First generation.

The first generation of Meteosat satellites, Meteosat-1 to Meteosat-7, provided continuous and reliable meteorological observations from space to a large user community. Meteosat-1 to 7 have all now retired. When operational the Meteosat First Generation provided images every half-hour in three spectral channels (Visible, Infrared) and Water Vapour, via the Meteosat Visible and Infrared Imager (MVIRI) instrument. Until 1-February 2017, Meteosat-7 provided the primary imagery coverage over the Indian Ocean and provided a service relaying data from Data Collection Platforms (DCP), such as buoys, in support of the Tsunami Warning System for the Indian Ocean. A range of processed meteorological products were also produced. The last disseminated Meteosat-7 image was on 31-March-2017. Meteosat-7 de-orbiting commenced on 3-April-2017 and the spacecraft final command sent on 11-April 2017.  The satellites were manufactured by a consortium COSMOS, with Aérospatiale in its Cannes Mandelieu Space Centre, as Prime, and included Matra, MBB, Selenia Spazio, Marconi Company.  They are 2.1 metres in diameter and 3.195 metres long. Its initial mass in orbit is 282 kg, and in orbit, the satellite spins at 100 rpm around its main axis.

Second Generation.

The contract for the second generation was awarded to Aérospatiale in its Cannes Mandelieu Space Centre (now Thales Alenia Space), with main subcontractors as Matra, Messerschmitt, Alenia.  Meteosat Second Generation was designed in response to user requirements to serve the needs of Nowcasting applications and numerical weather prediction. In addition, the GERB instrument provides important data for climate monitoring and research.  The satellites are spin-stabilised like the previous generation, but with many design improvements. The more frequent and comprehensive data collected by MSG also aids the weather forecaster in the swift recognition and prediction of dangerous weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, fog, and explosive development of small, but intense, depressions, which can lead to devastating wind storms.  The MSG satellites are 3.2 m in diameter and 2.4 m high and spin anti-clockwise at 100 RPM at an altitude of 36,000 km.  On 29 January 2004 the first Meteosat Second Generation satellite MSG-1, renamed to Meteosat-8 once operational, commenced routine operations. In addition to the main optical payload SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager), Meteosat-8 also carries the secondary payload GERB (Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget) instrument.  The launch of MSG-2 (renamed to Meteosat-9) took place on 21 December 2005. The launch of MSG-3 (renamed to Meteosat-10) took place on 5 July 2012. Meteosat-8, -9 and 10 are all operational.  Meteosat-8 is stationed over the Indian Ocean, arriving at 41.5°E on 21 September 2016 and it took over as prime Indian Ocean Data Coverage (IODC) spacecraft on 1 February 2017 (replacing Meteosat-7). Meteosat-7 was moved to its graveyard orbit with the last command sent on 11-April 2017.  Meteosat-9 and -10 are all located over Africa with various differences in operational configuration. Meteosat-9 provides an operational European 'rapid scan' mode service (the MSG RSS service first commenced in May 2008), with images of Europe every 5 minutes. Meteosat-10 provides the main full Earth imagery service over Europe and Africa (with images every 15-minutes).  MSG-4 was successfully launched into space on 15 July 2015 at 18:42 local time on top an Ariane 5 Rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. Like MSG-1, MSG-2 and MSG-3, MSG-4 was launched by Arianespace. The MSG-4 commissioning was successfully completed in December 2015 at which time the spacecraft was placed into in-orbit storage as planned, and renamed to Meteosat-11.  Between January and April 2018 several changes in the constellation of Meteosat satellites will be made. Meteosat-11 will be taken into operations, moved to 0-deg longitude and take over the main full Earth imagery service over Europe and Africa from Meteosat-10. Following this Meteosat-10 will be moved to 9.5-deg E longitude and take over the operational European 5-minute 'rapid scan' mode service from Meteosat-9. Finally Meteosat-9 will be moved to 3.5-deg E longitude and be available as a 'rapid scan' mode service backup to Meteosat-10.

Secondary Payloads.

Meteosat-8,-9, 10, and -11 each carry a GERB Instrument, DCP capable service equipment and a Search and Rescue signal Processor (SARP) that is capable of detecting 406 MHz distress signals from Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon stations. For SARP see more under Cospas-Sarsat.

Third Generation ("MTG").

Considering the long development cycle for a new observational space system, EUMETSAT has been working on the definition and the planning for a Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) system since the year 2000. MTG components providing continuity of MSG services need to be available before the end of the nominal lifetime of MSG. MTG preparatory activities started end of 2000 in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), following the decision of the EUMETSAT Council to proceed with a Post-MSG User Consultation Process. The process is aimed at capturing the foreseeable needs of users of EUMETSAT's satellite data in the 2015-2025 timeframe.  On 19 March 2010, ESA chose Thales Alenia Space for a final negotiation leading to a contract to be signed during June.  On 22 June 2010, EUMETSAT confirmed the choice of Thales Alenia Space.  On 24 February 2012, the development contract between ESA and Thales Alenia Space was signed by Mr. Liebig and Mr. Seznec. Thales Alenia Space leads the industrial consortium that is now building the MTG family. Along with being the prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the MTG-I imaging satellite, including the primary payload, the Flexible Combined Imager. Bremen-based OHB is responsible for the MTG-S satellites and provision of the common satellite platforms, supported by Astrium GmbH as the System Architect.

The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program.


Background.

Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Miner Gallaudet, both prominent U.S. figures in deaf education, had been debating the effectiveness of oral-only education versus an education that utilizes sign language as a means of visual communication, culminating in the Milan Conference in 1880 that passed eight resolutions on deaf education.  The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf (which, despite its name, was actually the first) was an international meeting of deaf educators from at least seven countries. There were five delegates from America and approximately 164 delegates total in attendance. The Congress was planned and organized by a committee created by the Pereire Society, a group that was against sign language. More than half of the people invited were known oralists; therefore, the Congress was biased and most, if not all, of the resolutions that were voted on by the delegates gave results in favor of the oral method. Many of the resolutions were worded in ways that supported the oral method, such as "Considering the incontestable superiority of speech over signs in restoring the deaf-mute to society, and in giving him a more perfect knowledge of language,/Declares –/That the Oral method ought to be preferred that of signs for the education and instruction of the deaf and dumb".  The Milan Conference was organized by the Pereire Society, an organization formed by the family of Jacob Rodrigues Pereira of France and financed by their numerous railroad and bank holdings (including the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier). The Pereire Society was a strong supporter of oralism. They organized the Milan conference with the intent to ban sign language. They secured this outcome by carefully selecting who was invited, inviting the delegates to see the oralist success in a local school, and by encouraging negative reactions to those giving speeches supporting sign language and cheering those supporting oralism.

Delegates.

The Milan Conference was attended by 164 delegates of various countries. Out of these 164 delegates only one, James Denison, was Deaf. The conference president was Abbe Giulio Tarra.  The Nationality of the remaining delegates is unknown. The five U.S. delegates present were James Denison, Edward Miner Gallaudet, Reverend Thomas Gallaudet, Isaac Lewis Peet and Charles A Stoddard.

Conference.

The Conference was held in the Regio Instituto Tenico di Santa Martha, Milan. It was held from 6 September to 11 September 1880. The aim of the conference was to ban sign language from deaf education. During the conference there were 12 speakers who gave their opinions on the issues connected with deaf education. Nine of the twelve speakers gave an oralist view, and three (the Gallaudet brothers, and Richard Elliot, a teacher from England) supported the use of sign language.

Eight resolutions.

1. The Convention, considering the incontestable superiority of articulation over signs in restoring the deaf-mute to society and giving him a fuller knowledge of language, declares that the oral method should be preferred to that of signs in education and the instruction of deaf-mutes.  2. The Convention, considering that the simultaneous use of articulation and signs has the disadvantage of injuring articulation and lip-reading and the precision of ideas, declares that the pure oral method should be preferred.  3. Considering that a great number of the deaf and dumb are not receiving the benefit of instruction, and that this condition is owing to the impotence of families and of institutions, recommends that governments should take the necessary steps that all the deaf and dumb may be educated.  4. Considering that the teaching of the speaking deaf by the Pure Oral method should resemble as much as possible that of those who hear and speak, declares  5. Considering the want of books sufficiently elementary to help the gradual and progressive development of language, recommends that the teachers of the Oral system should apply themselves to the publication of special works on the subject.  6. Considering the results obtained by the numerous inquiries made concerning the deaf and dumb of every age and every condition long after they had quit school, who, when interrogated upon various subjects, have answered correctly, with sufficient clearness of articulation, and read the lips of their questioners with the greatest facility, declares:  7. Considering that the education of the deaf and dumb by speech has peculiar requirements; considering also that the experienced of teachers of deaf-mutes is almost unanimous, declares  8. Considering that the application of the Pure Oral method in institutions where it is not yet in active operation, should be to avoid the certainty of failure prudent, gradual, progressive, recommends

Opposition.

Delegates from the United States and Britain were the only ones who opposed the use of oralism as a sole method of instruction, but were unsuccessful in their efforts at the congress. Edward Miner Gallaudet and Reverend Thomas Gallaudet were among the protesters who fought against the oralist method. Since failing to overturn the Milan resolutions, Gallaudet ensured that the United States would not be completely converted to oralism-only, which included allowing high school students in institutes for the deaf to use sign language and maintaining Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University) as a university that permits full usage of sign language.  The National Association of the Deaf was also formed in the United States in response to the Milan Conference and was dedicated toward preserving American Sign Language.

First repudiation 100 years later in Hamburg.

At the 15th International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) held in Hamburg, West Germany in 1980, the first major precedent for the repudiation of the 1880 resolutions was set by a large group of attendees who rejected the 1880 resolutions in practical-moral terms by the method of informal consensus in deciding that the 1880 resolutions had no appropriate standing, originally, in 1880. As explained by Richard G. Brill: "At the International Congress in Hamburg in 1980, however, the Milan resolutions were challenged head-on in major professional addresses at the opening of the congresses. It was recognized and accepted that resolutions concerning methodology were not appropriate at such international congresses because of the unlikelihood that the delegates fully represented the practices and philosophies of their home countries." Rather than seek to directly overturn the 1880s resolutions, the Congress put forward "Recommendations" for informational purposes, including the following: "Recommended that this International Congress on Education of the Deaf, in convocation gathered at Hamburg, West Germany, in August 1980, affirms and declares that all deaf children have the right to flexible communication in the mode or combination of modes which best meets their individual needs." Sharkey and Hikins deemed this Recommendation, along with the others, as constituting overturning the 1880 Milan Congress's resolutions.  In spite of the previous precedent set in 1980, in July 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, the board of the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) formally voted to reject all of the 1880 Milan resolutions.

The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf was (despite the name) the first international conference of deaf educators held in Milan, Italy in 1880. It is commonly known as "the Milan Conference". After deliberations from September 6 to 11, 1880, the conference declared that oral education (oralism) was superior to manual education and passed a resolution banning the use of sign language in school. After its passage in 1880, schools in European countries and the United States switched to using speech therapy without sign language as a method of education for the deaf. A formal apology was made by the board at the 21st International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 2010 accepting the dangerous ramifications of such ban as an act of discrimination and violation of human and constitutional rights.


Historical mining terminology.

Before the mid-18th century, the terms slate, shale and schist were not sharply differentiated by those involved with mining.

Formation.

During metamorphism, rocks which were originally sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic are converted into schists and gneisses. If the composition of the rocks was originally similar, they may be very difficult to distinguish from one another if the metamorphism has been great. A quartz-porphyry, for example, and a fine grained feldspathic sandstone, may both be converted into a grey or pink mica-schist. Usually, however, it is possible to distinguish between sedimentary and igneous schists and gneisses. If, for example, the whole district occupied by these rocks has traces of bedding, clastic structure, or unconformability, then it may be a sign that the original rock was sedimentary. In other cases intrusive junctions, chilled edges, contact alteration or porphyritic structure may prove that in its original condition a metamorphic gneiss was an igneous rock. The last appeal is often to the chemistry, for there are certain rock types which occur only as sediments, while others are found only among igneous masses, and however advanced the metamorphism may be, it rarely modifies the chemical composition of the mass very greatly. Such rocks as limestones, dolomites, quartzites, and aluminous shales have very definite chemical characteristics that distinguish them even when completely recrystallized.  The schists are classified principally according to the minerals they consist of and on their chemical composition. For example, many metamorphic limestones, marbles, and calc-schists, with crystalline dolomites, contain silicate minerals such as mica, tremolite, diopside, scapolite, quartz and feldspar. They are derived from calcareous sediments of different degrees of purity. Another group is rich in quartz (quartzites, quartz schists and quartzose gneisses), with variable amounts of white and black mica, garnet, feldspar, zoisite and hornblende. These were once sandstones and arenaceous rocks. The graphitic schists may readily be believed to represent sediments once containing coal or plant remains; there are also schistose ironstones (hematite-schists), but metamorphic beds of salt or gypsum are exceedingly uncommon. Among schists of igneous origin there are the silky calc-schists, the foliated serpentines (once ultramafic masses rich in olivine), and the white mica-schists, porphyroids and banded halleflintas, which have been derived from rhyolites, quartz-porphyries and felsic tuffs. The majority of mica-schists, however, are altered claystones and shales, and pass into the normal sedimentary rocks through various types of phyllite and mica-slates. They are among the most common metamorphic rocks; some of them are graphitic and others calcareous. The diversity in appearance and composition is very great, but they form a well-defined group not difficult to recognize, from the abundance of black and white micas and their thin, foliated, schistose character. A subgroup is the andalusite-, staurolite-, kyanite- and sillimanite-schists which usually make their appearance in the vicinity of gneissose granites, and have presumably been affected by contact metamorphism.

Engineering considerations.

In geotechnical engineering a schistosity plane often forms a discontinuity that may have a large influence on the mechanical behavior (strength, deformation, etc.) of rock masses in, for example, tunnel, foundation, or slope construction.

Schist (pronounced ) is a medium-grade metamorphic rock formed from mudstone or shale. Schist has medium to large, flat, sheet-like grains in a preferred orientation (nearby grains are roughly parallel). It is defined by having more than 50% platy and elongated minerals (such as micas or talc), often finely interleaved with quartz and feldspar. These lamellar (flat, planar) minerals include micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is produced. Schist is often garnetiferous. Schist forms at a higher temperature and has larger grains than phyllite. Geological foliation (metamorphic arrangement in layers) with medium to large grained flakes in a preferred sheetlike orientation is called "schistosity".


Arechabala family history and production.

The Arechabala family founded a distillery in Cardenas, Cuba in 1878. Later renamed José Arechabala S.A., the company created the Havana Club brand in 1934, and sold rum under that name in both Cuba and the United States. The company was nationalized without compensation by the Castro government in 1960. The Arechabala family allege it was taken from them at gunpoint. Subsequently, much of the Arechabala family was forced to leave Cuba for Spain and the United States, while other members of the family were imprisoned.  The Cuban government sold rum abroad under the Havana Club name beginning in 1972, focusing primarily on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The government focused on Havana Club because (unlike the Bacardi family) the Arechabala family had not established plants outside of Cuba and so could not produce a competing brand. The company was considered a "national jewel" by the Cuban government, and in 1977 manufacturing was moved to a new plant in Santa Cruz del Norte.  Since 1994, Cuban production and non-US global marketing of Havana Club has continued under a joint partnership between Pernod Ricard and Corporación Cuba Ron.  In 1994, Bacardi began producing rum under the Havana Club name in Cataño, Puerto Rico using a recipe given to them by Arechabala family members. While originally sold in only a few US states (primarily Florida), production was expanded in 2006, and in 2012, after winning a critical court battle, Bacardi announced plans to sell the rum more broadly.

Pernod Ricard/Bacardi trademark conflict.

The Havana Club trademark has been the subject of extensive trademark litigation in the US, Spain, and World Trade Organization.  After José Arechabala S.A. was nationalized, the Arechabala family fled Cuba and was forced to stop producing rum. The US trademark registration for "Havana Club" lapsed in 1973. The family alleges that this was due to the company's lawyer, Javier Arechabala, remaining imprisoned at the time. Taking advantage of the lapse, the Cuban government registered the mark in the US in 1976. The brand was then assigned by the Cuban government to Pernod Ricard in 1993.  In 1994, Bacardi obtained the Arechabala family's remaining rights in the brand, and began producing limited amounts of rum bearing the name. 922 cases were sold in the US in 1995 and 1996. This drew litigation from Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard was successful in two of the first three court holdings issued in this litigation.  However, in 1998, after heavy lobbying from Bacardi, the US Congress passed the "Bacardi Act", which protected trademarks related to expropriated Cuban companies, and effectively ended the first phase of the litigation by eliminating Pernod Ricard's standing. This act (also known as Section 211) has been applied only to the Havana Club trademark. The act was ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization in 2001 and 2002, on grounds that it singled out one country (Cuba). The United States has not yet acted to address the WTO ruling, despite a 2005 deadline and requests from the European Union.  Following the initial round of litigation, a second round of litigation occurred, through both the US Federal court system and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, focused in part on the allegedly deceptive nature of the use of "Havana" in the name of a rum produced outside of Cuba. This round of litigation lasted from 2009 to 2012, and again resulted in a victory for Bacardi. After this defeat, Pernod Ricard announced plans to market the product in the US under the "Havanista" mark, while Bacardi announced plans to extend distribution of Bacardi's version of Havana Club throughout the US.  In Spain, Pernod Ricard's ownership of the mark has been upheld in three court rulings, most recently in 2011.  In January 2016, after a thaw in US-Cuba relations, the U.S. government awarded a trademark for Havana Club to the Cuban government, which was "expected to reignite longstanding tension between Bacardi Ltd. and the Cuban government". Bacardi appealed the decision, and in 2017, Florida lawmakers asked President Donald Trump to reverse the decision.

Current sales and marketing.

Pernod Ricard's Havana Club is the fifth-largest rum brand in the world, with almost 4 million cases sold in 2012–2013. It is sold in over 120 countries. Its strongest markets include France, and Germany, where marketing plays off the brand's distribution in East Germany during the Cold War. Since 2008, it is also bottled in India, the world's second-largest rum market.  Pernod Ricard plays heavily on Cuban themes in its marketing, including labeling Havana Club as "El Ron de Cuba" ("The Rum of Cuba"). It is one of the most common items brought into the US by tourists returning from Cuba. To avoid charges of customer deception, Bacardi's Havana Club labeling prominently mentions that it is made in Puerto Rico and is often referred to as "Havana Club Puerto Rican rum".  Pernod Ricard's labeling, originated by Cubaexport in the 1970s, is gold and red, and features the Giraldilla, a weathervane from the old fort of Havana. Pernod Ricard has announced plans to use similar gold and red labels on their "Havanista" product in the United States.  In 2016, Bacardi announced new branding and sells their version of Havana Club nationally, distilled in Puerto Rico and bottled in Florida.

Havana Club is a brand of rum created in Cuba in 1934. Originally produced in Cárdenas, Cuba by family-owned José Arechabala S.A., the brand was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. In 1993, French owned Pernod Ricard and the government of Cuba created a state-run 50:50 joint venture called Corporación Cuba Ron. They began exporting this version of Havana Club globally, except for the United States due to the embargo put in place by the U.S. government.


Career.

Nazareth formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, from the remaining members of semi-professional local group The Shadettes (formed in 1961) by vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton (ex Mark V and The Red Hawks), bassist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell Sweet. They were inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which is cited in the first line of The Band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead...").  The band moved to London, England in 1970 and released their eponymous debut album in 1971. After getting some attention with their second album "Exercises," released in 1972, Nazareth supported Deep Purple on tour, and issued the Roger Glover-produced "Razamanaz", in early 1973. This collection spawned two UK Top Ten hits, "Broken Down Angel" and "Bad Bad Boy". This was followed by "Loud 'N' Proud" in late 1973, which contained another hit single with a cover of Joni Mitchell's song "This Flight Tonight". Then came another album "Rampant," in 1974, that was equally successful although its only single, "Shanghai'd in Shanghai", narrowly missed the British Top 40. A non-album song, again a cover version, this time of Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle", was a UK Top 20 entry in 1975.  "Hair of the Dog" was released in April 1975 and was produced by Manny Charlton, ending Roger Glover's association with the band. The title track of that album (popularly, though incorrectly, known as "Son of a Bitch" due to its hook lyric) became a staple of 1970s rock radio. The American version of the album included a song originally recorded by The Everly Brothers, the melodic Boudleaux Bryant-penned ballad "Love Hurts", that was released as a hit single in the UK and in the US, where it went platinum. The track became the band's only US Top Ten hit and was also a top 10 hit in nine other countries, reaching number 1 in six of them. The song was on the Norwegian chart for 60 weeks.  In 1979, second guitarist Zal Cleminson was added to the line-up, remaining for two albums, "No Mean City" and "Malice in Wonderland", and contributing numerous compositions. "Malice in Wonderland" contained the single "Holiday". In 1981, they contributed the song "Crazy (A Suitable Case for Treatment)" to the soundtrack to the film, "Heavy Metal".  Various Nazareth line-ups continued to make studio albums and tour throughout the 1980s and 1990s, although their popularity had declined such that some albums no longer received either a UK or a US release. They remained popular in Europe, particularly Germany, where "Dream On" became a hit single. In 1991, Billy Rankin returned to replace Manny Charlton on the "No Jive" album, remaining with the band until 1994.  A tribute came in 1993 when Guns N' Roses covered Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" on ""The Spaghetti Incident?"", consolation after they turned down Axl Rose's request for the group to play at his wedding. Rankin departed again in 1994, but with Jimmy Murrison and keyboard player Ronnie Leahy, Nazareth maintained a live following in Europe and the US.  Nazareth continued touring after Rankin's departure, with Jimmy Murrison and keyboard player Ronnie Leahy. While on tour in 1999, original drummer Darrell Sweet died at age 51 of a heart attack. He was replaced by bassist Pete Agnew's son Lee for later editions of the band.  On 4 August 2006, John Locke, the former keyboardist of the band, died from cancer at the age of 62.  In February 2008, "The Newz" was released on the Hamburg-based label, Edel Entertainment. The release of the album coincided with Nazareth's fortieth anniversary tour, which started on 25 January in Sweden and visited most of Europe, finished on 4 November 2008 in Norway. A follow up album, "Big Dogz", was released on 15 April 2011.  Nazareth announced McCafferty's retirement from the band due to ill health on 28 August 2013, leaving Pete Agnew as the sole remaining original member of the band. On 22 February 2014, it was announced that Scottish singer Linton Osborne was chosen as McCafferty's replacement, with the former singer's blessing. In December 2014, Nazareth announced the cancellation of several shows, and later postponement of their UK tour, due to Osborne contracting a virus that left him unable to perform. In a post on his Facebook page 16 January 2015, Osborne announced his departure from the band.  On 13 February 2015, the band announced that Carl Sentance, formerly of Persian Risk, Geezer Butler Band, and Krokus, was their new lead vocalist.  On 25 June 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Nazareth among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Nazareth are a Scottish hard rock band formed in 1968 that had several hits in the United Kingdom, as well as in several other West European countries in the early 1970s. They established an international audience with their 1975 album "Hair of the Dog", which featured their hits "Hair of the Dog" and a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts". The band continues to record and tour.


Biography.

Alban was born Alban Uzoma Nwapa into a middle-class family of 10 children in Oguta, Imo state, Nigeria. He is Igbo. He got his secondary education at Christ The King College and spent most of his youth in his hometown of Oguta. At age 23, he traveled to Sweden to study dentistry. To finance his studies, Dr. Alban became a DJ at the Stockholm club "Alphabet Street". Very quickly, his name became widely known, especially since he often sang to the records he put on the turntables. DJ René Hedemyr discovered him. Alban finished his studies and even opened his own dentistry practice, keeping his DJ-ing as a lucrative sideline.  In 1990, he met Denniz Pop from the SweMix label and, together with Denniz and rap artist Leila K, released his first record "Hello Afrika". At this point, he took the stage name Dr. Alban, a nod to his dental studies. His debut album included hits like "Hello Afrika" and "No Coke", both of which ended up being million-selling singles. The album itself was quite successful and earned him gold certification awards in numerous markets including Germany (for sales of over 250,000 units), Austria (25,000), and Switzerland (25,000).  One year later, this success was surpassed by his second album "One Love". The album included European hit singles such as "It's My Life" (which was used as background music for a Tampax advert) and "Sing Hallelujah". The single "It's My Life" reached No.1 in Israel, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany, and No.2 in Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The song "It's My Life" went platinum in Germany (for sales of over 500,000 units), in the Netherlands (75,000), and it sold over two million copies overall in Europe. The album in turn reached the top of the album chart in Austria and entered the top five in Switzerland, also reaching No.6 in Germany. It went gold in Germany (for sales of over 250,000 units) and platinum both in Austria and Switzerland (both 50,000).  Alban's third album "Look Who's Talking!", released in 1994, hit the top 10 in numerous markets including Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The album was the first to earn Alban a gold certification award in his home country of Sweden for sales of over 50,000 units.  Dr. Alban founded his own record label "Dr. Records", whereon he released his 1996 album "Born in Africa". The album was unable to match the success of his previous releases. It only reached No.12 in Finland, while it peaked at No.37 in Switzerland and Sweden, No.52 in Germany, and No.41 in Austria. The single "Born in Africa" went to number 1 in Finland.  In 1997, Alban released the compilation album "The Very Best of 1990–1997", which only charted in Austria, Sweden, and Germany. The same year, the artist also released the studio album "Believe", which peaked at No.27 in Sweden, No.30 in Finland, and No.41 in Austria. In late 1998, Dr. Alban released a single with German-based artist Sash!, entitled "Colour the World", which experienced moderate chart success in Europe.  In 2000, Alban released the single "What Do I Do", which charted only in Sweden at No.43; it spent only two weeks on the charts there. The album "Prescription" was a flop as it failed to chart anywhere.  In 2007, after years of absence from the music scene, Dr. Alban released the studio album "Back to Basics". It was sold on the internet only through Dr. Alban's official website. In Russia however, both the physical CDs and cassettes were released.  On 15 February 2014 at the Scandinavium arena in Gothenburg, Dr. Alban teamed up with Jessica Folcker in the third heat of Melodifestivalen 2014, performing last with the song "Around the World", to win the right to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.  In 2015, he released the single "Hurricane", which failed to enter the European charts.  In May 2020, Alban released the song "Hello Sverige" to encourage the population of Sweden to respect the social distancing measurements put in place to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born 26 August 1957), better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Swedish recording artist and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. His music can best be described as Eurodance/hip-hop reggae in a dancehall style. He has sold an estimated 16 million records worldwide and is most famous for his worldwide 1992 hit "It's My Life", from the album "One Love".


Sequencing.

Turbidites were first properly described by Arnold H. Bouma (1962), who studied deepwater sediments and recognized particular "fining-up intervals" within deep water, fine-grained shales, which were anomalous because they started at pebble conglomerates and terminated in shales. This was anomalous because within the deep ocean it had historically been assumed that there was no mechanism by which tractional flow could carry and deposit coarse-grained sediments into the abyssal depths.  Bouma cycles begin with an erosional contact of a coarse lower bed of pebble to granule conglomerate in a sandy matrix, and grade up through coarse then medium plane parallel sandstone; through cross-bedded sandstone; rippled cross-bedded sand/silty sand, and finally laminar siltstone and shale. This vertical succession of sedimentary structures, bedding, and changing lithology is representative of strong to waning flow regime currents and their corresponding sedimentation.  It is unusual to see all of a complete Bouma cycle, as successive turbidity currents may erode the unconsolidated upper sequences. Alternatively, the entire sequence may not be present depending on whether the exposed section was at the edge of the turbidity current lobe (where it may be present as a thin deposit), or upslope from the deposition centre and manifested as a scour channel filled with fine sands grading up into a pelagic ooze.  It is now recognized that the vertical progression of sedimentary structures described by Bouma applies to turbidites deposited by low-density turbidity currents. As the sand concentration of a flow increases, grain-to-grain collisions within the turbid suspension create dispersive pressures that become important in hindering further settling of grains. As a consequence, a slightly different set of sedimentary structures develops in turbidites deposited by high-density turbidity currents. This different set of structures is known as the Lowe sequence, which is a descriptive classification that complements, but does not replace, the Bouma sequence.

Formation.

Turbidites are sediments which are transported and deposited by density flow, not by tractional or frictional flow.  The distinction is that, in a normal river or stream bed, particles of rock are carried along by frictional drag of water on the particle (known as "tractional flow"). The water must be travelling at a certain velocity in order to suspend the particle in the water and push it along. The greater the size or density of the particle relative to the fluid in which it is travelling, the higher the water velocity required to suspend it and transport it.  Density-based flow, however, occurs when liquefaction of sediment during transport causes a change to the density of the fluid. This is usually achieved by highly turbulent liquids which have a suspended load of fine grained particles forming a slurry. In this case, larger fragments of rock can be transported at water velocities too low to otherwise do so because of the lower density contrast (that is, the water plus sediment has a higher density than the water and is therefore closer to the density of the rock).  This condition occurs in many environments aside from simply the deep ocean, where turbidites are particularly well represented. Lahars on the side of volcanoes, mudslides and pyroclastic flows all create density-based flow situations and, especially in the latter, can create sequences which are strikingly similar to turbidites.  Turbidites in sediments can occur in carbonate as well as siliciclastic sequences.  Classic, low-density turbidites are characterized by graded bedding, current ripple marks, climbing ripple laminations, alternating sequences with pelagic sediments, distinct fauna changes between the turbidite and native pelagic sediments, sole markings, thick sediment sequences, regular bedding, and an absence of shallow-water features (Fairbridge, 1966). A different vertical progression of sedimentary structures characterize high-density turbidites.  Massive accumulations of turbidites and other deep-water deposits may result in the formation of submarine fans. Sedimentary models of such fan systems typically are subdivided into upper, mid, and lower fan sequences each with distinct sand-body geometries, sediment distributions, and lithologic characteristics (Mutti & Ricci Lucci, 1975; Normark, 1978; & Walker, 1978).  Turbidite deposits typically occur in foreland basins.

Importance.

Turbidites provide a mechanism for assigning a tectonic and depositional setting to ancient sedimentary sequences as they usually represent deep-water rocks formed offshore of a convergent margin, and generally require at least a sloping shelf and some form of tectonism to trigger density-based avalanches. Density currents may be triggered in areas of high sediment supply by gravitational failure alone. Turbidites can represent a high resolution record of seismicity, and terrestrial storm/flood events depending on the connectivity of canyon/channel systems to terrestrial sediment sources.  Turbidites from lakes and fjords are also important as they can provide chronologic evidence of the frequency of landslides and the earthquakes that presumably formed them, by dating using radiocarbon or varves above and below the turbidite.

Economic importance.

Turbidite sequences are classic hosts for lode gold deposits, the prime example being Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria, Australia, where more than 2,600 tons of gold have been extracted from saddle-reef deposits hosted in shale sequences from a thick succession of Cambrian-Ordovician turbidites. Proterozoic gold deposits are also known from turbidite basin deposits.  Lithified accumulations of turbidite deposits may, in time, become hydrocarbon reservoirs and the petroleum industry makes strenuous efforts to predict the location, overall shape, and internal characteristics of these sediment bodies in order to efficiently develop fields as well as explore for new reserves.

A turbidite is the geologic deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean.


History.

During the early Stone Age, shepherds and their flocks lived in the Obergurgl area near Timmelsjoch. By the early Bronze Age, the glaciers of the last Ice Age were retreating and various hunters, adventurers, and wandering tribes entered the higher elevations in the area in search of game and treasure. The discovery of a brooch near the Schönbodenlacke dating from the La Tène period (around 300 BC) indicates that people were passing over the Timmelsjoch during this period.  By the Middle Ages, mining influenced the development of a road network in the area. Marble quarries, semiprecious stones, and oil shales were all exploited. The ancient path over the Timmelsjoch was one of many such roads in the Tyrol which helped facilitate trade and would have a profound social, cultural, political, and religious impact on the peoples of the region. The Timmelsjoch was a particularly important route because it provided one of the most direct routes between the upper Inntal valley and Meran, the regional capital at the time, as well as Tirol Castle and St. Leonhard in Passeier, where the road forks to the Jaufenpass, down to Sterzing, and on to the Brenner Pass road. During that time, cart tracks were relatively few, and travelers, peddlers, and people leading pack animals tended to choose the shortest route.  From the end of the thirteenth century to the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Timmelsjoch facilitated increased trade. Ötztaler Kraxenträger (basket bearers) transported flax, livestock, cured bacon, lard, vinegar, wine, and spirits across the pass. These early traders routes and techniques that would later inspire modern alpinists. The name "Thymelsjoch" first appeared in 1241 in a letter written by the Bavarian Count of Eschenlohe. For centuries, the spelling "Thimmeljoch" was widely used. The current spelling came into usage only in the twentieth century during the construction of the paved road.

Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse.

The first plans to build a road across the Timmelsjoch were drawn up in 1897, when the Tyrolean Landtag (regional assembly) established a construction agenda which comprised the building of several "rival roads" including a road over the Timmelsjoch. Work would not begin until the autumn of 1955. On July 7, 1959, after four years of construction, the road was finally opened to the public. The Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse was well-engineered and integrated into the landscape.  While the road up from the Ötztal valley was built for tourism purposes, the situation in the Passeier Valley (on the southern side) was very different. As in many other parts of the Italian Alps, Mussolini, the ruler from 1922 to 1945, had numerous military roads built up towards Italy's international borders. Construction of the road from Moos in Passeier, 10 km southeast from the pass, commenced in the 1930s. After the meeting between Mussolini and Hitler on the Brenner in 1939, construction work ceased. The road was narrow and rough, but had almost been completed. The last tunnel had been dug through; just the remaining 2 km stretch from its end to the pass had not been built. The tunnel partly collapsed in the following years. From 1939 to the mid-1960s, the unfinished, grassed-over road was only used for forestry purposes. Construction work resumed in the mid-1960s and the road was completed to the pass and opened to through traffic in 1967.  The road on the Ötztal valley side is called the Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstrasse. The pass is now popular with car and motorbike tourists. Due to its elevation, steepness, and narrow road, the Timmelsjoch pass is closed to lorries and vehicles with trailers. With its dramatic scenery, particularly on the southern side, the road has become popular with cyclists. On the last Sunday in August, several thousand cyclists take part in the Ötztaler Cycling Marathon crawl up the section from St. Leonhard in Passeier () to the pass, gaining —the fourth and final pass included in the grueling marathon.

Timmelsjoch pass.

The Timmelsjoch pass is open to traffic from approximately the first half of June to the second half of October (the exact dates depend on snow conditions) daily from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. The Ötztal valley side is subject to a toll charge. At the Timmelsjoch pass, the Rasthaus summit tavern offers travelers warm meals and drinks and a sun terrace. Overlooking the Rasthaus is a stone mountain hut with a summit cross nearby.  Several stone markers in the area indicate the Austria-Italy border.

Timmelsjoch (), (elevation ) is a high mountain pass that creates a link through the Ötztal Alps along the border between Austria and Italy.


Life.

Maria Louise Albertine was a daughter of Count Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1695–1766) and his wife Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim (1702–1765). After the death of her father, she was heiress to the barony of Broich and began with the architect Nicolas de Pigage, the restoration and expansion of the Broich Castle. In 1806, the government of Broich was dissolved by Napoleon in 1815 and Broich was annexed by Prussia.  On 16 March 1748, she married Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt, the brother of the reigning Landgrave Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt in Heidesheim am Rhein. As Louis IX stayed almost exclusively in Pirmasens, she felt obliged, after the death of his wife in 1774, to represent the territory in the capital Darmstadt.  Her daughters Friederike and Charlotte were the first and second wives of Prince Charles II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. They both died in childbirth. Charles then ended his service as governor-general in Hannover and moved with his children to his wives' mother in Darmstadt. Princess George was a widow since 1782 and took over the education and care of Charles's children.  Charlotte did not move with her father to Darmstadt. At the age of 16, she had been married the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. His father visited his two sons frequently and moved to Hildburghausen with his oldest daughter in 1787, after he became president of the local imperial debit commission. Thus, Maria Luise cared primarily for Louise and her sisters Therese and Frederica for whom she provided a secure and largely informal home in the "Old Palace" at the market square in Darmstadt. She employed regional educational methods.  In 1790 she traveled with Louise, Frederica and George to Frankfurt to see the coronation of Emperor Leopold II. She stayed here with Catharina Elisabeth Goethe. In 1791, she joined an educational trip to the Netherlands. In 1792 she fled from the advancing French army and took the children from Darmstadt to her granddaughter Charlotte in Hildburghausen, where she remained until March 1793. On the return trip to Darmstadt, she traveled via Frankfurt, where a meeting between Louise and her future husband Frederick William III of Prussia had been arranged. In 1793 she accompanied Louise and Frederica to their wedding in Berlin.  Maria Louise was described as a magnificent person, warm hearted, cheerful all the time and usually speaking the Palatinate dialect. The proximity and warmth she has as a surrogate mother during the formative years of her granddaughters passed on to them.

Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (16 March 1729 – 11 March 1818); also known as Princess George, was heiress to the barony of Broich and by marriage Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the grandmother and educator of Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who later became Queen consort of Prussia.


History.

Until the 19th century Karviná was a low importance village of Cieszyn Silesia, lying near the important town of Fryštát. Discovery of coal led to rapid urban development in Karviná and surrounding villages, and railways were soon built. After the split of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920 it became a part of Czechoslovakia as a main mining center of the country. In 1923 it gained city rights. In October 1938 was annexed by Poland, together with whole region known as Zaolzie and during World War II was a part of Nazi Germany. After the war it again became a part of Czechoslovakia. In 1948 Karviná, Fryštát and the surrounding villages of Darkov, Ráj and Staré Město were merged into one city named Karviná. The coat of arms of Fryštát was chosen as the coat of arms of Karviná and Fryštát became the historical center of this industrial city.  The period after World War II is characterized by economic orientation on heavy industry. Currently the city is still reliant on dense heavy industry but is slowly restructuring the heavy industry influence and developing other economic activities. Karviná is also the center of education in this region with its wide range of specialized secondary schools and, especially, the Faculty of Commerce and Business of the Silesian University in Opava. In 2003 Karviná became a statutory city.  Karviná is also an important cultural and educational center of the Polish minority in the Czech Republic.

Sport.

Karviná, as a multi-ethnic city of Cieszyn Silesia, was a home to many football clubs established by particular ethnic groups after World War I. At that time many football clubs within the Polish, German, Czech and Jewish communities were founded. The best known and most successful Polish club was PKS Polonia Karwina, founded in 1919. After World War II, the German and Jewish clubs were not re-established. The Czech and Polish clubs still existed until the 1950s, when as a part of communist unification of sport life in Czechoslovakia, Czech clubs were joined to ZSJ OKD Mír Karviná and the Polish Polonia Karwina was incorporated into that club. Today, the only football club in the city is MFK Karviná, playing in the first division.  Karviná is also home to a successful handball club, HCB Karviná, which became twice Czechoslovak champions and eleven times Czech champions. Other sport clubs in the city include two ice hockey teams SK Karviná (playing in the lower division) and HC Baník Karviná (playing in the 2nd Czech league); and the athletics club, with tennis, gymnastics and ice-skating being also very popular and established sports within the region.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Karviná is twinned with:

Karviná (;,, ) is a city in Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, on the Olza River. It is administrative center of Karviná District. Karviná lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia and is one of the most important coal mining centers in the Czech Republic. Together with neighboring towns it forms industrial Ostrava-Karviná Coal Basin.


Description.

Combs consist of a shaft and teeth that are placed at a perpendicular angle to the shaft. Combs can be made out of a number of materials, most commonly plastic, metal or wood. Combs made from ivory and tortoiseshell were once common but concerns for the animals that produce them have reduced their usage. When made from wood, combs are largely made of boxwood, cherry wood or other fine-grained wood. Good quality wooden combs are usually handmade and polished.  Combs come in various shapes and sizes depending on what they are used for. A hairdressing comb may have a thin, tapered handle for parting hair and close teeth. Common hair combs usually have wider teeth halfway and finer teeth for the rest of the comb. Hot combs were used solely for straightening hair during the colonial era in North America.  A hairbrush comes in both manual and electric models. It is larger than a comb, and is also commonly used for shaping, styling and cleaning hair. A combination comb and hairbrush was patented in the 19th century.

Uses and types.

Combs can be used for many purposes. Historically, their main purpose was securing long hair in place, decorating the hair, matting sections of hair for dreadlocks, or keeping a kippah or skullcap in place. In Spain, a "peineta" is a large decorative comb used to keep a mantilla in place.  In industry and craft, combs are used in separating cotton fibres from seeds and other debris (the cotton gin, a mechanized version of the comb, is one of the machines that ushered in the Industrial Revolution). A comb is used to distribute colors in paper marbling to make the swirling colour patterns in comb-marbled paper.  Combs are also a tool used by police investigators to collect hair and dandruff samples that can be used in ascertaining dead or living persons' identities, as well as their state of health, toxicological profiles, and so forth.

Afro pick.

This type of comb has loose, thick teeth and is usually used on kinky or Afro-textured hair. It is longer and thinner than the typical comb, and it is sometimes worn in the hair.

Nit comb.

Specialized combs such as "flea combs" or "nit combs" can be used to remove macroscopic parasites and cause them damage by combing. A comb with teeth fine enough to remove nits is sometimes called a "fine-toothed comb", as in the metaphoric usage "go over [something] with a fine-toothed comb", meaning to search closely and in detail. Sometimes in this meaning, "fine-toothed comb" has been reanalysed as "fine toothcomb" and then shortened to "toothcomb", or changed into forms such as "the finest of toothcombs".

Hygiene.

Sharing combs is a common cause of parasitic infections much like sharing a hat, as one user can leave a comb with eggs or live parasites, facilitating the transmission of lice, fleas, mites, fungi, and other undesirables. Siblings are also more likely to pass on nits to each other if they share a comb, so it is advisable to buy each child their own comb.

Unbreakable plastic comb.

An unbreakable plastic comb is a comb that, despite being made of plastic rather than (more expensive) metal, does not shatter into multiple pieces if dropped on a hard surface such as bathroom tiles, a hardwood floor, or pavement. Such combs were introduced in the mid-twentieth century. Today most plastic combs are unbreakable as technology has reached a point of understanding the causation of brittleness in these products.

Modern artisan combs.

Modern artisan combs crafted from a wide variety of new and recycled materials have become popular over recent years. Used skateboard decks, vinyl records, brass, titanium alloy, acrylic, sterling silver and exotic wood are a few of the materials being used.

Making music.

Stringing a plant's leaf or a piece of paper over one side of the comb and humming with cropped lips on the opposite side dramatically increases the high-frequency harmonic content of the hum produced by the human voice box, and the resulting spread sound spectrum can be modulated by changing the resonating frequency of the oral cavity.  This was the inspiration for the kazoo, a membranophone. Moreover, the comb is also a lamellophone. Comb teeth have harmonic qualities of their own, determined by their shape, length, and material. A comb with teeth of unequal length, capable of producing different notes when picked, eventually evolved into the thumb piano and musical box.

A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating back to 5,000 years ago in Africa.


Geographic distribution.

The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic; the Taiga Yukaghirs in the Upper Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic and in Srednekansky District of Magadan Oblast. By the time of Russian colonization in the 17th century, the Yukaghir tribal groups occupied territories from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. The number of the Yukaghirs decreased between the 17th and 19th centuries due to epidemics, internecine wars and Tsarist colonial policy which may have included genocide against the sedentary hunter-fisher Anaouls. Some of the Yukaghirs have assimilated with the Yakuts, Evens, and Russians.  Currently, Yukaghirs live in the Sakha Republic and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. According to the 2002 Census, their total number was 1,509 people, up from 1,112 recorded in the 1989 Census.  According to the latest 2001 all Ukrainian census, 12 Yukaghirs are living in Ukraine. Only 2 of them indicated Yukaghir as their native language. For the remaining others (6) it is Russian and for 1 it is some other tongue.

Subethnic groups.

The 13 tribes that once constituted the Yukaghir group are: Vadul-Alais, Odul, Chuvan, Anaoul, Lavren, Olyuben, Omok, Penjin, Khodynts, Khoromoy, Shoromboy, Yandin, and Yandyr. Genetically, Yukaghirs exhibit roughly equal frequencies of the Y-DNA haplogroups N1c, Q1, and C2 (formerly C3).  The surviving three tribes are the Odul of Nelemnoe, the Vadul of Andryushkino and the Chuvan of the Anadyr river area. Of the extinct groups, the most important were the Khodynts, the Anaoul (both of the Anadyr River area), and the Omok (north of the Chuvan). Sometimes the Chuvan are considered a separate tribe. The Chuvantsy language has been extinct since the early 20th century. In 2002, 1,087 identified themselves as Chuvan compared to more than 1,300 in 1989. The Vadul are mainly involved in reindeer herding while the Odul (Kogime) are mostly hunter-gatherers. The Vadul are also known as Tundra Yukaghir. The Odul are also known as Taiga Yukaghir or Kolyma Yukaghir. The Vadul and Odul languages are as different as German is from Dutch. Both are nearing extinction, and Odul is in a much weaker state compared to Vadul. In the 1989 census, more than 700 of the Yukaghirs identified as Vadul while fewer than 400 were Odul.  The Yukaghir are one of the oldest peoples in North-Eastern Asia. Originally they lived over a huge territory from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. By the time of the first encounter with Russians, Yukaghir were divided into twelve tribes with around 9,000 people. The Yukagir ethnonym is "Odul" or "Vadul", which means “mighty”.  Tribal divisions among the Yukaghir are fading now, although in every census from 1926, significant number of tribesmen identified themselves with tribal divisions like Anaoul, Odul and Vadul rather than describing themselves as Yukaghir. The Soviet government actively discouraged this tendency and now only the most elderly identify this way. In the 2002 census, out of the 1,509 Yukaghirs, 51 identified themselves as Omok, 40 as Alais, 21 as Odul, 17 as Vadul, 6 as Khangait and 4 as Detkil.

Clan system.

The head of every clan was an elder called a "Ligey Shomorokh". His was the final word in all aspects of life. Hunting leaders were "Khangitche", and war leaders were "Tonbaia Shomorokh" ("the mighty man"). Women and teenagers had equal voices with men. The internal life of the community was under the control of the older women. Their decisions in those matters were indisputable.  In the beginning of every summer all clans gathered for the "Sakhadzibe" festival, where mutual Yukaghir questions were discussed.  In the Yakut-Sakha Republic there are three nomadic extended family communities. These are Tchaila in Nizhnekolymsky District, Teki Odulok in Verkhnekolymsky District and Ianugail in Ust-Yansky District. The head of Ianugail is I. I. Tomsky. The community’s main activities are deer hunting and fishing. Tchaila is the biggest of the three. Its head is S. I. Kurilov. They have 4000 domesticated reindeer, 200 horses, and 20 cows. The community also hunts deer and polar foxes. There is also a shop where traditional skin and fur garments are made. The head of Teki Odulok is N. I. Shalugin. Their base is the village of Nelemnoe. This community is in the most difficult situation. Due to the “creative interpretation” of various Perestroika and privatization laws by the local and district administration and so-called businessmen, the community has lost all their reindeer, cows and even part of its land. All they have left are about 50 horses. They have no money for supplies for hunting and fishing. 80% of all adult population is "de facto" unemployed.  The highest forum for Yukagir is the all-people gathering "Suktuul".

Culture.

The main traditional activity is nomadic and semi-nomadic hunting of deer, moose, wild sheep, and sable, as well as fishing. Reindeer are bred mostly for transportation. Horses are known among the Yukaghir as "domestic reindeer of Yakuts" ("Yoqod ile" in Tundra Yukaghir or "Yaqad āçə" in Kolyma Yukaghir). A Yukaghir house is called a "chum".  The decline of traditional economic activities, the unfavorable environmental situation of the Yukaghir’s traditional lands and waters, and the absence of local and federal laws and executive mechanisms protecting indigenous peoples in Russia, have not aided the welfare and continuation of traditional Yukaghir communities. The average life span for men is 45 years, and 54 years for women. Child mortality is the highest in the Yakut-Sakha Republic. In addition, one expedition made to the Yukaghir found that most had no knowledge of traditional Yukaghir culture.

Language.

The Yukaghir languages are a small language family of two closely related languages, Tundra Yukaghir and Kolyma Yukaghir, although there used to be more. They are unclassified languages: their origin and relation to other languages are unknown; some scholars consider them distantly related to the Uralic languages, but this classification is not accepted by the majority of specialists in Uralic linguistics. The languages are regarded as moribund, since less than 370 people can speak either Yukaghir language. Most Yukaghirs today speak Yakut and Russian.

Religion.

Alongside Russian Orthodox beliefs, Yukaghirs still practice shamanism. The dominant cults are ancestral spirits, the spirits of Fire, Sun (Pugu), Hunting, Earth, and Water, which can act as protectors or as enemies of people. The most important is the cult of "Pugu", the Sun, who is the highest judge in all disputes. The spirits of the dead go to a place called "Aibidzi". Every clan had a shaman called an "alma". After death every "alma" was treated as a deity, and the body of the dead "alma" was dismembered and kept by the clan as relics. The Yukaghir still continue traditions stemming from their origins as nomadic reindeer-hunters: they practice dog sacrifice and have an epic poem based around crows. The animal cult was especially strong in the elk cult. There was a number of rituals and taboos connected with elk and deer hunting.

External links.

Modern culture:

The Yukaghir, or Yukagir ( ("odul, detkil"), ) are a people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River.


Etymology.

The English word "carmine" is derived from the French word "carmin" (12th century), from Medieval Latin "carminium", from Persian "qirmiz" ("crimson"), which itself derives from Middle Persian "carmir" ("red, crimson"). The Persian term "carmir" likely cognates with Sanskrit "krimiga" ("insect-produced"), from "krmi" ("worm, insect"). The Persian word for "worm, insect" is "kirm", and in Iran (Persia) the red colorant carmine was extracted from the bodies of dead female insects such as Kermes vermilio and cochineal. The form of the term may also have been influenced in Latin by "minium" ("red lead, cinnabar"), said to be of Iberian origin. The word "carmine" has been used as a color name as early as 1799.

Production.

To prepare carmine, the powdered scale insect bodies are boiled in an ammonia or sodium carbonate solution, the insoluble matter is removed by filtering, and alum is added to the clear salt solution of carminic acid to precipitate the red aluminium salt, called "carmine lake" or "crimson lake" (the "lake" here deriving from the word lac, referring to a resinous secretion). Purity of color is ensured by the absence of iron. Stannous chloride, citric acid, borax, or gelatin may be added to regulate the formation of the precipitate. For shades of purple, lime is added to the alum; thus, the traditional crimson color is guaranteed not only by carminic acid but also by choice of its chelating metal salt ion.  Carmine may be prepared from cochineal, by boiling dried insects in water to extract the carminic acid and then treating the clear solution with alum. Other common substances such as cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or potassium hydrogen oxalate can also be used to effect the precipitation, but aluminum is needed for the color. Use of these chemicals causes the coloring and animal matters present in the liquid to be precipitated to give a lake pigment. Aluminum from the alum gives the traditional crimson color to carminic acid precipitates, which are called "carmine lakes" or "crimson lakes". This color is degraded by the presence of iron salts. Addition of lime (calcium) can give carminic acid lakes a purple cast.  Other methods for the production of carmine dye are in use, in which egg white, fish glue, or gelatin is sometimes added before the precipitation.  The quality of carmine is affected by the temperature and the degree of illumination during its preparation, sunlight being requisite for the production of a brilliant hue. It also differs according to the amount of alumina present in it. It is sometimes adulterated with cinnabar, starch and other materials; from these, the carmine can be separated by dissolving it in ammonia. Good carmine should crumble readily between the fingers when dry.

Properties and uses.

A reflectance spectroscopy study of one commercially available dye based on carminic acid found that it reflects mostly red light with wavelengths longer than about 603 nm, which provides its saturated red color.  Carmine can be used as a staining agent in histology, as a "Best's carmine" to stain glycogen, "mucicarmine" to stain acidic mucopolysaccharides, and "carmalum" to stain cell nuclei. In these applications, it is applied together with a mordant, usually an Al(III) salt.  Carmine was used in dyeing textiles and in painting since antiquity. It is not very stable in oil paint, and its use ceased after new and better red pigments became available. Jacopo Tintoretto used carmine in several of his paintings, including "Portrait of Vincenzo Morosini" and "Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples".

Allergy.

Carmine is used as a food dye in many different products such as juices, ice cream, yogurt, and candy, and as a dye in cosmetic products such as eyeshadow and lipstick. Although principally a red dye, it is found in many foods that are shades of red, pink, and purple. As a food dye it has been known to cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock in some people.

Regulations for use in foods.

United States.

In January 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluated a proposal that would require food products containing carmine to list it by name on the ingredient label. It was also announced that the FDA will separately review the ingredient labels of prescription drugs that contain colorings derived from carmine. A request from the Center for Science in the Public Interest urging the FDA to require ingredient labels to explicitly state that carmine is derived from insects and may cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock was declined by the FDA. Food industries were aggressively opposed to the idea of writing "insect-based" on the label, and the FDA agreed to allow "cochineal extract" or "carmine".  Although concerns over hazards from allergic reactions have been asserted, the FDA has not banned the use of carmine and states that it found no evidence of a "significant hazard" to the general population.

European Union.

In the European Union, the use of carmine in foods is regulated under the European Commission's directives governing food additives in general and food dyes in particular and listed under the names "Cochineal", "Carminic acid", "Carmines" and "Natural Red 4" as additive E 120 in the list of EU-approved food additives. The directive governing food dyes approves the use of carmine for certain groups of foods only and specifies a maximum amount which is permitted or restricts it to the quantum satis.  The EU-Directive 2000/13/EC on food labeling mandates that carmines (like all food additives) must be included in the list of ingredients of a food product with its additive category and listed name or additive number, that is either as "Food colour carmines" or as "Food colour E 120" in the local language(s) of the market(s) the product is sold in.  Although concerns of hazards from allergic reactions were raised, the use of carmine in foods is not banned in the EU. However, the use of carmine in foods has been discouraged by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and, although it is used predominantly as coloring in alcoholic beverages, it can still be found in foods such as supermarket Indian curries. A re-evaluation process of the approval status of several food colors (including carmine) was started by the "Panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food" of EFSA in early 2006 and was scheduled to be completed by 2008. , EFSA has changed the way they allow use of Carmine E120 for pharmaceutical products. The EFSA had raised concerns over the increasing number of allergic reactions to carmine derived from insects (E120.360), when used within the British Pharmacopoeia. Pharmaceutical products which had previously contained insect-derived carmine, have been replaced with a synthesized version of the food colorant. Internal studies have shown that the new formulations of popular anti-nausea and weight-gain liquid medication had a significantly lower risk in terms of allergic reactions. The new formulation is known to be of plant origin, using calcium oxide in order to gauge color depth.

Carmine ( or ), also called cochineal, cochineal extract, crimson lake or carmine lake, natural red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120, is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium salt of carminic acid; it is also a general term for a particularly deep-red color. The pigment is produced from some scale insects such as the cochineal scale and certain "Porphyrophora" species (Armenian cochineal and Polish cochineal). Carmine is used in the manufacture of artificial flowers, paints, crimson ink, rouge and other cosmetics, and some medications. It is routinely added to food products such as yogurt, candy and certain brands of juice, the most notable ones being those of the ruby-red variety.


Early life.

Catherine of Valois was the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. She was born at the Hôtel Saint-Pol (a royal palace in Paris) on 27 October 1401. Early on, there had been a discussion of marrying her to the prince of Wales, the son of Henry IV of England, but the king died before negotiations could begin. In 1414, the prince, now Henry V, re-opened discussion of the match, along with a large dowry and acknowledgement of his right to the throne of France.  While some authors have maintained that Catherine was neglected as a child by her mother, a more modern examination of the evidence suggests otherwise. According to the financial accounts of her mother, toys befitting a French princess were purchased, religious texts were provided, and Catherine was sent to the convent in Poissy to receive a religious education.

Royal marriage.

Henry V went to war with France, and even after the great English victory at Agincourt, plans for the marriage continued. Catherine was said to be very attractive and when Henry finally met her at Meulan, he became enamoured. In May 1420, a peace agreement was made between England and France, the Treaty of Troyes, and Charles acknowledged Henry of England as his heir. Catherine and Henry were married at the Parish Church of St John or at Troyes Cathedral on 2 June 1420. Catherine went to England with her new husband and was crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on 23 February 1421. In June 1421, Henry returned to France to continue his military campaigns.  By this time, Catherine was several months pregnant and gave birth to a son named Henry on 6 December 1421 at Windsor. Her husband never saw their child. During the siege of Meaux, he became sick and died on 31 August 1422, just before his 36th birthday. Catherine was not quite 21 and was left a queen dowager. Charles VI died a couple of months after Henry V, making the young Henry VI king of England and English-occupied northern France. Catherine doted on her son during his early childhood.

Relationship with Owen Tudor.

Catherine was still young and marriageable, a source of concern to her brother-in-law Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the guardian of her son. Rumours abounded that Catherine planned to marry Edmund Beaufort, Count of Mortain, her late husband's cousin. The Duke of Gloucester was strongly against the match, however, and the Parliament of 1427–8 passed a bill which set forth the provision that if the queen dowager remarried without the king's consent, her husband would forfeit his lands and possessions, although any children of the marriage would not suffer punishment. The king's consent was contingent upon his having attained his majority. At that time, the king was only six years old.  Catherine lived in the king's household, presumably so she could care for her young son, but the arrangement also enabled the councillors to watch over the queen dowager herself. Nevertheless, Catherine entered into a sexual relationship with Welshman Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudor, who, in 1421, in France, had been in the service of Henry V's steward Sir Walter Hungerford. Tudor was probably appointed keeper of Catherine's household or wardrobe. The relationship began when Catherine lived at Windsor Castle, and she became pregnant with their first child there. At some point, she stopped living in the King's household and in May 1432 Parliament granted Owen the rights of an Englishman. This was important because of Henry IV's laws limiting the rights of Welshmen.  There is no known date of Catherine's marriage to Owen, and yet there is no contemporaneous evidence that the validity of the marriage and the legitimacy of her children were questioned in secular or canon law. From the relationship of Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine descended the Tudor dynasty of England, starting with King Henry VII. Tudor historians asserted that Owen and Catherine had been married, for their lawful marriage would add respectability and stronger royal ties to the claims of the Tudor dynasty.  Owen and Catherine had at least six children. Edmund, Jasper and Owen were all born away from court. They had one daughter, Margaret, who became a nun and died young.

Death and aftermath.

Catherine died on 3 January 1437, shortly after childbirth, in London, and was "buried in the old Lady chapel" of Westminster Abbey. While the death date is not in question the cause is, with an equal number of records stating that she did not die as a result of childbirth, but entered Bermondsey Abbey, possibly seeking a cure for an illness that had troubled her for some time. She made her will just three days before her death. She now rests at Westminster Abbey in Henry V's Chantry Chapel. After her death, Catherine's enemies decided to proceed against Owen for violating the law of the remarriage of the queen dowager. Owen appeared before the Council, was subsequently arrested, and taken to Newgate Prison. He tried to escape from Newgate Prison in early 1438 and eventually ended up at Windsor Castle in July of that year.  Meanwhile, Owen and Catherine's two older sons, Edmund and Jasper, went to live with Katherine de la Pole, Abbess of Barking and sister of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Sometime after 1442, the king (their half-brother) took a role in their upbringing. Owen, their father, was eventually released on £2000 bail, but was pardoned in November 1439 (and the bail cancelled in 1440). Owen was treated well afterwards and was a member of the king's household until the mid-1450s. He lived until 1461, when he was executed by the Yorkists following the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire. Their sons were given earldoms by Catherine's son King Henry VI. Edmund married Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt who had consequently a distant claim to the throne; following the elimination by war of most other candidates, their son became King Henry VII.  The wooden funeral effigy which was carried at Catherine's funeral still survives at Westminster Abbey, and was previously on display in the Westminster Abbey Museum in the Undercroft. It is now displayed in the new Queen's Diamond Jubilee Gallery in the abbey triforium. Her tomb originally boasted an alabaster memorial, which was deliberately destroyed during extensions to the abbey in the reign of her grandson, Henry VII. It has been suggested that Henry ordered her memorial to be removed to distance himself from his illegitimate ancestry. At this time, her coffin lid was accidentally raised, revealing her corpse, which for generations became a tourist attraction. In 1669 the diarist Samuel Pepys kissed the long-deceased queen on his birthday:  Catherine's remains were not properly re-interred until the reign of Queen Victoria.

Catherine of Valois (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was the queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she married Henry V of England, and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of England. Her liaison (and possible secret marriage) with Owen Tudor proved the springboard of that family's fortunes, eventually leading to their grandson's elevation as Henry VII of England. Catherine's older sister Isabella was queen of England from 1396 until 1399, as the child bride of Richard II.


First marriage.

In 1223, Matilda married her first husband, Philippe Hurepel, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvais, a younger, arguably illegitimate son of King Philip II of France. By marriage to her, Philippe became her co-ruler of Boulogne, Mortain, Aumale and Dammartin-en-Goële. Count Philippe revolted against his widowed sister-in-law, Blanche of Castile, when his half-brother King Louis VIII died in 1226.

Second marriage.

Count Philippe died in 1234, and Matilda reigned independently for three years. To give the county a male head, she married again in 1238 to Infante Afonso, second in line to the Portuguese throne, younger brother of King Sancho II of Portugal. He became King Afonso III of Portugal on 4 January 1248. At that time he renounced Boulogne.  In 1258, Matilda charged Afonso with bigamy, following his marriage to Beatrice of Castile. Pope Alexander in response, imposed interdict upon any place the couple stayed. At the time of Matilda's death, Afonso and Beatriz were still together, despite the Pope's protests.

Later life.

She had a son and a daughter with Count Philippe, but no surviving issue with Afonso. Matilda's then apparent barrenness was the true reason for their divorce. According to reports, Queen Matilda remained in Boulogne and was not allowed to follow her husband to Portugal.  Matilda's daughter, having married a lord de Châtillon-Montjay, predeceased her, and presumably left no surviving issue.  Her son reportedly renounced his rights and went to England, for unknown reasons. Apparently he survived his mother the Countess, but presumably did not leave issue.

Mahaut or Matilda II of Boulogne (also known as "Mathilde", "Maud de Dammartin"; 1202 – January 1259) was Countess of Boulogne in her own right and Queen of Portugal by marriage to King Afonso III from 1248 until their divorce in 1253. She was the daughter of Ida, Countess of Boulogne and her husband and co-ruler Renaud, Count of Dammartin. She succeeded her mother as Countess of Boulogne in 1216. She was the great-granddaughter of King Stephen of England.


Name.

For a while during the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175 - 164 BCE) the city was named "Callirrhoe" or "Antiochia on the Callirhoe" (). During Byzantine rule it was named "Justinopolis". Prior to Turkish rule, it was often best known by the name given it by the Seleucids,, "Édessa".  "Şanlı" means "great, glorious, dignified" in Turkish, and Urfa was officially renamed "Şanlıurfa" ("Urfa the Glorious") by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1984, in recognition of the local resistance in the Turkish War of Independence. The title was achieved following repeated requests by the city's members of parliament, desirous to earn a title similar to those of neighbouring cities "Gazi" (veteran) Antep and "Kahraman" (Heroic) Maraş.

History.

The history of Urfa is recorded from the 4th century BC, but may date back at least to 9000 BC, when there is ample evidence for the surrounding sites at Duru, Harran and Nevali Cori. Within the further area of the city are three Neolithic sites known: Göbekli Tepe, Gürcütepe and the city itself, where the life-sized limestone "Urfa Man" statue was found during an excavation in Balıklıgöl and is now on display at the Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum. The city was one of several in the upper Euphrates-Tigris basin, the fertile crescent where agriculture began.  According to Jewish and Muslim sources, Urfa is Ur Kasdim, the hometown of Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob whom God named Israel. This identification was disputed by Leonard Woolley, the excavator of the Sumerian city of Ur in 1927 and scholars remain divided on the issue. Urfa is also one of several cities that have traditions associated with Job.  For the Armenians, Urfa is considered a holy place since it is believed that the Armenian alphabet was invented there.  Urfa was conquered repeatedly throughout history, and has been dominated by many civilizations, including the Ebla, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hurri-Mitannis, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Ancient Macedonians (under Alexander the Great), Seleucids, Armenians, Arameans, the Neo-Assyrian Osrhoenes, Romans, Sassanids, Byzantines, and Arabs

City of Edessa.

Although the site of Urfa has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the modern city was founded in 304 B.C by Seleucus I Nicator and named after the ancient capital of Macedonia. In the late 2nd century, as the Seleucid dynasty disintegrated, it became the capital of the Arab Nabataean Abgar dynasty, which was successively a Parthian, Armenian, and Roman client state and eventually a Roman province. Its location on the eastern frontier of the Empire meant it was frequently conquered during periods when the Byzantine central government was weak, and for centuries, it was alternately conquered by Arab, Byzantine, Armenian, Turkish rulers. In 1098, the Crusader Baldwin of Boulogne induced the final Armenian ruler to adopt him and then seized power, establishing the first Crusader State known as the County of Edessa and imposing Latin Christianity on the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic majority of the population.

Age of Islam.

Islam first arrived in Urfa around 638 AD, when the region surrendered to the Rashidun army without resisting, and became a significant presence under the Ayyubids (see: Saladin Ayubbi), Seljuks. In 1144, the Crusader state fell to the Turkish Abassid general Zengui, who had most of the Christian inhabitants slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop (see Siege of Edessa) and the subsequent Second Crusade failed to recapture the city. Subsequently, Urfa was ruled by Zengids, Ayyubids, Sultanate of Rum, Ilkhanids, Memluks, Akkoyunlu and Safavids before Ottoman conquest in 1516.  Under the Ottomans Urfa was initially made centre of Raqqa Eyalet, laterly part Urfa (Sanjak) of the Aleppo Vilayet. The area became a centre of trade in cotton, leather, and jewellery. There was a small but ancient Jewish community in Urfa, with a population of about 1,000 by the 19th century. Most of the Jews emigrated in 1896, fleeing the Hamidian massacres, and settling mainly in Aleppo, Tiberias and Jerusalem. There were three Christian communities: Syriac, Armenian, and Latin. According to Lord Kinross, 8,000 Armenians were massacred in Urfa in 1895. The last Neo-Aramaic Christians left in 1924 and went to Aleppo (where they settled in a place that was later called "Hay al-Suryan" "The Syriac Quarter").

First World War and after.

During the First World War, Urfa was a site of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocides, beginning in August 1915. By the end of the war, the entire Christian population had been killed, had fled, or was in hiding.  The British occupation of the city of Urfa started de facto on 7 March 1919 and officially de jure as of 24 March 1919, and lasted until 30 October 1919. French forces took over the next day and lasted until 11 April 1920, when they were defeated by local resistance forces before the formal declaration of the Republic of Turkey on 23 April 1920).  The French retreat from the city of Urfa was conducted under an agreement reached between the occupying forces and the representatives of the local forces, commanded by Captain Ali Saip Bey assigned from Ankara. The withdrawal was meant to take place peacefully, but was disrupted by an ambush on the French units by irregular Kuva-yi Milliye Şebeke Pass on the way to Syria, leading to 296 casualties among the French.  Modern Urfa presents stark contrasts between its old and new quarters.

Politics.

It is a stronghold of the governing Justice and Development Party. However, in the 2009 local elections, the city elected an independent, Ahmet Eşref Fakibaba, as mayor.

Cuisine.

As the city of Urfa is deeply rooted in history, so its unique cuisine is an amalgamation of the cuisines of the many civilizations that have ruled in Urfa. Dishes carry names in Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, and Turkish, and are often prepared in a spicy manner. It is widely believed that Urfa is the birthplace of many dishes, including Raw Kibbé (Çiğ Köfte), that according to the legend, was crafted by the Prophet Abraham from ingredients he had at hand. The walnut-stuffed Turkish dessert crepe (called "şıllık") is a regional specialty.  Many vegetables are used in the Urfa cuisine, such as the "'Ecır," the "Kenger," and the "İsot", the legendary local red capsicum that is a smaller and darker cultivar of the Aleppo pepper that takes a purplish black hue when dried and cured.  Unlike most of the Turkish cities that use different versions of regular butter in their regional cuisine, Urfa is, together with Antep, Mardin and Siirt a big user of clarified butter, made exclusively from sheep's milk, called locally "Urfayağı" (""Urfabutter"").

Transport.

Şanlıurfa GAP Airport is located about 34 km (21 mi) northeast of the city and has direct flights to Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.  The first 7.7km section, connecting the city centre with the museum quarter, of a planned 4-route, 78km network of trolleybus lines opened on 16 October 2018. An initial fleet of 10 bi-articulated trolleybuses, together with all fixed equipment, has been supplied by manufacturer Bozankaya.

Climate.

Urfa has a hot summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csa"). Urfa is very hot during the summer months. Temperatures in the height of summer usually reach 39 °C (102 °F). Rainfall is almost non-existent during the summer months. Winters are cool and wet. Frost is common and there is sporadic snowfall. Spring and autumn are mild and also wet.

Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa (; ; ; ; and known in ancient times as Edessa, is a city with a population of over 2 million residents in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is a multiethnic city with a Turkish, Kurdish and Arab population. Urfa is situated on a plain about eighty kilometres east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters.


History.

Prehistory to Moorish occupation.

The earliest remnants of human occupation were discovered in Penha Verde: these vestiges testify to an occupation dating to the early Paleolithic. Comparable remnants were discovered in an open-air site in São Pedro de Canaferrim, alongside the chapel of the Castelo dos Mouros ("Moorish Castle"), dating back to the Neolithic, and include decorated ceramics and microlithic flint utensils from the fifth century B.C.  Ceramic fragments found locally including many late Chalcolithic vases from the Sintra mountains suggest that between the fourth and third millennia B.C. the region (adjacent to the present village of Sintra) was occupied by a Neolithic/Chalcolithic settlement, with characteristics comparable to fortified settlements in Lisbon and Setúbal. The evidence discovered in Quinta das Sequoias and

Kingdom.

In July 1109, Count Henry reconquered the Castle of Sintra. This was preceded a year before by an attempt by Prince Sigurd the Crusader, son of Magnus III of Norway, to capture the castle from the Moors in the course of his trek to the Holy Land. Sigurd's forces disembarked at the mouth of the Colares River but failed to take the castle. It was only after the conquest of Lisbon, in October 1147, by Afonso Henriques (supported by Crusaders), that the castle surrendered in November. It was integrated into Christian dominions along with Almada and Palmela after their surrender. Afonso Henriques established the Church of São Pedro de Canaferrim within the walls of the Moorish Castle to mark his success.  On 9 January 1154, Afonso Henriques signed a foral

Joanine and Philippine era.

John I (1385–1433), first King of the second dynasty, broke the tradition of transferring Sintra to the "Casa da Rainha" (Queen's property). Probably around 1383, John I granted the lands of Sintra to Count Henrique Manuel de Vilhena, quickly revoking the decision after Henrique took the Infanta's side during the dynastic quarrel. Sintra, therefore, continued as a possession of the King, who expanded the local estate. Until the end of the 17th century, the royal palace constituted one of the principal residences and summer estates of the court: it was from here that John decided to conquer Ceuta (1415); King Afonso V was born and died at the palace (1433–1481); and here King John II (1481–1495) was acclaimed sovereign.  In a document issued in 1435 by King Edward (1433–1438), the region was described as: "A land of good air and water and of the Comarcas with an abundance in the sea and land [...] our most loyal city of Lisbon being

Brigantine era.

The war with Spain (1640–1668), the affirmation of Mafra during the reign of John V of Portugal (1706–1750) through the construction of the Palace-Convent, and later the construction of Royal Palace of Queluz in 1747 during the reigns of Joseph I (1750–1777) and Maria I (1777–1816), helped diminish royal visits to the region. During this time there were only two documented visits: in 1652 and 1654, respectively the visit of Queen Luísa de Gusmão and King John IV (1640–1656), and the final burial of King Afonso VI.  Alleging the insanity of the King and the incapacity of the heir, the Duke of Cadaval and the Infante Peter led a coup d'état in 1667 which resulted in the resignation of the Count of Castelo Melhor, Minister of King Afonso VI (1656-1633) and the imprisonment of the monarch. In 1668 the Cortes of Lisbon confirmed the Infante Peter, the king's brother, as regent and heir. Afonso VI lived the rest of his life imprisoned, in the Paço da Ribeira (1667–1669), in the Fortress

Republic.

The proclamation of a Portuguese Republic in 1910 transformed the bohemian climate of Sintra. Economic development was now promoted; the potential benefits to the region of growth in agriculture, industry and commerce were promoted to foster development. In 1908 a wine growing zone had been demarcated in Colares. Now a commission was established to monitor the quality of wines and promote their exportation, and in 1914 a commercial association () was set up to manage their concession. Meanwhile, in the name of secular and popular progress, parts of the cultural heritage were destroyed, including the annexes of the medieval village bordering the Palace in 1911, while the nave of the Church of the Misericórdia was reduced to the presbytery to allow the road to be widened. The first decades of the 20th century were the time of the fastest urbanization of the town, supported by its rail link to Lisbon and the influx of summer travellers.  During the 1920s damage to culturally important sites led to the creation of institutions to study and

Geography.

Physical geography.

The Sintra Mountains, a granite massif ten kilometres long - considered the "Monte da Lua" ("Mountain of the Moon"), or "Promontorium Lunae" by the strong local tradition of astral cults - emerge abruptly between a vast plain to the north and the northern margin of the Tagus River estuary, winding in a serpentine cordillera towards the Atlantic Ocean and Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point of continental Europe.  The São João platform, along the northern flank of the Sintra Mountains, has altitudes between and, while the southern part of the mountains, the Cascais platform, is lower: sloping from to the sea, terminating along the coast, around above sea level. The spectacular relief results from the east-west orientation of the massif's axis, its

Human geography.

The municipality is administered by 11 civil parish () councils, with local authority to administer services and provide local governance, which are:  Sintra also has numerous localities and villages, including the affluent village of Linhó, Sintra.  Sintra's population grew considerably in the late 20th century, rising from about 14% of the Lisbon region to 19%, with the main concentration of resident population found in the important Queluz-Portela corridor, along the southeast corner of the municipality. In this area were concentrated approximately 82% of the municipality's population, the most attractive parishes to live in being São Pedro de Penaferrim, Rio de Mouro, Belas and Algueirão-Mem Martins.  With the decrease in mortality rates, the region has undergone a general increase in infant births, primarily associated with late births, but also an increase in seniors in the community (56.5% in 2001). Yet Sintra is still considered to have a structurally young population, the youngest in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. Young

Economy.

The growth in tertiary activities has played an important part in the pattern of employment in the region, with commercial, retail and support services predominating. This has been to the detriment of industry, although continuing industrial activities include the transport of materials, mineral

Transport.

Lisbon's commuter railway network (CP Urban Services) provides direct services to Sintra. The journey to Lisbon takes 35–45 minutes.  According to recent statistics, Sintra's suburban railway is the most crowded suburban train system in Europe and the IC19 motorway

Landmarks.

Sintra has a great

In popular culture.

Much of the miniseries "Gulliver's Travels" (1996)

Twin towns - sister cities.

Sintra is twinned with:

Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of. Sintra is a major tourist destination in Portugal, famed for its picturesqueness and for its numerous historic palaces and castles. Sintra is also a major luxury dining and tourism destination within the Portuguese Riviera, as well as one of the wealthiest municipalities in the country, and is known for the numerous notable events hosted in Sintra, such as Bilderberg Meetings and the Open de Portugal.


Early life.

William was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the son of John William Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was born six weeks after the death of his father.  William succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. The four other provinces of the Dutch Republic:, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel had in 1702 decided not to appoint a stadtholder after the death of stadtholder William III, issuing the history of the Republic into a period that is known as the Second Stadtholderless Period. In 1747 those four provinces also accepted William as their stadtholder.

Marriage and children.

In 1720 William was named the 549th Knight of the Order of the Garter. On 25 March 1734 he married at St James's Palace Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. William and Anne had five children:

Later life.

In 1739 William inherited the estates formerly owned by the Nassau-Dillenburg branch of his family, and in 1743 he inherited those formerly owned by the Nassau-Siegen branch of his family.  In April 1747 the French army entered Flanders, threatening the Netherlands, which was weakened by internal division. The Dutch decided that their country needed a single strong executive, and turned to the House of Orange. William and his family moved from Leeuwarden to The Hague. On 4 May 1747, the States General of the Netherlands named William General Stadtholder of all seven of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and made the position hereditary for the first time. William first met Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1747, and two years later appointed him field marshal of the Dutch States Army, which later led to Louis Ernest serving as one of the regents for William's heir.  William IV was considered an attractive, educated, and accomplished prince in his prime. Although he had little experience in state affairs, William was at first popular with the people. He stopped the practice of indirect taxation by which independent contractors managed to make large sums for themselves. Nevertheless, he was also a Director-General of the Dutch East India Company, and his alliance with the business class deepened while the disparity between rich and poor grew.  William served as General Stadtholder of all the Netherlands until he died of a stroke in 1751 at The Hague.  The county of Orange, Virginia, and the city of Orangeburg, South Carolina, are named after him.

William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 till his death in 1751. During his whole life he was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau within the Holy Roman Empire.