text:
Cookbook:Cuisine of Monaco

Seafood is popular in Monaco due to it being on the Mediterranean coast.

Common foods and dishes

 * Barbajuan
 * U Pan de Natale, a sweet bread traditionally served during Christmastide in Monaco

title: Cookbook:Cuisine of Monaco


text:
Exercise as it relates to Disease/Intensity of exercise in men for optimal fat oxidation

What is the article about
The article being critiqued is a study conducted on a male population to assess the effects of fat oxidation during different intensities of exercise. Using indirect calorimetry and exercise bikes the study attempts to shows that the effects of fat oxidation in exercise increase from low intensity to moderate intensity and decrease from moderate to high intensities (1). Different control groups within the study were also assessed on dietary factors that contribute to fat oxidation during exercise. These groups involve high carbohydrate consumption and overnight fasts which showed a greater increase in fat oxidation during fasted state but this is considered debatable by the researchers. This study may be flawed as it only assessed 25 fit individuals but showed that fat oxidation was fairly inconstant across different intensities. These studies still followed the initial assumption of moderate intensity being the best for fat oxidation.

How is this article important
This is an important article for health related aspects as it may contribute to knowledge in burning fat and decreasing obesity. Obesity is known to cause negative health effects such as cardiovascular disease which increases sick leave and may even have a negative effect on the workplace (2). The negative health effects of obesity include increased chances of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and more (3). These negative health effects lead to a decrease in longevity of individuals and put further strain on the economy as a whole. Studies show that obesity has caused a loss of 1.3 billion in the American state of New Mexico (4). The economic effects of obesity further contribute to the importance of the article being critiqued as it may help to decrease the economic burden of obesity.

Background to the author
The article being critiqued was constructed by A. E. Jeukendrup which is short for Asker Jeukendrup (1). Jeukendrup is a sports nutritionist, participates in ironman competition and has a PhD on the effects of fat and carbohydrate metabolism during exercise. As a sports nutritionist Jeukendrup is well educated in the field of health and exercise and is well equipped to suggest interventions and write articles that can help prevent diseases caused by sedentary behaviour and a lack of physical fitness.

Background to the institution
The article written by Jeukendrup was written through the University of Birmingham in England. This institution is considered one of the top four universities in the UK in the sports and exercise science field. Up until 1968 sports were compulsory at this university which showed it understands the need for exercise better than many institutions across the globe.

What type of study is this
The article being critiqued is a cohort study as it places groups of people in differing conditions and assesses their progress. Research suggests that cohort and case control studies are the best when it comes to assessing risks associated to any particular population (5).

Could it be better
A case control study may have worked just as efficiently as it would have assessed the results of fat oxidation over a long period of various exercise intensities. Any other study such as randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews may not have replicated the same results as most data suggests moderate intensity is substantially better. This is not the case for the article being critiqued as it suggests only a slight increase in fat oxidation at moderate intensity.

Participants in the article
There was said to be 25 participants in the article being critiqued with an already existing knowledge in the fitness levels required to burn fat. These participants each are said to have normal amounts of body fat or low amounts of body fat. Studies show that lower weight individuals burn less energy and as a result have a lower rate in fat oxidation (6).

What other people could have been involved
As weight gain will affect energy expenditure it may have been appropriate for overweight individuals to be added to the cohort study to gain a more positive effect on fat oxidation at various exercise intensities across the general population. Further studies show that women have greater fat storage and lower fat oxidation rates than men (7). Including a female group in the cohort study of the article being critiqued will have offered further variation.

Were references appropriate
Each reference used in the article being critiqued are very accurate to the purpose of which they were being used.

Outcome of article
The outcome of the article being critiqued seems to be a success as far as replicating the pre-assumed results. Moderate intensity exercise shows the greatest increase in fat oxidation although it is not a substantial increase from low intensity. The rate of fat oxidation decreases significantly once high intensity exercise begins to take place (1). This means that for the purpose of losing weight for health related reasons an individual should engage in moderate intensity exercise to achieve a better result.

Are they as accurate as others
Other tests such as “The effects of increasing exercise intensity on muscle fuel utilisation in humans” published by The Journal of Physiology are good for assessing fat oxidation (8). This article focuses too much on all types of energy metabolism while the article being critiqued focuses on only fat oxidation making it far more unique. All other articles seem to prove that moderate intensity is the greater intensity for fat oxidation. This shows that the article being critiqued is accurate to other peer reviewed research.

Review on the study
The study seems to have been a major success with each participant showing results that prove the assumption to be correct. Although particular groups could be added to the article it was not completely necessary in proving that moderate intensity exercise increases fat oxidation.

Critique myself
My own critique, although well researched, may be lacking as I myself am not a PhD graduate. This critique was done as a type of meta-analysis where I picked out other peer reviewed research articles to prove studies conducted within the article being critiqued.

What could he do better
One of the flaws seen in the article being critiqued is the limit on testing used to assess fat oxidation. It is known that ketone bodies will increase in urine samples during fat oxidation and could have been another way to assess fat oxidation. A study conducted on obese people showed an increase in the production of ketones during a period of fasting (9). A urine strip can be used very easily to assess the level of ketone in a urine sample.

Further information/resources
If further information is required by an individual seeking to learn as much as possible about fat oxidation, there is a list of 25 references used in the article being critiqued. These can add to the knowledge someone can obtain from this article.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Fijian/Identifiers

NA : identifier the general noun phrase.
 * O koya na qasenivuli : he/she is a teacher.
 * Au wawa tiko mai na valenikana : I'm waiting at the restaurant.
 * Oqo na ika : this is a fish.
 * Oqo na kequ ika : this is my fish.
 * O sa wilika na pepa? : Have you read the newspaper?

title: Fijian/Identifiers


text:
User:Doctorxgc/sandbox/OpenFree Culture/shortlist

ENG 103 Net/Web Short List

I. Texts that illustrate class concepts (we'll use them in lectures or as follow-up to lecture):

 * 1) Neil Postman, "Five things we need to know about technological change"
 * 2) Andrew Blum, "Discover the physical side of the internet"
 * 3) Lee LeFever, “World Wide Web in Plain English”
 * 4) Nurie Mohamed, "Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality"and Klint Finley, “The WIRED Guide to Net Neutrality”

II. Possible texts to write 7Ws journals about. These are to get you started thinking:

 * 1) Nicholas Carr, "Is Google making us stupid?"
 * 2) Sherry Turkle, "Connected, but alone?"
 * 3) Adam Alter, "Why our screens make us less happy"
 * 4) Eli Pariser, "Beware online filter bubbles"
 * 5) Clay Shirky, "How the Internet will (one day) transform government"
 * 6) Scott Shane, “From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece”
 * 7) Zeynep Tufekci, "We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads"
 * 8) Carole Cadwalladr, "Facebook's role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy"
 * 9) Aaron Schwartz, "Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto"
 * 10) Christopher Soghoian, "Your smartphone is a civil rights issue"
 * 11) James Bridle, "The nightmare videos of children's YouTube — and what's wrong with the internet today"
 * 12) Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, “How tech companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy”
 * 13) Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu, "What Your Smart Devices Know and Share about You"
 * 14) Joy Buolamwini, "How I'm fighting bias in algorithms"
 * 15) Andreas Ekström, “Can We Solve For Bias In Tech?”
 * 16) Mikko Hypponen, “How the NSA Betrayed the World’s Trust”
 * 17) Jennifer Granick, “How the Government Spies on People Who Protest Including You”
 * 18) Kade Crockford, "What you need to know about face surveillance"
 * 19) Rachel Botsman, "Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens"

Secondary Sources

Digital Literacy Topic and Readings


text:
World Cultures

Contents

 * African Culture
 * Asian culture
 * North American culture
 * South American culture
 * European culture
 * Oceanic culture
 * Authors & Contributors

title: World Cultures


text:
World Cultures/Culture in Africa

 * Algerian Culture
 * Kenyan Culture
 * Libyan Culture
 * Egyptian Culture
 * Zimbabwe Culture
 * Botswanan Culture
 * Namibian Culture
 * Nigerian Culture
 * Tunisian Culture
 * Ethiopian Culture
 * Liberian Culture
 * South Africa Culture
 * Moroccan Culture

title: World Cultures/Culture in Africa


text:
World Cultures/Culture in Africa/Culture of Algeria

Introduction
The culture of Algeria encompasses literature, music, religion, cuisine and other facets of the Algerian lifestyle.

Religion
Algeria is a Muslim country, with Christian and Jewish minorities. About 99% of the Algerian population is Muslim.

Foods
Algerian cuisine features cooking styles and dishes derived from traditional Arab, Amazigh, Turkish, and French cuisine. Additional influences of Jewish, Spanish, Berber and Italian cuisines are also found. The cuisine is flavorful, often featuring a blend of traditional Mediterranean spices and chili peppers. Couscous is a staple of the diet, often served with stews and other fare.there are some dishes who are so popular in Algeria Like couscous, doulma, chakhchoukha and chtitha.

Dress
Traditional Algerian dress includes the burnous, qashabiya, kaftan, and djellaba.

Literature
Modern Algerian literature, split between Arabic and French, has been strongly influenced by the country's recent history. Known poets in modern Algeria are Moufdi Zakaria, Mohammed Al Aid from the middle of the 20th century, and Achour Fenni, Amar Meriech and Azrag Omar in the late 1980s. Famous novelists of the 20th century include Mohammed Dib, Albert Camus, Kateb Yacine, and Ahlam Mosteghanemi, while Assia Djebar is widely translated. Among the important novelists of the 1980s were Rachid Mimouni, later vice-president of Amnesty International, and Tahar Djaout, murdered by an Islamist group in 1993 for his secularist views.

In philosophy and the humanities, Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, was born in El Biar in Algiers, Malek Bennabi and Frantz Fanon are noted for their thoughts on decolonization, Augustine of Hippo was born in Tagaste (modern-day Souk Ahras), and Ibn Khaldun, though born in Tunis, wrote the Muqaddima while staying in Algeria.

Algerian culture has been strongly influenced by Islam, the main religion. The works of the Sanusi family in pre-colonial times, and of Emir Abdelkader and Sheikh Ben Badis in colonial times, are widely noted. The Latin author Apuleius was born in Madaurus (Mdaourouch), in what later became Algeria.

Music
The Algerian musical genre best known abroad is raw, a pop-flavored, opinionated take on folk music, featuring international stars such as Khaled and Cheb Mami. In Algeria itself, raï remains the most popular, but the older generation still prefer shaabi, as performed by for instance Dahmane El Harrachi. While the tuneful melodies of Kabyle music, exemplified by Idir, Ait Menguellet, or Lounès Matoub, have a wide audience.

For more classical tastes, Andalusi music, brought from Al-Andalus by Morisco refugees, is preserved in many older coastal towns. For a more modern style, the English born and of Algerian descent, Potent C is gradually becoming a success for younger generations. Encompassing a mixture of folk, raï, and British hip hop, it is a highly collective and universal genre.

Although is welcomed and praised as a glowing cultural emblem for Algeria, there was time when raï's come across critical cultural and political conflictions with Islamic and government policies and practices, post-independency. Thus the distribution and expression of raï music became very difficult. However, "then the government abruptly reversed its position in mid-1985. In part this was due to the lobbying of a former liberation army officer turned pop music impresario, Colonel Snoussi, who hoped to profit from raï if it could be mainstreamed".

In addition, given both nations' relations, Algerian government was pleased with the music's growing popularity in France. Although the music is more widely accepted on the political level, it still faces severe conflictions with the populace of Islamic faith in Algeria.

1910: a generation of precursors
During the first half of the twentieth century, artists mainly recuperated models and patterns imported – or imposed – by an imperialist French power.

As Edward Said argued in his book Orientalism in 1978, Algerian artists struggled with the perception and representations of Westerners. Almost a century after the conquest by the French, Azouaou Mammeri (1886–1954), Abdelhalim Hemche (1906–1978), Mohammed Zmirli (1909-1984), and Miloud Boukerche (1920–1979) were the first to introduce easel painting. They benefited from "breaches" in the educational system and were able to pursue a training in plastic arts. Even though they attempted to focus on the reality of Algerians' everyday routine, they were still to a certain extent incorporated in the orientalism movement.

The tradition of oriental illumination and miniature was introduced around the same period, through artists such as Mohamed Racim (1896–1974) or Mohamed Temman (1915-1988). It is the two main expression of figuration in a country where popular abstract symbolic, Berberian or Arabic, are integrated mainly through architecture, furnitures, weaving, pottery, leather and metal workmanship.

How to reappropriate one's own history is a dynamic in Algerian contemporary art, reflecting on the deep social changes people experienced.

Artists attempt a successful introspective work in which the duality in terms of identity creates a dynamic that overcomes "orientalism" and exotism. The main stake is for the artist and the spectator to reappropriate a liberty of expression and interpretation.Main artists of that period are: Boukerche, Benaboura, Ali Ali Khodja, Yelles, or Baya.

1930: a generation of founders
The vast majority of the artists incorporate the thematic of the independence war, from those who lived it to the artists that use it as a legacy. Impregnated by all the artistic and ideological movements that marked the first half of the twentieth century, artists are concerned with the society they live in and denounce segregation, racism and injustice that divided communities of colonial Algeria. A clear shift in operated from orientalism and exoticism: new themes such as the trauma and the pain appear, for instance in the portrait The Widow (1970) by Mohamed Issiakhem.

"Art is a form of resistance as it suggests and makes visible the invisible, the hidden, it stands alert on the side of life".

It was also a time when Algerian artists start organizing themselves, through the National Union of Plastic Arts or UNAP (1963) for instance; artists such as Mohamed Issiakhem or Ali Khodja were part of it.

Non-figuration and "Painters of the Sign"
Abdallah Benanteur and Mohamed Khadda opened a path for abstract (non-figurative) Algerian art. They were French since childhood and emigrated to France. They were followed by artists such as Mohamed Aksouh, Mohamed Louail, Abdelkader Guermaz and Ali Ali-Khodja. Mohamed Khadda wrote: "If figurative painting appears as the norm in terms of expression, it is the result of an acculturation phenomenon". Artworks liberately figurative are a form of liberation in that sense, as literal representations do not seem to fully emerge from the cluster of exotism and orientalism.

The "Painters of the Sign" are Algerian artists born in the 1930s who, at the beginning of the 1960s, found inspiration in the abstract rhythm of Arabic writing. The term "peintres du Signe" was coined by the poet Jean Sénac in 1970. He was hosting in Alger the "Gallerie 54". The first collective exhibition reunited Aksouh, Baya, Abdallah Benanteur, Bouzid, Abdelkader Guermaz, Khadda, Jean de Maisonseul, Maria Manton, Martinez, Louis Nallard and Rezki Zérarti. He wrote in his presentation: "In this gallery 54, which aims at being a gallery of research in permanent contact with the people, we have brought together artists, Algerian or having deep links with our country" "We can assert, with Mourad Bourboune, that our artists do not only exhume the devastated face of our Mother, but, in the midst of the Nahda (renewal), they build a new image of the Man and stare endlessly at his new Vision"

Aouchem
Algerian artists reconnected with part of their historical and cultural legacy, especially the influence of Berber culture and language. A great deal of attention was brought upon the Berber culture and identity revendications after the Berber Spring in 1988, and it impacted the cultural production. Denis Martinez and Choukri Mesli participated in the creation of the group Aouchem (Tattoo), which held several exhibitions in Algiers and Blida in 1967, 1968 et 1971. A dozen artists, painters and poets decided to oppose the mainstream organization of art – especially of figurative art, they believe to be represented by the UNAP, the National Union for Plastic Art. They opposed their policy of excluding many active painters. According to its manifesto : "Aouchem was born centuries ago, on the walls of a cave of Tassili. It continued its existence until today, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, according to fluctuations of history. (...) We want to show that, always magical, the sign is stronger than bombs".

In spite of a surge of political violence following the war of independence, where the hegemony of the Arabic culture and language tended to overlap on the berberian culture, the plastic traditions of popular signs managed to maintain. Aouchem builds on this traditional legacy.

Naivety and expressionism
Since the 1980s, there has been a renewal and also a form of "naivety", trying to go past the trauma of the war and address new contemporary issues. Baya (1931–1998) is the example of a great Algerian success story. Her work was prefaced by André Breton and exposed by André Meight when she was still a teenager. She who has not known her mother as she was doubly orphaned by the age of 5, produced colorful watercolors with fake symmetries, questioning the figure of the Mother. She is part of the art brut movement.

Expressionism was dominated by Mohamed Issiakhem, affectionately nicknamed "Oeil de lynx" (lynx eye) by his fellow writer Kateb Yacine. When he was 15, he had an accident with a grenade. Two of his sisters and his nephew died, his forearm had to be amputated. His personal drama resonates in work. He expressed themes like grief and loss through the use of thick pastes and universal figures; as an echo of the hardships of the Algerian war, as well as the universal struggle of those silenced and oppressed.

Renewal of visual arts
Since the 1980s, a new generation of Maghrebi artists has arisen. A large proportion is trained in Europe. Artists locally and among the Diaspora explore new techniques and face the challenges of a globalized art market. They are bringing together various elements of their identity, marked by the status of immigrant of first or second generation. They address issues that speak to the Arab world with an "outsider" lens. Kader Attia is one of them. He was born in France in 1970. In a large installation in 2007 called Ghost, he displayed dozens of veiled figures on their knees, made of aluminum fold. Adel Abdessemed, born in Constantina in 1970, attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, Algeria and then Lyon, France. Through his conceptual artworks, he displays strong artistic statements using a wide range of media (drawing, video, photography, performance, and installation). In 2006, he exposed at the David Zimmer gallery in New York City. One of his artworks was a burnt car entitled Practice Zero Tolerance, a year after riots in France and in the midst of a resurgence of terrorist attacks since 11 September 2001.Katia Kameli also brings in the multiple aspects of her identity and environment, through video, photographs and installations.

Sports
Association football, handball, athletics, boxing, martial arts, volleyball and basketball are the most popular sports in the country.


text:
College Survival Guide/The Campus

Getting to know your campus
Your college likely has a variety of facilities available on it's campus to assist you. Many larger colleges are effectively their own city. Not all colleges will have similar facilities, your institution may have some unique facility related to an academic program it excels in, or it may lack a common facility.

Explore your campus
Once you are done moving in and participating in welcome events, it is well worth it to explore campus. Find your classrooms and major points of interest. Then wander aimlessly or go out with friends. You never know what you'll find.

University Library
Aside from typically housing a large number of Books, your University Library has a number of resources meant to help you succeed in your scholarly pursuits. In particular your University Library may have Course Reserves, textbooks for common courses available for short term checkout. Your University Library likely has access to a number of electronic databases, allowing you to instantly search and access a number of academic journals.

Learning Commons
Many colleges invest in a learning commons or tutoring center on campus. Here it is possible to get assistance in many common subjects, especially those at lower levels or intro courses. There may also be a writing commons, which can help guide you through the process of writing a good academic paper. Getting help with citations, style, and other writing features can help you focus on the point of your paper.

Study Abroad Office
Most colleges, but especially those with strong international ties or campuses abroad, will have an office dedicated to international study activities.

Planetarium & Observatory
Many universities with large physics programs will have their own Planetarium, as well as a small observatory on campus if local light pollution permits one. Leading Universities may have more significant observatories, typically off campus.

Greenhouse & Zoology Centers
Schools with a large biology program likely have a Greenhouse, and perhaps even a collection of live animals. Typically open for students to observe under supervision.

Gym
Your College may have a gym or fitness center for use by the general student body. Keeping your body healthy by working out is a good idea. Some larger gyms may have pools, basketball courts, or other large facilities. Many gyms will offer classes or instructors at a fee.

For schools with large athletic programs, there may be separate gyms intended for the exclusive use of Student Athletes.

Sports
Your College will have sports fields or stadiums if it has an athletic program of note. It's important to note that many colleges will require reservations, or fees to use these facilities, if they allow general students to use them at all. This is to ensure the sports teams can use them for scheduled games and practice without interruption or delay.

Dining Hall
Your College likely has at least one dining hall or food court. These come in several varieties. À la carte is when you order and pay for each item individually, and is nearly universal in Food Courts. All-you-can-eat or All-you-care-to-eat (AYCE) models are commonly found on some dining halls, and you pay a flat fee to eat as much as you want. Most campuses with AYCE dining facilities have À la carte options, but the reverse is not true. Typically if there is a register between the food and the seating, it's À la carte, and if there is a register between the outside, with the seating and food close together, it is possibly AYCE. Ask the cashier the first time you visit a facility to confirm.

Campus Pub
Some colleges maintain a pub on campus, typically for the purpose of allowing one place on campus where alcohol is permitted. If you are unable to drink alcohol you may still be able to order food and non alcoholic mocktails.

Catering
If you end up leading a student organization, it is good to know that many campuses offer catering services for your meetings. These are often more expensive than other catering services, but be careful trying to dodge them - It may be against the rules for student organizations to order from anywhere else.

Theater
Colleges with a theater program typically have one or more theaters on campus. These can be handy for your academic studies in some circumstances. For example when reading about Shakespeare it helps to see his plays performed live.

Music Performance
Colleges with a music program will often have music venues or recital halls on campus. It is common for performances by visiting artists, or student performances, to be open to the student body for free or a small fee.

Student Media
Many colleges, especially those with journalism programs, have a number of student media outlets, such as a newspaper, radio station, or television station. These outlets tend to be more tuned into campus events and ongoing university politics than other local news outlets. Even if you are not a Journalism major, they may accept you on their team. This can be a useful way to learn about the press, or build a resume.

Dorms and Residence Halls
Things to consider when selecting a living place on campus.
 * How many roommates or suitemates will you have?
 * What are the students like who live there? Are they quiet or jovial?
 * How far is it from where your classes will be?
 * Does your room or suite have it's own bathroom, kitchenette, or laundry? How many communal facilities are there?
 * How good is the internet connectivity? Is there Wi-Fi only, or are there ethernet jacks?
 * Is the air conditioning? Do you control the air conditioning, or is it centralized?

Clinic
Many campuses, especially those without a medical program, will have a small non-emergency, clinic on campus. These typically offer basic physicals and similar general services. Sometimes specialized services, such as speech therapy, will be offered, especially if thee school has a program relating to those services. Larger campus clinics may have a pharmacy on site.

If it is offered, you should use vaccination services offered by your clinic. It is never fun to catch the flu mid semester, and crowded campuses are ideal breeding grounds for mid semester illness.

Hospital
If your campus has a medical program, it may operate its own full service hospital.

Counseling Center
Many campuses offer a counseling center to aid with mental health issues.

Day Care
Some Colleges, especially those that have an early childhood education program, offer an on campus daycare. This can be useful for students who are parents.

Transfer Office
If you have college credits from a previous school or program, this office will help you get them counted, or let you know if they can't count them.

Ombuds
An ombuds office helps provide a neutral mediator for disputes between students and university faculty.

Non Traditional Student Services
If you are a non traditional student, such as a parent, veteran, first generation student, etc, you may benefit from a Non-Traditional Student Services office if one is on your campus. They can provide campus specific advice and resources to help you in your college experience.

College Online
Your college likely uses a Learning Management System (LMS), to manage your coursework. Common LMS include Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard Learn.

Having an email ending in .edu is quite useful: It is how you identify your student status for a number of discounts, particularly on software products.

College Websites are commonly awkwardly designed, as they have to accommodate a number of people with different needs and roles. Get to know where the things you need are, and bookmark them for quick access.

title: College Survival Guide/The Campus


text: Category:Book:World Cultures

title: Category:Book:World Cultures


text:
World Cultures/Culture in Africa/Culture of Libya

Introduction
Libya is a North African country along the Mediterranean Sea. Libya was also an Italian colony for about three decades, which had a great impact on the culture. Libya has managed to keep its traditional folk culture alive to today.Most Libyans are Berber and Arab, and 96.6% are Muslim Sunnis. Languages spoken in Libya include Arabic, Berber, Italian and English.90% of the country is desert and that is the reason that only 10% of Libya’s population lives outside the coastline region.

Flag
Flag: In February 2011, when the Libyan revolution took place, the national Transition Council reintroduced the old flag used by the kingdom prior to Gaddafi’s military coup in 1969.The flag consists of three colors, red, black and green, which represent the three major regions of the country, red for Fezzan, Black for Cyrenaica and green for Tripolitania; the crescent and star represent the main religion of Libya, Islam.

Literature
Libyan literature has its roots in antiquity, but contemporary writing from Libya draws on a variety of influences.

Libyan poet Khaled Mattawa quotes:
 * "Against claims that Libya has a limited body of literature, classicists may be quick to note that ancient Greek lyric poet Callimachus and the exquisite prose stylist Sinesius were Libyan. But students of Libyan history and literature will note that a vast time gap between those ancient luminaries and the writers of today. [...] Libya has historically made a limited contribution to Arabian literature".

The Arab Renaissance (Al-Nahda) of the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not reach Libya as early as other Arab lands, and Libyans contributed little to its initial development. However, Libya at this time developed its own literary tradition, centred on oral poetry, much of which expressed the suffering brought about by the Italian colonial period.

Libyan literature began to bloom in the late 1960s, with the writings of Sadeq al-Neihum, Khalifa al-Fakhri, Khamel al-Maghur (prose), Muhammad al-Shaltami, and Ali al-Regeie (poetry). Many Libyan writers of the 1960s adhered to nationalist, socialist, and generally progressive views.

Cuisine
Libyan dishes borrow from the Arabic, Mediterranean and Italian cultures that met in the area. Olives, palm oil, dates, unleavened bread, and stuffed sweet peppers appear frequently in meals. Libyans do not consume any type of pork and all meats must be halal (killed humanely and prayed over according to Muslim customs). Attention to detail in Libyan cooking is very important; in fact, many spices are used in all the dishes and they need to be put in by the right amounts to enrich the taste. The Libyan diet is rich with seafood and includes a diversity of vegetables and cereals.

Meals are of great symbolic importance in the Libyan culture and the biggest meal of the day is lunch. Shops and businesses close for a couple of hours in the afternoon to allow families to gather together and eat.Meals usually end with fruit or melon (Libya is known to have excellent fruit crops). They also drink green tea after meals to help aid digestion. Libyans love tea and coffee, and families usually gather together for their afternoon tea/coffee and catch up on the daily gossip. Libyan tea is known with it thick consistency. The Libyan tea is like black syrup, very strong. To follow tradition, the tea is usually first poured into a mug and then into another then back to the original mug, back and forth for a few minutes then poured from a high distance to the glass to form ‘ragwwa’ or foam.

Libyan soup is a very famous dish throughout Libya and is often presented as a starter. It is considered to be an important dish in Ramadan, where people usually break their fast with soup (after having a glass of milk and a couple of dates). It is a thick highly spiced soup, known simply as Shba Arabiya, or "Arabian soup". It contains many of the ingredients from many other Libyan dishes, including onions, tomatoes, meat (chicken or lamb), chili peppers, cayenne pepper, saffron, chickpeas, mint, cilantro, and parsley. Bazeen is also a very recognizable Libyan food. It is made of a mixture of barley flour, with a little plain flour. The flour is boiled in salted water to make a hard dough, then it kneaded into a semi-spherical ball and placed in the middle of a large bowl (women sit on the floor and hold the pan between their legs while using a wooden ladle to mix and kneed the dough to its solid and thick consistency), around which the sauce is poured. The sauce around the dough is made by frying chopped onions with lamb meat, adding turmeric, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, fenugreek, sweet paprika, and tomato paste. Potatoes can also be added. Finally, eggs are boiled and arranged around the dome. The dish is then served with a well-known Libyan salad/complement of pickled carrots, cucumber and chili peppers, known as amasyar.

Another type of Bazzin is called ‘Aish’ or ‘Aseeda’ which basically follows the same concept of the Bazzin except it is made with pure white flour, has a smoother and softer texture and is eaten sweet by adding honey, date syrup or on some occasions powdered sugar. Aish is normally eaten as breakfast or in special occasion, like a baby born or ‘Maylood’, (Mohammed’s birthdate).

One of the most popular meals in the Libyan cuisine, which is also a Libyan specialty, since it is not found anywhere else, is batata mubattana (filled potato). It consists of fried potato pieces filled with spiced minced meat and covered with egg and breadcrumbs.

Some other popular dishes in Libya include a diversity of pasta, which are one of Italy’s lasting influences and couscous, which is widely popular across the North African region.

All alcohol is banned in Libya, in accordance with Sharia, the religious laws of Islam. Bottled mineral water is widely consumed, as well as various soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola.

Libyan traditional dress
Nowadays, in modern Libya, people no longer wear the traditional dress very often, especially women, except the elderly Libyans, who still comply with traditions. The normal dress includes international modernized fashion that has spread out from the Western World. Women in Libya dress modestly and most of them wear the Hijab (Islam women choose whether or not to wear this.)

The traditional dress is now limited to special occasions; men wear it more often. In fact, it is popularly worn for Friday prayers, Eid (Islamic holiday) and weddings. Although the outfit slightly differs from one area to another, Libyan men’s clothes tend to be similar across entire Libya. It consists of a long white shirt ‘Jalabiya’or ‘Qamis’, long trousers ‘Sirwal’ and a vest called ‘Sadriya’ that is usually heavily knit with black silk and has buttons on its front. Men also wear a headdress called a ‘Shashiyah’ that is usually red or black. Men in Tripolitania prefer wearing the black Shashiyah while the men in Cyrenaica wear both. Libyan men also wear a tight, knitted, white cap underneath the Shashiyah for when they are indoors. A large outer cloak known as ‘Jarid’ is worn on top and wrapped around the body in a Roman-toga way, except in Libya, the Jarid is usually tied at the right shoulder and the remainder is brought around up over the head. Libyan men wear leather boots, usually with a heel for riding horses, leather sandals or slippers.

As for Libyan women, the traditional outfit differs slightly from one region to another; however, the general outfit consists of a blouse with baggy sleeves that are embroidered with beads and silver/gold thread and baggy silk trousers that have an elastic band at the bottom. On top of that, women wear brightly colored cloths are made into dresses like togas and held together by silver brooches. Women in the rural areas use heavy woven rug-like cloths due to the climate. The head is covered using a colorful cloth embellished with colorful pom-poms. Libyan women wear large pieces of gold or silver jewelry. The neckwear usually goes down to the knees and the bracelets are 4–6 inches wide. The large silver brooches used to attach the cloth are now replaced with gold and are usually decorated with a “Khamaisah”, a hand shaped symbol, or other charms that are believed to keep the evil eye off.

Women only wear the full outfit with the jewelry in special occasions and weddings. It is traditional for the groom to give the outfit with the gold to his bride at their wedding and for the bride to wear it the day after. The women’s traditional outfit is very expensive, but the prices vary depending on the quality and weight of gold or silver.

Media
Government control over the media has resulted in much of the population preferring to entertain itself by watching videos or foreign stations via satellite. Libyan television programmes are mostly in Arabic with a 30-minute news broadcast each evening in English and French. It is also possible to watch the occasional sports programs. However, the majority of programming is cultural and thus showcases more traditional Libyan music and entertainment.

Libya's daily newspaper is Al-Fajr al-Jadid and is published in Tripoli. Foreign newspapers are available, but are often very out-of-date by the time they reach the shops.


text:
World Cultures/Culture in Africa/Culture of Kenya

Introduction
The culture of Kenya consists of multiple trends. Kenya has no single prominent culture that identifies it. It instead consists of various cultures practiced by the country's different communities.

Specifics
The largest subsaharan ethnic groups are the Bantu, especially the Kikuyu, and the Nilotes, especially the kalenjins, each with unique cultural traits. The other native subsaharan Africans, the Cushites, may geopolitically self-identify as East African, but culture-wise increasingly also consider themselves as Horners. In addition, the small minority of Kenyans with Eurasian heritage mainly hail from northwestern parts of India, Oman and the British aristocracy.

Cuisine
There is no singular dish that represents all of Kenya's wide cuisine. Different communities have their own native foods. Staples are maize and other cereals depending on the region, including millet and sorghum eaten with various meats and vegetables. The foods that are universally eaten in Kenya are ugali, sukuma wiki, and nyama choma. Kenya's coastal cuisine is unique and highly regarded throughout the country.

Sukuma wiki, a Swahili phrase which literally means "to push the week", is a simple dish made with greens similar to kale or collards that can also be made with cassava leaves, sweet potato leaves, or pumpkin leaves. Its Swahili name comes from the fact that it is typically eaten to "get through the week" or "stretch the week". Nyama choma is grilled meat, which can be considered as an unofficial national dish – usually goat or sheep - while kuku choma is grilled chicken. It is usually cooked over an open fire. It is usually eaten with ugali and kachumbari, maharagwe (bean stew) and mchicha (shredded spinach).

Among the Luhya residing in the western region of the country, ingokho (chicken) and ugali is a favorite meal. Other than these, they also eat tsisaka, miroo, managu and other dishes. In the Rift Valley, the Kalenjin have long made mursik, which they have with kimyet (ugali) and a vegetable relish called isageek. Also among the Kikuyu of Central Kenya, many tubers, including ngwaci (sweet potatoes), ndũma (taro root, known in Kenya as arrowroot), ikwa (yams), and mianga (cassava) are eaten, as well as legumes like beans and a Kikuyu bean known as njahi. Among the Luo residing on the western region around Lake Victoria, "kuon" (Ugali) and "rech" fish is a favourite, as well as "gweno" (chicken), "Aliya" (sun dried meat), "Onyoso" (type of ant), "Ng'wen" (termitoidae), "Dede" (grasshoppers), various birds and green vegetables "Alode" such as "Osuga", "Akeyo", "Muto", "Dodo", "Dek", "Apoth" and "Bo", all consumed with Ugali.

As you travel around the country distinct differences are noted mainly based on what foods are locally available around such areas. Grains are a staple food for groups that grow grains (e.g. Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, Kisii, etc.). Other communities such as the Luo and the Coastal community have fish and seafood for their staple food as available in such areas. In semi-arid areas like Turkana, foods made from sorghum are more common staple foods. As you move towards the city – food eaten by working families vary according to preference and ethnicity. Rice and stew is more common with working families, and other dishes like chapati which is a staple that originated from India and is similar to the flatbread (parantha), chicken stew, etc.

National dress
Apart from its national flag, Kenya does not have national dress that transcends its diverse ethnic divisions. With more than 42 ethnic communities having their own traditional practices and symbols unique to them, this is a task that has proved elusive. However, several attempts have been made to design an outfit that can be worn as a national dress, much like the Kente cloth of Ghana.

Kitenge is a cotton fabric made into colours and design through tie-and-dye and heavy embroidery. It is commonly worn by a number of Kenya's populations. Though also worn in many other African countries, Kitenge is yet to be accepted in Kenya as an official dress as it is only worn during ceremonies and non-official functions. The Maasai wear dark red garments to symbolise their love for the earth and their dependence on it. It also stands for courage and blood that is given to them by nature.

The Kanga (Khanga, Lesso) is another cloth that is in common use in practically every Kenyan home. The Kanga is a piece of clothing about 1.5 meters by 1 meter, screen printed with beautiful sayings in Swahili (or English) and is largely worn by women around the waist and torso.

Music
Kenya is home to a diverse range of music styles, ranging from imported popular music, afro-fusion and benga music to traditional folk songs. The guitar is the most popular instrument in Kenyan music, and songs often feature intricate guitar rhythms. The most famous guitarist of the early 20th century was Bonie Makie. Other notable musicians of the 60s era include Fadhili Williams, recognised by many as the author of the hit song "Malaika" that was later re-done by Miriam Makeba, Boney M and Daudi Kabaka.

Popular music in the 1980s and 1990s in Kenya could be divided into two genres: the Swahili sound and the Congolese sound. There are varying regional styles, and some performers create tourist-oriented "hotel pop" that is similar to western music. Them Mushrooms, later renamed Uyoga, was one of the popular groups in this era.

In the recent past, newer varieties of modern popular music have arisen which are mostly local derivatives of western hip-hop. Two subgenres have emerged: "Genge" and "Kapuka" beats. This has revolutionised popular Kenyan music and created an industry dominated by the youth. There is also underground Kenyan hip hop that gets less radio play than Kapuka or Genge because it is less club oriented and more focussed on social commentary. Early pioneers include Poxi Presha, Kalamashaka, and K-South. In Nairobi, hip-hop is viewed as more of a style than as a musical culture. There is a great correlation between the youth who listen to rap music and their economical status in the country with the majority of them coming from wealthy economic backgrounds. Since hip-hop is portrayed through clothing, magazines, and CDs, all of which are expensive, only the wealthier individuals are able to enjoy these luxuries.

.Their sounds run the gamut from Reggae/Ragga, Pop, Afro-Fusion to Hip-Hop. Contemporary Kenyan music is becoming quite popular, with African-based music channels such as Channel O and MTV Base, giving them a greater audience(a hybrid of Kenyan languages and English/Swahili).

The Kisima Music Awards, which recognise musical talent across East Africa, were founded and are currently based in Kenya. Every year numerous Kenyan artists take out categories in the scheme.

The African Children's Choir features children, many of whom are orphaned, from Kenya, as well as from other neighbouring African countries.

Literature
However, in Kenyan High Schools have done many "set books" from various Kenyan authors like Ngugi wa Thiongo, Margaret ogola, Meja mwangi among others. Their work describes more of Kenyan political, social-life and contemporary Kenya lifestyle. Other places go learn about the Kenyan set books are Sarakasi Dome.

Film
The government has not been very supportive of the film industry in Kenya. Few locally-made films have consequently been released. However, a number of foreign productions have been shot in the country. The most recent such movie is the award-winning The Constant Gardener directed by Fernando Meirelles and starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. Other films shot in Kenya in the recent past include the Academy Award winning Nowhere in Africa and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle won great acclaim in the 1980s and was one of the first foreign movies to be shot entirely on location in Kenya. Other highly acclaimed films set (and shot) in Kenya include Karen Blixen's Out of Africa, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and directed by Sydney Pollack, and Born Free, an adaptation of the autobiography of Joy Adamson. In 1999, part of the movie To Walk With Lions, which featured actor Richard Harris, was shot on location in the country. Notable film actors from Kenya include Paul Onsongo, David Mulwa, Sidede Onyulo, John Sibi Okumu and Njeri Osaak.

Die Weiße Massai (The White Masai), a German movie about a Swiss Woman who fell in love with a Samburu (Maasai) warrior; won an Award as the best Foreign language Movie (2006) though it was received very poorly in Kenya itself. Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, based on the Ugandan dictator, was shot in Kenya and is considered one of the most successful movies produced and directed by a Kenyan (Sharad Patel). Indigenous Kenyan filmmakers include Ingolo Wa Keya, Albert Wandago and Judy Kibinge. Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika – 2001), an award-winning German production, tells a story about German Jewish refugees living in Kenya during Second World War. Most of the movie is set in Kenya and numerous scenes show actors, either Kenyans or main German actors, speaking Swahili..

Theatre
Kenya holds an annual drama event, the Kenya schools and colleges drama festival which brings together thespians and students from around the country. The Kenya National Theatre is based in Nairobi opposite the Norfolk Hotel. Notable theatre performing groups include Eliud Abuto's Festival of Creative Arts that stages regular stage performances at both the Kenya National Theatre and Alliance Francaise, Phoenix Players based at the Professional Centre, Heartstrings Ensemble and Mombasa Little Theatre Club based in Mombasa.

Notable names on the Kenyan theatre scene include actresses Stella Awinja Muka and Anne Wanjugu (both deceased), Liz Njaga and Idi Achieng'. Thespians like Steve Mwenesi, Paul Onsongo, Njeri Osaak, Ben Mutua Jonathan Muriithi popularly known as BMJ Muriithi, Gilbert Lukalia, Joseph Murungu and Packson Ngugi are just but a few of notable TV, stage and film actors from the country. Renowned director Tirus Gathwe cut a niche for himself and is perhaps the most well known theatre directors in Kenya today. In the late 1990s through the early 2000s, Wahome Mutahi followed in the footsteps of the legendary Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o when he, through Igiza Productions, teamed up with Tirus Gathwe and embarked on a project dubbed "taking Theatre to the people" which saw them stage numerous productions, mainly political satires, at nightspots throughout the country.

Other notable directors include Carole Odongo, Mbeki Mwalimu, Mumbi Kaigwa as well as Nice Githinji (who is also an award winning actor) are some of the most popular female directors in Kenya. George Mungai of Phoenix, Keith Pearson, Sammy Mwangi, Gilbert Lukalia, John Sibi-Okumu and Victor Ber are well known directors too.

Video gaming
Video gaming is a young and rapidly growing sector in Kenya. Though various start-up companies have appeared in the country since 2007, the existing businesses are dealing with funding issues and few successes have been made. However, shared spaces, support programs and government grants introduced over the past few years have allowed the industry to grow large in a short period of time. The introduction of broadband internet in 2009 spawned a generation of young ICT savvy people in the country and the Kenyan game industry is as of 2015 among the largest in Africa.

A new milestone was achieved in June 17, 2015, when the game Nairobi X was launched. It is the first Kenyan made 3D action game made for Android. Nairobi X is a first person shooter game set in a 2030 Nairobi city. The city is under attack from aliens and the mission is simple, defend Kenya.

In 2016, the industry has grown rapidly and continues with popular video game entertainment companies such as Gaming For Kenya, NAICCON and Nexgen Gaming handling major events in the country as well as promoting the gaming culture. Gaming For Kenya, otherwise known as G4k, have held several gaming events from LAN parties to eSports competitive events since they began.Others include video game retailers such as Vivid Gold, Gamechanger, and GametroniQ that have dominated in terms of supplying gamers with console-based games for PlayStation and Xbox. Also prevalent are gaming lounges where gamers sit down to enjoy which are several in number. The largest and most advanced gaming lounge being Tric Gaming Lounge followed by GameMasters, The Score Gaming Lounge and many more. So far sponsorships have been growing with interest in the industry with the likes of ASUS and Red Bull having their presence at most of the gaming events.

In terms of events, there are several informal tournaments that are held within Nairobi city and some major towns in the country. The most renowned event being the 1UP Elite LAN parties held by G4k. A large number of gamers attend their events to connect with other gamers in a social ambiance and play with each other. In eSports, there are roughly established bodies governing eSports events with the likes of the Kenya International Gaming Series dubbed as "K.IN.G.S", the Vivid Gold Summer Tournaments, KAGE and many more.

A new culture has also been adopted whereby some gamers in Kenya have also started their own YouTube and Twitch channels. Regionally, they are the most known gaming YouTubers.They use this platform to connect with their audience and build a strong following. They usually go by their gaming nicknames are otherwise known as gamertag, Jazi Neon, Gatman, King StevenNOS, Davy Kamanzi, The Watchmen, The Golden General, HastheemoHD, Ayax and many others. They have a progressively growing audience.


text:
World Cultures/Culture in Africa/Culture of Egypt

Introduction
The culture of Egypt has thousands of years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations in Africa. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly unique, complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of Hellenism, for a time Christianity and later, Islamic culture.

Languages

The Egyptian language, which formed a separate branch among the family of Afro-Asiatic languages, was among the first written languages and is known from the hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of papyrus. The Coptic language, the last stage of Egyptian, is today the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The "Koiné" dialect of the Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later studied by Arabic scholars.

Arabic came to Egypt in the 7th century, and Egyptian Arabic has become today the modern speech of the country. Of the many varieties of Arabic, it is the most widely spoken second dialect, due to the influence of Egyptian cinema and media throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

In the lower Nile Valley, around Kom Ombo and Aswan, there are about 300,000 speakers of Nubian languages, mainly Nobiin, but also Kenuzi-Dongola. The Berber languages are represented by Siwi, spoken by about 5,000 around the Siwa Oasis. There are over a million speakers of the Domari language (an Indo-Aryan language related to Romany), mostly living north of Cairo, and there are about 60,000 Greek speakers in Alexandria.

Literature
Many Egyptians believed that when it came to a death of their Pharaoh, they would have to bury the Pharaoh deep inside the Pyramid. The ancient Egyptian literature dates back to the Old Kingdom, in the third millennium BC. Religious literature is best known for its hymns to and its mortuary texts. The oldest extant Egyptian literature is the Pyramid Texts: the mythology and rituals carved around the tombs of rulers. The later, secular literature of ancient Egypt includes the 'wisdom texts', forms of philosophical instruction. The Instruction of Ptahhotep, for example, is a collation of moral proverbs by an Egto (the middle of the second millennium BC) seem to have been drawn from an elite administrative class, and were celebrated and revered into the New Kingdom (to the end of the second millennium). In time, the Pyramid Texts became Coffin Texts (perhaps after the end of the Old Kingdom), and finally, the mortuary literature produced its masterpiece, the Book of the Dead, during the New Kingdom.

The Middle Kingdom was the golden age of Egyptian literature. Some notable texts include the Tale of Neferty, the Instructions of Amenemhat I, the Tale of Sinuhe, the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Story of the Eloquent Peasant. Instructions became a popular literary genre of the New Kingdom, taking the form of advice on proper behavior. The Story of Wenamun and the Instruction of Any are well-known examples from this period.

During the Greco-Roman period (332 BC − AD 639), Egyptian literature was translated into other languages, and Greco-Roman literature fused with native art into a new style of writing. From this period comes the Rosetta Stone, which became the key to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian writing to modern scholarship. The great city of Alexandria boasted its famous Library of almost half a million handwritten books during the third century BC. Alexandria's center of learning also produced the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint.

Drep During the first few centuries of the Christian era, Egypt was the ultimate source of a great deal of ascetic literature in the Coptic language. Egyptian monasteries translated many Greek and Syriac words, which are now only extant in Coptic. Under Islam, Egypt continued to be a great source of literary endeavor, now in the Arabic language. In 970, al-Azhar University was founded in Cairo, which to this day remains the most important center of Sunni Islamic learning. In the 12th century Egypt, the Jewish Talmudic scholar Maimonides produced his most important work.

In contemporary times, Egyptian novelists and poets were among the last to experiment with modern styles of Arabic-language literature, and the forms they developed have been widely imitated. The first modern Egyptian novel Zaynab by Muhammad Husayn Haykal was published in 1913 in the Egyptian vernacular. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many Egyptian books and films are available throughout the Middle East. Other prominent Egyptian writers include Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her feminist works and activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also writes about women and tradition. Vernacular poetry is said to be the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians, represented most significantly by Bayram el-Tunsi, Ahmed Fouad Negm (Fagumi), Salah Jaheen and Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

Religion
About 75% of Egypt's population is Muslim, with a Sunni majority. About 22% of the population is Coptic Christian; other religions and other forms of Christianity comprise the remaining three percent.

Egyptian art in antiquity
The Egyptians were one of the first major civilizations to codify design elements in art. The wall painting done in the service of the Pharaohs followed a rigid code of visual rules and meanings. Early Egyptian art is characterized by the absence of linear perspective, which results in a seemingly flat space. These artists tended to create images based on what they knew, and not as much on what they saw. Objects in these artworks generally do not decrease in size as they increase in distance and there is little shading to indicate depth. Sometimes, distance is indicated through the use of tiered space, where more distant objects are drawn higher above the nearby objects, but in the same scale and with no overlapping of forms. People and objects are almost always drawn in profile. Also, you may notice the people in Egyptian art are never facing forward. Archaeologists are not yet sure of why, but they are leaning towards the fact that artists status was low in the hierarchy so they could never be in front of a higher authority figure, and never be faced towards them.

Painting achieved its greats height in Dynasty XVII during the reigns of Tuthmose IV and Amenhotep III. The Fragmentary panel of the Lady Thepu, on the right, dates from the time of the latter king.

Early Egyptian artists did have a system for maintaining dimensions within artwork. They used a grid system that allowed them to create a smaller version of the artwork, and then scale up the design based upon proportional representation in a larger grid.

Egyptian art in modern times
Modern and contemporary Egyptian art can be as diverse as any works in the world art scene. Some well-known names include Mahmoud Mokhtar, Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar, Farouk Hosny, Gazbia Sirry, Kamal Amin, Hussein El Gebaly, Sawsan Amer and many others. Many artists in Egypt have taken on modern media such as digital art and this has been the theme of many exhibitions in Cairo in recent times. There has also been a tendency to use the World Wide Web as an alternative outlet for artists and there is a strong Art-focused internet community on groups that have found origin in Egypt.

Science
Egypt's cultural contributions have included great works of science, art, and mathematics, dating from antiquity to modern times.

Imhotep
Considered to be the first engineer, architect and physician in history known by name, Imhotep designed the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt around 2630-2611 BC, and may have been responsible for the first known use of columns in architecture. The Egyptian historian Manetho credited him with inventing stone-dressed building during Djoser's reign, though he was not the first to actually build with stone. Imhotep is also believed to have founded Egyptian medicine, being the author of the world's earliest known medical document, the Edwin Smith Papyrus.

Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

The silk road led straight through ancient Alexandria. Also, the Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largest in the world. It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt after his father had set up the Temple of the Muses or Museum. The initial organization is attributed to Demetrius Phalereus. The Library is estimated to have stored at its peak 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls.

One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost due to the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Its destruction has been attributed by some authors to, among others, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Catholic zealots during the purge of the Arian heresy, Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol of knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, often for purely political reasons.

A new library was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old library.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, designed by Sostratus of Cnidus and built during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter served as the city's landmark, and later, lighthouse.

Mathematics and technology
Alexandria, being the center of the Hellenistic world, produced a number of great mathematicians, astronomers, and scientists such as Ctesibius, Pappus, and Diophantus. It also attracted scholars from all over the Mediterranean 0 as Eratosthenes of Cyrene.

Ptolemy
Ptolemy is one of the most famous astronomers and geographers from Egypt, famous for his work in Alexandria. Born Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c. 85 – c. 165) in Upper Egypt, he was a geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. Ptolemy was the author of two important scientific treatises. One is the astronomical treatise that is now known as the Almagest (in Greek Η μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise"). In this work, one of the most influential books of antiquity, Ptolemy compiled the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greek and Babylonian world. Ptolemy's other main work is his Geography. This too is a compilation, of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire in his time.

In his Optics, a work which survives only in an Arabic translation, he writes about properties of light, including reflection, refraction and colour. His other works include Planetary Hypothesis, Planisphaerium and Analemma. Ptolemy's treatise on astrology, the Tetrabiblos, was the most popular astrological work of antiquity and also enjoyed great influence in the Islamic world and the medieval Latin West.

Ptolemy also wrote influential work Harmonics on music theory. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argued for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (in contrast to the followers of Aristoxenus) backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the over-theoretical approach of the Pythagoreans). He presented his own divisions of the tetrachord and the octave, which he derived with the help of a monochord. Ptolemy's astronomical interests also appeared in a discussion of the music of the spheres.

Tributes to Ptolemy include Ptolemaeus crater on the Moon and Ptolemaeus crater on Mars.

Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Zewail (born February 26, 1946) is an Egyptian chemist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. Born in Damanhur (60 km south-east of Alexandria) and raised in Disuq, he moved to the United States to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He was awarded a faculty appointment at Caltech in 1976, where he has remained since.

Zewail's key work has been as the pioneer of femtochemistry. He developed a method using a rapid laser technique (consisting of ultrashort laser flashes), which allows the description of reactions at the atomic level. It can be viewed as a highly sophisticated form of flash photography.

In 1999, Zewail became the third Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following Anwar Sadat (1978 in Peace) and Naguib Mahfouz (1988 in Literature). In 1999, he received Egypt's highest state honor, the Grand Collar of the Nile.

Egyptology
In modern times, archaeology and the study of Egypt's ancient heritage as the field of Egyptology has become a major scientific pursuit in the country itself. The field began during the Middle Ages, and has been led by Europeans and Westerners in modern times. The study of Egyptology, however, has in recent decades been taken up by Egyptian archæologists such as Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Council of Antiquities he leads.

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a tablet written in ancient Greek, Egyptian Demotic script, and Egyptian hieroglyphs, has partially been credited for the recent stir in the study of Ancient Egypt. Greek, a well-known language, gave linguists the ability to decipher the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic language. The ability to decipher hieroglyphics facilitated the translation of hundreds of the texts and inscriptions that were previously indecipherable, giving insight into Egyptian culture that would have otherwise been lost to the ages. The stone was discovered on July 15, 1799 in the port town of Rosetta Rosetta, Egypt, and has been held in the British Museum since 1802.

Entertainment

Football is the most popular sport in Egypt. Egyptian football clubs especially El Ahly and El Zamalek are known throughout the continent of Africa and enjoy the reputation of long-time champions of the sport regionally. They enjoy popularity even among non-Egyptians.

The Egyptian national football team won the African Cup of Nations seven times setting a new record in Africa (years: 57, 59, 86, 98, 06, 08, 10). Egypt was the first African country to join FIFA, but it has only made it to the FIFA World Cup twice, in 1934 and 1990. In the World Military Cup, Egypt won the title 5 times and was the runner-up another 2 times.

Other popular sports in Egypt are basketball, handball, squash, and tennis. Among all African nations, the Egypt national basketball team holds the record for best performance at the Basketball World Cup and at the Summer Olympics.Furthermore, the team has won a record number of 16 medals at the African Championship. The Egyptian national squash team is always known for its fierce competition in worldwide championships, from the 1930s to today. Handball has become another increasingly popular sport among Egyptians as well. Since the early 1990s, the Egyptian national handball team has become a growing international force in the sport, winning regional and continental tournaments as well as reaching up to fourth place internationally in 2001. The Junior national handball team reached the first rank in 1993 under the lead of Captain Gamal Shams, and it hosted the tournament in 2010 setting a record in the audience number specially the match between Egypt and Denmark in the semifinals, the stadium was completely full.

In older times (1930s and 40s), Egypt was a powerhouse in weightlifting, boxing, and wrestling with several Olympic and world championship medals.

Also, roller hockey (quad) is available in Egypt, but the teams that are playing this game may not exceed 10 teams and the most famous club which plays roller hockey is "Al-Zamalek sporting club", and also "Nasr-City sporting club". The Egyptian national roller hockey team has taken part in many world competitions, but unlikely the team didn't win any tournament.

Local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments, and many sporting clubs are financially and administratively supported by the government.

Cinema
Egyptian cinema has flourished since the 1930s. As a result, the Egyptian capital has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the Middle East", where the world-renowned Cairo International Film Festival is held every year. The festival has been rated by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations as being among the 11 top-class film festivals worldwide.

Most of Arabic-language TV and cinema has been notably affected by the Egyptian dialect, due to its simplicity.

The Egyptian film industry is the largest within Arabic-speaking cinema.

Music
Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous Egyptian and Western influences.

As early as 4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, as well as two indigenous instruments: the ney and the oud. However, there is a little notation of Egyptian music before the 7th century AD, when Egypt became part of the Muslim world. Percussion and vocal music became important at this time and has remained an important part of Egyptian music today.

Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz, Sayed Mikkawi, and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by Khedive Ismail and who influenced the later work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and other Egyptian music giants.

From the 1970s onwards, Egyptian pop music has become increasingly important in Egyptian culture, particularly among the large youth population of Egypt. Egyptian folk music is also popular, played during weddings and other festivities. In the last quarter of the 20th century, Egyptian music was a way to communicate social and class issues. The most popular Egyptian pop singers are Amr Diab, Tamer Hosny, Mohamed Mounir and Ali El Haggar. One of the most respected early electronic music composers, Halim El-Dabh, is an Egyptian.

Belly dance, or Raqs Sharqi (literally: oriental dancing) may have originated in Egypt, and today the country is considered the international center of the art.

Dance
Egyptian dance tradition dates back to the Pharaonic period. Many paintings and sculptures show Ancient Egyptians dancing. Throughout the thousands of years of its history, Egypt has developed different types of dance: ancient Egyptian dance, (known in the West as "belly dance"), but also, since the beginning of the 21st century.

Dance is at the heart of Egyptian society, being used not only as a popular enjoyment (most recently, with the development of the mahraganat - or electro-chaabi- music scene), but also serving religious purposes (sufi dance, zar, etc...). Most of the Egyptian movies use dance and music as a complete part of the narrative frame.

Since the 1970s and the rise of political Islam, "belly dance" and belly-dancers have acquired a bad reputation, but some famous Egyptian dancers stay in the memories as legends: Tahia Carioca, Samia Gamal who embodied Egypt's golden age... Today the most famous ones are probably Fifi Abdo and Dina, but in a very more popular - some consider vulgar - way.

Egypt also has an important Ballet tradition, with Cairo Opera House hosting a professional ballet company since the 1960s. Nelly Karim, one of the most famous Egyptian actresses, started her career as a ballerina.

Egypt's contemporary dance scene is limited but very dynamic. One of the important element of the local independent art scene, contemporary dance in Egypt exists mostly throughout festivals and performances, and thanks to organizations such as Cairo contemporary dance center in Cairo or Rezo Dance in Alexandria.

Cuisine
Egyptian cuisine consists of local culinary traditions such as Ful medames, Kushari, and Molokhia. It also shares similarities with food found throughout the eastern Mediterranean like kebab and falafel.


text:
User:Melanie Stuurman

Reading carefully reading is important to a child's brain and it good with success to over flow with ideas identified and reactions brain is good for clever reading this will improve

title: User:Melanie Stuurman


text:
Transwiki:Benin

Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa, (formerly known as Dahomey until 1975). It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north; its short coastline to the south leads to the Bight of Benin. Its capital is Porto Novo, but the seat of government is Cotonou.

Name
The name "Benin" has no proper connection to Kingdom of Benin (or Benin City). The name Dahomey was changed in 1975 to The People's Republic of Benin, named after the body of water on which the country lies, the Bight of Benin. This name was picked due to its neutrality, since the current political boundaries of Benin encompass over fifty distinct linguistic groups and nearly as many individual ethnic groups. The name Dahomey was the name of the ancient Fon Kingdom, and was determined to be an inappropriate name.

History
The African kingdom of Dahomey was formed by a mixture of various local ethnic groups on the Abomey plain. Historians theorized that the insecurity caused by the slave trade may have contributed to mass migrations of different groups, including a segment of the royal family of the city of Allada, to Abomey. These groups coalesced around a strict military culture aimed at securing and eventually expanding the borders of the small kingdom.

Dahomey was known for its distinct culture and traditions. Boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers at a young age, and learned about the kingdom's military customs until they were old enough to join the navy. Dahomey was also famous for instituting an elite female soldier corps, called Ahosi or "our mothers" in the Fongbe language, and known in English as the Dahomean Amazons. This emphasis on military preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of "black Sparta" from European observers and commentators like Sir Richard Burton. Human sacrifice was a common practice, according to contemporary sources; on holidays and special occasions, thousands of slaves and prisoners of war were beheaded in public. Some Dahomean religious beliefs maintained that decapitation enhanced the prestige and potency of the Dahomean throne and its warriors.

Though the founders of Dahomey appear to have initially been against it, the slave trade was active in the region of Dahomey for almost three hundred years, leading to the area being named "the Slave Coast". The demands of court procedures, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the kingdom's many battles be decapitated, led to a decrease in the amount of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 20,000 at the beginning of the seventeenth century to 12,000 in the beginning of the 1800s. The decline is partly due to many colonial countries declaring slave trade illegal. This decline continued until 1885, when the last Portuguese trade vessel with slaves departed from the coast of present day Benin.

Along with the powerful Dahomean kingdom, a range of other nations inhabited the area that would become the Republic of Benin. Of note were the Ketu, Icha, Dassa, Anago, and other sub-groups of the Yoruba-speaking people. These groups were in close contact with related sub-groups in present-day Nigeria, and were often enemies of the Dahomeans. However, some were also citizens of Dahomey and, in regions such as present-day Porto Novo, both groups inter-married.

North of these people were the Borgu, Mahi, and several other ethnic groups that form the country's present population.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, Dahomey started to lose its status as the regional power, enabling the French to take over the area in 1892. In 1899, the land became part of the French West Africa colony, still as Dahomey. In 1958, it was granted autonomy as the Republic of Dahomey, and full independence started on August 1, 1960.

For the next 12 years, ethnic strife contributed to a period of turbulence. There were several coups and regime changes, with three main figures dominating - Sourou Apithy, Hubert Maga, and Justin Ahomadegbé - each of them representing a different area of the country. These three agreed to form a presidential council after violence had marred the 1970 elections. In 1972, a military coup led by Mathieu Kérékou overthrew the council. He established a Marxist government under the control of Military Council of the Revolution (CNR), and the country was renamed to the People's Republic of Benin in 1975. In 1979, the CNR was dissolved and elections took place. By the late 1980s, Kérékou abandoned Marxism after an economic crisis and decided to re-establish a parliamentary capitalist system. He was defeated in 1991 elections by Nicéphore Soglo, becoming the first black African president to step down after an election. He returned to power after winning the 1996 vote. In 2001, a closely fought election resulted in Kérékou winning another term. His opponents claimed there were some election irregularities.

President Kérékou and former President Soglo did not run in the 2006 elections, both being barred by the constitution of Benin from running again due to their age and President Kérékou's two recent terms as president. President Kérékou is widely praised for making no effort to change the constitution so that he could remain in office or run again, unlike some African leaders. An election, considered free and fair, was held on March 5, 2006, and resulted in a runoff between Yayi Boni and Adrien Houngbédji. The runoff election was held on March 19 and was won by Yayi Boni, who assumed office on April 6. The success of the fair multiparty elections in Benin won high praise, and Benin is widely considered a model democracy in Africa.

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush briefly visited this country on Feb. 16, 2008, marking the first visit of a major head of state to this tiny country. He was presented the Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin by President Yayi Boni, who thanked him for the economic aid arranged by Bush.

Politics
Benin's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Benin, who is currently Yayi Boni, is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the legislature. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The current political system is derived from the 1990 Constitution of Benin and the subsequent transition to democracy in 1991.

On February 16th 2008, United States President George W. Bush made a brief stop in Benin during which he held a meeting with president Thomas Boni Yayi as well as a press conference at Cadjehoun Airport in Cotounou.The president later proceeded to Tanzania to continue with his five nation African tour.

In its 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Benin 53rd out of 169 countries.

Departments and communes
Benin is divided into 12 departments (French: départements), and subdivided into 77 communes. In 1999, the previous six departments were each split into two halves, forming the current 12. The new six departments have not been assigned a capital yet.

 * 1) Alibori
 * 2) Atakora
 * 3) Atlantique
 * 4) Borgou
 * 5) Collines
 * 6) Donga
 * 7) Kouffo
 * 8) Littoral
 * 9) Mono
 * 10) Ouémé
 * 11) Plateau
 * 12) Zou

Geography

Stretched between the Niger River in the northeast and the Bight of Benin in the south, Benin's elevation is about the same for the entire country. Most of the population lives in the southern coastal plains, where Benin's largest cities are also located, including Porto Novo and Cotonou. The north of the country consists mostly of savanna and semi-arid highlands.

Running southernly, down the middle of the country is the Oueme River.

The climate in Benin is hot and humid with relatively little rain compared to other West African countries, although there are two rainy seasons (April-July and September-November). In the winter the dust winds of the harmattan can make the nights rather cold.

The largest city and commercial capital is Cotonou. The name Cotonou is from the Fon phrase  'at the lake of the dead', from the adjacent lagoon. This is a reference to the belief that falling stars represent the souls of those who have just died falling to the underworld. It is said that when Cotonou was founded, the lights of the lacustrine village of Ganvié across the lagoon were reflected in the waters, suggesting fallen stars at the bottom. Ganvié is a fishing village sitting in the water on stilts at the western shore of the lagoon.

The town of Ouidah is the spiritual capital of Vodun, and is known locally as Glexwe. It was a major slaving port under Portuguese occupation. The town of Abomey is the old capital of the Fon kingdom of Dahomey, and the Fon king continues to reside there.

In Atakora province, Betamaribe settlements straddling the Togolese border are called tata somba 'Somba houses'; they are famous for their fortifications, with livestock housed inside and the people sleeping in huts among the granaries on the roofs. cory

Economy
The economy of Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Growth in real output has averaged a stable 5% in the past six years, but rapid population rise has offset much of this increase. Inflation has subsided over the past several years. In order to raise growth still further, Benin has plans to attract more foreign investment, place more emphasis on tourism, facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products, and encourage new information and communication technology. The 2001 privatization policy should continue in telecommunications, water, electricity, and agriculture in spite of initial government reluctance. The Paris Club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation, while pressing for speeded-up structural reforms.

Although trade unions in Benin represent up to 75% of the formal workforce, the large informal economy has been noted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITCU) to contain ongoing problems, including a lack of women's wage equality, the use of child labour, and the continuing issue of forced labour.

Demographics
There are several dozen ethnolinguistic groups in Benin, representing three of Africa's language families: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic. The latter is represented by Hausa living mostly as merchants in the north, while Nilo-Saharan is represented by the, descending from the Songhai Empire. The language predominates along the Niger River in the far north, and is used as a lingua franca in Muslim areas throughout the north, in Alibori, Borgou, and Donga provinces. Of the Niger-Congo family, five branches are represented:

 * Mande by the Boko or Busa, now in the far eastern corner (southern Alibori-northern Borgou), but previously more widely spread before being largely absorbed by the Bariba
 * West Atlantic by the nomadic Fulbe scattered across the northeast
 * Benue-Congo by the Yoruba of Collines and Plateau provinces, such as the old kingdom of Sakete, and the capital city of Porto-Novo, having expanded west from Oyo and Ife in the twelfth to nineteenth centuries
 * Gur (Voltaic) languages predominate in the four northern provinces, with the (Bariba) of the old Borgou (Bariba) Kingdom occupying most of the countryside in its successor provinces of Borgou and Alibori, as well as the provincial captital of Parakou; the Yom throughout much of Donga province and its capital Djougou; and several groups in the Atakora, including the Ditamari of the Otammari country around the provincial capital of Natitingou, the Biali, the Waama of Tanguiéta, and the Gulmàceba.
 * Kwa, especially the Gbe languages spoken by the Tado peoples in the southern and central provinces: the Aja who established themselves in Kouffo province from neighboring Togo and gave rise to the other Tado peoples of Benin, except for the Mina of Mono province, who arrived separately from Togo or Ghana: The Fon people culture centered in Zou province around the old capital of Abomey, but also dominant in Cotonou and southern Atlantique areas such as Ouidah; the Maxi in central Collines, especially around Savalou; the Ayizo of central Atlantique (Allada); the Xwla and Xueda in the lagoons of the coast; the Tofin of Ouémé; and the Gun of Porto-Novo. Other Kwa languages are spoken by the Anii in southern Donga in the region of Bassila, and the Foodo in western Donga near the town of Ouaké.

The largest ethnic group are the Fon, with 1.7 million speakers of the Fon language (2001), followed by the various Yoruba groups (1.2 million), the Aja (600,000), the Bariba (460,000), the Ayizo (330,000), the Fulbe (310,000), and the Gun (240,000). Near the ports in the south can be found people who are descended from returned Brazilian slaves. There are also small numbers of Europeans, principally French, and Asians, mainly Lebanese and Indians.

Indigenous religions
Indigenous religions are followed by a majority of the people. They include local animistic religions in the Atakora (Atakora and Donga provinces) and Vodun among the Yoruba and Tado peoples in the center and south of the country. The town of Ouidah on the central coast is the spiritual center of Beninese Vodun.

The Yoruba and Tado pantheons correspond closely: The principal introduced religions are Islam, introduced by the Songhai Empire and Hausa merchants, and now followed throughout Alibori, Borgou, and Donga provinces, as well as among the Yoruba, by 10-15% of the population; and Christianity, followed nominally by another 10-15% throughout the south and center of Benin and in Otammari country in the Atakora. Most Christians, however, continue to hold Vodun beliefs and have incorporated into Christianity the pantheon of Vodun.
 * The supreme deity Mawu (in the Fon language) or Olodumare (in Yoruba)
 * The god of the earth and smallpox, Sakpata or Cankpana
 * The god of thunder, Xevioso or Cango
 * The god of war and iron, Gu or Ogun
 * The CIAFact book states the following: indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20%

Crime and punishment
Advance fee fraud (also known as "419" and the "Nigerian scam") is a form of organized crime common in many West African countries, including Benin. The scammer persuades the target to advance relatively small sums of money (the advance fee) in the hope of realizing a much larger gain (usually touted as millions). Nigerians often mastermind schemes operated from Benin with Beninese cooperating with the scammers in the schemes.
 * Main article: Advance fee fraud

Culture
It is believed that Vodun (or "Voodoo", as it is commonly known) originated in Benin and was introduced to the Caribbean Islands and parts of North America by slaves taken from this particular area of the Slave Coast. The indigenous religion of Benin is practiced by about 60% of the population. Since 1992 Vodun has been recognized as one of Benin's official religions, and a National Vodun Holiday is celebrated on January 10.

Many Beninois in the south of the country have Akan-based names indicating the day of the week they were born on. Twins are important in south Beninois culture, and special names for twins are also used.

Local languages are used as the languages of instruction in elementary schools, with French only introduced after several years. Beninois languages are generally transcribed with a separate letter for each speech sound (phoneme), rather than using diacritics as in French or digraphs as in English. This includes Beninese Yoruba, which in Nigeria is written with both diacritics and digraphs. For instance, the mid vowels written é è, ô, o in French are written  in Beninese languages, whereas the consonants written ng and sh or ch in English are written ŋ and c. However, digraphs are used for nasal vowels and the labial-velar consonants kp and gb, as in the name of the Fon language Fon gbe, and diacritics are used as tone marks. In French-language publications, a mixture of French and Beninois orthographies may be seen.

Actor Djimon Gaston Hounsou (born April 24, 1964), pronounced "Jie-mon Hahn-soo" is an Academy Award-nominated Beninese actor, dancer and fashion model who was born in Cotonou, Benin. He is now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Singer Angelique Kidjo who is a five time Grammy nominee and international goodwill ambassador for UNICEF was born in Cotonou, Benin.

Health issues
During the 1980s, less than 30 percent of the population had access to primary health care services. Benin had one of the highest death rates for children under the age of five in the world. Its infant mortality rate stood at 203 deaths for every 1000 live births. Only one of three mothers had access to child healthcare services. The Bamako Initiative changed that dramatically by introducing community-based healthcare reform, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services. A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of health care, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost.

Government

 * Benin Government Portal (official site)

News

 * allAfrica - Benin news headline links
 * L'Araignee
 * Allafrica news - Benin
 * benininfo
 * sonagnon.net
 * quotidien le martinal
 * LC2 international TV (Live TV )
 *

Overviews

 * BBC News - Country Study: Benin
 * MBendi - Information for Africa
 * US State Department - Benin includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
 * Rural poverty in Benin (IFAD)
 * World Bank Country Brief: Benin
 * World Bank Country Brief: Benin

Culture

 * Beninese women authors at a glance

Directories

 * Columbia University Libraries - Benin directory category of the WWW-VL
 * Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Benin directory category
 * Yahoo! - Benin directory category
 * Japan Africa Network
 * Japan Africa Network

Tourism

 * {{wikivoyage}
 * Benin's photogallery

Benin ቤኒን بنين Benín Benin Bènin Benin Benin Benin বেনিন Bénin Бэнін Benin Benin Бенин Benín Бенин Benin Benin Benin Benin Benin ބެނިން Benin Μπενίν Benín Benino Benin Benin fa:بنین Bénin Benyn Beinin Benin Beinin República de Benín - République du Bénin 베냉 Բենին Benin Benin বেনিন Benin Benin Benin Бенин Benín Benin בנין Benin ಬೆನಿನ್ ბენინი बेनिन Бенин Benin Benin Benin Benen Bênîn Beninum Benina Benin Beninas Benin Benin Bénin Benin Бенин ബെനിന് Benin Benin Benin ベナン Benin Benin nov:Benin Benin Benin بېنين Benin Benin Benin Benim crh:Benin Benin Benin Binin Бенин Benin बेनिन Benini Benin Benin Benin Benin Бенин Benin Benin Benin Benin பெனின் బెనిన్ ประเทศเบนิน Bénin Бенин Benin Бенин Бенін Benin Beninän Bene Benin Benin Benin Benins 贝宁

title: Transwiki:Benin


text:
Transwiki:Culture of Turkmenistan

The Turkmen people have traditionally been nomads and equestrians, and even today after the fall of the USSR attempts to urbanize the Turkmens have not been very successful. They never really formed a coherent nation or ethnic group until they were forged into one by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Rather they are divided into clans, and each clan has its own dialect and style of dress. Turkmens are famous for making Turkmen rugs, often mistakenly called Bukhara rugs in the West. These are elaborate and colorful rugs, and these too help indicate the distinction between the various Turkmen clans.

The Turkmens are Sunni Muslims but they, like most of the region's nomads, adhere to Islam rather loosely and combine Islam with pre-Islamic animist spirituality. The Turkmens do indeed tend to be spiritual but are by no means militantly religious.

A Turkmen can be identified anywhere by the traditional "telpek" hats, which are large black sheepskin hats that resemble afros. Traditional dressing for men usually consists of high, shaggy sheepskin hats and red robes over white shirts. Women wear long sack-dresses over narrow trousers (the pants are trimmed with a band of embroidery at the ankle). Female headdresses usually consist of silver jewelry. Bracelets and brooches are set with semi-precious stones.

Language
Outside the capital, the national language of Turkmen is the most widely encountered. In Ashgabat, it would be hard to find a person who did not speak Russian, however with recent efforts to revive the ancient culture of Turkmenistan, Turkmen is quickly regaining its place as the chief language of the state.

Literature
Two significant figures in Turkmen literature are the poets Magtymguly Pyragy and Mämmetweli Kemine.

Music
Turkmen music is very similar to Khorasani music.

title: Transwiki:Culture of Turkmenistan