victorious. Less than a year after Hollands death in 1360, Joan married Prince Edward, since she was a granddaughter of King Edward I and a first cousin of King Edward III, the marriage required papal approval
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, cotton, Textiles are formed by weaving, crocheting, knotting, or felting. The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made of interlacing fibres, a fabric is a material made through weaving, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is often a piece of fabric used for a specific purpose. The word textile is from Latin, from the adjective textilis, meaning woven, from textus, the word cloth derives from the Old English clað, meaning a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one, from Proto-Germanic kalithaz. The discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests textile-like materials were made even in prehistoric times.
The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for such as bags. In the household they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, coverings for tables and other flat surfaces, in the workplace they are used in industrial and scientific processes such as filtering. Textiles are used in traditional crafts such as sewing, quilting. Textiles for industrial purposes, and chosen for other than their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for applications, medical textiles, agrotextiles. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met, woven of threads coated with zinc oxide nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of self-powering nanosystems using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body movements.
Fashion designers commonly rely on textile designs to set their fashion collections apart from others, the late Gianni Versace, and Emilio Pucci can be easily recognized by their signature print driven designs. Textiles can be made from many materials and these materials come from four main sources, plant and synthetic. In the past, all textiles were made from natural fibres, including plant, animal, in the 20th century, these were supplemented by artificial fibres made from petroleum. Textiles are made in various strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest gossamer to the sturdiest canvas, microfibre refers to fibres made of strands thinner than one denier
Polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate, polyesters include naturally occurring chemicals, such as in the cutin of plant cuticles, as well as synthetics through step-growth polymerization such as polybutyrate. Natural polyesters and a few synthetic ones are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyesters are not and this material is used very widely in clothing. Depending on the structure, polyester can be a thermoplastic or thermoset. There are polyester resins cured by hardeners, the most common polyesters are thermoplastics, industrial polyester fibers and ropes are used in car tire reinforcements, fabrics for conveyor belts, safety belts, coated fabrics and plastic reinforcements with high-energy absorption. Polyester fiber is used as cushioning and insulating material in pillows, Polyester fabrics are highly stain-resistant— in fact, the only class of dyes which can be used to alter the color of polyester fabric are what are known as disperse dyes.
Polyester fibers are spun together with natural fibers to produce a cloth with blended properties. Cotton-polyester blends can be strong and tear-resistant, and reduce shrinking, synthetic fibers in polyester create materials with water and environmental resistance compared to plant-derived fibers. Disadvantages of cotton and polyester blends include being less breathable than cotton and they are less fire resistant and can melt when ignited. Polyester blends have been renamed so as to suggest their similarity or even superiority to natural fibers. Polyesters are used to make bottles, tarpaulin, liquid crystal displays, filters, dielectric film for capacitors, film insulation for wire, polyesters are widely used as a finish on high-quality wood products such as guitars and vehicle/yacht interiors. Thixotropic properties of spray-applicable polyesters make them ideal for use on open-grain timbers, as they can quickly fill wood grain, cured polyesters can be sanded and polished to a high-gloss, durable finish.
Liquid crystalline polyesters are among the first industrially used liquid crystal polymers and they are used for their mechanical properties and heat-resistance. These traits are important in their application as an abradable seal in jet engines. Polyesters as thermoplastics may change shape after the application of heat, while combustible at high temperatures, polyesters tend to shrink away from flames and self-extinguish upon ignition. Polyester fibers have high tenacity and E-modulus as well as low water absorption and they are used in the liquid state as casting materials, in sheet molding compounds, as fiberglass laminating resins and in non-metallic auto-body fillers. They are used as the polymer matrix in pre-pregs. Fiberglass-reinforced unsaturated polyesters find wide application in bodies of yachts and as parts of cars
Mehmed the Conqueror
Mehmed II, commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was an Ottoman sultan who ruled first for a short time from August 1444 to September 1446, and from February 1451 to May 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Eastern Roman Empire, Mehmed continued his conquests in Anatolia with its reunification and in Southeast Europe as far west as Bosnia. Mehmed is considered a hero in modern-day Turkey and parts of the wider Muslim world, among other things, Istanbuls Fatih district, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Fatih Mosque are named after him. Mehmed II was born on 30 March 1432, in Edirne and his father was Sultan Murad II and his mother Hüma Valide Hatun, born in the town of Devrekani, Kastamonu. When Mehmed II was eleven years old he was sent to Amasya to govern and thus gain experience, Sultan Murad II sent a number of teachers for him to study under. This Islamic education had an impact in molding Mehmeds mindset. He was influenced in his practice of Islamic epistemology by practitioners of science - particularly by his mentor, Molla Gürani -, after Murad II made peace with the Karamanids in Anatolia in August 1444, he abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son Mehmed II.
In Mehmed IIs first reign, he defeated the crusade led by János Hunyadi after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged. Cardinal Julian Cesarini, the representative of the pope, had convinced the king of Hungary that breaking the truce with Muslims was not a betrayal, at this time Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne, but Murad II refused. Angry at his father, who had long retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote, If you are the Sultan, come. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and it was only after receiving this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the Battle of Varna in 1444. When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451 he devoted himself to strengthening the Ottoman navy, having completed his fortresses, Mehmed proceeded to levy a toll on ships passing within reach of their cannon. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the companion and standard bearer of Muhammad, had died during the first Siege of Constantinople, as Mehmed IIs army approached Constantinople, Mehmeds sheikh Akshamsaddin discovered the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari.
After the conquest, Mehmed built Eyüp Sultan Mosque at the site to emphasize the importance of the conquest to the Islamic world, in early April, the Siege of Constantinople began. At first, the walls held off the Turks, even though Mehmeds army used the new bombard designed by Orban. The harbor of the Golden Horn was blocked by a boom chain, thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls. About a month later, Constantinople fell, on 29 May, after this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople. The contemporary scholar George of Trebizond supported his claim, the claim was recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church, but not by the Catholic Church and most of, if not all, Western Europe
Spandex
Spandex, Lycra or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity. It is stronger and more durable than natural rubber and it is a polyester-polyurethane copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPonts Benger Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia. When introduced in 1962, it revolutionized many areas of the clothing industry, the name spandex is an anagram of the word expands. Brand names for spandex include Lycra, Acepora, Creora, INVIYA, ROICA and Dorlastan, Spandex fibers are produced in four different ways, melt extrusion, reaction spinning, solution dry spinning, and solution wet spinning. All of these include the initial step of reacting monomers to produce a prepolymer. Once the prepolymer is formed, it is reacted further in various ways, the solution dry spinning method is used to produce over 94. 5% of the worlds spandex fibers, and the process has five steps,1. The first step is to produce the prepolymer and this is done by mixing a macroglycol with a diisocyanate monomer.
The two compounds are mixed in a vessel to produce a prepolymer. A typical ratio of glycol to diisocyanate is 1,2, the prepolymer is further reacted with an equal amount of diamine. This reaction is known as chain extension reaction, the resulting solution is diluted with a solvent to produce the spinning solution. The solvent helps make the solution thinner and more easily handled, the spinning solution is pumped into a cylindrical spinning cell where it is cured and converted into fibers. In this cell, the solution is forced through a metal plate called a spinneret. This causes the solution to be aligned in strands of liquid polymer, as the strands pass through the cell, they are heated in the presence of a nitrogen and solvent gas. This process causes the polymer to react chemically and form solid strands. As the fibers exit the cell, an amount of solid strands are bundled together to produce the desired thickness, each fiber of spandex is made up of many smaller individual fibers that adhere to one another due to the natural stickiness of their surface.
The resulting fibers are treated with a finishing agent which can be magnesium stearate or another polymer. This treatment prevents the fibers sticking together and aids in textile manufacture, the fibers are transferred through a series of rollers onto a spool. Because of its elasticity and strength, spandex has been incorporated into a range of garments
Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid (/hɑːˈruːnɑːlrɑːˈʃiːd/ Arabic, هَارُون الرَشِيد, Hārūn Ar-Rašīd, in English, Aaron the Just,17 March 763 or February 766 —24 March 809 was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His birth date is debated, with sources giving dates from 763 to 766. His surname translates to the Just, the Upright, or the Rightly-Guided, fully translated, Al-Rashid ruled from 786 to 809, during the peak of the Islamic Golden Age. His time was marked by scientific and religious prosperity, Islamic art and music flourished significantly during his reign. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, during his rule, the family of Barmakids, which played a deciding role in establishing the Abbasid Caliphate, declined gradually. In 796, he moved his court and government to Raqqa in present-day Syria, since Harun was intellectually and militarily resourceful, his life and his court have been the subject of many tales, some factual, but most believed to be fictitious. One factual tale is the story of the clock that was among various presents that Harun sent to Charlemagne, the presents were carried by the returning Frankish mission that came to offer Harun friendship in 799.
Charlemagne and his retinue deemed the clock to be a conjuration for the sounds it emanated, among what is known to be fictional is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, which contains many stories that are fantasized by Haruns magnificent court and even Harun al-Rashid himself. Amongst some of the Twelver sect of Shia Muslims he is disliked for his role in the murder of their 7th Imam, although Sunnis. Hārūn was born in Rey, part of Jibal in the Abbasid Caliphate, in present-day Tehran Province, the latter expedition was a huge undertaking, and even reached the Asian suburbs of Constantinople. Hārūn became caliph in 786 when he was in his early twenties and he began his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried on the work of the government so well that they greatly improved the condition of the people. It was under Hārūn ar-Rashīd that Baghdad flourished into the most splendid city of its period, tribute was paid by many rulers to the caliph, and these funds were used on architecture, the arts and a luxurious life at court.
In 796, Hārūn decided to move his court and the government to Raqqa at the middle Euphrates, here he spent 12 years, most of his reign. Only once did he return to Baghdad for a short visit, several reasons might have influenced the decision to move to Raqqa. It was close to the Byzantine border, the communication lines via the Euphrates to Baghdad and via the Balikh river to the north and via Palmyra to Damascus were excellent. The agriculture was flourishing to support the new Imperial center, and from Raqqa any rebellion in Syria and the middle Euphrates area could be controlled. Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani pictures in his anthology of poems the splendid life in his court, in Raqqa the Barmekids managed the fate of the empire, and there both heirs, al-Amin and al-Mamun grew up. For the administration of the empire, he fell back on his mentor
Genoa
Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC.
In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phocaeans and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory.
Trades included skins and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
Timbuktu
The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census, starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, ivory and it became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao, the invaders established a new ruling class, the Arma, who after 1612 became virtually independent of Morocco. However, the age of the city, during which it was a major learning and cultural center of the Mali empire, was over. Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification.
Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, have described Timbuktu and these stories fueled speculation in Europe, where the citys reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious. This reputation overshadows the town itself in times, to the point where it is best known in Western culture as an expression for a distant or outlandish place. French spelling often appears in reference as Tombouctou. As well as its spelling, Timbuktus toponymy is still open to discussion, the word itself consisted of two parts and butu. Africanus did not explain the meaning of this Butu, Heinrich Barth wrote, The town was probably so called, because it was built originally in a hollow or cavity in the sand-hills. Tùmbutu means hole or womb in the Songhay language, if it were a Temáshight word, the name is generally interpreted by Europeans as well of Buktu, but tin has nothing to do with well. Hence, Timbuktu would mean place covered by small dunes, looking after their belongings was a slave woman of theirs called Tinbuktu, which in their language means lump.
The blessed spot where she encamped was named after her, the French Orientalist René Basset forwarded another theory, the name derives from the Zenaga root b-k-t, meaning to be distant or hidden, and the feminine possessive particle tin. The meaning hidden could point to the location in a slight hollow. Without consensus, the etymology of Timbuktu remains unclear, like other important Medieval West African towns such as Djenné, and Dia, Iron Age settlements have been discovered near Timbuktu that predate the traditional foundation date of the town. A survey of the area by Susan and Roderick McIntosh in 1984 identified several Iron Age sites along the el-Ahmar, an ancient wadi system that passes a few kilometres to the east of the modern town
House of Medici
The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until they were able to fund the Medici Bank. The bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century, the Medici produced three Popes of the Catholic Church—Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII, and Pope Leo XI, two regent queens of France—Catherine de Medici and Marie de Medici. In 1531, the family became hereditary Dukes of Florence, in 1569, the duchy was elevated to a grand duchy after territorial expansion. They ruled the Grand Duchy of Tuscany from its inception until 1737, the grand duchy witnessed degrees of economic growth under the earlier grand dukes, but by the time of Cosimo III de Medici, Tuscany was fiscally bankrupt. Their wealth and influence initially derived from the textile trade guided by the guild of the Arte della Lana. They, along with families of Italy—such as the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Este of Ferrara. The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and most respected institutions in Europe, there are some estimates that the Medici family were the wealthiest family in Europe for a time.
From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and in wider Italy, a notable contribution to the profession of accounting was the improvement of the general ledger system through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits. The Medici family were among the earliest businesses to use the system, the Medici family came from the agricultural Mugello region, north of Florence, being mentioned for the first time in a document of 1230. The origin of the name is uncertain, Medici is the plural of medico, written del medico or delmedigo, medical doctor. It has been suggested that the derived from one Medico di Potrone, a castellan of Potrone in the late 11th century. The dynasty began with the founding of the Medici Bank, until the late 14th century, prior to the Medici, the leading family of Florence was the House of Albizzi. In 1293 the Ordinances of Justice were enacted, which became the constitution of the republic of Florence throughout the Italian Renaissance.
The citys numerous luxurious palazzi were becoming surrounded by townhouses, built by the ever prospering merchant class. In 1298, one of the leading banking families of Europe, the main challengers to the Albizzi family were the Medicis, first under Giovanni de Medici, under his son Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici and great-grandson, Lorenzo de Medici. The Medici controlled the Medici bank—then Europes largest bank—and an array of other enterprises in Florence, in 1433, the Albizzi managed to have Cosimo exiled. The next year, however, a pro-Medici Signoria was elected, the Medici became the citys leading family, a position they would hold for the next three centuries. Cosimo and Lorenzo rarely held official posts but were the unquestioned leaders, some examples of these families include the Bardi, Salviati and the Tornabuoni
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 979–980.
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