1.
White elephant (animal)
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A white elephant is a rare kind of elephant, but not a distinct species. Although often depicted as white, their skin is normally a soft reddish-brown. They have fair eyelashes and toenails, the traditional white elephant is commonly misunderstood as being albino, but the Thai term chang samkhan, actually translates as auspicious elephant, being white in terms of an aspect of purity. White elephants are only nominally white, of those currently kept by the Burmese rulers—General Than Shwe regards himself as the heir of the Burmese kings—one is grey and the other three are pinkish, but all are officially white. The king of Thailand also keeps a number of white elephants, vice President Spiro Agnew once presented a white elephant to King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. The white elephant is considered to belong to the god Indra, the name of the elephant is Airavata and it is a flying elephant. Airavata is made the King of all elephants by Lord Indra, King Bimbisara had one such white elephant, which he had captured in a forest when the elephant was in his Musth period. He named the bull elephant Sechanaka which means watering as the elephant used to water the plants by himself without any prior training and it is said the cost of this elephant was more the half of Magadha. He later gave it to his son Vihallakumara, which made his other son Ajatashatru jealous, Ajatashatru tried to steal it many times, which resulted in two of the most terrible wars called the Mahasilakantaka & Ratha-musala. According to Brahmanic belief, if a monarch possessed one or more elephants, it was a glorious. In the Thai language, they are called albino, not white, indicating pale yellow eyes and white nails, the rough skin was either pink all over or had pink patches on the head, trunk, or forelegs. They were not worshipped for themselves and were regarded as an appendage to the Kings majesty, in Thailand, white elephants are considered sacred and are a symbol of royal power, all those discovered are presented to the king. Historically, the status of kings has been evaluated by the number of elephants in their possession. The last king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, owned ten—considered a great achievement, all ten have since died, and there is no evidence of any white elephants currently living in Thailand. The last white elephant of the King died in 2006, a white elephant in Thailand is not necessarily albino, although it must have pale skin. After being discovered, the elephants are assigned to one of four graded categories before being offered to the king, in the past, lower grade white elephants were given as gifts to the kings friends and allies. The animals needed a lot of care and, being sacred, could not be put to work, so were a financial burden on the recipient - only the monarch. According to one story, white elephants were given as a present to some enemy
2.
Yangon
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Yangon is a former capital of Myanmar and the capital of Yangon Region. Although Yangons infrastructure is undeveloped compared to that of major cities in southeast Asia. Yangon is a combination of the two words yan and koun, which enemies and run out of, respectively. It is also translated as End of Strife, Rangoon most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of Yangon in the Arakanese language, which is. Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century by the Mon, Dagon was a small fishing village centred about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it Yangon, the British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War, but returned it to Burmese administration after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841, the British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, Yangon became the capital of all British Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangons increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake, the British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University. Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings, by the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London. Before World War II, about 55% of Yangons population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, karens, the Chinese, the Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest. After World War I, Yangon became the epicentre of Burmese independence movement, three nationwide strikes against the British Empire in 1920,1936 and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation, and incurred heavy damage during World War II, the city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945. Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire, soon after Burmas independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the citys English name to Yangon, since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya, Shwepyitha, today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 600 square kilometres. During Ne Wins isolationist rule, Yangons infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance, in the 1990s, the current military governments more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the citys infrastructure. Some inner city residents were relocated to new satellite towns
3.
Amarapura
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Amarapura is a former capital of Myanmar, and now a township of Mandalay. Amarapura is bounded by the Irrawaddy river in the west, Chanmyathazi Township in the north, and it was the capital of Myanmar twice during the Konbaung period before finally being supplanted by Mandalay 11 km north in 1859. It is historically referred to as Taungmyo in relation to Mandalay, Amarapura today is part of Mandalay, as a result of urban sprawl. The township is today for its traditional silk and cotton weaving. It is a popular tourist day-trip destination from Mandalay, Amarapura comes from Pali, Amarapūra, which means city of immortality. Amarapura was founded by King Bodawpaya of the Konbaung Dynasty and he founded Amarapura as his new capital in May 1783. The new capital became a center of Buddhist reforms and learning, in 1800, Buddhist clergy from Sri Lanka obtained higher ordination in this city and founded the Amarapura Nikaya. Bodawpayas grandson, King Bagyidaw moved the Court back to Ava in November 1821, bagyidaws successor King Tharrawaddy again moved the royal capital back to Amarapura in February 1842. In February 1857, King Mindon began building Mandalay as his new city,11 km north of Amarapura. With the royal treasury depleted by the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, the palace buildings were dismantled and moved by elephant to the new location, and the city walls were pulled down for use as building material for roads and railways. Part of the moat is still recognizable near the Bagaya Monastery, the city officially ceased being the capital on 23 May 1859 when Mandalay took over that role. Pahtodawgyi – A stupa built by King Bodawpaya in 1816 outside the city walls Bagaya Monastery – a wooden monastery founded by King Mindon U Bein Bridge – a 1, buddhism in Myanmar - A Short History. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006, Yangon, Department of Universities History Research, University of Yangon. Wanderings in Burma George W. Bird,1897, Southeast Asia Visions
4.
Imperial British East Africa Company
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The Imperial British East Africa Company was the administrator of British East Africa, which was the forerunner of the East Africa Protectorate, later Kenya. The IBEAC was an association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British colonial power. Mombasa and its harbour were central to its operations, with an office about 50 miles south in Shimoni. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888, the IBEAC oversaw an area of about 246,800 square miles along the eastern coast of Africa, its centre being at about 39° East longitude and 0° latitude, and from 1890 also administered Uganda. The administration of British East Africa was transferred to the Foreign Office on 1 July 1895, in the early 1880s, European powers began rushing to obtain unclaimed territories within areas of interest in Africa. One of these areas, the Sultanate of Zanzibar and the interior of Eastern Africa, hoping to resolve this common interest in a peaceful manner, in 1886, Germany and Britain signed a treaty in which they agreed upon what lands they would exclusively pursue. Germany would lay claim to the coast of present-day Tanzania and Britain retained access to the area in which Kenya, at this same time, Britain was focusing its resources in other interests which included land acquired in Southern Africa. This left the British Rule reluctant in accepting full responsibility for this newly acknowledged region, in an effort to ease this potential burden, Britain considered allowing a commercial company the right to administer and develop the eastern territory. In 1888, Sir William Mackinnon and the Imperial British East Africa Company were authorized to serve this purpose, the IBEAC assumed responsibility for land stretching from the eastern coast of Uganda all the way to the northwestern shore of Lake Victoria. The company employed James Macdonald assisted by John Wallace Pringle, both officers in the Royal Engineers, to undertake the survey in 1891-1892, the two reported favorably, noting that Kikuyuland would be suitable for European settlement. However, the IBEAC lacked the funds needed to start the work, the IBEAC started building the Mackinnon-Sclater road, a 600 miles ox cart track from Mombasa to Busia on the Uganda border, in 1890. The company ordered a 110-ton general purpose steamship, the SS William Mackinnon and she was built in Scotland in 1890 and delivered in kit form to Mombasa. However, the kit remained there in storage until 1895, presumably because the IBEAC did not succeed in starting to build the railway that would deliver the kit to the lake. Brewing conflict between rival factions ultimately prevented the company from investing the time and money into this venture. With the aid of Frederick Lugard, the given the task of building the Company a fortified location on Kampala Hill. This conflict proved to be the final undoing. IBEAC was already struggling due to customs issues but the money spent funding this skirmish all. This also made clear that the company would be unable to continue its poorly executed attempt at colonizing eastern Africa, the British East Africa Company proved to be an ineffective attempt at allowing commercial businesses local administrative rights
5.
Myanmar
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Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name
6.
Thailand
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Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
7.
Laos
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Present day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to the kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao, which existed for four centuries as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Due to Lan Xangs central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom was able to become a hub for overland trade. After a period of conflict, Lan Xang broke off into three separate kingdoms— Luang Phabang, Vientiane and Champasak. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three territories uniting to form what is now known as the country of Laos and it briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a civil war ended the monarchy. Laos is a one-party socialist republic and it espouses Marxism and is governed by the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party, in which the party leadership is dominated by military figures. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam Peoples Army continue to have significant influence in Laos, other large cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse. Laos is a country with the politically and culturally dominant Lao people making up approximately 60 percent of the population. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other hill tribes, accounting for 40 percent of the population, live in the foothills. It is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997, on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. According to the anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Transparency International, Laos remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this has deterred foreign investment and created major problems with the rule of law, including the nations ability to enforce contract and business regulation. This has contributed to a third of the population of Laos currently living below the poverty line. Laos has an economy, with one of the lowest annual incomes in the world. In 2014, the country ranked 141st on the Human Development Index, according to the Global Hunger Index, Laos ranks as the 29th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 52 nations with the worst hunger situation. Laos has also had a human rights record. In the Lao language, the name is Muang Lao or Pathet Lao. Stone artefacts including Hoabinhian types have been found at sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in northern Laos, archaeological evidence suggests agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC
8.
Cambodia
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Cambodia, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia has a population of over 15 million. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by approximately 95 percent of the population, the countrys minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, and 30 hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic, the kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years. In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. The Indianized kingdom built monumental temples including Angkor Wat, now a World Heritage Site, after the fall of Angkor to Ayutthaya in the 15th century, a reduced and weakened Cambodia was then ruled as a vassal state by its neighbours. In 1863 Cambodia became a protectorate of France which doubled the size of the country by reclaiming the north, the Vietnam War extended into the country with the US bombing of Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970, the king gave his support to his former enemies. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission, the UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 coup placed power solely in the hands of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian Peoples Party, important sociopolitical issues includes widespread poverty, pervasive corruption, lack of political freedoms, low human development, and a high rate of hunger. While per capita income remains low compared to most neighbouring countries, agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. Cambodia scored dismally in an annual index ranking the rule of law in 102 countries, placing 99th overall, Cambodia also faces environmental destruction as an imminent problem. The most severe activity in this regard is considered to be the countrywide deforestation, the Kingdom of Cambodia is the official English name of the country. The English Cambodia is an anglicisation of the French Cambodge, which in turn is the French transliteration of the Khmer Kampuchea, Kampuchea is the shortened alternative to the countrys official name in Khmer, Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea. The Khmer endonym Kampuchea derives from the Sanskrit name Kambujadeśa, composed of देश, desa and कम्बोज, Kambujas, colloquially, Cambodians refer to their country as either Srok Khmer, meaning Khmers Land, or the slightly more formal Prateh Kampuchea, literally Country of Kampuchea. The name Cambodia is used most often in the Western world while Kampuchea is more used in the East. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of dates as of 6000 BC
9.
Hsinbyushin
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Hsinbyushin was king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Alaungpaya is best known for his wars with China and Siam and his successful defense against four Chinese invasions preserved Burmese independence. His invasion of Siam ended Siams Ayutthaya Dynasty, the near simultaneous victories over China and Siam has been referred to as testimony to a truly astonishing elan unmatched since Bayinnaung. He also raised the Shwedagon Pagoda to its current height in April 1775, the deputy commander-in-chief during his fathers reunification campaigns, Hsinbyushin as king pursued an expansionist policy against his neighbors. By 1767, his armies had put down a rebellion in Manipur, captured the Laotian states, temporarily defeated Siam, but his reckless decision to wage two simultaneous wars against China and Siam nearly cost the kingdom its independence. The third Chinese invasion of 1767–1768 penetrated deep into central Burma, the specter of war kept the state heavily militarized, setting the stage for army commanders to mistreat the population. In 1773, the army command provoked a rebellion by ethnic Mon troops, the warlord behavior by local governors and army commanders only increased in 1774 when Hsinbyushin suffered from what turned out to be a long illness that would ultimately claim his life. In 1775, periphery vassals states of Lan Na and Manipur both revolted and he died in June 1776 while the Burmese forces were still engaged in Siam and Manipur. The Burmese armies withdrew from Siam right after his death, leaving Lan Na in Siamese hands, while most of his military victories were short-lived, the present-day Burmese control of Taninthayi Region, northern and eastern Shan State and Kachin State is an enduring result of his reign. The future king was born Maung Ywa to Aung Zeya and Yun San in Moksobo and his father Aung Zeya was the chief of the village of a few hundred households, and was part of gentry families that had administered the Mu valley for generations. His father came from a family, and was related by blood. Aung Zeya claimed descent from a 15th-century cavalry commander and ultimately the Pagan royal line, Ywa grew up during the period in which the authority of King Mahadhammaraza Dipadi of Toungoo Dynasty had largely dissipated across the kingdom. The Manipuris had been raiding increasingly deeper parts of Upper Burma between the Chindwin and Irrawaddy rivers since the mid-1720s, ywas home region was directly on the path of the raids, and took the brunt of the raids. With the Burmese court unable to deal with the kingdom of Manipur, the Burmese watched helplessly as the raiders torched villages, ransacked pagodas. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Burma broke away, the central authority of the king had effectively disappeared, and a profound sense of helplessness pervaded and deepened. The Hanthawaddy armies finally toppled the Toungoo Dynasty on 23 March 1752 when they captured Ava, on 29 February 1752, three weeks before the fall of Ava, Aung Zeya founded the Konbaung Dynasty to resist the upcoming Hanthawaddy rule, styling himself King Alaungpaya. The Konbaung resistance was just one of resistance forces that had sprung up across Upper Burma. Many young men from 46 villages in the Mu valley, who longed to redress the humiliations of the previous decades, the 15-year-old Ywa enthusiastically joined his fathers call
10.
Konbaung dynasty
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The Konbaung Dynasty, formerly known as the Alompra Dynasty, was the last dynasty that ruled Burma/Myanmar from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in Burmese history and continued the reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty. An expansionist dynasty, the Konbaung kings waged campaigns against Manipur, Arakan, Assam, the Mon kingdom of Pegu, subject to later wars and treaties with the British, the modern state of Burma can trace its current borders to these events. Throughout the Konbaung Dynasty, the capital was relocated several times for religious, political, the dynasty was founded by a village chief, who later became known as Alaungpaya, in 1752 to challenge the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom which had just toppled the Toungoo dynasty. By 1759, Alaungpayas forces had reunited all of Burma, and driven out the French, Alaungpayas second son, Hsinbyushin, came to the throne after a short reign by his elder brother, Naungdawgyi. He continued his fathers expansionist policy and finally took Ayutthaya in 1767, realising the need to modernise, the Konbaung rulers tried to enact various reforms with limited success. Mindon also tried to reduce the tax burden by lowering the income tax and created a property tax. In addition, the duties on foreign exports stifled the burgeoning trade, Konbaung kings extended administrative reforms begun in the Restored Toungoo Dynasty period, and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. They tightened control in the lowlands and reduced the privileges of Shan chiefs. They also instituted reforms that increased government income and rendered it more predictable. Money economy continued to gain ground, in 1857, the crown inaugurated a full-fledged system of cash taxes and salaries, assisted by the countrys first standardised silver coinage. Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism, in 1760, Burma began a series of wars with Siam that would last well into the middle of the 19th century. By 1770, Alaungpayas heirs had temporarily defeated Siam, subdued much of Laos, with the Burmese preoccupied for another two decades by another impending invasion by the Chinese, the Siamese recovered their territories by 1770, and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855 but after decades of war, in the defence of its realm, the dynasty fought four wars successfully against the Qing Dynasty of China which saw the threat of the expansion of Burmese power in the East. The Qing Dynasty then opened up its markets and restored trading with Burma in 1788 after reconciliation, thenceforth peaceful and friendly relations prevailed between China and Burma for a long time. Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Siam in the east, Bodawpaya acquired western kingdoms of Arakan, Manipur and Assam, europeans began to set up trading posts in the Irrawaddy delta region during this period. Konbaung tried to maintain its independence by balancing between the French and the British, in the end it failed, the British severed diplomatic relations in 1811, and the dynasty fought and lost three wars against the British Empire, culminating in total annexation of Burma by the British. The British decisively defeated the Burmese in the First Anglo-Burmese War, Burma was forced to cede Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim, and pay a large indemnity of one million pounds
11.
P. T. Barnum
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Phineas Taylor P. T. Barnum was an American politician, showman, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Barnum is widely, but erroneously, credited with coining the phrase Theres a sucker born every minute, born in Bethel, Connecticut, Barnum became a small-business owner in his early twenties, and founded a weekly newspaper, before moving to New York City in 1834. Barnum used the museum as a platform to promote hoaxes and human curiosities such as the Feejee mermaid, in 1850 he promoted the American tour of singer Jenny Lind, paying her an unprecedented $1,000 a night for 150 nights. After economic reversals due to bad investments in the 1850s, and years of litigation and public humiliation, he used a lecture tour, mostly as a temperance speaker and his museum added Americas first aquarium and expanded the wax-figure department. While in New York, he converted to Universalism and was a member of the Church of the Divine Paternity, Barnum served two terms in the Connecticut legislature in 1865 as a Republican for Fairfield. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, elected in 1875 as Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, he worked to improve the water supply, bring gas lighting to streets, and enforce liquor and prostitution laws. Barnum was instrumental in starting Bridgeport Hospital, founded in 1878, the circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established P. T. Barnums Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome, a circus, menagerie and museum of freaks. Barnum died in his sleep at home in 1891, and was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of inn keeper, tailor and store-keeper Philo Barnum and second wife Irene Taylor. He was the great grandson of Thomas Barnum, the English immigrant ancestor of the Barnum family in North America. His maternal grandfather Phineas Taylor was a Whig, legislator, landowner, justice of the peace, and lottery schemer, Barnum was adept at arithmetic but hated physical work. He started as a store-keeper, and he learned haggling and using deception to make a sale and he was involved with the first lottery mania in the United States. At the age of 19, he married Charity Hallett, the young husband had several businesses, a general store, a book auctioning trade, real estate speculation, and a statewide lottery network. He became active in politics and advocated against blue laws promulgated by Calvinists who sought to restrict gambling. Barnum started a paper in 1829, The Herald of Freedom, in Danbury. His editorials against church elders led to libel suits and a prosecution which resulted in imprisonment for two months, but he became a champion of the movement upon his release. In 1834, when lotteries were banned in Connecticut, cutting off his income, Barnum sold his store. Joice Heth died in 1836, no more than 80 years old, Barnum improved the attraction, renamed Barnums American Museum, upgrading the building and adding exhibits, and it became a popular showplace
12.
White elephant sale
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A white elephant sale is a collection of used items being sold, much akin to a yard sale or garage sale, often as a fund-raiser for a cause. A white elephant sale sells items that retain some value but have no intrinsic use, such items may still find buyers but their resale value is hard to estimate. White elephant sales are typically organized by non-profit organizations such as churches and they operate in a manner similar to Salvation Army thrift shops. Members or friends of the holding the white elephant sale will donate old items which they no longer use. After items have been collected, a sale will be held, volunteers often run checkouts, and organize the items to be sold. Items are sold at low prices, as many are obsolete, or useful to certain people. White elephant sales are often useful to buyers and collectors, because they provide a way to purchase older and harder to find items, problems can arise with white elephant sales in that a great deal of space is required to hold items to be sold. Even more problematic is many items will not be one year. This requires an amount of space to be dedicated to the extended storage of the items. Other problems include the inability to move merchandise, or the money produced by the sale. Additionally, many items donated are not worth selling, as they are broken, or clearly worthless. White elephant sales also often carry the reputation of selling kitsch items, jumble sale White elephant gift exchange
13.
FIFA World Cup
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The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is Germany, which won its title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 32 teams, including the qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month. The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national teams, Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. The worlds first international match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the edition of the British Home Championship. After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906 and these were very early days for international football, and the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition, planned by The Football Association, Englands football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals and they repeated the feat in 1912 in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship between clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. Lipton invited West Auckland, a side from County Durham. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully defend their title, in 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a world football championship for amateurs, and took responsibility for managing the event. This paved the way for the worlds first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Those were also the first two world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFAs professional era. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, in total,13 nations took part, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America
14.
Alaska-class cruiser
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The Alaska class was a class of six large cruisers ordered before World War II for the United States Navy. They were officially classed as large cruisers, but others have regarded them as battlecruisers and they were all named after territories or insular areas of the United States, signifying their intermediate status between larger battleships and smaller heavy and light cruisers. Of the six planned, two were completed, the construction was suspended on 16 April 1947, and the last three were canceled. Alaska and Guam served with the U. S. Navy for the last year of World War II as bombardment ships and they were decommissioned in 1947 after spending only 32 and 29 months in service, respectively. The idea for a large cruiser class originated in the early 1930s when the U. S. Navy sought to counter Deutschland-class pocket battleships being launched by Germany, up until the Alaska class, US cruisers designed between the wars followed this pattern. The initial impetus for the Alaska design came from the deployments of Germanys so-called pocket battleships in the early 1930s, while these claims are difficult to verify, they have led to the speculation that their design was politically motivated. One historian described the process of the Alaska class as torturous due to the numerous changes and modifications made to the ships layouts by numerous departments. The General Board, in an attempt to keep the displacement under 25,000 tons, as a result, the Alaska class, when built, were vulnerable to torpedoes and shells that fell short of the ship. The final design was a scaled-up Baltimore class that had the machinery as the Essex-class aircraft carriers. This ship combined a main armament of nine 12-inch guns with protection against 10-inch gunfire into a hull that was capable of 33 knots, the Alaskas were officially funded in September 1940 along with a plethora of other ships as a part of the Two-Ocean Navy Act. Their role had been altered slightly, in addition to their surface-to-surface role, yet another drastic change was considered during the carrier panic in late 1941, when the Navy realized that they needed more aircraft carriers as quickly as possible. Many hulls currently under construction were considered for conversion into carriers, in addition, the large cruiser design did not include the massive underwater protections found in normal carriers due to the armor weight devoted to counter shell fire. Lastly, an Alaska conversion could not satisfy the goal of having new aircraft carriers quickly. With this in mind, all planning to convert the Alaskas was abandoned on 7 January 1942, of the six Alaska-class cruisers that were planned, only three were laid down. The first two, Alaska and Guam, were completed, construction of Hawaii, the third, was suspended on 16 April 1947 when she was 84% complete. As a result, construction of the last three members of the class never began, and they were canceled on 24 June 1943. Alaska and Guam served with the U. S. Navy during the last year of World War II, similar to the Iowa-class fast battleships, their speed made them useful as shore bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts. Both protected Franklin when she was on her way to be repaired in Guam after being hit by two Japanese bombs
15.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
16.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
17.
White elephant gift exchange
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A white elephant gift exchange or Yankee swap is a party game where white elephant gifts are exchanged during festivities. The goal of a white elephant party is usually to entertain rather than to gain, each participant supplies one wrapped gift. The gifts are placed in a location, and participants determine in which order they will take turns selecting them. The first person opens a gift, and the turn ends. On subsequent turns, each person has the choice to either unwrap a new present or to steal anothers, when a persons gift is stolen, that person can either choose another wrapped gift to open or can steal from another player. The game is over when everyone has a present, generally, it is recommended to have at least six participants for the gift exchange party. With a larger group, game play may be more protracted, since the process of stealing can prolong the game and can confer distinct disadvantages to certain places in the order of play, multiple variations have arisen. A certain gift may be sought after, prolonging the game. To address this, two related variations have been adopted, First, no gift may be stolen more than once per turn. However, this gives an advantage to the final participant. Because of this, a common variation states that after a gift has been stolen a certain number of times it is frozen. Another version dictates that in order to steal a gift, the stealer has to take a shot of alcohol for every time the gift has already been stolen, to speed up the multiple steals variant, there is often a certain number of steals allowed per turn. For example, after the gift on a turn is stolen. An exception may be made for the last round, allowing an indefinite amount of swapping, most of the time, variants that allow multiple steals end without completing the game since it becomes too difficult to track the game context. Another popular variant no longer places a limit on the number of times a gift can be stolen, once the person reaches that number, the last gift they choose is automatically frozen to them. The frozen person can no longer be stolen from or steal from anyone else, the gifts themselves can circulate as often as possible unless frozen to someone, but a person cannot steal back the gift that was just taken from them. One variation is to mark gifts as suitable for males, females, another variation is to leave all the gifts wrapped until the end. Stealing is still allowed but must be done while the gifts are still wrapped, in this case, there is no stealing after the wrapping comes off
18.
Bridge to nowhere
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A bridge to nowhere is a bridge where one or both ends are broken or incomplete and does not lead anywhere. If it is an overpass or an interchange, the overpass to nowhere or interchange to nowhere may be used respectively. There are three origins for these bridges, The bridge was never completed for reasons such as cost or disputed property rights. One end or both end has collapsed or have been destroyed – e. g. by earthquake, storm, flood, the bridge is no longer used, but was not demolished because of the cost, for example, the bridges on an abandoned railway line. Further, the bridge to nowhere may be used by political opponents to describe a bridge that serves low-population areas at high cost. It now functions mostly as a car park, port Nelson Bridge, an isolated rail bridge located near Churchill, Manitoba. The connecting rail line was never finished due to labour and material shortages, a lack of financial or political support, the envisioned port was also a poor design and was found to require excessive dredging due to significant sand bars. The project was criticized by several politicians, the media. Old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge in Dandong, the south span was destroyed during the Korean War. New Yalu River Bridge in Dandong, the $330 million bridge was completed in 2015, but on the North Korean side it is not connected to the road network. Nandu River Iron Bridge in Hainan is a collapsed, steel truss bridge over the Nandu River. It was built by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, in October 2000, flooding caused the collapse of the western part of the bridge, leaving three trusses. The Borovsko Bridge, a motorway bridge from 1930s near Borovsko, part of Bernartice municipality. The Sedmpánský Bridge, a highway bridge near Hulice, Central Bohemian Region. The former highway bridge over the Sedmpánský stream between Hulice and Borovsko was under construction in 1939 –42 and finally in 1945 –50, the bridge was finished, however its fate was the same. Water resources in this area are now used for nearly the whole of Prague, there are several bridges to nowhere, started to be built as a part of extraterritorial highway Vienna-Wroclaw, which remain unfinished and unconnected to road network. Pont Saint-Bénézet in Avignon over the Rhône river, several arches were broken by flood in the middle of the 17th century. The viaduc du Caramel and viaduc du Carei of the tramway line from Menton to Sospel The colloquial name for a bridge to nowhere in Germany is Soda-Brücke
19.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
20.
Paul Spencer Sochaczewski
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Paul Spencer Sochaczewski is an American writer, writing coach, conservationist and communications advisor to international non-governmental organizations. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland, and has lived and worked in more than 70 countries, including stints in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia. In 1992, Sochacazewski changed his name from Paul Spencer Wachtel to Paul Spencer Sochaczewski, Paul Sochaczewski graduated in 1969 from George Washington University, in Washington, D. C. with a degree in psychology. He served in the United States Peace Corps, 1969-1971, working as an advisor in Sarawak. This exposure to Asia informed his writing and as a result most of his work has a Southeast Asian theme and he was a freelance journalist and creative director of J. Walter Thompson in Indonesia. He was founder and chairman of IGOLF-International Golf and Life Foundation, from mid-1992 to mid-1993 he took a leave of absence from WWF to write articles on environmental problems in the Pacific for the Environment Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu. He then worked for ten years as global communications director of the International Osteoporosis Foundation and he has lived and worked in some 80 countries, speaks Bahasa Indonesia and French, and basic Thai. Several themes recur in Sochaczewski’s work, how arrogance and greed of power brokers in the capital cities of Asia leads to environmental destruction and cultural disruption. The process by which isolated communities adapt to life in a modern world, the romance of the hero’s journey. Sochaczewski is particularly interested in Asian stories that defy western Cartesian logic and he writes about the love affair between the Sultan of Yogyakarta and the mystical Mermaid Queen. He explains why isolated Indian villagers are angry at the Monkey God Hanuman for not returning their sacred mountain and he has written or co-authored books of non-fiction, personal travel and fiction. They include, Share Your Journey - Mastering Personal Writing, the techniques professional writers use to write personal memoirs and travel stories that connect with editors and readers. This is a wisdom, offered by a pro. Curious Encounters of the Human Kind, True Asian Tales of Folly, Greed, Ambition, thought-provoking about change and constancy, and a delight to read. Distant Greens, Golf, Life, and Surprising Serendipity On, distant Greens travels to “crypto-golf” courses – locations where golf oughtn’t be. It also travels into the soul of golf, the rituals, the beliefs and it ends by asking whether golf and nature can support each other. The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen, Extraordinary Asian People and Places, a compilation of unusual travel in Southeast Asia. A comic eco-thriller novel set in the rainforests of a fictional Borneo sultanate, concerns the plight of orangutans and Penan people threatened by forest destruction
21.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
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