28 résultats pour "13th"
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Italian Literature
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INTRODUCTION
Italian Literature, literature written in the Italian language from about the 13th century to the present.
Dante’s Inferno and PurgatoryThis illustration comes from a late Gothic edition of The Divine Comedy by the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Lucifer,the devil, is at the center of Earth, and the mouth of hell, the inferno, opens below him. At the opposite pole is a mountainleading to purgatory. The manuscript is in the National Library in Florence, Italy.Scala/Art Resource, NY Dante is one of the great figures of world literature. He is remarkable for the loftiness of his thought, the vividne...
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Paris (city, France) - geography.
and its vibrant public square, frequented by street performers, soon became among the most popular landmarks in the city. West of the Pompidou Center is Les Halles, the site of the central market of Paris from the 12th century until 1969. The market was subsequently replaced by the Forum LesHalles, a multilevel underground complex featuring a shopping mall, museums, the Paris film library ( vidéothèque ), and a sports center. The street level of Les Halles features a garden, the Jardin des Halle...
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Geographic Exploration.
The commercial reason for exploration has been a consistent driving force. In 1492 the great navigator Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Oceanseeking a new, shorter, and cheaper route to reach the riches of East Asia, and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa for much the same reason.Yet similar investigations of the profitable eastern trade had already been made by Arab sailors. Arab trading ships were sailing from the Arabian Sea to southeasternAsia probab...
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Geographic Exploration - explorer.
The commercial reason for exploration has been a consistent driving force. In 1492 the great navigator Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Oceanseeking a new, shorter, and cheaper route to reach the riches of East Asia, and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa for much the same reason.Yet similar investigations of the profitable eastern trade had already been made by Arab sailors. Arab trading ships were sailing from the Arabian Sea to southeasternAsia probab...
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Paris (city, France) - geography.
Théâtre Musical de Paris and the Théâtre de la Ville. Just north of the Hôtel de Ville is the Pompidou Center, also known as Beaubourg, an arts complex devoted to modern and contemporary art and design. The structure,in steel and glass and featuring brightly colored, exposed pipes and ducts, is the work of Italian architect Renzo Piano and British architect Richard Rogers. Itscontroversial pop-art design contrasts sharply with the overall gray hue of the city, and was criticized by many followin...
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Indian Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Art on the Indian Subcontinent
This map highlights places in India and Pakistan where prominent examples of Indian art and architecture have been
produced.
Sun Temple of KonarakThis 13th-century relief depicting a wheel of the chariot of Indian sun god Surya is situated in the Konarak temple. Thetemple, dedicated to Surya, is situated at Puri in the Gulf of Bengal.Keren Su/Corbis The arts of India expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, jewelry, pottery, metalwork, and textiles, were spread throughout the Far East with the diffusion ofBuddhism and Hinduism and exercised a strong influence on the arts of China, Japan, Myanmar (formerly known...
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Feudalism
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INTRODUCTION
Feudalism, contractual system of political and military relationships existing among members of the nobility in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
lord”; thus, it was not rebellion for a subvassal to fight against his lord’s lord. In England, however, William the Conqueror and his successors required their vassals’vassals to take oaths of fealty to them. B Duties of a Vassal Military service in the field was basic to feudalism, but it was far from all that the vassal owed to his lord. When the lord had a castle, he might require his vassals togarrison it, a service called castle-guard. The lord also expected his vassals to attend his cour...
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Gothic Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, was begun in 1163 and completed for the most part in 1250.
and by external arches, called flying buttresses. Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be largely replaced by thinner walls with glass windows,and the interiors could reach unprecedented heights. A revolution in building techniques thus occurred. With the Gothic vault, a ground plan could take on a variety of shapes. The general plan of the cathedrals, however, consisting of a long three-aisled nave interceptedby a transept and followed by a shorter choir and sanctuary,...
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Renaissance
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INTRODUCTION
Renaissance, series of literary and cultural movements in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.
the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...
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Renaissance .
the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...
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Thailand - country.
E Natural Resources Thailand possesses a range of mineral resources. Tin is mined in the peninsula. Important gemstones, such as sapphires, are found in the southeast, and coal reserves,particularly lignite, are in the north. Fish are abundant in rivers and coastal waters. In addition to being consumed domestically, fish are also exported. F Climate Thailand experiences a typical monsoon climate. Winds blow from the northeast during the winter months of October to March or April (known as the...
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Crusades.
modern Lebanon; the Principality of Antioch, in modern Syria; and the County of Edessa, in modern northern Syria and southern Turkey. IV CRUSADES OF THE 12TH CENTURY The Crusades of the 12th century, through the end of the Third Crusade in 1192, illustrate the tensions and problems that plagued the enterprise as a whole. For thelords of Outremer a compromise with the residents and Muslim powers made sense; they could not live in constant warfare. And yet as European transplants theydepended on...
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Crusades .
modern Lebanon; the Principality of Antioch, in modern Syria; and the County of Edessa, in modern northern Syria and southern Turkey. IV CRUSADES OF THE 12TH CENTURY The Crusades of the 12th century, through the end of the Third Crusade in 1192, illustrate the tensions and problems that plagued the enterprise as a whole. For thelords of Outremer a compromise with the residents and Muslim powers made sense; they could not live in constant warfare. And yet as European transplants theydepended on...
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Asian Theater
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INTRODUCTION
Asian Theater, live performance, featuring actors or puppets, native to Asia, a continent with more than 2 billion people of many nations and cultures.
III THEATER IN EAST ASIA Theater in East Asia includes the traditions of China, Japan, and Korea. Most Chinese theater is urban, secular (nonreligious) entertainment, influenced by the ethics of Confucianism. However, a belief in spirits influences rituals performed by ethnic minorities in China, and Buddhism dominates traditional Tibetan performance. Japanesedramatic forms combine native shamanistic performance, secular entertainment, and cultural or religious influences from China and Kore...
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London (England) - geography.
In the northern part of the West End is Bloomsbury, the city’s traditional intellectual center, with its concentration of bookshops and homes of writers and academics. Inthe early 20th century a number of famous writers, critics, and artists who lived here became known as the Bloomsbury Group. Here, too, is the British Museum, one ofLondon’s chief tourist attractions. Nearby is the giant complex of the University of London, whose various colleges and departments have taken over much ofBloomsbury...
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Middle East - Geography.
though overall they have improved considerably since the 1970s. This variation reflects the different levels of wealth and development in countries of the Middle East. Inthe highly developed country of Israel the infant mortality rate was 8 deaths per 1000 live births in 1997. By comparison, the rate per 1000 live births was 71 in less-developed Egypt and 75 in Yemen. A Ethnic Groups and Languages Arabs make up the majority of the people of the Middle East, accounting for almost the entire popu...
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Belgium - country.
European Union (EU) directives aimed at improving Belgium’s environmental conditions concern water treatment and water quality, both significant issues in such anindustrial center. Before these directives were issued, the Meuse River, a major source of drinking water, had become polluted from steel production wastes. Otherrivers were polluted with animal wastes and fertilizers. However, Belgium failed to meet EU targets set for the early 2000s for protecting its rivers from farm pollutionand for...
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Shang Dynasty - History.
The dynastic ancestors belonged to an elaborate religious pantheon that also included various nature powers and the Shang high god, Di. The higher powers were lessconcerned with the well-being of Shang society than the ancestors were. Di, whose wishes were often hard to determine, could even cause the Shang harm. The naturepowers could occasionally influence the wind, rain, and harvests, but only Di could actually order the weather. For an agricultural society such as the Shang, this wasperhaps...
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Western Music
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INTRODUCTION
Bizet's Carmen
Georges Bizet's Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, was a milestone in the history of French opera.
church ceremonies during the period from the 5th to the 7th century. Roman chant became known as Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I, the Great, who may havecomposed some of the melodies and who actively encouraged an orderly, ritualized use of music by the church. Because Gregory and later popes preferred Gregorianchant to the varieties that had developed elsewhere in Europe, Gregorian chant eventually superseded most of the others. Gregorian and other chant styles arepreserved in many manuscr...
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Georgia (country) - country.
1917. During the subsequent Soviet period, religious practice was strongly discouraged because the Soviet state was officially atheistic; however, the GeorgianOrthodox Church was allowed to function openly. Orthodox Christianity is the religion of about 58 percent of the Georgian population. Muslims represent about 19 percent of the country’s population, with ethnicAzerbaijanis, Kurds, and Ajars comprising the principal Muslim groups. Ajars are ethnic Georgians who converted to Islam in the 17th...
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Berlin - geography.
boroughs of Wedding and Tiergarten. Other important central areas include Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, now united as the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, andPrenzlauer Berg, now incorporated as a part of the Pankow borough. Tiergarten contains a large wooded park, a zoo, and a variety of public monuments as well as the large, modern Congress Hall and the Reichstag building, which wasbuilt from 1884 to 1894. The Reichstag and the surrounding area have undergone renovation to accommodate the Bun...
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Uzbekistan - country.
E Environmental Issues The evaporation of the Aral Sea is one of the worst ecological disasters in the world. The Aral has shrunk so much that it now holds only about one-fifth the volume ofwater it held in 1960. The shrinkage is due to irrigation withdrawals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a practice that began on a massive scale in the early 1960s aspart of the Soviet Union’s ill-conceived drive to increase cotton yields in Central Asia. Growing cotton in the naturally arid and saline soil...
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Calendar.
on lunar months of 29 days alternating with 30 days. An extra month is intercalated every 3 years, based on a cycle of 19 years. Dates of the Jewish calendar aredesignated AM (Latin anno mundi, ”the year of the world”) and BCE (before the common era). Another major religious calendar is the Islamic calendar, a lunar one used in most Muslim countries. It is reckoned from AD 622, the day after the Hegira, or emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. The Islamic year consists of 12 lunar mo...
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Middle East - geography.
years.Spectrum Colour Library Apart from the Nile River, which provides much of the water supply and irrigation systems of Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which supply Iraq, Syria, andTurkey, there are no major rivers or navigable waterways. The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) in northern Israel, fed from the north by the shallow, unnavigable JordanRiver, provides Israel’s main source of fresh water. With such a limited water supply, access to water for drinking, irrigation, and hydro...
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Middle Ages .
Saints were very important in Late Antiquity. They were considered both models of virtue and powerful miracle workers. One of the most well-known saints of the periodwas Saint Anthony. Anthony gave away all his possessions and left his hometown in Egypt to live alone in the desert and pray. Anthony was one of the first Christianmonks. The word monk comes from a term meaning 'alone.' Gradually Anthony attracted followers, and he eventually became the center of a whole community of monks who wis...
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Military Religious Orders .
Hospitalers’ charitable functions were playing a secondary role to their military duties. Successes in war defending the Holy Land enriched the order with vast gifts ofproperty in Europe and Palestine. In the 12th century the Hospitalers acquired three impressive fortresses in Palestine at Krak des Chevaliers, Belvoir, and Margat. Atthe height of their power in the 13th century, the Hospitalers regularly supplied 500 knights to defend the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem against the Empire. The Crusad...
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Slavery in Africa.
The spread of Islam from Arabia into Africa after the religion’s founding in the 7th century AD affected the practice of slavery and slave trading in West, Central, and East Africa. Arabs had practiced slave raiding and trading in Arabia for centuries prior to the founding of Islam, and slavery became a component of Islamic traditions.Both the Qur'an (Koran) (the sacred scripture of Islam) and Islamic religious law served to codify and justify the existence of slavery. As Muslim Arabs conquered...
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History of Chemistry - chemistry.
even better distillation apparatus than the Arabs had made and to condense the more volatile products of distillation. Among the important products obtained in thisway were alcohol and the mineral acids: nitric, aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric), sulfuric, and hydrochloric. Many new reactions could be carried outusing these powerful reagents. Word of the Chinese discovery of nitrates and the manufacture of gunpowder also came to the West through the Arabs. The Chinese atfirst use...