1.
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, flax, cotton, hemp, Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or felting. The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile, however, 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, knitting, 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, however, 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, towels, coverings for tables, beds, 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, geotextiles, 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, armani, 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, animal, plant, mineral, 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
Textile
–
Sunday textile market on the sidewalks of
Karachi, Pakistan
Textile
–
Simple textile (magnified)
Textile
–
A small fabric shop in
Al-Mukalla, Yemen
Textile
–
Late antique textile,
Egyptian, now in the
Dumbarton Oaks collection
2.
Yarn
–
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, 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, spun 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, ginned, 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, annealed, and cured to obtain properties desirable for later processing. Synthetic fibers come in three forms, staple, tow, 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, wool and acrylic yarns are frequently used, other animal fibers used include alpaca, angora, mohair, llama, cashmere, and silk. More rarely, yarn may be spun from camel, yak, possum, musk ox, cat, dog, wolf, 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 also look rather different from the woollen yarns
Yarn
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Yarn
Yarn
–
Spools of thread
Yarn
–
Cotton being spun
Yarn
–
A full restored and operative primary-level spinning machine taking freshly carded
cotton tails from barrels and spinning them into yarn at the
Quarry Bank Mill in the UK.
3.
Loom
–
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads, the precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same. The word loom is derived from the Old English geloma formed from ge- and loma, a root of unknown origin, in 1404 it was used to mean a machine to enable weaving thread into cloth. By 1838 it had gained the meaning of a machine for interlacing thread. Weaving is done by intersecting the longitudinal threads, the warp, i. e. that which is thrown across, with the transverse threads, the major components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses or shafts, shuttle, reed and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening, shedding is the raising of part of the warp yarn to form a shed, through which the filling yarn, carried by the shuttle, can be inserted. On the modern loom, simple and intricate shedding operations are performed automatically by the heddle or heald frame and this is a rectangular frame to which a series of wires, called heddles or healds, are attached. The yarns are passed through the eye holes of the heddles, the weave pattern determines which harness controls which warp yarns, and the number of harnesses used depends on the complexity of the weave. Two common methods of controlling the heddles are dobbies and a Jacquard Head, as the harnesses raise the heddles or healds, which raise the warp yarns, the shed is created. The filling yarn is inserted through the shed by a carrier device called a shuttle. The shuttle is normally pointed at each end to allow passage through the shed, in a traditional shuttle loom, the filling yarn is wound onto a quill, which in turn is mounted in the shuttle. The filling yarn emerges through a hole in the shuttle as it moves across the loom, a single crossing of the shuttle from one side of the loom to the other is known as a pick. As the shuttle back and forth across the shed, it weaves an edge, or selvage. Between the heddles and the roll, the warp threads pass through another frame called the reed. The portion of the fabric that has already been formed but not yet rolled up on the roll is called the fell. After the shuttle moves across the loom laying down the fill yarn, conventional shuttle looms can operate at speeds of about 150 to 160 picks per minute. There are two motions, because with each weaving operation the newly constructed fabric must be wound on a cloth beam. This process is called taking up, at the same time, the warp yarns must be let off or released from the warp beams
Loom
–
A foot-treadle operated
Hattersley & Sons, Domestic Loom, built under license in 1893, in
Keighley, Yorkshire.
Loom
–
A woman in
Konya,
Turkey, works at a vertical loom
Loom
–
Shuttles
Loom
–
A back strap loom with a shed-rod.
4.
Dry cleaning
–
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. It is used to clean fabrics that degrade in water, and delicate fabrics that cannot withstand the rough and tumble of a washing machine and it can eliminate labor-intensive hand washing. Unlike what its name implies, dry cleaning is not actually a dry process, clothes are soaked in a solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically toxic tetrachloroethylene, which the industry calls perc, perc is the most widely used solvent across the world, although new solvents have become more popular in the United States and Europe. Modern dry cleanings use of non-water-based solvents to remove soil and stains from clothes was reported as early as 1855. e, flammability concerns led William Joseph Stoddard, a dry cleaner from Atlanta, to develop Stoddard solvent as a slightly less flammable alternative to gasoline-based solvents. The use of highly flammable petroleum solvents caused many fires and explosions, after World War I, dry cleaners began using chlorinated solvents. These solvents were much less flammable than petroleum solvents and had improved cleaning power, on March 3,1821, Thomas L. Jennings became the first African-American to be granted a United States patent. The patent was for his invention of a process called dry scouring. By the mid-1930s, the dry cleaning industry had adopted tetrachloroethylene, or PCE for short and it has excellent cleaning power and is stable, nonflammable, and gentle to most garments. PCE, however, was incidentally the first chemical to be classified as a carcinogen by the U. S, tetrachloroethylene is currently considered a potential carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In 1993, the California Air Resources Board adopted regulations to reduce PCE emissions from dry cleaning operations, the same year, the U. S. EPA updated its regulation in 2006 to reflect the availability of improved emission controls. The replacement of PCE with other remains of interest as it will ultimately disappear from the market. Traditionally, the process was carried out at centralized factories. High street cleaners shops received garments from customers, sent them to the factory, and then had returned to the shop. This was due mainly to the risk of fire or dangerous fumes created by the cleaning process, at this time, dry cleaning was carried out in two different machines—one for the cleaning process, and the second to dry the garments. Machines of this era were described as vented, their drying exhausts were expelled to the atmosphere and this not only contributed to environmental contamination but also much potentially reusable PCE was lost to the atmosphere. Much stricter controls on solvent emissions have ensured that all dry cleaning machines in the Western world are now fully enclosed, in enclosed machines, solvent recovered during the drying process is returned condensed and distilled, so it can be reused to clean further loads or safely disposed of. The majority of modern enclosed machines also incorporate a computer-controlled drying sensor and this system ensures that only small amounts of PCE fumes are released at the end of the cycle
Dry cleaning
–
A modern dry cleaning machine with touchscreen and SPS control, manufacturer EazyClean, type EC124, photo taken prior to installation
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
–
Series 3 Dry cleaning machine with PLC control, manufacturer, BÖWE Textile cleaning Germany
5.
Warp (weaving)
–
In weaving, the weft is the term for the thread or yarn which is drawn through, inserted over-and-under, the lengthwise warp yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom to create cloth. Warp is the lengthwise or longitudinal thread in a roll, while weft is the transverse thread, a single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called an end or end. The weft is a thread or yarn usually made of spun fibre, the original fibres used were wool, flax or cotton. Today, man-made fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, the weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, air jets or rapier grippers. Hand looms were the original weavers tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand, inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, with the picking stick and the flying shuttle speeding up production of cloth. The power loom patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 allowed sixty picks per minute, a useful way of remembering which is warp and which is weft is, one of them goes from weft to wight. The words woof and weft derive ultimately from the Old English word wefan, Warp means that which is thrown away. Very simple looms use a warp, in which a single. Because the warp is held under tension during the entire process of weaving and warp yarn must be strong, yarn for warp ends is usually spun. Traditional fibres for warping are wool, linen, alpaca, with the improvements in spinning technology during the Industrial Revolution, it became possible to make cotton yarn of sufficient strength to be used as the warp in mechanized weaving. Later, artificial or man-made fibres such as nylon or rayon were employed, while most people are familiar with weft-faced weavings, it is possible to create warp-faced weavings using densely arranged warp threads. In warp-faced weavings, the design for the textile is in the warp, warp-faced weavings are defined by length-wise stripes and vertical designs due to the limitations of color placement. The expression woof and warp is used metaphorically as one might similarly use fabric, e. g. the warp. The expression is used as a metaphor for the structure on which something is built. Warp or woof are also found in the Bible in the discussion of mildews found in cloth materials in Leviticus 13. Weft is also a term for temporary hair extensions
Warp (weaving)
–
Warp and weft in
plain weaving
Warp (weaving)
–
Weaves
6.
Velveteen
–
Velveteen is a cloth made in imitation of velvet. Normally cotton, the term is applied to a mixture of silk. Some velveteens are a kind of fustian, having a rib of velvet pile alternating with a plain depression and this fabric has a pile that is short and is closely set. It has a hand and a slightly sloping pile. Compared to true velvet, velveteen has greater body, does not drape as easily, the velveteen trade varies with the fashions that control the production of velvet. The Velveteen Rabbit Velour This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Media related to Velveteen at Wikimedia Commons
Velveteen
–
Block printed velveteen fabric designed by
William Morris.
Velveteen
7.
Weft
–
In weaving, the weft is the term for the thread or yarn which is drawn through, inserted over-and-under, the lengthwise warp yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom to create cloth. Warp is the lengthwise or longitudinal thread in a roll, while weft is the transverse thread, a single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called an end or end. The weft is a thread or yarn usually made of spun fibre, the original fibres used were wool, flax or cotton. Today, man-made fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, the weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, air jets or rapier grippers. Hand looms were the original weavers tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand, inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, with the picking stick and the flying shuttle speeding up production of cloth. The power loom patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 allowed sixty picks per minute, a useful way of remembering which is warp and which is weft is, one of them goes from weft to wight. The words woof and weft derive ultimately from the Old English word wefan, Warp means that which is thrown away. Very simple looms use a warp, in which a single. Because the warp is held under tension during the entire process of weaving and warp yarn must be strong, yarn for warp ends is usually spun. Traditional fibres for warping are wool, linen, alpaca, with the improvements in spinning technology during the Industrial Revolution, it became possible to make cotton yarn of sufficient strength to be used as the warp in mechanized weaving. Later, artificial or man-made fibres such as nylon or rayon were employed, while most people are familiar with weft-faced weavings, it is possible to create warp-faced weavings using densely arranged warp threads. In warp-faced weavings, the design for the textile is in the warp, warp-faced weavings are defined by length-wise stripes and vertical designs due to the limitations of color placement. The expression woof and warp is used metaphorically as one might similarly use fabric, e. g. the warp. The expression is used as a metaphor for the structure on which something is built. Warp or woof are also found in the Bible in the discussion of mildews found in cloth materials in Leviticus 13. Weft is also a term for temporary hair extensions
Weft
–
Warp and weft in plain weaving
Weft
–
Weaves
8.
Silk
–
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity, Silk is produced by several insects, but generally only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been research into other types of silk, which differ at the molecular level. Silk is mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, Silk production also occurs in Hymenoptera, silverfish, mayflies, thrips, leafhoppers, beetles, lacewings, fleas, flies, and midges. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders, the word silk comes from Old English sioloc, from Greek σηρικός serikos, silken, ultimately from an Asian source. Several kinds of silk, which are produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm, have been known and used in China, South Asia. However, the scale of production was far smaller than for cultivated silks. Thus, the way to obtain silk suitable for spinning into textiles in areas where commercial silks are not cultivated was by tedious. Commercial silks originate from reared silkworm pupae, which are bred to produce a silk thread with no mineral on the surface. The pupae are killed by either dipping them in boiling water before the adult moths emerge or by piercing them with a needle. These factors all contribute to the ability of the cocoon to be unravelled as one continuous thread. Wild silks also tend to be difficult to dye than silk from the cultivated silkworm. Genetic modification of domesticated silkworms is used to facilitate the production of more types of silk. Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, the earliest example of silk fabric is from 3630 BC, and it was used as wrapping for the body of a child from a Yangshao culture site in Qingtaicun at Xingyang, Henan. Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress, Leizu, because of its texture and lustre, silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants. Silk was in demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade. In July 2007, archaeologists discovered intricately woven and dyed silk textiles in a tomb in Jiangxi province, Silk is described in a chapter on mulberry planting by Si Shengzhi of the Western Han
Silk
–
Four of the most important domesticated silk moths. Top to bottom:
Bombyx mori,
Hyalophora cecropia,
Antheraea pernyi,
Samia cynthia. From
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1885–1892)
Silk
–
Woven silk textile from tomb no 1. at
Mawangdui in
Changsha,
Hunan province,
China, from the
Western Han Dynasty, 2nd century BC
Silk
–
A painting depicting women inspecting silk, early 12th century, ink and color on silk, by
Emperor Huizong of Song.
Silk
–
Portrait of a silk merchant in Guangzhou,
Qing dynasty, from
Peabody Essex Museum
9.
Rayon
–
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. It is made from purified cellulose, primarily from wood pulp and it is then dissolved and forced through a spinneret to produce filaments which are chemically solidified, resulting in synthetic fibers of nearly pure cellulose. Because rayon is manufactured from naturally occurring polymers, it is considered a semi-synthetic fiber, specific types of rayon include viscose, modal and lyocell, each of which differs in manufacturing process and properties of the finished product. The solubility of nitrocellulose in organic solvents such as ether and acetone was the basis for the first artificial silk by Georges Audemars in about 1855, commercial production started in 1891, but the result was flammable and more expensive than cellulose acetate or cuprammonium rayon. Because of this expense, production ceased early in the 1900s, nitrocellulose was briefly known as mother-in-law silk. Nathan Rosenstein invented the process by which he turned rayon from a hard fiber to a fabric. This allowed rayon to become a popular raw material in textiles, paul Schützenberger discovered that cellulose reacts with acetic anhydride to form cellulose acetate. The triacetate is soluble only in making the method expensive. The discovery that hydrolyzed cellulose acetate is soluble in polar solvents, like acetone, made production of cellulose acetate fibers cheap. The Swiss chemist Matthias Eduard Schweizer discovered that dissolved in tetraaminecopper dihydroxide. Max Fremery and Johann Urban developed a method to produce carbon fibers for use in light bulbs in 1897, Production of cuprammonium rayon for textiles started in 1899 in the Vereinigte Glanzstoff Fabriken AG in Oberbruch near Aachen. Improvement by the J. P. Bemberg AG in 1904 made the artificial silk a product comparable to real silk, in 1894, English chemist Charles Frederick Cross, and his collaborators Edward John Bevan, and Clayton Beadle patented their artificial silk. They named their material viscose, because its production involved the intermediacy of a viscous solution. The process built on the reaction of cellulose with a strong base, the xanthate is then converted back to a cellulose fiber in a subsequent step. The first commercial viscose rayon was produced by the U. K. company Courtaulds Fibres in 1905, Courtaulds formed an American division, American Viscose, to produce their formulation in the United States in 1910. The name rayon was adopted in 1924, with viscose being used for the organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane. In Europe, though, the fabric itself became known as viscose, the viscose method can use wood as a source of cellulose, whereas other routes to rayon require lignin-free cellulose as starting material. The use of sources of cellulose makes viscose cheaper, so it was used on a larger scale than the other methods
Rayon
–
A device for spinning Viscose Rayon dating from 1901
Rayon
–
A sample of rayon from a skirt, photographed with a
macro lens.
Rayon
10.
Cotton
–
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will tend to increase the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa. The greatest diversity of wild species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds, the fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, China is the worlds largest producer of cotton, but most of this is used domestically. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years, in the United States, cotton is usually measured in bales, which measure approximately 0.48 cubic meters and weigh 226.8 kilograms. Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, the Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India, for example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC. Cotton fabrics discovered in a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico have been dated to around 5800 BC, the domestication of Gossypium hirsutum in Mexico is dated between 3400 and 2300 BC. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets, and traded with fishing villages along the coast for supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico and Peru in the early 16th century found the people growing cotton and this may be a reference to tree cotton, Gossypium arboreum, which is a native of the Indian subcontinent. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Cotton has been spun, woven and it clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, in Iran, the history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era, however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran, in Persian poets poems, especially Ferdowsis Shahname, there are references to cotton. Marco Polo refers to the products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid Persia, during the Han dynasty, cotton was grown by Chinese peoples in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt, and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops
Cotton
–
Cotton
Cotton
–
Manually decontaminating cotton before processing at an Indian spinning mill (2010)
Cotton
–
Cotton field
Cotton
–
Cotton plant
11.
Linen
–
Linen /ˈlɪnᵻn/ is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very absorbent, many products are made of linen, aprons, bags, towels, napkins, bed linens, tablecloths, runners, chair covers, and mens and womens wear. The word linen is of West Germanic origin and cognate to the Latin name for the plant, linum. This word history has given rise to a number of terms in English, most notably line. Textiles in a linen weave texture, even made of cotton, hemp. Such fabrics generally also have their own names, for example fine cotton yarn in a linen-style weave is called Madapolam. The collective term linens is still used generically to describe a class of woven or knitted bed, bath, table. The inner layer of fine composite cloth garments was traditionally made of linen, Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world, their history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of dating to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Dyed flax fibers found in a cave in Georgia suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax may date back even earlier to 36,000 BP. Linen was sometimes used as currency in ancient Egypt, egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen as a symbol of light and purity, and as a display of wealth. Some of these fabrics, woven from hand-spun yarns, were fine for their day. In 1923 the German city Bielefeld issued banknotes printed on linen, today, linen is usually an expensive textile produced in relatively small quantities. It has a long staple relative to cotton and other natural fibers, the word linen is derived from the Latin for the flax plant, which is linum, and the earlier Greek λίνον. The discovery of dyed flax fibers in a cave in Georgia dated to thirty-six thousand years ago suggests that ancient people used wild flax fibers to create linen-like fabrics from an early date, in ancient Mesopotamia, flax was domesticated and linen was first produced. It was used mainly by the class of the society. The Sumerian poem of the courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, translated by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein and published in 1983, mentions flax and linen. It opens with briefly listing the steps of preparing linen from flax, in a form of questions, in ancient Egypt, linen was used for mummification and for burial shrouds
Linen
–
A linen
handkerchief with
drawn thread work around the edges
Linen
–
Linen cloth recovered from
Qumran Cave 1 near the
Dead Sea
Linen
–
Diocletian 's 4th century maximum prices edict showing prices for 3 grades of linen across the
Roman Empire
Linen
–
Details of the flax plant, from which linen fibers are derived
12.
Mohair
–
Mohair /ˈmoʊhɛər/ is usually a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. Mohair is warm in winter as it has excellent insulating properties and it is durable, naturally elastic, flame resistant and crease resistant. It is considered to be a luxury fiber, like cashmere, angora and silk, Mohair is composed mostly of keratin, a protein found in the hair, wool, horns and skin of all mammals. While it has scales like wool, the scales are not fully developed, thus, mohair does not felt as wool does. Mohair fiber is approximately 25–45 microns in diameter and it increases in diameter with the age of the goat, growing along with the animal. Fine hair from animals is used for finer applications such as clothing. The term mohair is used to describe a type of material used for the folding roof on convertible cars. In this instance, mohair refers to a form of denim-like canvas, Mohair should not be confused with the fur from the angora rabbit, which is called angora wool. Shearing is done twice a year, in the spring and in the fall, one goat will produce 11 to 17 pounds of mohair a year. Shearing is done on a cleanly swept floor and extra care is taken to keep the hair clean, the hair is then processed to remove natural grease, dirt and vegetable matter. Angora is a breed, and unlike pygora or cashmere, there is no need to dehair a mohair fleece to separate the coarse hair from the down hair. South Africa is the worlds largest mohair producer, producing around 50% of the world production. Mohair is one of the oldest textile fibers in use, the Angora goat is thought to originate from the mountains of Tibet, reaching Turkey in the 16th century. However, fabric made of mohair was known in England as early as the 8th century, the word mohair was adopted into English sometime before 1570 from the Arabic, مخير mukhayyar, a type of haircloth, literally choice, from khayyara, he chose. In about 1820, raw mohair was first exported from Turkey to England, the Yorkshire mills spun yarn that was exported to Russia, Germany, Austria, etc. as well as woven directly in Yorkshire. Until 1849, the Turkish province of Ankara was the producer of Angora goats. Charles V is believed to be the first to bring Angora goats to Europe, due to the great demand for mohair fiber, throughout the 1800s there was a great deal of crossbreeding between Angora goats and common goats. In 1849, Angora goats made their way to America as a gift from Turkey, during the 1960s, a blend of mohair and wool suiting fabric known as Tonik or Tonic was developed in England
Mohair
–
An
Angora goat
Mohair
–
Mohair is vital to the economy of the
Texas Hill Country, including the
Real County community of
Camp Wood.
Mohair
–
A
Merrythought teddy bear made using mohair
Mohair
–
Mohair lace scarf, knitted with crochet trim on the ends.
13.
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, Kemp, 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, silver, 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, soldiers, 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, fleece, broken, bellies. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield, staple length, staple strength, the sheep is given a dip in antiseptic solution after shearing, so as to cure the wounds caused during shearing
Wool
–
Wool just before processing
Wool
–
Sheep before shearing
Wool
–
Merino sheep
Wool
–
Champion
hogget fleece,
Walcha Show
14.
Kuba Kingdom
–
The Kuba Kingdom, also rendered as the Kingdom of the Bakuba or Bushongo, was a pre-colonial kingdom in Central Africa. The Kuba Kingdom flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries in the region bordered by the Sankuru, Lulua, the Kuba Kingdom was a conglomerate of several smaller Bushongo-speaking principalities as well as the Kete, Coofa, Mbeengi, and the Twa Pygmies. The original Kuba migrated during the 16th century from the north, nineteen different ethnic groups are included in the kingdom, which still exists and is presided over by the King. The kingdom began as a conglomeration of several chiefdoms of various groups with no real central authority. In approximately 1625, an individual from outside the known as Shyaam a-Mbul a Ngoong usurped the position of one of the area rulers. Tradition states that Shyaam a-Mbul was the son of a Kuba queen. He left the Kuba region to find enlightenment in the Pende, after learning all he could from these states, he returned to Kuba to form the empires political, social and economic foundations. The Kuba government was reorganized toward a merit-based title system, the Kuba government was controlled by a king called the nyim who belonged to the Bushoong clan. The king was responsible to a council of all the Kuba subgroups. As the kingdom matured, it benefited from advanced techniques adopted from neighboring peoples as well as New World crops introduced from the Americas, such as maize, tobacco, cassava, Kuba became very wealthy, which resulted in great artistic works commissioned by the Kuba nobility. The Kuba kings retained the most fanciful works for court ceremony and were buried with these artifacts. The Kuba Kingdom reached its apex during the mid 19th century, europeans first reached the area in 1884. Because of the relative isolation, it was not as affected by the slave trade as were the Kongo and Ndongo kingdoms on the coast. Toward the end of the 19th century, the kingdom was invaded by the Nsapo people, the weakened Kingdom never recovered, and it was fragmented into chiefdoms once again by the time the area became a Belgian colony. The current reigning monarch, Kot-a-Mbweeky III, has been on the throne since 1969 and they have been described as a people who cannot bear to leave a surface without ornament. The boxes, known as Kuba Boxes and called ngedi mu ntey by the Kuba, are used to hold tukula powder. The boxes are usually in the shape of a square with a lid, a semicircle. Sometimes they were used for holding razors for cutting raffia, hairpins or ritual objects, tukula is a red powder made of ground cam wood
Kuba Kingdom
–
A contemporary Mwaash aMbooy mask, representing Woot, the mythical founder of the Kuba Kingdom
Kuba Kingdom
–
Helmet mask "mulwalwa", Southern Kuba, 19th or early 20th century
Kuba Kingdom
–
Kuba (Shoowa) artist, Cosmetic box, late 19th century, in the
Princeton University Art Museum
15.
Democratic Republic of Congo
–
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, also known as DR Congo, DRC, DROC, East Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo is a country located in Central Africa. From 1971 to 1997 it was named, and is still called, Zaire. It is the second-largest country in Africa by area and eleventh largest in the world, the Congolese Civil Wars, which began in 1996, brought about the end of Mobutu Sese Sekos 32-year reign and devastated the country. These wars ultimately involved nine African nations, multiple groups of UN peacekeepers and twenty armed groups, besides the capital, Kinshasa, the other major cities, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi, are both mining communities. DR Congos largest export is raw minerals, with China accepting over 50% of DRCs exports in 2012, as of 2015, according to the Human Development Index, DR Congo has a low level of human development, ranking 176 out of 187 countries. The country was known officially as the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 27 October 1971, in 1992, the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the change was not put into practice. The countrys name was restored by former president Laurent-Désiré Kabila following the fall of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, some historians think that Bantu peoples began settling in the extreme northwest of Central Africa at the beginning of the 5th century and then gradually started to expand southward. Their propagation was accelerated by the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age techniques, the people living in the south and southwest were mostly San Bushmen and hunter-gatherer groups, whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies. The development of tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture. This led to the displacement of the groups in the east and southeast. The 10th century marked the expansion of the Bantu in West-Central Africa. Rising populations soon made intricate local, regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in salt, iron. Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s and it was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding, mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip, Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony. Leopold formally acquired rights to the Congo territory at the Conference of Berlin in 1885 and he named it the Congo Free State. Leopolds rėgime began various infrastructure projects, such as construction of the railway ran from the coast to the capital of Leopoldville. Nearly all such projects were aimed at making it easier to increase the assets which Leopold. In the Free State, colonists brutalized the local population into producing rubber, for which the spread of automobiles, rubber sales made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honor himself and his country
Democratic Republic of Congo
–
Village attacked by Arab-Swahili slavers near
Nyangwe, end of 19th century
Democratic Republic of Congo
–
Flag
Democratic Republic of Congo
–
View of
Leopoldville Station and Port in 1884.
Democratic Republic of Congo
–
Force Publique soldiers in the Belgian Congo in 1918. At its peak, the Force Publique had around 19,000 African soldiers, led by 420 white officers.
16.
Raffia
–
The Raffia palms are a genus of about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species also occurring in Central and South America. Raphia taedigera are the source of fibers, which are the veins of the leaves. They grow up to 16 m tall and are remarkable for their compound pinnate leaves, the plants are either monocarpic, flowering once and then dying after the seeds are mature, or hapaxanthic. Some species have stems which die after fruiting, but have a root system which remains alive. Raphia africana Otedoh – Nigeria, Cameroon Raphia australis Oberm, & Strey – Mozambique, South Africa Raphia farinifera Hyl. – Africa from Senegal to Tanzania, south to Mozambique and Zimbabwe Raphia gentiliana De Wild, – Zaïre, Central African Republic Raphia hookeri G. Mann & H. Wendl. – western and central Africa from Liberia to Angola Raphia laurentii De Wild, – Angola, Zaïre, Central African Republic Raphia longiflora G. Mann & H. Wendl. – from Nigeria to Zaïre Raphia mambillensis Otedoh – Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, – Nigeria, Bioko Raphia matombe De Wild. – Cabinda, Zaïre Raphia monbuttorum Drude – Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, – Zaïre Raphia sudanica A. Chev. – western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon Raphia taedigera Mart, – Nigeria, Cameroon, Central America, South America Raphia textilis Welw. – Cabinda, Zaïre, Gabon, Angola Raphia vinifera P. Beauv, – western Africa from Zaïre to Benin Raffia fibre is widely used throughout the world. It is used in twine, rope, baskets, placemats, hats, shoes, the fibre is produced from the membrane on the underside of each individual frond leaf. The membrane is taken off to create a thin fibre which can be dyed. Plain raffia fibres are exported and used as garden ties or as a string in many countries. Especially when one wishes to graft trees, raffia is used to plant parts together as a more natural rope. Raffia fibres have many uses, especially in the area of textiles, in their local environments, they are used for ropes, sticks and supporting beams, and various roof coverings are made out of its fibrous branches and leaves. Raffia palm also provides an important cultural drink and it is traditionally collected by cutting a box in the top of the palm and suspending a large gourd to collect the milky white liquid. Unlike oil palms, this kills the tree
Raffia
–
Raffia palm
Raffia
–
Fruits – Museum of Toulouse
Raffia
–
Raffia is often used to graft trees
Raffia
–
Removing the fibrous inner layer of the palm frond leaves as a first step in making raffia rope in
Bandundu Province,
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
17.
Velours du Kasai
–
Velours du Kasaï is a kind of textile fabric made in Kasai, a province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Traditionally, the weaving is done by men of the Shoowa from the Kuba ethnic group, ideally, the embroiderers should be pregnant. Originally the cloth was made using beaten wood bark but, since the introduction of raffia, some belts are still made in bark, they symbolize power and may be worn only by certain nobles. Bark is still used for certain loincloths for women, the center of these loincloths is formed of many triangles of bark, alternately black and white. These are cut out of the raw bark either natural, or dyed black, the choice of this method rather than that of drawing is significant - for the Kuba, value is measured by a works difficulty. The fabric is made of very fine fibre from the inside of the leaves of palm trees. The leaves are dried in the sun, then split along their length and connected to form a basic warp of raffia, fine leaf fibres are then interweaved in a woof to create the velvet effect. This is then wrapped around the waist to create a loincloth known as Mapel or Ntshak, the designs are very varied and are created spontaneously but normally follow the body scarification patterns of the Kuba. The cloth is heavy and expensive and is not normally intended to be worn, individual items take from several months to a year to produce. Cloths were used as currency or given as gifts, the Kuba Kingdom Cloths of Zaire Traditional Arts of the Congo
Velours du Kasai
–
Velours du Kasaï
Velours du Kasai
18.
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 also polyester resins cured by hardeners, however, the most common polyesters are thermoplastics, industrial polyester fibers, yarns 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, comforters, 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, wrinkle and tear-resistant, and reduce shrinking, synthetic fibers in polyester also create materials with water, wind and environmental resistance compared to plant-derived fibers. Disadvantages of cotton and polyester blends include being less breathable than cotton and they are also 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 also used to make bottles, films, tarpaulin, canoes, liquid crystal displays, holograms, filters, dielectric film for capacitors, film insulation for wire, polyesters are widely used as a finish on high-quality wood products such as guitars, pianos 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 also used as the polymer matrix in pre-pregs. Fiberglass-reinforced unsaturated polyesters find wide application in bodies of yachts and as parts of cars
Polyester
–
SEM picture of a bend in a high-surface area polyester
fiber with a seven-lobed cross section
Polyester
–
Close-up of a polyester shirt
Polyester
–
Stretching polyester fabric
Polyester
19.
Nylon
–
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers, more specifically aliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides. They can be melt-processed into fibers, films or shapes, the first example of nylon was produced on February 28,1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPonts research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. Nylon polymers have significant commercial applications in fibers, in shapes. Nylon is made of repeating units linked by bonds and is a type of polyamide and is frequently referred to as such. Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer, commercially, nylon polymer is made by reacting monomers which are either lactams, acid/amines or stoichiometric mixtures of diamines and diacids. Mixtures of these can be polymerized together to make copolymers, Nylon polymers can be mixed with a wide variety of additives to achieve many different property variations. Nylon was invented accidentally by Julian W. Hill, a chemist for DuPont under Wallace Carotherss supervision and it was only given this name at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. The patents were owned by DuPont, Nylon was intended to be a synthetic replacement for silk and substituted for it in many different products after silk became scarce during World War II. It replaced silk in military applications such as parachutes and flak vests, after initial commercialization of nylon as a fiber, applications in the form of shapes and films were also developed. The main market for nylon shapes now is in auto components, in 1940, John W. Eckelberry of DuPont stated that the letters nyl were arbitrary and the on was copied from the suffixes of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. A later publication by DuPont explained that the name was intended to be No-Run. Since the products were not really run-proof, the vowels were swapped to produce nuron, for clarity in pronunciation, the i was changed to y. Most nylons are made from the reaction of an acid with a diamine or a lactam or amino acid with itself. In the first case, the structure is so-called ABAB similar to polyesters and polyurethanes, in the second case, the repeating unit corresponds to the single monomer. It is difficult to get the proportions exactly correct, and deviations can lead to termination at molecular weights less than a desirable 10,000 daltons. To overcome this problem, a crystalline, solid nylon salt can be formed at room temperature, using an exact 1,1 ratio of the acid, the salt is crystallized to purify it and obtain the desired precise stoichiometry. Heated to 285 °C, the salt reacts to form nylon polymer with the production of water, Wallace Carothers at DuPont patented nylon 66, but overlooked the possibility to use lactams. That synthetic route was developed by Paul Schlack at IG Farben, leading to nylon 6, the peptide bond within the caprolactam is broken with the exposed active groups on each side being incorporated into two new bonds as the monomer becomes part of the polymer backbone
Nylon
–
Wallace Carothers
Nylon
–
Nylon 6,6
Nylon
–
Nylon stockings being inspected in
Malmö,
Sweden in 1954.
Nylon
–
These worn out nylon stockings will be reprocessed and made into parachutes for army fliers c. 1942
20.
Viscose
–
Viscose is both a semi-synthetic fiber, formerly called viscose rayon, or rayon and a solution of cellulose xanthate. The latter is produced by treating dissolving pulp with aqueous sodium hydroxide, byproducts of the production process include sodium thiocarbonate, sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfide. Viscose rayon fiber is a soft fiber commonly used in dresses, linings, shirts, shorts, coats, jackets and it is also used in industrial yarns, upholstery and carpets, and in the casting of Cellophane. When Viscose is made, the cellulose is made of wood pulp, Viscose rayon is a fiber of regenerated cellulose, it is structurally similar to cotton but may be produced from a variety of plants such as soy, bamboo, and sugar cane. Cellulose is a polymer of β-D-glucose units with the empirical formula n. To prepare viscose, dissolving pulp is treated with sodium hydroxide to form alkali cellulose. The alkali cellulose is then treated with carbon disulfide to form sodium cellulose xanthate, N + nCS2 → n The higher the ratio of cellulose to combined sulfur, the lower the solubility of the cellulose xanthate. The xanthate is dissolved in aqueous sodium hydroxide and allowed to depolymerize to a desired extent, the rate of depolymerization depends on temperature and is affected by the presence of various inorganic and organic additives, such as metal oxides and hydroxides. Air also affects the process since oxygen causes depolymerization. Rayon fiber is produced from the solutions by treatment with a mineral acid. The thread made from the cellulose is washed to remove residual acid. The sulfur is removed by the addition of sodium sulfide solution. The use of viscose is declining, in part because of the costs of its production. Carbon disulphide is a neurotoxic to humans, instead, rayon may be manufactured using the Lyocell process, which uses N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide as the solvent and produces little waste product, making it relatively eco-friendly. French scientist and industrialist Hilaire de Chardonnet — who invented the first artificial textile fiber, British scientists Charles Frederick Cross and Edward John Bevan took out British patent no. 8,700, Improvements in Dissolving Cellulose and Allied Compounds in May,1892, in 1893 they formed the Viscose Syndicate to grant licences, and in 1896 formed the British Viscoid Co. Ltd. to exploit the process. Art silk Cellophane Rayon Sausage casings Synthetic velvet Viscose, archived from the original on 2008-06-25
Viscose
–
Cellulose is treated with alkali and carbon disulfide to yield viscose.
21.
Acetate
–
An acetate /ˈæsᵻteɪt/ is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with an alkaline, earthy, or metallic base. Acetate also describes the base or ion typically found in aqueous solution. The neutral molecules formed by the combination of the acetate ion, the simplest of these is hydrogen acetate with corresponding salts, esters, and the polyatomic anion CH3CO2−, or CH3COO−. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acid produced annually in industry is used in the production of acetates. In nature, acetate is the most common building block for biosynthesis, for example, the fatty acids are produced by connecting the two carbon atoms from acetate to a growing fatty acid. When part of a salt, the formula of the ion is written as CH3CO2−, C2H3O2−. Chemists abbreviate acetate as OAc− or, less commonly, AcO−, thus, HOAc is the abbreviation for acetic acid, NaOAc for sodium acetate, and EtOAc for ethyl acetate. The abbreviation Ac is also encountered in chemical formulas to indicate the acetate ion. This abbreviation is not to be confused with the symbol of actinium, for example, the formula for sodium acetate might be abbreviated as NaAc, rather than NaC2H3O2. Although its systematic name is ethanoate, the common acetate remains the preferred IUPAC name, the acetate anion, −, is one of the carboxylate family. It is the base of acetic acid. Above a pH of 5.5, acetic acid converts to acetate, CH3COOH ⇌ CH3COO− + H+ Many acetate salts are ionic, examples of acetate complexes include chromium acetate and basic zinc acetate. Commercially important acetate salts are aluminium acetate, used in dyeing, ammonium acetate, a precursor to acetamide, all three salts are colourless and highly soluble in water. Acetate esters have the general formula CH3CO2R, where R is an organyl group, the esters are the dominant forms of acetate in the marketplace. Unlike the acetate salts, acetate esters are often liquids, lipophilic and they are popular because they have inoffensive, often sweet odors, they are inexpensive, and they are usually of low toxicity. Almost half of acetic acid production is consumed in the production of acetate, precursor to polyvinyl alcohol. The second largest use of acid is consumed in the production of cellulose acetate. In fact, acetate is jargon for cellulose acetate, which is used in the production of fibres or diverse products, Cellulose acetate can be found in many household products
Acetate
–
Acetate
22.
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, Elaspan, Acepora, Creora, INVIYA, ROICA and Dorlastan, Linel, 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 then transferred through a series of rollers onto a spool. Because of its elasticity and strength, spandex has been incorporated into a range of garments
Spandex
–
American
volleyball player
Cynthia Barboza wearing spandex shorts
Spandex
–
Spandex fibers under
an optical microscope (
cross-polarized light illumination, magnification 100x)
Spandex
–
Spandex fiber
Spandex
–
Cyclist wearing a pair of spandex
shorts and a
cycling jersey
23.
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 later 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, also written del medico or delmedigo, meaning, 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, later 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, Cavalcanti, and the Tornabuoni
Medici
–
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, founder of the Medici bank.
Medici
–
Medici
Medici
–
The Confirmation of the Rule by
Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Medici
–
Cosimo I the Great, founder of the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
24.
Baghdad
–
Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 -3,000,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate
Baghdad
–
Zumurrud Khaton tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD), photo of 1932.
Baghdad
–
Panoramic view over the ancient city of
Babylon, located 85 km (53 mi) south of Baghdad.
Baghdad
–
Suq al-Ghazel (The Yarn Bazaar) Minaret in Baghdad,
Mesopotamia (
Iraq). This is the oldest
minaret in Baghdad. It belonged to the Caliph Mosque, built by Caliph Muktafi 901–907 AD.
25.
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, cultural, and religious prosperity, Islamic art and music also 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, politically, 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, then 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
Harun al-Rashid
–
Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation sent by
Charlemagne at his court
Harun al-Rashid
–
During the reign of the Harun al-Rashid, the city of
Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade.
Harun al-Rashid
–
A silver
dirham minted in Madinat al-Salam (Bagdad) in 170
AH (786 CE). At the reverse, the inner marginal inscription says: "By order of the slave of God, Harun,
Commander of the Faithful "
Harun al-Rashid
–
Map of the Muslim expansion and the Muslim world under the
Umayyad and early
Abbasid caliphates
26.
Kashmiri people
–
The Kashmiris are an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, who speak Kashmiri, an Indo-Aryan Dardic language. The bulk of Kashmiri people predominantly live in the Kashmir Valley–which is the actual Kashmir and does not include the territories of the former princely state of Jammu. Other ethnic groups living in the Jammu and Kashmir state include Gujjars, Dogras, although some residents of Azad Kashmir call themselves Kashmiri, most residents of Azad Kashmir are not actually ethnic Kashmiris. Whilst Kashmiris are native to the Kashmir Valley, smaller populations of Kashmiris also live in the districts of Jammu. Ethnic Kashmiris can be found in the Chenab regions Doda, Ramban, there are also ethnic Kashmiri populations inhabiting the Neelam Valley and Leepa Valley of northern Azad Kashmir. Since 1947, many ethnic Kashmiris and their descendants are found in Pakistan. Many ethnic Kashmiris from the Kashmir Valley also migrated to the Punjab region during Dogra, Most Kashmiris today are Sunni Muslim but a sizable Hindu community also exists. Pure ethnic Kashmiri Muslims are descended from Kashmiri Hindus and are known as Sheikhs. Common surnames among these people include Butt, Dar, Lone etc, Islam arrived in Kashmir starting with the conversion in 1323 of Kashmirs Buddhist ruler, Rinchan, at the hands of the saint, Sayyid Bilal Shah. After conversion to Islam he called himself Malik Sadur-ud-Din and was the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, Islam grew in the 14th century under the Shah Mir reign and numerous Muslim ulama from Central Asia came to preach in Kashmir. Sayyid Ali Hamadani made immense contributions towards the spread of Islam in Kashmir and he and hundreds of his followers converted thousands of Kashmiris to Islam. His son Sayyid Muḥammad Hamadani also propagated Islam and influenced Kashmirs Muslim ruler Sikander to enforce Islamic law, by the late 1400s the majority of the population had embraced Islam. Since the arrival of invaders and the start of religious conflicts, before the Partition of India, many Kashmir Hindus, in 1557 the Shah Miri dynasty was overthrown by the Chaks who were foreigners to Kashmir and originated from Baltistan. Since they were from outside Kashmir they were not interested in the Kashmiri populations welfare, the Chak rulers, who were Shia, persecuted their Sunni subjects and this caused Sunni scholars to flee to safer environs. Some disenchanted Sunnis, such as notable Sunni scholar, Sheikh Yaqub Sarfi, went to the court of Akbar and invited the Mughals to conquer Kashmir and these conditions included a guarantee of Kashmiri rights such as freedom of religion for all of Kashmirs population. Shaikh Yaqub Sarfi also forbade Sunnis from carrying out any reprisal against Shias and he devoted his life to restoring peace, Kashmiri historians see Mughal rule as the beginning of the end of Kashmiri independence. The Mughal Emperor Akbar succeeded in invading the Kashmir Valley, despite tough Kashmiri resistance, the anti-Shia policies of Mirza Haidar Dughlat and the anti-Sunni policies of the Chaks had broken Kashmiri unity, thus paving the way for the Mughal occupation of Kashmir. Akbars victory brought an end to indigenous Kashmiri Muslim rule, Christopher Snedden states that the Mughals began a process of psychological warfare against Kashmiris to strip them of their martial capabilities
Kashmiri people
–
Jawaharlal Nehru
Kashmiri people
–
Farah Pandith
Kashmiri people
–
Anupam Kher
Kashmiri people
–
Political Map: the Kashmir region districts, showing the
Pir Panjal range and the Kashmir Valley.
27.
Al-Andalus
–
Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
Al-Andalus
–
Al-Andalus and Christian kingdoms circa 1000 AD
Al-Andalus
–
Islamic-period garden in the
Alhambra.
Al-Andalus
–
A
gold Dinar minted in al-Andalus
28.
Mamluk
–
Mamluk is an Arabic designation for slaves. The term is most commonly used to refer to Muslim slave soldiers and these were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin, over time, the mamluks became a powerful military knightly caste in various societies that were controlled by Muslim rulers. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Mesopotamia, in some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as emirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on Egypt and Syria, the Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European Christian Crusaders in 1154-1169 and 1213-1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt, in 1302 the mamluks formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, in a sense they were like enslaved mercenaries. In the Middle Ages, the Mamlukes took up the practice of furusiyya chivalry although Mamluk knights were slaves until their service ended, the Arabic term for a knight was fāris, The faris and the notion of furusiyya originated in pre-Muslim Persian brotherhoods. Within the Muslim world, the fursān became prized as ideal warriors and they were also trained in wrestling, and their martial skills were honed first on foot as piéton and then perfected when as mounted warriors. They were popularly used as heavy knightly cavalry by a number of different Islamic kingdoms and empires, including the Ayyubid dynasty, the origins of the mamluk system are disputed. Historians agree that a military caste such as the mamluks appeared to develop in Islamic societies beginning with the ninth-century Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. When in the century has not been determined. Up until the 1990s, it was believed that the earliest mamluks were known as ghilman and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs. By the end of the 9th century, such warrior slaves had become the dominant element in the military, conflict between these ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Mutasim to move his capital to the city of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave-soldiers in 861, adult slaves and freemen both served as warriros. The mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s and it included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills. The Mamluk system is considered to have been an experiment of al-Muwaffaq. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted, after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either mamluks or ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power
Mamluk
–
A Mamluk nobleman from
Aleppo
Mamluk
–
An Egyptian Mamluk warrior in full armor and armed with lance, shield, sabre and pistols
Mamluk
–
Mamluk lancers, early 16th century (etching by
Daniel Hopfer)
Mamluk
–
Ottoman Mamluk
heavy cavalry armour, circa 1550
29.
Cairo
–
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Cairo has long been a center of the political and cultural life. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the worlds second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, with a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution, Cairos metro, one of only two in Africa, ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the citys importance for the country. In Coptic the city is known as Kahire, meaning Place of the Sun, possibly referring to the ancient city of Heliopolis, the location of the ancient city is the suburb of Ain Shams. The ancient Egyptian name for the area is thought to be Khere-Ohe, The Place of Combat, sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro. The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance and this fortress, known as Babylon, remained the nucleus of the Roman, and, later, the Byzantine, city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, many of Cairos oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. Following the Muslim conquest in 640 AD the conqueror Amr ibn As settled to the north of the Babylon in an area became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tented camp Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt, in 750, following the overthrow of the Ummayad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became their capital. This was known as al-Askar as it was laid out like a military camp, a rebellion in 869 by Ahmad ibn Tulun led to the abandonment of Al Askar and the building of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qattai, to the north of Fustat and closer to the river, Al Qattai was centred around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of ibn Tulun. In 905 the Abbasids re-asserted control of the country and their returned to Fustat
Cairo
–
Cairo القاهرة al-Qāhirah
Cairo
–
Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848-1933). On the Way between Old and New Cairo, Citadel Mosque of Mohammed Ali, and Tombs of the Mamelukes, 1872. Oil on canvas.
Brooklyn Museum
Cairo
–
A rendition of
Fustat from A. S. Rappoport's History of Egypt
Cairo
–
Cairo map 1847
30.
Venice
–
Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
Venice
–
A collage of Venice: at the top left is the
Piazza San Marco, followed by a view of the city, then the
Grand Canal, and (smaller) the interior of
La Fenice and, finally, the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
Venice
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Venice
–
Photography of Venice at dusk
Venice
–
The Grand Canal seen from the bridge at
Ponte di Rialto
31.
Mali Empire
–
The Mali Empire, also historically referred to as the Manden Kurufaba, was an empire in West Africa from c.1230 to c. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, the Manding languages were spoken in the empire. The Mali Empire was the largest in West Africa and profoundly influenced the culture of West Africa through the spread of its language, laws and customs. Rock art in the Sahara suggests that northern Mali has been inhabited since 10,000 BC, by 300 BC, large organised settlements had developed, most notable near Djenné, one of West Africas oldest cities. By the 6th century AD, the lucrative trade in gold, salt and slaves had begun. There are a few references to Mali in early written literature and this area was composed of mountains, savannah and forest providing ideal protection and resources for the population of hunters. Those not living in the mountains formed small city-states such as Toron, Ka-Ba, yet African Muslim scholars like the London-based Nigerian-British cleric, Sheikh Dr. Adelabu. During the height of Sundiatas power, the land of Manden became one of its provinces, the Manden city-state of Ka-ba served as the capital and name of this province. From at least the beginning of the 11th century, Mandinka kings known as faamas ruled Manden from Ka-ba in the name of the Ghanas, wagadous control over Manden came to a halt after internal instability lead to its decline. The Kangaba province, free of Soninké influence, splintered into twelve kingdoms with their own maghan or faama, Manden was split in half with the Dodougou territory to the northeast and the Kri territory to the southwest. The tiny kingdom of Niani was one of several in the Kri area of Manden, in approximately 1140 the Sosso kingdom of Kaniaga, a former vassal of Wagadou, began conquering the lands of its old masters. By 1180 it had even subjugated Wagadou forcing the Soninké to pay tribute, in 1203, the Sosso king Soumaoro of the Kanté clan came to power and reportedly terrorized much of Manden stealing women and goods from both Dodougou and Kri. According to Nianes version of the epic, during the rise of Kaniaga and he was the son of Nianis faama, Nare Fa. Sundiatas mother was Maghan Kon Fattas second wife, Sogolon Kédjou and she was a hunchback from the land of Do, south of Mali. The child of this received the first name of his mother. Combined in the spoken language of the Mandinka, the names formed Sondjata, Sundjata or Sundiata Keita. The anglicized version of this name, Sunjata, is also popular, in Ibn Khalduns account, Sundjata is recorded as Mari Djata with Mari meaning Amir or Prince. He also states that Djata or Jatah means lion, Prince Sundjata was prophesized to become a great conqueror
Mali Empire
–
Mansa Musa depicted holding a
gold nugget, from the 1375
Catalan Atlas
Mali Empire
–
Extent of the Mali Empire (c. 1350)
Mali Empire
–
Mali Terracotta horseman figure from 13th to 15th centuries
Mali Empire
–
The
Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali (Malian).
32.
Musa I of Mali
–
Musa Keita I was the tenth Mansa, which translates as sultan or emperor, of the wealthy West African Mali Empire. Musa held many titles, including Emir of Melle, Lord of the Mines of Wangara, Conqueror of Ghanata and it is said that Mansa Musa had conquered 24 cities, each with surrounding districts containing villages and estates, during his reign. During his reign Mali may have been the largest producer of gold in the world at a point of exceptional demand, Musa Keita was referred to Mansa Musa in Western manuscripts and literature. His name also appears as Kankou Musa, Kankan Musa, ‘Kankou’ is a popular Manding female name, thus Kankou Musa reads Musa whose mother was Kankou. Other alternatives are Mali-koy Kankan Musa, Gonga Musa, and the Lion of Mali, what is known about the kings of the Malian Empire is taken from the writings of Arab scholars, including Al-Umari, Abu-said Uthman ad-Dukkali, Ibn Khaldun, and Ibn Battuta. Abu-Bakr did not ascend the throne, and his son, Musas father, Mansa Musa Keita came to the throne through a practice of appointing a deputy when a king goes on his pilgrimage to Mecca or some other endeavor, and later naming the deputy as heir. The Arab-Egyptian scholar Al-Umari quotes Mansa Musa as follows, The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth and he wanted to reach that and was determined to pursue his plan. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, and many others full of gold, water and provisions sufficient for several years. He ordered the captain not to return until they had reached the end of the ocean, or until he had exhausted the provisions. So they set out on their journey and they were absent for a long period, and, at last just one boat returned. When questioned the captain replied, O Prince, we navigated for a long period and my boat was the last one, others were ahead of me, and they were drowned in the great whirlpool and never came out again. I sailed back to escape this current, but the Sultan would not believe him. He ordered two boats to be equipped for him and his men, and one thousand more for water. Then he conferred the regency on me for the term of his absence, Musas son and successor, Mansa Magha Keita, was also appointed deputy during Musas pilgrimage. Musa was a devout Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca made him well-known across northern Africa, to Musa, Islam was an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean. He would spend much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire, Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324–1325. His procession reportedly included 60,000 men, including 12,000 slaves who each carried 4 lb of gold bars and heralds dressed in silks who bore gold staffs, organized horses, Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals. Those animals included 80 camels which each carried 50–300 lb of gold dust, Musa gave the gold to the poor he met along his route
Musa I of Mali
–
Musa depicted holding a
gold coin from the 1375
Catalan Atlas.
33.
Pilgrimage to Mecca
–
It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, and Sawm. The Hajj is the largest annual gathering of people in the world, the state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istitaah, and a Muslim who fulfills this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, the word Hajj means to intend a journey, which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th of Dhu al-Hijjah, because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian year, the Gregorian date of Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth and abstain from certain actions. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, Pilgrims can also go to Mecca to perform the rituals at other times of the year. This is sometimes called the lesser pilgrimage, or Umrah, the present pattern of Hajj was established by Muhammad. However, according to the Quran, elements of Hajj trace back to the time of Abraham, according to Islamic tradition, Abraham was ordered by God to leave his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael alone in the desert of ancient Mecca. In search of water, Hagar desperately ran seven times between the two hills of Safa and Marwah but found none, returning in despair to Ishmael, she saw the baby scratching the ground with his leg and a water fountain sprang forth underneath his foot. Later, Abraham was commanded to build the Kaaba and to people to perform pilgrimage there. The Quran refers to incidents in verses 2, 124-127 and 22. It is said that the archangel Gabriel brought the Black Stone from Heaven to be attached to the Kaaba, in pre-Islamic Arabia, a time known as jahiliyyah, the Kaaba became surrounded by pagan idols. In 630 CE, Muhammad led his followers from Medina to Mecca, cleansed the Kaaba by destroying all the pagan idols, in 632 CE, Muhammad performed his only and last pilgrimage with a large number of followers, and instructed them on the rites of Hajj. It was from this point that Hajj became one of the five pillars of Islam. During the medieval times, pilgrims would gather in big cities of Syria, Egypt and this was done in order to protect the caravan from Bedouin robbers or natural hazards, and to ensure that the pilgrims were supplied with the necessary provisions. Muslim travelers like Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta have recorded detailed accounts of Hajj-travels of medieval time, the caravans followed well-established routes called in Arabic darb al-hajj, lit. Pilgrimage road, which usually followed ancient routes such as the Kings Highway, the date of Hajj is determined by the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar year. Every year, the events of Hajj take place in a period, starting on 8 and ending on 12 Dhu al-Hijjah
Pilgrimage to Mecca
–
Pilgrims at the
Masjid al-Haram on Hajj in 2008
Pilgrimage to Mecca
–
A 1907 image of Masjid al-Haram with people praying therein
Pilgrimage to Mecca
–
Direction of the
Tawaf around the
Kaaba
Pilgrimage to Mecca
–
Mount Safa near the Kaaba inside Masjid al-Haram
34.
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, gold, 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, presently, 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, tin 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, Gao, 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
Timbuktu
–
Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu
Timbuktu
–
Timbuktu looking west,
René Caillié (1830)
Timbuktu
–
View of Timbuktu,
Heinrich Barth (1858)
Timbuktu
–
Plan published by
Félix Dubois in 1896
35.
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, India, 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, female 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 then 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 then 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
Ibn Battuta
–
A 13th-century book illustration produced in Baghdad by
al-Wasiti showing a group of pilgrims on a
hajj.
Ibn Battuta
–
Tiles representing the
Kaaba, in
Mecca.
Ibn Battuta
–
Ibn Battuta made a brief visit to the Persian-Azari city of
Tabriz in 1327.
Ibn Battuta
–
Sana'a, Yemen
36.
Eid ul-Fitr
–
Eid al-Fitr is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. The religious Eid is the first and only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast, the holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month of Shawwal, the date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on the observation of new moon by local religious authorities, so the exact day of celebration varies by locality. Eid al-Fitr has a particular Salat consisting of two Rakats and generally offered in a field or large hall. Other Sunni schools usually have twelve Takbirs, seven in the first and this Eid al-Fitr salat is, depending on which juristic opinion is followed, Fard فرض, Mustahabb مستحب or mandoob مندوب. Muslims believe that they are commanded by Allah, as mentioned in the Quran, to continue their fast until the last day of Ramadan and pay the Zakat and fitra before offering the Eid prayers. If the moon is not observed immediately after the 29th day of the lunar month. Before the advent of Islam in Arabia, there is mention of festivals as well as some others among the Arabs, the Israelites had festivals as well, some directly prescribed in the Old Testament and others commemorating important days of their history. Eid al-Fitr was originated by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and it is observed on the first of the month of Shawwal at the end of the month of Ramadan, during which Muslims undergo a period of fasting. According to certain traditions, these festivals were initiated in Medina after the migration of Muhammad from Mecca, anas reports, When the Prophet arrived in Madinah, he found people celebrating two specific days in which they used to entertain themselves with recreation and merriment. He asked them about the nature of these festivities at which they replied that these days were occasions of fun, Eid al-Fitr is celebrated for one, two or three days. Common greetings during this holiday are the Arabic greeting ‘Eid Mubārak or ‘Eid Sa‘īd. In addition, many countries have their own greetings in the local language – in Turkey, for example, Muslims are also encouraged on this day to forgive and forget any differences with others or animosities that may have occurred during the year. It is forbidden to fast on the Day of Eid and it is customary to acknowledge this with a small sweet breakfast, preferably of date, before attending a special Eid prayer. As an obligatory act of charity, money is paid to the poor and you can speak once youve left the Masjid, or mosque or any other place you were praying. Say Eid Mubarak to other Muslims Muslims recite the following incantation in a low voice while going to the Eid prayer, Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar, lā ilāha illà l-Lāh wal-Lāhu akbar, Allahu akbar walil-Lāhi l-ḥamd. Recitation ceases when they get to the place of Eid or once the Imam commences activities, Muslims are recommended to use separate routes to and from the prayer grounds. No call to prayer is given for this Eid prayer, the Eid prayer is followed by the sermon and then a supplication asking for Allahs forgiveness, mercy, peace and blessings for all living beings across the world
Eid ul-Fitr
–
Eid al-Fitr meal,
Tajikistan
Eid ul-Fitr
–
Muslims in Britain celebrate Eid after ceremony at mosque, 1941
Eid ul-Fitr
–
Eid al-Fitr mass prayer in
Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, Indonesia
37.
Mehmed II
–
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 later 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 also 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
Mehmed II
–
Sultan Mehmed II smelling a rose, from the Sarayı Albums, c. 1480 CE
Mehmed II
–
Accession of Mehmed II in
Edirne, 1451
Mehmed II
–
Sultan Mehmed II's entry into
Constantinople, painting by
Fausto Zonaro (1854-1929)
Mehmed II
–
Roumeli Hissar Castle built by the Sultan Mehmed II between 1451 and 1452, before the
conquered Constantinople
38.
King Richard II of England
–
Richard II, also 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
King Richard II of England
–
Portrait at
Westminster Abbey, mid-1390s
King Richard II of England
–
Fourteenth-century manuscript
historiated initial showing
Edward, the Black Prince kneeling before his father,
Edward III.
King Richard II of England
–
Richard II watches
Wat Tyler 's death and addresses the peasants in the background: taken from the
Gruuthuse manuscript of
Froissart 's Chroniques (c. 1475).
King Richard II of England
–
Robert de Vere fleeing
Radcot Bridge (Froissart).
39.
Vestment
–
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among the Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans. For other garments worn by clergy, see also clerical clothing, the rubrics for the type of vestments to be worn vary between the various communions and denominations. In some, clergy are directed to wear clerical clothing in public at all, most. This generally consists of a collar, clergy shirt. In the case of members of orders, non-liturgical wear includes a religious habit. This ordinary wear does not constitute liturgical vestment, but simply acts as a means of identifying the wearer as a member of the clergy or a religious order. A distinction is made between the type of vestment worn for Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion and that worn for other services. In other traditions, there is no name for this attire, although it often takes the form of a Geneva gown worn with or without preaching bands. In the more ancient traditions, each vestment—or at least the stole—will have a cross on it, a number of churches also have special vesting prayers which are recited before putting each vestment on, especially the Eucharistic vestments. For the Eucharist, each vestment symbolizes a spiritual dimension of the priesthood, in some measure these vestments harken to the Roman roots of the Western Church. Use of the following vestments varies, some are used by all Western Christians in liturgical traditions. Many are used only in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, cassock an item of clerical clothing, a long, close-fitting, ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and some Reformed churches. Stole The long, narrow strip of cloth draped around the neck, a vestment of distinction, deacons wear it draped across the left shoulder diagonally across the body to the right hip while priests and bishops wear it draped around the back of the neck. It may be crossed in the front and secured with the cincture, traditionally, this was done by priests when wearing Eucharistic vestments, whereas bishops always wore it uncrossed. Modern usage is for both bishops and priests to wear the stole uncrossed, corresponds to the Orthodox orarion and epitrachelion. Alb The common garment of any ministers at the eucharist, worn over a cassock, most closely corresponds to the Orthodox sticharion. Cassock-alb or cassalb is a modern garment and is a combination of the traditional cassock. It developed as a convenient undergarment worn by clergy and as an alternative to the alb for deacons, a white or off-white cassock-alb has replaced the traditional cassock and alb in some Anglican and Lutheran churches since the 1970s
Vestment
–
Clergy of various ranks in vestments celebrating
Mass according to the Neo-Gallican Rite of Versailles
Elevation of the
chalice.
Vestment
–
This Lutheran pastor is wearing a Geneva gown and Preaching Bands
Vestment
–
Ukrainian Catholic priest wearing
sticharion,
phelonion,
epitrachelion,
zone,
epimanikia, and
pectoral cross at a
church in the United States.
Vestment
–
Icon of
St. Gregory the Illuminator wearing the
omophorion, a type of
phelonion worn by bishops called the polystavrion,
epigonation,
epitrachelion and
sticharion (fourteenth century
fresco,
Mistras).
40.
Lucca
–
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio, in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital of the Province of Lucca and it is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls. Lucca was founded by the Etruscans and became a Roman colony in 180 BC, the rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre still may be seen in the Piazza dellAnfiteatro, at the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate. Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the sixth century. At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy, Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the sixth century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins, the Holy Face of Lucca, a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. During the eighth-tenth centuries Lucca was a center of Jewish life, Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the eleventh century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the tenth–eleventh centuries Lucca was the capital of the margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent. After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, for almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina, Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe, dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca, in 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo named Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca, the Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another condottiero, Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled Florence until Castracanis death in 1328, on 22 and 23 September 1325, in the battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated Florences Guelphs. For this he was nominated by Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca, Castracanis tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is Machiavellis third famous book on political rule, in 1408, Lucca hosted the convocation intended to end the schism in the papacy. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state with a republican constitution to remain independent over the centuries. In 1805, Lucca was conquered by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as Princess of Lucca, from 1815 to 1847 it was a Bourbon-Parma duchy
Lucca
–
View of Lucca from the
Torre Guinigi
Lucca
–
Coat of arms
Lucca
–
Duomo di San Martino (the Cathedral).
Lucca
–
Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.
41.
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, Genoa, 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, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, 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, wood, 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 also 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
Genoa
–
A collage of Genoa, clockwise from top left:
Torre della Lanterna,
Piazza de Ferrari, Galleria Mazzini, Brigata Liguria Street, view of San Teodoro from
Port of Genoa
Genoa
–
The Polcevera bronze tablet, evidence of the Roman and pre-Roman past of Genoa.
Genoa
–
Portrait of
Christopher Columbus by
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio
Genoa
–
The iconic
Lanterna, renaissance lighthouse of Genoa built in 1543
42.
Florence
–
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
Florence
–
A collage of Florence showing the
Galleria degli Uffizi (top left), followed by the
Palazzo Pitti, a sunset view of the city and the
Fountain of Neptune in the
Piazza della Signoria
Florence
–
A wooden model of Florence as it would have probably looked during Roman times, showing the ancient amphitheatre
Florence
–
The façade of the Cathedral
Florence
–
Leonardo da Vinci statue outside the
Uffizi Gallery.
43.
Flemings
–
They are one of two principal ethnic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons. Flemish people make up the majority of the Belgian population, historically, all inhabitants of the medieval County of Flanders were referred to as Flemings, irrespective of the language spoken. The contemporary region of Flanders comprises a part of historical county, as well as parts of the medieval duchy of Brabant. The sense of Flemish identity increased significantly after the Belgian Revolution, prior to this, the term Flemings in the Dutch language was in first place used for the inhabitants of the former County of Flanders. Flemish however had been used since the 14th century to refer to the language, the modern Belgian province of Limburg was not part of the treaty, and only came to be considered Flemish in the 19th century. In 1830 the southern provinces of the United Netherlands proclaimed their independence, under French rule, French was enforced as the only official language in public life, resulting in a Frenchification of the elites and, to a lesser extent, the middle classes. The Dutch King allowed the use of both Dutch and French dialects as administrative languages in the Flemish provinces and he also enacted laws to reestablish Dutch in schools. Lastly, Belgian liberals were dissatisfied with William for his despotic behaviour. Following the revolt, the reforms of 1823 were the first Dutch laws to be abolished. After the Hundred Years War many Flemings migrated to the Azores, by 1490 there were 2,000 Flemings living in the Azores. Willem van der Haegen was the sea captain who brought settlers from Flanders to the Azores. Today many Azoreans trace their genealogy from present day Flanders, within Belgium the Flemings form a clearly distinguishable group, set apart by their language and customs. However, the perception of being a single polity varies greatly, depending on subject matter, locality. Generally, Flemings will seldom identify themselves as being Dutch and vice versa and this is partly caused by the popular stereotypes in the Netherlands as well as Flanders which are mostly based on the cultural extremes of both Northern and Southern culture. It is the majority language in Belgium, being spoken natively by three-fifths of the population and its various dialects contain a number of lexical and a few grammatical features which distinguish them from the standard language. As in the Netherlands, the pronunciation of Standard Dutch is affected by the dialect of the speaker. All Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are spoken in adjacent areas of the Netherlands as well, at the same time East Flemish forms a continuum with both Brabantic and West Flemish. Standard Dutch is primarily based on the Hollandic dialect and to an extent on Brabantian
Flemings
–
The Wedding Dance by
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1625
Flemings
–
Map of the
mediæval County of Flanders.
44.
Bruges
–
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country. The area of the whole city amounts to more than 13,840 hectares, including 1,075 hectares off the coast, the historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval and about 430 hectares in size, the citys total population is 117,073, of whom around 20,000 live in the city centre. The metropolitan area, including the commuter zone, covers an area of 616 km2 and has a total of 255,844 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam and Stockholm, Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port and was once one of the worlds chief commercial cities. Bruges is well known as the seat of the College of Europe, the name probably derives from the Old Dutch for bridge, brugga. Also compare Middle Dutch brucge, brugge, and modern Dutch bruggehoofd, the form brugghe would be a southern Dutch variant. The Dutch word and the English bridge both derive from Proto-Germanic *brugjō-, Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development, in the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesars conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century. The Viking incursions of the century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications, trade soon resumed with England. Bruges received its city charter on 27 July 1128, and new walls and canals were built, in 1089 Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Since about 1050, gradual silting had caused the city to lose its access to the sea. A storm in 1134, however, re-established this access, through the creation of a channel at the Zwin. The new sea arm stretched all the way to Damme, a city became the commercial outpost for Bruges. Bruges had a location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade. They developed, or borrowed from Italy, new forms of merchant capitalism, whereby several merchants would share the risks and profits and they employed new forms of economic exchange, including bills of exchange and letters of credit. The city eagerly welcomed foreign traders, most notably the Portuguese traders selling pepper and other spices, the citys entrepreneurs reached out to make economic colonies of England and Scotlands wool-producing districts
Bruges
–
A canal in Bruges with the famous
Belfry in the background
Bruges
–
The
Markt ("Market square")
Bruges
–
The 'Burg', painted c. 1691 – 1700 by
Meunincxhove
Bruges
–
An old street in Bruges, with the
Church of Our Lady tower in the background
45.
Chiffon (fabric)
–
Chiffon is a lightweight, balanced plain-woven sheer fabric woven of alternate S- and Z-twist crepe yarns. The twist in the crepe yarns puckers the fabric slightly in both directions after weaving, giving it some stretch and a rough feel. Early chiffon was made purely from silk, in 1938, however, a nylon version of chiffon was invented, and in 1958 polyester chiffon was invented and became immensely popular due to its resilience and low cost. Under a magnifying glass chiffon resembles a net or mesh which gives it some transparency. Chiffon is most commonly used in evening wear, especially as an overlay, for giving an elegant and it is also a popular fabric used in blouses, ribbons, scarves and lingerie. Like other crêpe fabrics, chiffon can be difficult to work with because of its light, due to this delicate nature, chiffon must be hand washed very gently. Since chiffon is a fabric that frays very easily, bound or French seams must be used to stop the fabric from fraying. Chiffon is smoother and more lustrous than the similar fabric georgette
Chiffon (fabric)
–
The American actress
Lillian Gish in morning dress in chiffon and lace in 1922
Chiffon (fabric)
46.
Shot silk
–
Shot silk is a fabric which is made up of silk woven from warp and weft yarns of two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance. A shot is a throw of the bobbin that carries the weft thread through the warp. The weaving technique can also be applied to other such as cotton, linen. A shot silk vestment of purple and yellow dating from about 698 is described in detail in a document written in about 1170, showing that the technique existed since at least the 7th century. Purpura is also used to mean iridescence and the play of light and it has also been suggested that illuminations in the Lindisfarne Gospels of c.700 show garments of shot silk being worn by the Four Evangelists. Shot silks were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, including warp printing, shot silks are used today to make neckties and other garments. Notably, some forms of academic dress use shot silks, such as that of the University of Wales. Most famously, the robe of a Doctor of Divinity of the University of Cambridge is faced with Dove-shot silk, a shot of pale grey, emerald green. Sharkskin Takeda, Sharon Sadako, and Kaye Durland Spilker, Fashioning Fashion, European Dress in Detail,1700 -1915, Prestel USA, ISBN 978-3-7913-5062-2
Shot silk
–
Shot silk with a blue warp and pink weft.
Shot silk
–
Man's shot silk suit, purple warp and green weft, c. 1790 (altered c. 1805).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.2007.211.800a-c.
Shot silk
Shot silk
–
Weaves
47.
Utrecht
–
Utrecht is the capital and most populous city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the corner of the Randstad conurbation and is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 330,772 in 2014. Utrechts ancient city centre features many buildings and structures several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages and it has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the religious center in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of events in the Netherlands. In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places, a series of such fortresses was built after the Roman emperor Claudius decided the empire should not expand north. To consolidate the border the limes Germanicus defense line was constructed along the branch of the river Rhine. These fortresses were designed to house a cohort of about 500 Roman soldiers, near the fort settlements would grow housing artisans, traders and soldiers wives and children. In Roman times, the name of the Utrecht fortress was simply Traiectum, Traiectum became Dutch Trecht, with the U from Old Dutch uut added to distinguish U-trecht from Maas-tricht. In 11th-century official documents it was Latinized as Ultra Traiectum, around the year 200, the wooden walls of the fortification were replaced by sturdier tuff stone walls, remnants of which are still to be found below the buildings around Dom Square. From the middle of the 3rd century Germanic tribes regularly invaded the Roman territories, around 275 the Romans could no longer maintain the northern border and Utrecht was abandoned. Little is known about the next period 270–650, Utrecht is first spoken of again several centuries after the Romans left. Under the influence of the realms of the Franks, during Dagobert Is reign in the 7th century. In ongoing border conflicts with the Frisians this first church was destroyed, by the mid-7th century, English and Irish missionaries set out to convert the Frisians. The pope appointed their leader, Willibrordus, bishop of the Frisians, the tenure of Willibrordus is generally considered to be the beginning of the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 723, the Frankish leader Charles Martel bestowed the fortress in Utrecht, from then on Utrecht became one of the most influential seats of power for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands
Utrecht
–
Aerial view of the
Dom Tower in the city centre
Utrecht
–
Many of the features in
Blaeu 's 1652 map of Utrecht can still be recognised in the city center
Utrecht
–
The
Dom tower, with – to the left behind it – the remaining section of the
Dom church. The two parts have not been connected since the collapse of the nave in 1674.
Utrecht
–
Prince Maurits in Utrecht, 31 July 1618
48.
Corduroy
–
Corduroy is a textile composed of twisted fibres that, when woven, lie parallel to one another to form the cloths distinct pattern, a cord. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel between the tufts, corduroy is, in essence, a ridged form of velvet. The fabric looks as if it is made from multiple cords laid parallel to each other, the word corduroy is from cord and duroy, a coarse woollen cloth made in England in the 18th century. The interpretation of the word as corde du roi is a folk etymology, as a fabric, corduroy is considered a durable cloth. Corduroy is found in the construction of trousers, jackets and shirts, the width of the cord is commonly referred to as the size of the wale. The lower the number, the thicker the width of the wale. Corduroy’s wale count per inch can vary from 1.5 to 21, wide wale is more commonly used in trousers and furniture upholstery, medium, narrow, and fine wale fabrics are usually found in garments worn above the waist. Corduroy is made by weaving extra sets of fibre into the fabric to form vertical ridges called wales. The wales are built so that lines can be seen when they are cut into pile. The dye is applied to the surface of the fabric, then the garment is cut, when washed during the final phase of the manufacturing process, the pigment dye washes out in an irregular way, creating a vintage look. The colour of each garment becomes softer with each washing, other names are often used for corduroy. Alternative names include, corded velveteen, elephant cord, pin cord, Manchester cloth, in continental Europe, corduroy is commonly known simply as Manchester, Cord, rib cord or rib velvet. Corduroy is a traditionally used in making British country clothing, such as in coat
Corduroy
–
Cotton corduroy
Corduroy
–
Cotton and woolly corduroy
Corduroy
–
1756 advertisement mentioning "corderoys"
Corduroy
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Velvet". Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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