40 résultats pour "syria"
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Syria - country.
D Education Primary education is free and compulsory for all children aged 6 through 12. Some 78 percent of the adult Syrian population was estimated to be literate in 2005.Primary schools enrolled 2.8 million pupils in the 2000 school year, and 1.1 million students attended secondary schools and vocational institutes. In 1998, 94,110 Syrian students were enrolled in institutes of higher education. Syria has universities in Damascus, Ḩalab, Ḩim ş, and Al L ādhiq īyah. Also in Damascus isthe Ar...
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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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Arab-Israeli Conflict.
the Suez Canal and in 1951 blockaded the Strait of Tiran (Israel’s access to the Red Sea), which Israel regarded as an act of war. In June 1956 Egypt nationalized theSuez Canal, which had been jointly owned by Britain and France. In late October, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, defeating Egyptian forces there.Britain and France attacked Egypt a few days later. Although the fighting was brief and Israel eventually withdrew from the Sinai and Gaza, the conflict furtherexacerbate...
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Arab-Israeli Conflict - History.
the Suez Canal and in 1951 blockaded the Strait of Tiran (Israel’s access to the Red Sea), which Israel regarded as an act of war. In June 1956 Egypt nationalized theSuez Canal, which had been jointly owned by Britain and France. In late October, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, defeating Egyptian forces there.Britain and France attacked Egypt a few days later. Although the fighting was brief and Israel eventually withdrew from the Sinai and Gaza, the conflict furtherexacerbate...
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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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Iraq - country.
The Euphrates begins in Turkey, crosses Syria, and enters Iraq at Abū Kam āl. The flow of the Euphrates into Iraq has been greatly reduced by dams built by Turkeyand Syria. The gradient of the Euphrates above the town of H īt, in west central Iraq, is steep. In the 2,640 km (1,640 mi) from its source in Turkey to H īt, the river fallsfrom 3,000 m (10,000 ft) to a low water elevation of 50 m (170 ft) above sea level, an average drop of 1 m per km (6 ft per mi). In Iraq below H īt the fall is very...
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Spread of Islam - History.
Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr, the father of Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha. Abu Bakr was the first caliph ( khalifah, Arabic for “successor”) of Islam. Like Muhammad, Abu Bakr was a member of the Quraysh clan. While neither Abu Bakr nor any subsequent caliph claimed the role of prophet, they wereleaders of this new religious enterprise that was quickly becoming a political entity as well. The first four caliphs, all of whom were selected by some form of council ofMuslims,...
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Asia - Geography.
Borneo, the world’s third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea. To the southeast is the Timor Sea separating the Asian island of Timor from the Australiancontinent. The Indian subcontinent is flanked by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The island of Sri Lanka and the much smaller Maldives andNicobar Islands trail away to the south. The Arabian Sea’s Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea form an arc along the western rim of Asia...
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Asia - History.
Borneo, the world’s third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea. To the southeast is the Timor Sea separating the Asian island of Timor from the Australiancontinent. The Indian subcontinent is flanked by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The island of Sri Lanka and the much smaller Maldives andNicobar Islands trail away to the south. The Arabian Sea’s Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea form an arc along the western rim of Asia...
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Syria Facts and Figures.
Total 70.9 years (2008 estimate) Female 72.3 years (2008 estimate) Male 69.5 years (2008 estimate) Infant mortality rate 27 deaths per 1,000 live births (2008 estimate) Population per physician 1,887 people (2006) Population per hospital bed 667 people (2003) Literacy rateTotal 78.4 percent (2005 estimate) Female 66.1 percent (2005 estimate) Male 90.6 percent (2005 estimate) Education expenditure as a share of gross national product (GNP) 4.2 percent (2001-2002) Number of years...
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Biblical Archaeology.
religion, among them the storm deity Baal (title of Hadad) mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. Moreover, the poetry of Ugarit has strong affinities with that ofthe Bible. They share much in the way of vocabulary, structure, and the use of figures of speech and other literary devices. In 1945, at ancient Naj‘Ḩamm ād ī in Upper Egypt, some 50 Gnostic writings in Coptic were discovered. They could be dated to the 4th century AD, but investigation of their character and content showed that t...
- Phoenicia (Purple) Greek An ancient kingdom on the eastern Mediterranean, in the region of modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.
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Assyria - USA History.
villages and cities were ransacked and razed, but no attempt was made to annex their territories. In the course of time this pattern of conquest changed, and the Assyrian rulers began to make Assyria the center of a new empire by incorporating the conquered landsinto their domain, although probably not according to a conscious plan. Toward the end of the 10th century BC, for example, Adad-nirari II annexed the Aramaean state centering on Nisibis, east of the Habur River. His son, Tukulti-Ninurt...
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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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Islamic Art and Architecture
I
INTRODUCTION
Córdoba Mosque Courtyard
This mosque and courtyard with its repeated horseshoe arches was built between the 8th and 10th centuries in Córdoba,
Spain.
Süleymaniye MosqueThe Süleymaniye Mosque in İstanbul was built in 1550. The architect, Sinan, based his design on Byzantine churches, inparticular the Hagia Sophia. The large central dome above a square opens to smaller spaces vaulted by buttressing half-domes. The four tapering minarets with balconies are characteristic of the architectural style of later Islamic mosques.Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY The few and relatively simple rituals of the Islamic faith gave rise to a unique religious...
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Mesopotamian Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Mesopotamian Art and Architecture, the arts and buildings of the ancient Middle Eastern civilizations that developed in the area (now Iraq) between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers from prehistory to the 6th century
BC.
arts. III EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD Figures from Tell AsmarCreated around 2700 bc, these stone figures are from the city of Tell Asmar in what today is Iraq. From the Temple ofAbu, the statuettes stood in watchful prayer with the wide, staring eyes often found in Sumerian sculpture. The figuresare in the Iraq Museum, Baghdād, Iraq.Art Resource, NY The first historical epoch of Sumerian dominance lasted from about 3000 BC until about 2340 BC. While earlier architectural traditions continued, a ne...
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USA - Iraq War - History.
B Making the Case for War B1 “Neoconservatives” and the Bush Doctrine Long before President George W. Bush took office in 2001, elements in or close to the Republican Party had called repeatedly for firmer U.S. steps against Iraq,including a war if necessary to force a regime change. One such group authored a white paper in 1996 called A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm , which was later sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s Likud Party. It advocated...
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U.S.-Iraq War - U.S. History.
I
INTRODUCTION
U.S.-Iraq War, military action begun in
B Making the Case for War B1 “Neoconservatives” and the Bush Doctrine Long before President George W. Bush took office in 2001, elements in or close to the Republican Party had called repeatedly for firmer U.S. steps against Iraq,including a war if necessary to force a regime change. One such group authored a white paper in 1996 called A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm , which was later sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Israel’s Likud Party. It advocated...
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Mesopotamia - history.
AssyriaAssyria flourished in the region the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia. An Assyrian king established what was probably the firstcentrally organized empire in the Middle East, between 1813 and 1780 bc. In defending their territory from nomadic invasions,Assyrians gained a reputation in the ancient Middle East for being relentless and ruthless warriors.© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Beginning about 1350 BC, Assyria, a north Mesopotamian kingdom, began to assert itself. Assyr...
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Asia - geography.
the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain system. The Pacific Ocean plate drifted westward, scraping along the Eurasian plate and slipping under its coastal edge. This created the islands of Japan, Taiwan, the Kurils, theRyūky ūs, and the Philippines. Southeast Asia lies at the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean plates. Over time the contact between these platescreated the mountain ranges of mainland Southeast Asia. The continued slow movement of the plates causes fr...
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Asia - history.
the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain system. The Pacific Ocean plate drifted westward, scraping along the Eurasian plate and slipping under its coastal edge. This created the islands of Japan, Taiwan, the Kurils, theRyūky ūs, and the Philippines. Southeast Asia lies at the intersection of the Eurasian, Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean plates. Over time the contact between these platescreated the mountain ranges of mainland Southeast Asia. The continued slow movement of the plates causes fr...
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Orthodox Church.
formally defined by an ecumenical council, as it was in Catholicism, some Orthodox theologians have taught that the act of becoming a monk or the service of burial canalso be sacraments. The sacramental practice of the Orthodox differs in many details from Western customs. Baptism is administered by immersing the child or adult three times under thewater, each time in the name of one of the persons of the Trinity. It is followed immediately by anointment with chrism, a sacred perfumed oil that r...
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Arabic Literature
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INTRODUCTION
Arabic Literature, literature written in the Arabic language, from the 6th century to the present.
The life of the Prophet Muhammad also generated its own literary sources, primary among which is the hadith. The hadiths were a collection of the Prophet's sayings and actions, transmitted through a chain of authorities said to go back to Muhammad himself. The two most famous collections of hadiths are those of al-Bukhari andMuslim in the 9th century. These works provide a wealth of information covering all aspects of a Muslim's life, from prayer to personal, social, and business conduct. The...
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Saudi Arabia - country.
C Natural Resources Some of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields lie beneath Saudi Arabia and its offshore waters, representing the country’s most economically important naturalresource. In 2007 Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves were estimated at 264 billion barrels. Before the discovery and exploitation of these reserves in the mid-20th century,Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its relatively small population subsisted in a harsh environment with little agricultur...
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Greek Art and Architecture - USA History.
The struggle between these two city-states and their allies ultimately led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), which Sparta won. Despite this conflict, the 5th century, often called the Classical period, is usually considered the culmination of Greek art, architecture, and drama, with its highest achievements being the Temple ofZeus at Olympia, the Parthenon in Athens, and the plays of Athenian dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. The 4th century, or Late Classical p...
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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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Jordan (country) - country.
whom belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, make up about 4 percent of the population. Islam is the state religion and Arabic the official language. C Education Jordan has made significant strides in education in recent decades, despite the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees and the very large share of the nationalbudget assigned to the armed forces. Public education is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15. At the secondary level, about 85 percent of the malechildren and 87 p...
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Lebanon (country) - country.
during the civil war. Within the country, thousands of Shia Muslim refugees fled fighting in southern Lebanon in the 1990s and moved into shantytowns in Beirut’ssouthern suburbs. Lebanon’s major cities were greatly affected by the civil war. Beirut has gradually regained most of its prewar population and remains the country’s largest city. Tripoli,the northern port, is the second largest city. Jūniyah, north of Beirut, was developed as a wartime port and subsequently had a population boom. Za ḩl...
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Egypt - country.
Egypt has a wide variety of mineral deposits, some of which, such as gold and red granite, have been exploited since ancient times. The chief mineral resource ofcontemporary value is petroleum, found mainly in the Red Sea coastal region, at Al ‘Alamayn (El ‘Alamein) on the Mediterranean, and on the Sinai Peninsula. Otherminerals include phosphates, manganese, iron ore, and uranium. Natural gas is also extracted. D Plants and Animals The vegetation of Egypt is confined largely to the Nile Delta,...
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1914, Übersetzung zu den Heften 1-4 der Urk.
Mark J.SMITH 1980, «A Second Dynasty KinginaDemotic Papyrus ofthe Roman Period»,JEA 66,173. R. W. SMITH &D. REDFORD 1976, TheAkhenaten TempleProject, 1,Initial Discoveries, Warminster. 1988, TheAkhenaten TempleProject, 2,The Temple Rwd-Mnw andtheInscriptions, Warminster. W. S.SMIT H 1978, AHistory ofEgyptian Sculpture andPainting inthe Old Kingdom. SNR =Sudan NotesandRecords, Khartoum. Sond. DAIK=Sonderdrücke desDeutschen Archäologischen InstitutsinKairo, LeCaire. Georges SOUKIASSIAN 1981, «Une...
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Israel (country) - country.
harbor in the northern part of the country, and Ashdod, an artificial deepwater port to the south, serve as the main seaports on the Mediterranean. The port of Elat onthe Gulf of Aqaba provides Israel’s only access to the Red Sea, making it extremely important to the country’s shipping interests. D Natural Resources Although much of Israel’s desert regions contain poor soils, the northern Negev, the coastal plains, and the interior valleys provide patches of productive soils. Anestimated 18 per...
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Arab Music
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INTRODUCTION
Umm Kulthum
Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum was revered throughout Egypt, North Africa, and the Near East for her powerful voice and
improvisational skill.
The rhythmic structure of Arab music is similarly complex. Rhythmic patterns have up to 48 beats and typically include several downbeats (called dums ) as well as upbeats (called taks) and silences, or rests. To grasp a rhythmic mode, the listener must hear a relatively long pattern. Moreover, the performers do not simply play the pattern; they elaborate upon and ornament it. Often the pattern is recognizable by the arrangement of downbeats. The Rhythm in Arab Music illustration demonstratesa...
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Greek Art and Architecture - history.
powerful independent city-states. From 334 to 323 BC, Alexander the Great extended his father's empire into Asia Minor (now Turkey), Syria, Egypt, Persia, Afghanistan, and as far as India. D The Hellenistic Period (323-31 BC) Although Alexander the Great extended Greek civilization far beyond the Greek mainland and the boundaries of the Aegean Sea, his empire did not survive his death in 323.After Alexander died, his generals and successors divided the empire into a number of kingdoms: Ptolem...
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Armenian Massacres .
Some of the Armenian revolutionaries and others hoped that the massacres would provoke the intervention of the European powers (Britain, France, Austria-Hungary,and Germany). Although the leaders of the European powers publicly condemned the actions of the sultan, they failed to intervene. Mutual rivalries and suspicions, aswell as the imprecise terms of Article 61 of the Treaty of Berlin, helped produce this inaction. But these bloody episodes soon paved the way for the rise of a newnationalist...
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Technology.
loose soil in this region, known as the Fertile Crescent, was easily scratched for planting, and an abundance of trees was available for firewood. By 5000 BC, farming communities were established in areas known today as Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Greece, and the islands of Crete and Cyprus. Agricultural societies in these places constructed stone buildings, used the sickle to harvest grain, developed a primitive plowstick, and advanced their skills inmetalworking. Trade in flint al...
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Terrorism.
exploitation, ethnic discrimination, and religious persecution. Perceived inequities in the distribution of wealth and political power have led some terrorists to attempt tooverthrow democratically elected governments. To achieve a fairer society, they would replace these governments with socialist or communist regimes. Left-wingterrorist groups of the 1960s and 1970s with such aims included Germany’s Baader-Meinhof Gang, Italy’s Red Brigades, and the Weather Underground ( see Weathermen) in the...
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Archaeology.
Prehistoric archaeology is practiced by archaeologists known as prehistorians and deals with ancient cultures that did not have writing of any kind. Prehistory, a term coined by 19th-century French scholars, covers past human life from its origins up to the advent of written records. History—that is, the human past documented insome form of writing—began 5000 years ago in parts of southwestern Asia and as recently as the late 19th century AD in central Africa and parts of the Americas. Becaus...
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Africa.
The highest elevations in Africa are found in the various ranges of East Africa. After Kilimanjaro, the next highest peaks are Mount Kenya (5,199 m/17,057 ft), north ofKilimanjaro in central Kenya; Margherita Peak (5,109 m/ 16,762 ft) in the Ruwenzori Range on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC); Ras Dashen (4,620 m/ 15,157 ft) in the Ethiopian Highlands of northern Ethiopia; Mount Meru (4,565 m/ 14,977 ft), close to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania; and MountElgon (4,...
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Africa - Geography.
The highest elevations in Africa are found in the various ranges of East Africa. After Kilimanjaro, the next highest peaks are Mount Kenya (5,199 m/17,057 ft), north ofKilimanjaro in central Kenya; Margherita Peak (5,109 m/ 16,762 ft) in the Ruwenzori Range on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC); Ras Dashen (4,620 m/ 15,157 ft) in the Ethiopian Highlands of northern Ethiopia; Mount Meru (4,565 m/ 14,977 ft), close to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania; and MountElgon (4,...