1.
Saint Thomas Tower
–
This article is about the tower in Marsaskala, Malta. There is another tower of the name in the Tower of London. Saint Thomas Tower, also known as Fort Saint Thomas, is a bastioned watchtower in Marsaskala. It was built in 1614, the third of six Wignacourt towers, an artillery battery was added to the tower in the early 18th century. Saint Thomas Tower is the largest watchtower in Malta, Saint Thomas Tower was built above the shore on the seaward face of the headland of il-Hamriga in Marsaskala. It is a fortification intended to prevent the landing of troops in the sheltered anchorages of Marsaskala Creek. Construction of the tower was approved in July 1614, at the time of the raid of Żejtun, the tower was named after a chapel dedicated to St Thomas which stood close to where the tower now lies. It cost 13,450 scudi,6 tari and 4 grani to build, there are claims that it was designed by Vittorio Cassar, but these are disputed since Cassar was probably dead when work on the tower began. The tower has very thick walls and has four pentagonal bastioned turrets projecting outwards on each corner, the towers entrance was through a vaulted doorway with a wooden drawbridge. The drawbridge is still intact and it is the only original one to have survived in Malta. The tower is surrounded by a rock-hewn ditch, after the De Redin towers were built, St Thomas had Żonqor and Xrobb l-Għaġin Towers in its line of sight, but these are now either in ruins or completely demolished. In 1715, St Thomas Tower was reinforced by the addition of a battery on the seaward face. Construction of the battery cost a total of 382 scudi,8 tarì,11 grani and 1 piccolo, during the French blockade of 1798–1800, the tower was stormed and captured by Maltese insurgents. The tower remained in use by the British until the 19th century, the British did not make any major alterations to the tower, and only some minor changes to the structure were made. At some point, the tower was used as a prison. Today, the town of Marsaskala has expanded, surrounding the tower with modern buildings, in 1982, the four-star Corinthia Jerma Palace Hotel was built between the tower and the coast, effectively ruining the towers relation with the sea. The hotel closed in 2007, and it is now in a dilapidated state, meanwhile, the tower itself now forms the centerpiece of a plaza around its shoreward face. For some time, it was used as a restaurant and pizzeria, in 2008, it was handed over to Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, a heritage foundation
2.
Marsaskala
–
The bay is sheltered to the north by Ras iż-Żonqor, the south-east corner of Malta, and to the south by the headland of Ras il-Gżira. The parish church is dedicated to Sant Anna and St. Annes feast is celebrated at the end of July in Marsaskala, the town has a winter population of 12,134 people, but swells to around 20,000 in summer. Different opinions exist regarding the origin of the name Marsaskala, while it is commonly agreed that Marsa is an Arabic word meaning bay, Skala has given rise to different interpretations. It could have derived from Sqalli for Marsaskala was frequented by Sicilian fishermen since Malta is just 60 miles south from Sicily. Maybe it was derived from the Sicilian Piccola Cala meaning little inlet or it was just a reference to some rock-cut steps on the edge since scala also means a straight flight of steps. Wied means valley and Għajn refers to the spring of fresh water, literally, Wied il-Għajn means Valley of the Spring. Man inhabited this area thousands of years ago as evidenced by the archaeological remains found in various areas of Marsaskala. Its Pre-history is normally divided in the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, some of the most ancient remains at Marsaskala are undoubtedly the cart-ruts, which are parallel channels formed in the rock face. Some of Maltas cart-ruts, mysteriously, lead straight into the sea, difficulties and uncertainties still abound as regards their use as well as the time and the way they were made, though it seems that they served to transport heavy burdens from one place to another. Early Christian catacombs as well as Roman era villa remains, were discovered in Marsaskala. Remains of Roman Baths were found in a field at il-Gżira, in 1614,60 Turkish ships carrying 6000 soldiers landed at Marsaskala and launched an attack on the south of Malta. Although the battle was a decisive Christian victory, it brought back fear, marsaskalas vulnerability to sea borne attacks was reduced by the building of Saint Thomas Tower later in that same year. The tower was financed by Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt and it is one of a series of Wignacourt towers, St Thomas Tower continued to be used for military purposes until the 19th century and it has been recently restored. In 1659, Żonqor Tower, one of 13 De Redin towers was built in the area and this tower was demolished in 1915 by British military engineers. No traces of it can be seen anymore and a pillbox now stands in its place, Marsaskala has various other towers, but these were built privately by wealthy residents as fortified houses. These include Mamo Tower, Tal-Buttar Tower and Tal-Gardiel Tower, in 1715, Briconet Redoubt was built by the Order and it is now well preserved and is used as a police station. A second redoubt was built close to Marsaskala but it was destroyed in 1915, in 1882, the British built Żonqor Battery but it was not used a lot since it was unsuitable for proper defence. His claim was never confirmed and discredited by those related in the field, as a monument over the more recent Maltese history are the remains of the previous four-star Corinthia Jerma Palace Hotel at the very tip of mainland Ras il-Gżira
3.
Fortification
–
Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
4.
Tower
–
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor, the Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. The oldest known may be the stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho. Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats, which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC, the most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world, some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland, which are conical towerhouses. These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification, for example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador, founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower. The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletians Palace in Croatia, which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls, the Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Towers were also an important element of castles, other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372 and the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century, up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded. This can be avoided if the support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic, a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding and these are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the building simultaneously. Although not correctly called towers many modern skyscraper are often called towers, in the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, the tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields
5.
Fortified tower
–
A fortified tower is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions, square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining, despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them. Round towers, also called drum towers, are resistant to siege technology such as sappers. The round front is more resistant than the side of a square tower. This principle was understood in antiquity. The horseshoe-shaped tower is a compromise that gives the best of a round, the semicircular side could resist siege engines, while the rectangular part at the back gives internal space and a large fighting platform on top. The large towers at Krak des Chevaliers and the towers at Harlech are good examples. Armenian castles such as Lampron also favoured this style, a common form is the octagonal tower, used in some bergfrieds and at Castel del Monte in Italy. For instance, the keep at Château Gaillard is round, wall towers, also known as mural towers, provide flanking fire to a straight part of the curtain wall. Corner towers enfilade the two adjoining wall faces, if corner towers are far apart, additional flanking towers may be added between them. Towers in a curtain wall are often open at the back. Particularly large towers are often the strongest point of the castle, as the gate is always a vulnerable point of a castle, towers may be built near it to strengthen the defences at this point. In crusader castles, there is often a gate tower, with the passage leading through the base of the tower itself. In European castles, it is common to have flanking towers on either side of the gatehouse. Flanking tower Gate tower Half tower Martello tower Scottish Broch Tower house Witch tower Kennedy, Hugh
6.
Turret
–
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification. As their military use faded, turrets were used for decorative purposes, a turret can have a circular top with crenellations as seen in the picture at right, a pointed roof, or other kind of apex. The size of a turret is therefore limited by technology, since it puts additional stresses on the structure of the building and it would traditionally be supported by a corbel. Bartizan, an overhanging, wall-mounted turret found particularly on French and they returned to prominence in the 19th century with their popularity in Scottish baronial style
7.
Pagoda
–
Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a function, most commonly Buddhist. In some countries, the term may refer to other religious structures, the modern pagoda is an evolution of the Stupa which originated in Ancient India. Stupas are a structure where sacred relics could be kept safe. The architectural structure of the stupa has spread across Asia, taking on diverse forms as details specific to different regions are incorporated into the overall design. Another proposed etymology is Persian butkada, from but, idol and kada, temple, another etymology, found in many English language dictionaries, is modern English pagoda from Portuguese, from Sanskrit bhavati, feminine of bhagavatt, blessed from bhag, good fortune. The origin of the pagoda can be traced to the stupa, the stupa, a dome shaped monument, was used as a commemorative monument associated with storing sacred relics. In East Asia, the architecture of Chinese towers and Chinese pavilions blended into pagoda architecture, the pagodas original purpose was to house relics and sacred writings. This purpose was popularized due to the efforts of Buddhist missionaries, pilgrims, rulers, and ordinary devotees to seek out, distribute, on the other side, the stupa emerged as a distinctive style of Newari architecture of Nepal and was adopted in Southeast and East Asia. Nepali architect Araniko visited China and shared his skills to build stupa buildings in China and these buildings became prominent as Buddhist monuments used for enshrining sacred relics. Chinese iconography is noticeable in Chinese pagoda as well as other East Asian pagoda architectures, the image of the Shakyamuni Buddha in the abhaya mudra is also noticeable in some Pagodas. Buddhist iconography can be observed throughout the pagoda symbolism, Pagodas attract lightning strikes because of their height. Many pagodas have a decorated finial at the top of the structure, and when made of metal, also Pagodas come in many different sizes, as some may be small and others may be large. Pagodas traditionally have an odd number of levels, an exception being the eighteenth century pagoda folly designed by Sir William Chambers at Kew Gardens in London. The pagodas in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia are very different from Chinese and Japanese pagodas, Pagodas in those countries are derived from South Indian Dravidian architecture. Tiered towers with eaves, Songyue Pagoda on Mount Song, Henan, China. Miruksa Temple Pagoda at Iksan, Korea, built in the early 7th century, bunhwangsa at Gyeongju, Korea, built in 634. Xumi Pagoda at Zhengding, Hebei, China, built in 636, daqin Pagoda in China, built in 640
8.
Hadrian's Wall
–
It had a stone base and a stone wall. There were milecastles with two turrets in between, there was a fort about every five Roman miles. From north to south, the wall comprised a ditch, wall, military way and vallum and it is thought the milecastles were staffed with static garrisons, whereas the forts had fighting garrisons of infantry and cavalry. In addition to the defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts. A significant portion of the wall still stands and can be followed on foot along the adjoining Hadrians Wall Path, the largest Roman artefact anywhere, it runs a total of 73 miles in northern England. Regarded as a British cultural icon, Hadrians Wall is one of Britains major ancient tourist attractions and it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is a misconception that Hadrians Wall marks the boundary between England and Scotland. In fact Hadrians Wall lies entirely within England and has never formed the Anglo-Scottish border, while it is less than 1 kilometre south of the border with Scotland in the west at Bowness-on-Solway, in the east it is as much as 110 kilometres away. Hadrians Wall was 80 Roman miles or 117.5 km long, its width and height varied according to the materials available nearby.5 metres high. These dimensions do not include the walls ditches, berms and forts, the central section measured eight Roman feet wide on a 3 m base. Some parts of section of the wall survive to a height of 3 m. Immediately south of the wall, a ditch was dug, with adjoining parallel mounds. This is known today as the Vallum, even though the word Vallum in Latin is the origin of the English word wall, in many places – for example Limestone Corner – the Vallum is better preserved than the wall, which has been robbed of much of its stone. The A69 and B6318 roads follow the course of the wall from Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, although the curtain wall ends near Bowness-on-Solway, this does not mark the end of the line of defensive structures. The system of milecastles and turrets is known to have continued along the Cumbria coast as far as Risehow, for classification purposes, the milecastles west of Bowness-on-Solway are referred to as Milefortlets. Hadrians Wall was probably planned before Hadrians visit to Britain in AD122, according to restored sandstone fragments found in Jarrow which date from 118 or 119, it was Hadrians wish to keep intact the empire, which had been imposed on him via divine instruction. The fragments then announce the building of the wall and it is entirely possible that, on his arrival in Britain in 122, one of the stops on his itinerary was the northern frontier to inspect the progress of the building of the wall. Theories have been presented by historians, mostly of an expression of Roman power and these troubles may have influenced Hadrians plan to construct the wall as well as his construction of limites in other areas of the Empire, but to what extent is unknown
9.
Great Britain
–
Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
10.
Lighthouse
–
Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance, before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since raising the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as a marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs and promontories. The most famous lighthouse structure from antiquity was the Pharos of Alexandria, coins from Alexandria, Ostia, and Laodicea in Syria also exist. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment allowed for the creation of larger and more powerful lighthouses, including ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses shifted toward the provision of a warning against shipping hazards. The Eddystone Rocks were a major hazard for mariners sailing through the English Channel. The first lighthouse built there was a wooden structure, anchored by 12 iron stanchions secured in the rock. His lighthouse was the first tower in the world to have been exposed to the open sea. The civil engineer, John Smeaton, rebuilt the lighthouse from 1756–59, his tower marked a step forward in the design of lighthouses. He modelled the shape of his lighthouse on that of an oak tree and he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. This profile had the advantage of allowing some of the energy of the waves to dissipate on impact with the walls. His lighthouse was the prototype for the lighthouse and influenced all subsequent engineers. One such influence was Robert Stevenson, himself a figure in the development of lighthouse design. His greatest achievement was the construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 1810 and this structure was based upon Smeatons design, but with several improved features, such as the incorporation of rotating lights, alternating between red and white. Stevenson worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board for nearly fifty years during which time he designed and oversaw the construction and he also invented the movable jib and the balance crane as a necessary part for lighthouse construction. Alexander Mitchell designed the first screw-pile lighthouse – his lighthouse was built on piles that were screwed into the sandy or muddy seabed, construction of his design began in 1838 at the mouth of the Thames and was known as the Maplin Sands lighthouse, and first lit in 1841
11.
Tower of Hercules
–
The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kilometers from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. Until the 20th century, the tower itself was known as the Farum Brigantium, the Latin word farum is derived from the Greek pharos for the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The structure is 55 metres tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain, the structure, almost 1900 years old and and renovated in 1791, is the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today. There is a garden featuring works by Pablo Serrano and Francisco Leiro. The Tower of Hercules is a National Monument of Spain, and it is the second tallest lighthouse in Spain, after the Faro de Chipiona. The tower is known to have existed by the 2nd century, built or perhaps rebuilt under Trajan and it is thought to be modeled after the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The tower has been in constant use since the 2nd century and is considered to be the oldest existing lighthouse in the world, the restoration was undertaken by naval engineer Eustaquio Giannini during the reign of Charles III of Spain, and was finished in 1791. Within, the much-repaired Roman and medieval masonry may be inspected, the Romans who conquered this region of Spain believed it to be, in a figurative sense, the end of the earth, whence its name Finisterra. This region is notorious for shipwrecks, earning it the name Costa da Morte, through the millennia many mythical stories of its origin have been told. According to a myth that blends Celtic and Greco-Roman elements, the hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. Hercules then—in a Celtic gesture— buried the head of Geryon with his weapons, the lighthouse atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules’ slain enemy appears in the coat-of-arms of the city of Corunna. The glimpse of that distant green land lured them to sail north to Ireland, according to the legend Breogáns descendants stayed in Ireland and are the Celtic ancestors of the current Irish people. A colossal statue of Breogán has been erected near the Tower, early geographical descriptions on the location of Brigantia point out that the town could be actually located in Corunna or in the locality of the modern town of Betanzos. This, however, could be a false etymology, the place he chose was an uninhabited place called Clunia, which later on evolved to Cruña and Coruña, and so to Corunna. The place name Clunia is believed to come from the Proto-Celtic root *klou̯ni, meaning meadow
12.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
13.
Dover Castle
–
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent. It was founded in the 11th century and has described as the Key to England due to its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England, the site may have been fortified with earthworks in the Iron Age or earlier, before the Romans invaded in AD43. This is suggested on the basis of the pattern of the earthworks which does not seem to be a perfect fit for the medieval castle. Excavations have provided evidence of Iron Age occupation within the locality of the castle, there have also been excavations on the mound which the church and Roman Pharos are situated on, which has been discovered to be a Bronze Age mound. On the site is a classic montrol where the Normans landed after their victorious conquest, after the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, William the Conqueror and his forces marched to Westminster Abbey for his coronation. They took a route via Romney, Dover, Canterbury, Surrey. From the Cinque Ports foundation in 1050, Dover has always been a chief member—it may also have been this that first attracted Williams attention, in the words of William of Poitiers, Then he marched to Dover, which had been reported impregnable and held by a large force. The English, stricken with fear at his approach had confidence neither in their ramparts nor in the numbers of their troops. While the inhabitants were preparing to surrender unconditionally, greedy for money, set the castle on fire, having taken possession of the castle, the Duke spent eight days adding new fortifications to it. The Castle was first built, entirely out of clay and it collapsed to the ground and the clay was then used as the flooring for many of the ground-floor rooms. It was during the reign of Henry II that the castle began to take recognisable shape, the inner and outer baileys and the great keep belong to this time. Maurice the Engineer was responsible for building the keep, one of the last rectangular keeps ever built, in 1216, a group of rebel barons invited the future Louis VIII of France to come and take the English crown. He had some success breaching the walls, but was ultimately to take the castle. During the siege, the English defenders tunnelled outwards and attacked the French and this can still be seen in the medieval works. During the time of Stephen de Pencester, a windmill was erected on Tower 22, by the Tudor age, the defences themselves had been superseded by gunpowder. They were improved by Henry VIII, who made a personal visit, during the English Civil War it was held for the king but then taken by a Parliamentarian trick without a shot being fired in 1642. This work was overseen by General William Roy, the other English viewpoint used to make measurements across to Cap Blanc Nez in France was at Fairlight, East Sussex
14.
Manor house
–
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The term is loosely applied to various country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era. They were sometimes fortified, but this was intended more for show than for defence. Manor houses existed in most European countries where feudalism existed, where they were known as castles, palaces. Many buildings, such as schools, are named Manor, the reason behind this is because the building was or is close to a manor house. The lord of the manor may have several properties within a county or, for example in the case of a feudal baron, spread across a kingdom. A large and suitable building was required within the manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a hall. This also gave the opportunity for the manor house to be cleaned, especially important in the days of the cess-pit. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters, the day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve. Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles, many manor-houses were fortified and they were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included agricultural buildings. The primary feature of the house was its great hall. A late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France, the Tudor period of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses, for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. During the second half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and under her successor King James I the first mansions designed by architects not by mere masons or builders, began to make their appearance. Such houses as Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are among the best known of this period, nearly every large mediaeval manor house had its own deer-park adjoining, emparked by royal licence, which served primarily as a store of food in the form of venison. Within these licensed parks deer could not be hunted by royalty and this gave them more privacy and space. Court was a suffix which came into use in the 16th century, the obvious origin of the suffix would appear to be that the building was the location where the manorial courts were held. True castles, when not royal castles, were generally the residences of feudal barons, the manor on which the castle was situated was termed the caput of the barony, thus every true ancient defensive castle was also the manor house of its own manor. The suffix -Park came into use in the 18th and 19th centuries, the usage is often a modern catch-all suffix for an old house on an estate, true manor or not
15.
Saudi Arabia
–
Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba and it is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four regions, Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud and he united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been a monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners. The states official language is Arabic, petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the worlds largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the second largest oil reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocracy, has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power, in addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. Following the unification of the Hejaz and Nejd kingdoms, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud. Although this is translated as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in English it literally means the Saudi Arab kingdom. Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago
16.
Yemen
–
Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, although Yemens constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, the city has been under rebel control since February 2015. Because of this, Yemens capital has been relocated to the port city of Aden. Yemens territory includes more than 200 islands, the largest of these is Socotra, Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans, a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and probably also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom, Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established. Islam spread quickly in the century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests. Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult, several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the twentieth century. The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later, a Marxist state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990, Yemen is a developing country, and the poorest country in the Middle East. Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen was described as a kleptocracy, according to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed. President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency. In September 2014, the Houthis took over Sanaa, later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup détat, since then, a Saudi-led intervention has taken place, however, it could not stop the civil war. Instead, the Saudis and the others have destroyed some hospitals, schools and homes, Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions as Yamnat. In Arabic literature, the term includes much greater territory than that of the republic of Yemen. It stretches from the northern Asir Region in southwestern Saudi Arabia to Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, one etymology derives Yemen from yumn, meaning felicity, as much of the country is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix, as opposed to Arabia Deserta, al-Yaman significantly plays on the notion of the land to the right, when in Mecca facing the dawn, complementary to Al-Sham, the Land to the Left, referring to the Levant
17.
Kasbah
–
A kasbah, or in older English casbah, and qasbah or qassabah in India, is a type of medina, or fortress. It was a place for the leader to live and a defense when a city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls, usually without windows, sometimes, they were built on hilltops so that they could be more easily defended. Some were placed near the entrance to harbors, having a kasbah built was a sign of wealth of some families in the city. When colonization started in 1830, in northern Algeria, there were a number of kasbahs that lasted for more than 100 years. The word kasbah may also be used to describe the old part of a city, the Spanish word alcazaba is a cognate naming the equivalent building in Andalusia or Moorish Spain. In Portuguese, it evolved into the word alcáçova, in Catalan, the evolution resulted in alcassaba. In Turkish and Urdu the word refers to a settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city, in short. In Serbo-Croatian, kasaba means an undeveloped, provincial small town, in India, a qasbah is a small town distinguished by the presence of Muslim families of rank. Bab Ksiba Kasbah of the Udayas, in Rabat, Morocco Casbah of Algiers, Algeria Kasbah of Béja, Tunisia Battle of Port Lyautey Alcazaba Rock the Casbah The Casbah Coffee Club Ksar
18.
'Asir Region
–
The ʿAsir Region is a region of Saudi Arabia located in the southwest of the country that is named after the ʿAsīr tribe. It has an area of 81,000 square kilometres and a population of 2,190,000. It shares a border with Yemen. The capital of the Asir Region is Abha, other towns include Khamis Mushait, Bisha and Bareq. The regional governor is Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and he replaced his cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud, who was made governor of Makkah Region on the same day. Temperatures are very extreme, with temperature ranges in the highlands the greatest in the world. It is common for temperatures to be over 30 °C, yet mornings can be extremely frosty. Asir is home to farmers who chiefly grow wheat and fruit crops. Religion is majority Sunni Islam of Maliki rite in the main, zaidis and Ismailis form a large non-Sunni minority in Asir, becoming the majority in the south bordering on Yemen, but thinning out towards the north. The inhabitants speak conservative varieties of Arabic, most tribes in Asir are divided into three sub-parts based on their geographical location. The tribes of the highlands are called sarat, the tribes of the western coastal plain are called tihama. Thus many tribes are divided into sarat, tihama, and badiyah components, tribal laws and customs are still exceedingly strong among the peoples of this region. Aelius Gallus marched his legions south from Egypt on a 1, as it turned out, however, the expedition was a disaster and little information about Asir emerged. By 1920, however, ibn Saud, founder of Saudi Arabia, had begun to recoup the losses of the House of Saud, even then the region was still largely unknown to the West. Historically, Asir was known for producing coffee, wheat, alfalfa, barley, senna, wheat was grown in the summer and sesame has been grown in wetter areas of the region. Straw was used to make mats, hats, and baskets, tribes in the area also weaved tents from straw. Khalid bin Faisal Faisal bin Khalid Habala Sarat Ubaida Governorate South Arabia Saleh Al-Qadhi Mackey, the Saudis, Inside the Desert Kingdom. Asir National Park, Splendid Arabia, An Online Guide to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
19.
Najd
–
Najd or Nejd is the geographical central region of Saudi Arabia in which twenty-eight percent of Saudis live. Najd consists of the regions of Riyadh, al-Qassim, and Hail, Najdis were sometimes referred to in the past as the dominant minority in Saudi Arabia. Unlike Hejaz, Najd is very remote and had largely avoided falling under foreign control, in pre-Islamic times the region of Nejd was settled by many tribes like the Kindites, Tayy and many others. Led by Usma bin Luai the Tayy invaded the mountains of Aja and these mountains are now known as Jabal Shammar. The Tayy became nomadic camel herders and horse breeders in northern Najd for centuries, in the 5th century CE, the tribes of North Arabia became a major threat to the trade line between Yemen and Syria. The Ḥimyarites decided to establish a state that controlled Central. The Kindites gained strength and numbers to play that role, and their first capital was Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil, today known as Qaryat al-Fāw. In the 5th and 6th centuries CE the Kindites made the first real concerted effort to all the tribes of Central Arabia through alliances. Al-Ḥārith ibn Amr, the most famous of their kings, finally succeeded in capturing the Lakhmid capital of al-Ḥirah in southern modern day Iraq, later however in about 529, al-Mundhir recaptured the city and put King Ḥārith and about fifty members of his family to death. In 525 CE, the Aksumites invaded Ḥimyar, and this Kindites, had an effect with the Kindites who lost the support of the Ḥimyarites. Within three years the Kindite kingdom had split into four groups, Asad, Taghlib, Qays and Kinānah and these small principalities were then overthrown in the 530s and 540s in a series of uprisings of the Adnānī tribes of Najd and Ḥijāz. In 540 CE, the Lakhmids destroyed all the Kindite settlements in Nejd, the Kindites and most of the Arab tribes switched their alliances to the Lakhmids. During the Islamic Prophet Muhammads era, Muhammad carried out expeditions in the area. The first was the Nejd Caravan Raid against the Quraysh, which place in 624. The Meccans led by Safwan ibn Umayyah, who lived on trade, after Muhammad received intelligence about the Caravans route, Muhammad ordered Zayd ibn Haritha to go after the Caravan, and they successfully raided it and captured 100,000 dirhams worth of booty. The Invasion of Nejd, happened in Rabi‘ Ath-Thani or Jumada Al-Ula,4 A. H i. e. in October,625 AD, Muhammad led his fighters to Nejd to scare off some tribes he believed had suspicious intentions. Some scholars say the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa took place in Nejd as part of this invasion, the most authentic opinion according to Saifur Rahman al Mubararakpuri, however, is that Dhat Ar-Riqa‘ campaign took place after the fall of Khaibar. This is supported by the fact that Abu Hurairah and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari witnessed the battle, Abu Hurairah embraced Islam only some days before Khaibar, and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari came back from Abyssinia and joined Muhammad at Khaibar
20.
Peel tower
–
By an Act of the Parliament of England in 1455, each of these towers was required to have an iron basket on its summit and a smoke or fire signal, for day or night use, ready at hand. A line of towers was built in the 1430s across the Tweed valley from Berwick to its source. Canons Ashby contains the only Peel tower in the Midlands, due to the settlement of Cumbrian sheep farmer, John Dryden, in the county of Northamptonshire. The towers also provided a refuge so that, when cross-border raiding parties arrived, Peel towers are not usually found in larger places which have a castle, but in smaller settlements. They are often associated with a church, for example Embleton Tower in Embleton, Northumberland is an example of a so-called vicars pele and the one at Hulne Priory is in the grounds of the priory. Hawkshaw, ancestral home of the Porteous family at Tweedsmuir in Peeblesshire, some towers are now derelict while others have been converted for use in peacetime. Embleton Tower is now part of the vicarage and that on the Inner Farne is a home to bird wardens, the most obvious conversion needs will include access, which was originally difficult, and the provision of more and larger windows. A peel tower in Hellifield, North Yorkshire featured in an episode of Grand Designs showing the conversion from a state to a home. Bastle house Manor house Tower house This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Wood, James. London and New York, Frederick Warne, pele Towers in Cumbria Peel Towers, the name given to fortresses of the moss-troopers on the Scottish border
21.
Keep
–
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up to a decade to build, during the 12th century, new designs began to be introduced – in France, quatrefoil-shaped keeps were introduced, while in England polygonal towers were built. In Spain, keeps were increasingly incorporated into both Christian and Islamic castles, although in Germany tall towers called Bergfriede were preferred to keeps in the western fashion, in the second half of the 14th century, there was a resurgence in the building of keeps. In France, the keep at Vincennes began a fashion for tall, heavily machicolated designs, meanwhile, tower keeps in England became popular amongst the most wealthy nobles, these large keeps, each uniquely designed, formed part of the grandest castles built during the period. By the 16th century, however, keeps were slowly falling out of fashion as fortifications, many were destroyed in civil wars between the 17th and 18th centuries, or incorporated into gardens as an alternative to follies. During the 19th century, keeps became fashionable once again and in England, despite further damage to many French and Spanish keeps during the wars of the 20th century, keeps now form an important part of the tourist and heritage industry in Europe. Since the 16th century, the English word keep has commonly referred to large towers in castles. The word originates from around 1375 to 1376, coming from the Middle English term kype, meaning basket or cask, the term came to be used for other shell keeps by the 15th century. By the 17th century, the word keep lost its reference to baskets or casks. Early on, the use of the keep became associated with the idea of a tower in a castle that would serve both as a fortified, high-status private residence and a refuge of last resort. By the 19th century, Victorian historians incorrectly concluded that the etymology of the keep and tenazza were linked. As a result of evolution in meaning, the use of the term keep in historical analysis today can be problematic. Contemporary medieval writers used various terms for the buildings we would today call keeps, in Latin, they are variously described as turris, turris castri or magna turris – a tower, a castle tower, or a great tower. The 12th-century French came to them a donjon, from the Latin dominarium lordship, linking the keep. Similarly, medieval Spanish writers called the buildings torre del homenaje, in England, donjon turned into dungeon, which initially referred to a keep, rather than to a place of imprisonment. This ambiguity over terminology has made historical analysis of the use of keeps problematic, while the term remains in common academic use, some academics prefer to use the term donjon, and most modern historians warn against using the term keep simplistically. The fortifications that we would today call keeps certainly did not necessarily part of a unified medieval style
22.
Tower house
–
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, at the same time, they were also used as an aristocrats residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. In Italian medieval communes, tower houses were built by the local barons as power centres during times of internal strife. In seventeenth century Scotland these castles became the pleasurable retreats of the upper-classes, while able to adopt a military nature, they were furnished for comfort and social interaction. Tower houses are commonly found in northern Spain, especially in the Basque Country. They were mainly used as residences and were able to provide shelter against several enemies, starting with the Arabs and later Castile. However, due to complex legal charters, few had boroughs attached to them, during the petty wars among the Basque nobles from 1379 to 1456, the upper floors of most of them were demolished. Few have survived unscathed to the present day, since then they have been used only as residences by their traditional noble owners or converted into farm houses. To the west of the Basque Country, in Cantabria and Asturias similar tower houses are found, furthest west in the Iberian peninsula in Galicia, medieval tower houses are in the origin of many Modern Age pazos, noble residences as well as strongholds. The tower house served the purpose of protecting the extended family and these tower houses were typically not intended to be used in any major military actions, for this purpose the crusaders relied on a number of larger order castles. A number of tower houses still exist, well-preserved examples include Purtse, Vao. The Yemeni city of Shibam has hundreds of houses which were the tallest in the world. Many other buildings in the Asir and Al-Bahah provinces of Saudi Arabia also have many stone towers and tower houses, most notable in the New World might be considered a focal element of the Mesa Verde Anasazi ruin in Colorado, United States. There is a prominent structure at that site which is in called the tower house and has the general appearance characteristics of its counterparts in Britain. Aul Svan tower Diaolou Bastle house Castle Keep L Plan Castle Manor house Peel tower The Fortified House in Scotland Fortified house Pazo Qasaba Z-plan castle Johnson Westropp, notes on the Lesser Castles or Peel Towers of the County Clare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, the Culture of the English People, Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution. Architecture of the Islamic world, its history and social meaning, media related to Tower houses at Wikimedia Commons Cutaway drawing Of Urquhart Castle tower house
23.
De Redin towers
–
The De Redin Towers are a series of small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1658 and 1659. Thirteen towers were built around the coast of mainland Malta, nine of which still survive, a fourteenth tower was built on Gozo in 1661, and it is sometimes also considered to be one of the De Redin towers due to the similarities in design. The Spanish knight Martin de Redin was elected Grand Master of the Order of St. John on 17 August 1657. In March 1658, he contributed 6428 scudi for the construction of 13 new watchtowers to strengthen the coastal defence system. The design of the new towers was based on the Sciuta Tower, one of the Lascaris towers, each tower had a square base with two floors, with a turret on the roof. The entrance was on the top floor, and was reached by a retractable ladder, the upper room was used as the living quarters for the garrison of four men, while the bottom room was used for storage. Two cannon were mounted on the roof of each tower, the signals consisted of smoke or cannon shots by day, or fire by night. Construction of the first tower, located at Għajn Ħadid in Selmun, began in March 1658, twelve other towers were built within the following year, with the last tower being complete by July 1659. In 1661, shortly after the death of de Redin, Mġarr ix-Xini Tower was built on the island of Gozo, strictly speaking, it is not a De Redin tower, but it is sometimes considered as such due to similarities in the design. The De Redin towers were the last series of coastal watchtowers to be built in Malta, the only tower built after them was Isopu Tower, which was completed in 1667. In around 1715, as part of a programme to improve Maltas coastal defences, Aħrax Tower, a gun platform was built around the seaward face of the tower, which served as a blockhouse. Both batteries still survive, although they are either in a state or extensively altered. Fougasses were dug in the ground some of the towers in the 1740s. Today, fougasses still exist near Madliena Tower and Saint Marks Tower, in the 1760s, entrenchments were also built close to some towers, but many of these were demolished in the early 20th century. A small mortar battery was built close to Delimara Tower in 1793, the De Redin towers did not play a role during the French capture of Malta in 1798, since by this time they were obsolete. However, St. Julians Tower was involved in the subsequent Maltese uprising, the upper floor of Għajn Ħadid Tower collapsed on 12 October 1856 during an earthquake, but the ruins of its base have survived to this day. Most of the towers were decommissioned in the 19th century. The only exception was Madliena Tower, which was modified to have a similar to the Martello towers
24.
Malta
–
Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy,284 km east of Tunisia, the country covers just over 316 km2, with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the worlds smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union, Malta has one national language, which is Maltese, and English as an official language. John, French and British, have ruled the islands, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the countrys bravery in the Second World War. The George Cross continues to appear on Maltas national flag, the country became a republic in 1974, and although no longer a Commonwealth realm, remains a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004, in 2008, Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. The origin of the term Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation derives from the Maltese language, the most common etymology is that the word Malta derives from the Greek word μέλι, meli, honey. The ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning honey-sweet, possibly due to Maltas unique production of honey, an endemic species of bee lives on the island. The Romans went on to call the island Melita, which can be considered either as a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth a haven or port in reference to Maltas many bays, few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. The extinction of the hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic period were discovered in areas and also in caves. The Sicani were the tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as being closely related to the Iberians. Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to found in Agrigento. A culture of megalithis temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period, the temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BCE. Animal bones and a knife found behind an altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, the culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archaeologists speculate that the builders fell victim to famine or disease
25.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
26.
Saracen
–
Saracen was a term widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the Middle Ages. The terms meaning evolved during its history, in Europe during the Early Medieval era, the term came to be associated with Arab tribes as well. By the 12th century, Saracen had become synonymous with Muslim in Medieval Latin literature, such expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Romans, as evidenced in documents from the 8th century. In the Western languages before the 16th century, Saracen was commonly used to refer to Muslim Arabs, the term Saraceni might be derived from the Semitic triliteral root srq signifies to steal, rob, plunder. The noun sāriq - sariqīn means, ptolemys 2nd century work, Geography, describes Sarakēnē as a region in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Ptolemy also mentions a people called the Sarakēnoi living in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, the Augustan History also refers to an attack by Saraceni on Pescennius Nigers army in Egypt in 193, but provides little information as to identifying them. Both Hippolytus of Rome and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the century, the Saraceni, the Taeni. The Taeni, later identified with the Arabic-speaking people called Tayy, were located around Khaybar, the Saraceni were placed north of them. These Saracens, located in the northern Hejaz, were described as people with a certain military ability who were opponents of the Roman Empire, the Saracens are described as forming the equites from Phoenicia and Thamud. In one document the defeated enemies of Diocletians campaign in the Syrian Desert are described as Saracens. Other 4th century military reports make no mention of Arabs but refer to as Saracens groups ranging as far east as Mesopotamia that were involved in battles on both the Sasanian and Roman sides. The Saracens were named in the Roman administrative document Notitia Dignitatum—dating from the time of Theodosius I in the 4th century—as comprising distinctive units in the Roman army and they were distinguished in the document from Arabs. Beginning no later than the fifth century, Christian writers began to equate Saracens with Arabs. Saracens were associated with Ishmaelites in some strands of Jewish, Christian and this claim was popular during the Middle Ages, but derives more from Paul’s allegory in the New Testament letter to the Galatians than from historical data. The name Saracen was not indigenous among the populations so described but was applied to them by Greco-Roman historians based on Greek place names. As the Middle Ages progressed, usage of the term in the Latin West changed, but its connotation remained negative, associated with opponents of Christianity, in an 8th-century polemical work, John of Damascus criticized the Saracens as followers of a false prophet and forerunner to the Antichrist. By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans had more specific conceptions of Islam and used the term Saracen as an ethnic, in some Medieval literature, Saracens—that is, Muslims—were described as black-skinned, while Christians were lighter-skinned. An example is in The King of Tars, a medieval romance, the Song of Roland, an Old French 11th-century heroic poem, refers to the black skin of Saracens as their only exotic feature
27.
Balearic Islands
–
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The four largest islands are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, there are many minor islands and islets close to the larger islands, including Cabrera, Dragonera and SEspalmador. The islands have a Mediterranean climate, and the four islands are all popular tourist destinations. Ibiza in particular is known as a party destination, attracting many of the worlds most popular DJs to its nightclubs. The islands culture and cuisine are similar to that of the rest of Spain but have their own distinctive features, the archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain, with Palma de Mallorca as the capital. The 2007 Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain, the co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Spanish. Though now a part of Spain, throughout history the Balearic Islands have been under the rule of a number of different kingdoms, the official name of the Balearic Islands in Catalan is Illes Balears, while in Spanish they are known as the Islas Baleares. The term Balearic derives from Greek, of the various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands—Gymnasiae and Baleares—classical sources provide two. According to the Lycophrons Alexandra verses, the islands were called Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae because its inhabitants were often nude, the Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers, although Strabo regards the name as of Phoenician origin. He observed it was the Phoenician equivalent for lightly armoured soldiers the Greeks would have called γυμνῆτας/gymnetas, the root bal does point to a Phoenician origin, perhaps the islands were sacred to the god Baal and the resemblance to the Greek root ΒΑΛ is accidental. Indeed, it was usual Greek practice to assimilate local names into their own language, but the common Greek name of the islands is not Βαλεαρεῖς/Baleareis, but Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiai. The former was the used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans. The Balearic Islands are on a platform called the Balearic Promontory. They are cut by a network of northwest to southeast faults, the main islands of the autonomous community are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, all popular tourist destinations. Amongst the minor islands is Cabrera, the location of the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park, the islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Minorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands, and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pityusic Islands, also referred to as the Pityuses. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Balearic Islands unsurprisingly have typical mediterranean climates, the below-listed climatic data of the capital Palma is typical for the archipelago, with minor differences to other stations in Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca. Little is recorded on the earliest inhabitants of the islands, though many legends exist, the story, preserved by Lycophron, that certain shipwrecked Greek Boeotians were cast nude on the islands, was evidently invented to account for the name Gymnesiae. There is also a tradition that the islands were colonised by Rhodes after the Trojan War, the islands had a very mixed population, of whose habits several strange stories are told
28.
Ifriqiya
–
The southern boundary of Ifriqiya was far more unchallenged as bounded by the semi-arid areas and the salt marshes called el-Djerid. The northern and western boundaries fluctuated, at times as far north as Sicily otherwise just along the coastline, the capital was briefly Carthage, then Qayrawan, then Mahdia, then Tunis. The Arabs generally settled on the ground while the native population settled in the mountains. The Aghlabids, from their base in Kairouan, initiated the invasion of Sicily beginning in 827 and establishing the Emirate of Sicily, zuhair ibn Qais al-Balawi, 683–689 — initially only Barqa, recovered Byzacena in 686. Hassan ibn al-Numan al-Ghassani, 692–703 — initially only Barqa, captured Carthage in 695, then again in 698. Permanent conquest of Ifriqiya, organized as new province, separately from Egypt, directly under Umayyad Caliph, kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi,741 Balj ibn Bishr al-Qushayri and Abd al-Rahman ibn Oqba al-Ghaffari, 741–42 Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi, 742–44 Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Fihri, 745–755. Torrey,1901, The Mohammedan Conquest of Egypt and North Africa, Historical and Critical Contributions to Biblical Science, histoire de lAfrique du Nord, vol.2 - De la conquête arabe à1830,1961 edition, Paris, Payot
29.
Emirate of Sicily
–
The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily which existed from 831 to 1072. Muslims, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state, the Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily, who founded the County of Sicily in 1071. Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily, until the late 12th century, and probably as late as the 1220s, Muslims formed the majority of the islands population. Their influence remains in some elements of the Sicilian language, as well as surnames, in 535, Emperor Justinian I returned Sicily to the Roman Empire, now ruled from Constantinople exclusively. As the power of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire waned in the West, however, this first invasion was short-lived, and the Arabs left soon after. Around 700, the island of Pantelleria was captured by Arabs, instead, trading agreements were arranged with the Byzantines, and Arab merchants were allowed to trade goods at the Sicilian ports. Attacks from Muslim fleets were repeated in 703,728,729,730,731,733 and 734, the first true conquest expedition was launched in 740, in that year the Muslim prince Habib, who had participated on the 728 attack, successfully captured Syracuse. Ready to conquer the island, they were however forced to return to Tunisia by a Berber revolt. A second attack in 752 aimed only to sack the same city, in 826 Euphemius, the commander of the Byzantine fleet of Sicily, forced a nun to marry him. Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered that General Constantine end the marriage, Euphemius rose up, killed Constantine and then occupied Syracuse, he in turn was defeated and driven out to North Africa. He offered rule of Sicily over to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a place as a general and safety, an Arab army was sent. The latter agreed to conquer Sicily, promising to give it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute, the Muslim force counted 10,000 infantry,700 cavalry and 100 ships, reinforced by Euphemius ships and, after the landing at Mazara del Vallo. A first battle against the loyal Byzantine troops occurred on July 15,827, near Mazara, Asad subsequently conquered the southern shore of the island and laid siege to Syracuse. After a year of siege, and a mutiny, his troops were however able to defeat a large army sent from Palermo. But when a plague killed many of the Muslim troops, as well as Asad himself, later they returned to the offensive, but failed to conquer Castrogiovanni and retreated back to Mazara. In 830 they received a reinforcement of 30,000 Ifriqiyan and Andalusian troops. The Iberian Muslims defeated the Byzantine commander Teodotus in July–August of that year, the Ifriqiyan units sent to besiege Palermo managed to capture it after a year long siege in September 831
30.
Barbary Coast
–
The Barbary Coast, or Berber Coast, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the term Greater Maghreb or simply Maghreb corresponds roughly to Barbary, the term Barbary Coast emphasizes the Berber coastal regions and cities throughout the middle and western coastal regions of North Africa – what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The name is derived from the Berber people of north Africa, the slaves and goods were being traded and sold throughout the Ottoman Empire or to the Europeans themselves. Barbary was not always a political entity. From the 16th century onwards, it was divided into the political entities of the Regency of Algiers, Tunis, major rulers during the times of the Barbary states plundering parties included the Pasha or Dey of Algiers, the Bey of Tunis and the Bey of Tripoli. Before then, the territory was divided between Ifriqiya, Morocco, and a west-central Algerian state centered on Tlemcen or Tiaret. Powerful Berber dynasties such as the Almohads and briefly thereafter the Hafsids, from a European perspective its capital or chief city was often considered to be Tripoli in modern-day Libya, although Marrakesh in Morocco was the largest and most important Berber city at the time. In addition, Algiers in Algeria and Tangiers in Morocco were also seen as the capital. The first United States military land action overseas, executed by the U. S, Marines and Navy, was the Battle of Derne, Tripoli, in 1805. The opening line of the Marines Hymn refers to this action and this was the first time the U. S. Marine Corps took part in offensive actions outside of the United States. The word razzia was borrowed via Italian and French from Algerian Arabic ghaziya, originally referring to slave raids conducted by Barbary pirates
31.
Han dynasty
–
The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period. Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered an age in Chinese history. To this day, Chinas majority ethnic group refers to itself as the Han people and it was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods, the Western Han or Former Han and the Eastern Han or Later Han, the emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States, from the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD, the Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations, the Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu of Han launched several campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries, the territories north of Hans borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Imperial authority was seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, following Liu Bangs victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief. Chinas first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty, the Qin unified the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their empire became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Although Xiang Yu proved to be a commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang assumed the title emperor at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu, Changan was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han
32.
Dunhuang
–
Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. As part of the web, it was operated as a Tor hidden service. The website was launched in February 2011, development had begun six months prior, initially there were a limited number of new seller accounts available, new sellers had to purchase an account in an auction. Later, a fee was charged for each new seller account. In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down the website, on 6 November 2013, Silk Road 2.0 came online, run by former administrators of Silk Road. It too was shut down, and the operator was arrested on 6 November 2014 as part of the so-called Operation Onymous”. Ulbricht was convicted of eight charges related to Silk Road in U. S. Federal Court in Manhattan and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, Silk Road was founded in February 2011. The name Silk Road comes from a network of trade routes started during the Han Dynasty between Europe, India, China, and many other countries on the Afro-Eurasian landmass. Silk Road was operated by the pseudonymous Dread Pirate Roberts, who was known for espousing libertarian ideals, two other individuals were also closely involved in the sites growth and success, known as Variety Jones and Smedley. In June 2011, Gawker published an article about the site led to Internet buzz. Once the site was publicly, U. S. Senator Charles Schumer asked federal law enforcement authorities to shut it down, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, australian police and the DEA have targeted Silk Road users and made arrests, albeit with limited success at reaching convictions. In December 2013, a New Zealand man was sentenced to two years and four months in jail after being convicted of importing 15 grams of methamphetamine that he had bought on Silk Road. In May 2013, Silk Road was taken down for a period of time by a sustained DDoS attack. On 23 June 2013, it was first reported that the DEA seized 11.02 bitcoins, then worth $814, Ross Ulbricht was alleged by the FBI to be the founder and owner of Silk Road and the person behind the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. He was arrested on 2 October 2013 in San Francisco at 3,15 p. m. PST in Glen Park Library, Ulbricht was indicted on charges of money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics, and attempting to have six people killed. Prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht paid $730,000 to others to commit the murders, Ulbricht ultimately was not prosecuted for any of the alleged murder attempts. The FBI initially seized 26,000 bitcoins from accounts on Silk Road, an FBI spokesperson said that the agency would hold the bitcoins until Ulbrichts trial finished, after which the bitcoins would be liquidated
33.
Knights Hospitaller
–
It was headquartered variously in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, until it became known by its current name. Some scholars, however, consider that the Amalfitan order and hospital were different from Gerard Thoms order and it regained strength during the early 19th century as it redirected itself toward religious and humanitarian causes. In 1834, the order, by this time known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, acquired new headquarters in Rome, in 800, Emperor Charlemagne enlarged Probus hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the hospital, in 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist and it was served by the Order of Saint Benedict. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem, under his successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem, but the order extended to providing pilgrims with an armed escort. Thus the Order of St. John imperceptibly became military without losing its charitable character. Raymond du Puy, who succeeded Gerard as Master of the Hospital in 1118, organised a militia from the orders members, in 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a silver cross in a field of red. The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land, frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185. The statutes of Roger de Moulins deal only with the service of the sick, the order numbered three distinct classes of membership, the military brothers, the brothers infirmarians, and the brothers chaplains, to whom was entrusted the divine service. In 1248 Pope Innocent IV approved a military dress for the Hospitallers to be worn during battle. Instead of a closed cape over their armour, they wore a red surcoat with a cross emblazoned on it. Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were built by the Templars, at the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers, the property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies. As early as the late 12th century the order had begun to achieve recognition in the Kingdom of England, as a result, buildings such as St Johns Jerusalem and the Knights Gate, Quenington in England were built on land donated to the order by local nobility. An Irish house was established at Kilmainham, near Dublin, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights were confined to the County of Tripoli and, when Acre was captured in 1291, the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus. His successor, Foulques de Villaret, executed the plan, and on 15 August 1310, after four years of campaigning
34.
Wignacourt towers
–
The Wignacourt towers are a series of large coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1610 and 1620. A total of six towers of this type were constructed, four of which survive, in 1418, the Maltese people made a petition to build a tower guarding the Gozo Channel, but nothing materialized. In the early 15th century, the local Mahras maintained several watch posts around the islands coastline, despite this, there was a shortage of men and coastal defence was not very effective, with the islands remaining open to attacks by Moors or Barbary corsairs. The Maltese islands fell under the control of the Order of Saint John in 1530, the Order initially established its base in Birgu, and later moved to Valletta. Both cities are located in the Grand Harbour, the natural harbour in Malta. By end of the 16th century, the area was extensively fortified. In 1598, a fleet of 40 Ottoman ships was sighted off Capo Passaro in Sicily and this led to efforts to build new coastal defences. In 1599, Grand Master Martin Garzez invited the military engineer Giovanni Rinaldini to examine the defences, Garzez died in 1601 before any new defences were built, but he left a sum of 12,000 scudi in his will for the building of a new coastal watchtower. In 1605, construction of Garzes Tower began in Mġarr, Gozo, the tower was completed sometime after 1607. Garzezs successor, Alof de Wignacourt, set out to build a series of towers around the coastline, the first of these, called Wignacourt Tower after the Grand Master, was proposed in 1609 and the first stone was laid on 10 February 1610. Five other towers were built over a period until 1620. The construction of five of the six towers was funded personally by Wignacourt and this amounted to one eighth of the Grand Masters total benefactions to the Order. The only tower which was not financed by Wignacourt was Marsalforn Tower on Gozo and it was considerably smaller than the other towers, and did not have any bastions. Saint Lucian Tower first saw action in the raid of Żejtun of 1614, in around 1715, as part of a programme to improve Maltas coastal defences, artillery batteries were built around three of the towers. Saint Lucian Tower was strengthened and renamed Fort Rohan in the 1790s, the tower was turned into a polygonal fort by the British in the 1870s, and it was renamed Fort San Lucian. The Wignacourt towers remained in use for coastal defence until the years of British rule. They were all decommissioned during the course of the 19th century, in the late 1880s, Santa Maria delle Grazie Tower was demolished. Some of the towers were used in World War I or World War II
35.
Lascaris towers
–
The Lascaris Towers are a series of mostly small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1637 and 1652. The first seven towers were built around the coast of mainland Malta between 1637 and 1638, between 1647 and 1652, a large tower was also built on mainland Malta, and two smaller ones were built on Gozo. The Italian knight Giovanni Paolo Lascaris was elected Grand Master of the Order of St. John on 16 June 1636, unlike the earlier Wignacourt towers which were personally funded by the Grand Master, the cost of the Lascaris towers was paid by the Università. Construction of the first tower, located at ta Lippija near Ġnejna, another six towers were built within the following year. Six of the seven towers were coastal watchtowers, built on or near the sites of medieval watch posts. The only Lascaris tower which is located inland is the Nadur Tower at Binġemma Gap, another tower, Saint Agathas Tower, was built between 1647 and 1649. Unlike the original towers, this was a large bastioned structure similar to the earlier Wignacourt towers, the last two towers to be built in Lascaris reign were the ones at Xlendi and Dwejra. These were built in 1650 and 1652 respectively, and the cost of construction was paid by the Università of Gozo, in 1658 and 1659, Lascaris successor, Martin de Redin, built another 13 watchtowers around Maltas coastline, which became known as the De Redin towers. The design of the new towers were based on Sciuta Tower, due to their similarity in design, sometimes the Lascaris and De Redin towers are collectively known as De Redin towers. In around 1715, as part of a programme to improve Maltas coastal defences, a gun platform was built around the seaward face of the tower, which served as a blockhouse. At this point, a redan trace entrenchment was built near Saint Agathas Tower, blat Mogħża Tower collapsed in around 1730 when the cliffs on which it was built gave way. The tower was never rebuilt, and no traces of it can be seen today, in the 1760s, entrenchments were built near Qawra Tower. Most of the towers were decommissioned in the 19th century, by the end of the 20th century, most of the nine surviving towers were in a rather dilapidated state. St. Agathas Tower and Lippija Tower were in a bad state. St. Georges Tower, Dwejra Tower, St. Agathas Tower, Għajn Tuffieħa Tower, Xlendi Tower is currently being restored, while plans are also being made for the restoration of Sciuta Tower. Today, Għajn Tuffieħa, St. Agathas and Dwejra Towers are open to the public, St. Georges Tower is within the grounds of a hotel, and Qawra Tower is open as a restaurant
36.
Coastal fortifications of Jersey
–
The fortifications include castles, forts, towers, Martello towers, artillery batteries, and seawalls. Not infrequently, fortifications from one period are built on the site of fortifications, or very near them. As of 2013, some of the fortifications are museums, or holiday accommodation, private homes, most are under the control of the States of Jersey, Jersey Heritage, the National Trust for Jersey, and the Channel Islands Occupation Society. Coastal towers stand all along the coast of the island, king George III granted approval and funding on 5 July 1778. Work began in 1779, after a failed French landing at St Ouens Bay on 1 May 1779, perhaps four had been completed by the time of the Battle of Jersey in 1781, in which however they played no part. Guernsey, which the French did not attack, had built 15 loophole towers between 1778 and 1779, seymour Tower, which replaced an earlier tower on the same spot at La Rocque, was built of granite and was the only square tower. The other 22 towers that Conway had constructed were round, although frequently called Martello towers, the round towers are taller, and they predate the development of true Martello towers. The round towers differ from Martello towers in several ways, the Jersey towers are mostly built with local granite rather than brick, have a slighter batter, and most importantly, originally did not have a cannon on the top platform. Later, at the onset of the Napoleonic Wars, both the Jersey and Guernsey towers each received a 12-pounder carronade on a mount for the top platform. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II, the Germans also destroyed several towers. Some of the towers have been painted on the seaward side to serve as daymarks. Archirondel is painted red and white, while other towers are painted white and red, or white, in whole or in part, again, the order below is counter-clockwise from the north-west corner of the island. Numismatics The latest Jersey pound note design has a picture of the St Clements tower at Le Hocq and this tower also appears on the reverse of the Jersey 1p coin. The British built eight true Martello towers in Jersey, three between 1808 and 1814, and five between 1834 and 1837, the German occupation forces destroyed one of the second group, LEtacq, during World War II. La Tour Cârrée Le Couperon guardhouse Le Don Hilton Plémont guardhouse, the British built the guardhouse in the 18th Century and by 1812 it had a battery associated with it that was armed with an 18-pounder muzzle-loading gun. During the German occupation, the Germans made a field position of the guardhouse. They added an emplacement with twin guns, a mortar emplacement, an observation post. They also added a Tobruk with a tank turret atop it, during World War II Nazi Germany constructed a considerable number of fortifications in the Channel Islands which form part of the Atlantic Wall
37.
Guernsey loophole towers
–
Towards the start of the Napoleonic Wars several towers received additional reinforcement in the form of batteries at their bases. Today,12 towers still survive, three having been destroyed at different times, two of the survivors, Petit Bôt and Rousse, contain interpretive exhibits that the public may examine. In 1778, General Henry Seymour Conway, Governor of Jersey, as it happened, almost all the towers were built after the Battle of Jersey in 1781. However, in July 1778, the British government also authorized the building of 15 towers on Guernsey and these towers were designed to accommodate only muskets, though there was discussion of giving each tower a Coehorn mortar for the roof platform nothing came of this. Although most of the towers were built on the Commons, or on land above the high-water mark. The States were of the opinion that the project was of importance that if necessary they would exercise eminent domain. notwithstanding any Clameur de haro or any opposition whatsoever. Manning the towers was the responsibility of the Royal Guernsey Militia and this force of 4-5,000 men consisted of a field artillery regiment and four infantry regiments. Service in the militia was compulsory and unpaid, the men took turns manning the towers and other fortifications assigned to each regiment. A report of 1787 pointed out the towers limitations, also, in 1803, the towers had their roofs strengthened and they received 12-pounder carronades as additional armament. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II, the Petit Bôt Tower provided one example, however, its recent restoration returned it to its pre-World War II form. The towers were all built to one design and they all had three floors, the two above the ground floor having loopholes that would permit musket fire to cover all approaches to the tower. Captain Frederick Bassett, RE, the Commanding Engineer in the Channel Islands and they were to be built to the design of the Jersey round towers, but in fact deviated in a number of ways. They had a batter at the base, and were slenderer than the Jersey towers, the Jersey towers also later received machicolations, which are absent from the Guernsey loophole towers. Dimensions The towers are 30ft feet tall, and have a diameter of 20ft. They have a batter to the walls to the first floor, material The towers were built of Guernsey granites. Tower #1, at Houge à la Perre Battery, on Belle Greve Bay, all the others were built of local granites, with Vazon being built of Cobo Granite. The towers are numbered sequentially, in a direction from St Peter Port. - Houge à la Perre Tower and battery, St Sampson, destroyed 2 July 1905 for a tram shed and road widening
38.
Martello tower
–
They stand up to 40 feet high and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. A few towers had moats or other batteries and works attached for extra defence, the Martello towers were used during the first half of the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments, in the second half of the 19th century, there was another spate of tower and fort building, during the premiership of Lord Palmerston. The Palmerston Forts are also circular in design and resemble Martello towers, Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genoese defence system, at Mortella Point in Corsica. The designer was Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino, and the tower was completed in 1565, since the 15th century, the Corsicans had built similar towers at strategic points around the island to protect coastal villages and shipping from North African pirates. The towers stood one or two high and measured 12–15 m in diameter, with a single doorway five metres off the ground that one could access only via a ladder which the occupants could remove. Local villagers paid for the towers and watchmen, known as torregiani, the fire would alert the local defence forces to the threat. Although the pirate threat subsequently dwindled, the Genovese built a newer generation of circular towers, what helped the British was that the towers two 18-pounder guns fired seaward, while only the one 6-pounder could fire land-ward. The number of men in the Tower were 33, only two were wounded, and those mortally, late in the previous year, the towers French defenders had abandoned it after HMS Lowestoffe had fired two broadsides at it. The British removed the guns to arm a small vessel, consequently, still, the British were impressed by the effectiveness of the tower when properly supplied and defended, and copied the design. But, they got the wrong, misspelling Mortella as Martello. When the British withdrew from Corsica in 1803, with great difficulty they blew up the tower, the towers were about 40 feet high with walls about 8 feet thick. In some towers the rooms were not built in the center and these were cases where an attack with a cannon from the landside was thought very unlikely. Entry was by ladder to a door about 10 feet from the base above which was a platform which allowed for downward fire on attackers. The flat roof or terreplein had a parapet and a raised platform in the centre with a pivot for a cannon that would traverse a 360° arc. The walls had slits for defensive musket fire. The interior of a classic British Martello tower consisted of two storeys, the ground floor served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, water, stores and provisions were kept. The garrison of 24 men and one lived in a casemate on the first floor
39.
British Empire
–
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
40.
Fort Denison
–
The island was formerly known as Pinchgut Island. In 1978 the former fortress was listed on the Register of the National Estate, and is now used as a park, nature reserve, tourist facility. Prior to European settlement, the island had the Eora name Mat-te-wan-ye, after the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Governor Phillip and his advocate-general used the name Rock Island. In 1788, a convict named Thomas Hill was sentenced to a week on bread and water in irons there, in late 1796 the Governor had installed a gibbet on Pinchgut. A convict to be hanged and then gibbeted there was Francis Morgan, in 1793, the British transported him to New South Wales for life as punishment for a murder. The authorities in NSW executed Morgan for bashing Simon Raven to death in Sydney on 18 October 1796, on 30 November 1796, Morgan was hanged for the brutal murder of Simon Raven. Following his execution his body was hung in chains on Pinchgut and his skeleton was still hanging there four years after his execution. In 1839, two American warships entered the harbour at night and circled Pinchgut Island, concern with the threat of foreign attack caused the government to review the harbours inner defences. Fortification of the began in 1841 but was not completed. Construction resumed in 1855 because of fear of a Russian naval attack during the Crimean War, the newly built fort then took its current name from Sir William Thomas Denison, the Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861. The fortress features a distinctive Martello tower, the only one built in Australia. It was constructed using 8,000 tonnes of sandstone from nearby Kurraba Point, the towers walls are between 3. 3–6.7 metres thick at the base and 2.7 metres thick at the top. However, developments in artillery rendered the fort obsolete by the time it was completed. The tower itself had quarters for a garrison of 24 soldiers, eventually all the guns were removed, except for the three 8-inch muzzle-loading cannons in the gun room in the tower, which were installed before construction was complete. The width of passages within the tower are too narrow to permit these to be removed, in 1906, a saluting gun was transferred from Dawes Point to Fort Denison. In 1913 a lighthouse built in Birmingham, England, and shipped to Sydney. The light is called Fort Denison Light, which is still in use, in May 1942, three Japanese two-man midget-submarines attacked Sydney Harbour. When the US Navy cruiser USS Chicago fired on the Japanese, some of its 5-inch shells hit Fort Denison, in October 1900, as the Boer war raged in Africa, the White Star Line ship SS Medic sailed into Sydney Harbour and dropped anchor in Neutral Bay
41.
Sydney
–
Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
42.
Flak tower
–
Flak towers were eight complexes of large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed by Nazi Germany in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna from 1940 onwards. Other cities that used flak towers included Stuttgart and Frankfurt, smaller single-purpose flak towers were built at key outlying German strongpoints, such as at Angers, France and Helgoland, Germany. The towers were used by the Luftwaffe to defend against Allied air raids against these cities during World War II and they also served as air-raid shelters for tens of thousands of local civilians. After the RAFs raid on Berlin in 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of three massive towers to defend the capital from air attack. Each tower had an installation with a radar dish which could be retracted behind a thick concrete. Hitler was interested in the design of the towers, and even made some sketches and they were constructed in six months. The priority of the project was such that the German national rail schedule was altered to facilitate the shipment of concrete, steel and timber to the construction sites. The towers were able to sustain a rate of fire of 8000 rounds per minute from their multi-level guns, however, only the 128 mm guns had effective range to defend against the RAF and USAAF heavy bombers. The three flak towers around the outskirts of Berlin created a triangle of fire that covered the centre of Berlin. The flak towers had also designed with the idea of using the above-ground bunkers as a civilian shelter, with room for 10,000 civilians. The towers, during the fall of Berlin, formed their own communities, the Soviets, in their assault on Berlin, found it difficult to inflict significant damage on the flak towers, even with some of the largest Soviet guns, such as the 203 mm howitzers. Soviet forces generally manoeuvred around the towers, and eventually sent in envoys to seek their surrender, unlike much of Berlin, the towers tended to be fully stocked with ammunition and supplies, and the defenders used 2 cm Flak cannon to defend against assault by ground units. The Zoo Tower was one of the last points of defence, with German armoured units rallying near it at Tiergarten, after the war, the demolition of the towers was often considered not feasible and many remain to this day, with some having been converted for alternate use. Generation 1 G-Towers were 70.5 m ×70.5 m ×39 m, usually armed with eight 128mm FlaK40, l-Towers were 50 m ×23 m ×39 m, usually armed with sixteen 20 mm guns. Generation 2 G-Towers were 57 m ×57 m ×41.6 m, usually armed with eight 128 mm guns, l-Towers were 50 m ×23 m ×44 m, usually armed with forty 20 mm guns. Generation 3 G-Towers were 43 m ×43 m ×54 m, usually armed with eight 128 mm guns, the evaluation of even larger Battery Towers was commissioned by Adolf Hitler. These would have three times the size and firepower of flak towers. Berlin Zoo G-Tower was demolished by the British at the end of the war,52. 509886°N13. 335862°E /52.509886,13.335862 L-Tower was demolished after the war
43.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
44.
Anti-aircraft warfare
–
Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, a surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offensively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 20 mm to 150 mm were the weapons, guided missiles then became dominant. The term air defence was probably first used by Britain when Air Defence of Great Britain was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called anti-aircraft, abbreviated as AA, after the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by Light or Heavy to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack, NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare as measures taken to defend a maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites. In some armies the term All-Arms Air Defence is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops, other terms from the late 20th century include GBAD with related terms SHORAD and MANPADS. Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced SAM, non-English terms for air defence include the German FlaK, whence English flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of anti-air defence, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye systems, in French, air defence is called DCA. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure, however, many different definitions are used but unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only the part of the trajectory can be usefully used. By the late 1930s the British definition was that height at which an approaching target at 400 mph can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation. However, effective ceiling for heavy AA guns was affected by nonballistic factors, The maximum running time of the fuse, the capability of fire control instruments to determine target height at long range. The essence of air defence is to detect aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space, Air defence evolution covered the areas of sensors and technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At the start of the 20th century these were very primitive or non-existent
Media related to Watch towers at Wikimedia Commons
