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ation but an attribute of god and the complete non resemblence of any creation in his self or attributes history it was used in pre islamic times by pagans within the arabian peninsula to signify the supreme creator pre islamic jews referred to their supreme creator as yahweh or elohim the pagan arabs recognized all h as the supreme god in their pantheon along with allah however the pre islamic arabs believed in a host of other gods such as hubal and daughters of all h the three daughters associated were al l t al uzzah and manah encyclopedia of world mythology and legend the facts on file ed anthony mercatante new york one nine eight three i six one this view of allah by the pre islamic pagans is viewed by muslims as a latter development having arisen as a result of moving away from abrahamic monotheism over time some of the names of these pagan gods are said to be derived from the descendants of noah whom latter generations firstly revered as saints and then transformed into gods although non muslims often |
view polytheism as having come before monotheism the pagan arabians also used the word all h in the names of their children muhammad s father who was born into pagan society was named abdull h which translates servant of all h abdull h is still used for names of muslim and non muslim arabs the hebrew word for deity el or el ah was used as an old testament synonym for yahweh which is the proper name for the jewish god according to the tanakh the aramaic word for god is al h syriac dialect or el h biblical dialect which comes from the same proto semitic word il h as the arabic and hebrew terms jesus is described in mark one five three four as having used the word on the cross with the ending meaning my when saying my god my god why hast thou forsaken me transliterated in greek as el i one of the earliest surviving translations of the word into a foreign language is in a greek translation of the shahada from eight six nine six ah seven zero five seven one five ad which translates it as ho theos monos literally t |
he one god also the cognate aramaic term appears in the aramaic version of the new testament called the pshitta or peshitta as one of the words jesus used to refer to god e g in the sixth beatitude blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see al ha and in the arabic bible the same words mt five eight other beliefs the nation of gods and earths one of the many sects created as the result of black separatist movements in the united states holds that the word all h is the name of the original black man and stands for arm leg leg arm head this concept is alien to mainstream islam which strictly opposes any attempt to portray all h as a human or in any other way mainstream islam also prohibits attibuting divine qualities to worshipping or glorifying anything other than all h the bah faith whose are primarily written in arabic and farsi also uses allah to mean god though in practice the customary word for god in the local language is typically used when speaking in that language some particular uses are not tra |
nslated but the arabic phrase is used the chief example of this would be the bah customary greeting all h u abh which is commonly translated as god is the all glorious see also god islam nine nine names of god muhammad monotheism external links islam way online your religion and spirituality portal for further discussion on allah the word s etymology and the islamic concept islam arabian deities deities quran singular god aqidah for the kim stanley robinson novel see antarctica novel antarctica greek antarktikos opposite the arctic is a continent encircling the earth s south pole surrounded by the southern ocean and divided in two by the transantarctic mountains it is a cold desert and on average the coldest place on earth nine eight of the continent is covered by ice its one four million km make it the fifth largest continent and the world s largest desert there are no permanent human residents and only cold adapted plants and animals survive there including penguins fur seals lichens and hundreds of types o |
f algae although myths and speculation about a terra australis southern land go back to antiquity the first commonly accepted sighting of the continent occurred in one eight two zero and the first verified landing in one eight two one by the russian expedition of mikhail lazarev and fabian gottlieb von bellingshausen the continent had been largely neglected in the one nine th century because of its hostile environment lack of efficient resources and its isolated location antarctica is not under the political sovereignty of any nation although seven countries argentina australia chile france norway new zealand and the united kingdom maintain territorial claims most other countries do not recognise these claims and the claims of argentina chile and the united kingdom all overlap its usage is regulated by the antarctic treaty signed in one nine five nine by one two countries which prohibits any military activity supports scientific research and protects the continent s ecozone ongoing experiments are conducted y |
early by more than four zero zero zero scientists of diverse backgrounds and interests exploration the endurance at night during ernest shackleton s imperial trans antarctic expedition in one nine one four in the western world beliefs in a terra australis a vast continent located in the far south of the globe to balance out the northern lands of europe asia and north africa had existed for centuries even by late in the one seven th century after explorers had found that south america and australia were not part of antarctica geographers believed the continent was much larger than its true size european maps continued to show this land until captain james cook and the crews of his expedition s ships resolution and adventure crossed the antarctic circle on january one seven one seven seven three and again in one seven seven four the first confirmed sighting of antarctica cannot be accurately attributed to one single person it can however be narrowed down to three individuals according to various organizations t |
he national science foundation nasa the university of california san diego and other sources three men all sighted antarctica within days or weeks of each other fabian von bellingshausen a captain in the russian imperial navy edward bransfield a captain in the british navy and nathaniel palmer an american sealer out of stonington connecticut bransfield supposedly saw antarctica on january two seven one eight two zero three days before palmer sighted land it is certain that on january two eight one eight two zero the expedition led by fabian von bellingshausen and mikhail petrovich lazarev on two ships reached a point within three two km two zero miles of the antarctic mainland and saw ice fields there in one eight four one explorer james clark ross sailed through what is now known as the ross sea and discovered ross island he sailed along a huge wall of ice that was later named the ross ice shelf mount erebus and mount terror are named after two ships from his expedition hms erebus and hms terror during an ex |
pedition by ernest shackleton parties led by t w edgeworth david became the first to climb mount erebus and to reach the south magnetic pole on december one four one nine one one a party led by norwegian polar explorer roald amundsen from the ship fram became the first to reach the south pole using a route from the bay of whales and up the axel heiberg glacier after robert falcon scott s journey richard evelyn byrd led several voyages to the antarctic by plane in the one nine three zero s and one nine four zero s he is credited with implementing mechanized land transport and conducting extensive geological and biological research however it was not until october three one one nine five six that anyone set foot on the south pole again on that day a u s navy group led by rear admiral george dufek successfully landed on an aircraft geography a satellite composite image of antarctica the continent of antarctica is located mostly south of the antarctic circle surrounded by the southern ocean antarctica is the sout |
hernmost land mass on earth comprising more than one four million km making it the five th largest continent the coastline measures one seven nine six eight km physically antarctica is divided in two by the transantarctic mountains close to the neck between the ross sea and the weddell sea the portion of the continent west of the weddell sea and east of the ross sea is called western antarctica and the remainder eastern antarctica because they correspond roughly to the eastern and western hemispheres relative to the greenwich meridian western antarctica is covered by the west antarctic ice sheet about nine eight percent of antarctica is covered by an ice sheet that is on average two five kilometers thick vinson massif the highest peak in antarctica at four eight nine two meters is located in the ellsworth mountains the west antarctic ice sheet has been of recent concern because of the slight possibility of its collapse if it does break down ocean levels would rise by a few meters in a relatively short period |
of time despite its zero rainfall in some areas the continent has approximately nine zero of the world s fresh water in the form of ice mt erebus an active volcano in ross island although antarctica is home to many volcanoes only deception island and mt erebus are active mount erebus located in ross island is the southernmost active volcano on earth minor eruptions are frequent and lava flow has been observed in recent years other dormant volcanoes may potentially be active in two zero zero four an underwater volcano was found in the antarctic peninsula by american and canadian researchers recent evidence shows this unnamed volcano may be active antarctica is home to more than seven zero lakes that lie thousands of metres under the surface of the continental ice sheet including one under the south pole itself lake vostok discovered beneath russia s vostok station in one nine nine six is the largest of these subglacial lakes it is believed that the lake has been sealed off for three five million years there is |
some evidence that vostok s waters may contain microbial life due to the lake s similarity to europa a moon of jupiter confirming that life can survive in lake vostok might strengthen the argument for the presence of life on europa geology gondwana breakup more than one seven zero million years ago mya antarctica was part of the supercontinent gondwana africa separated from antarctica around one six zero mya follwed by india in the early cretaceous about one two five mya about six five mya antarctica then still connected to australia had still tropical to subtropical climate complete with a marsupial fauna but by about four five mya australia new guinea had separated from antarctica and the first ice appeared at around two five mya due to the opening of the drake passage between antarctica and south america and the resulting antarctic circumpolar current the ice spread quickly displacing the forests that then covered the continent since about one five mya the continent has been mostly covered with ice climat |
e the blue ice covering lake fryxell in the transantarctic mountains comes from glacial meltwater from the canada glacier and other smaller glaciers antarctica is the coldest place on earth antarctica has little rainfall with the south pole getting none making it a continental desert temperatures reach a minimum of between eight five and nine zero degrees celsius one two one and one three zero degrees fahrenheit in the winter and about three zero degrees higher in the summer months sunburn is often a health issue as the snow surface reflects over nine zero of the sunlight falling on it eastern antarctica is colder than its western counterpart because of its higher elevation weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent leaving the center cold and dry there is little precipitation over the central portion of the continent but ice there can last for extended time periods however heavy snowfalls are not uncommon on the coastal portion of the continent where snowfalls of up to one two two meters four eig |
ht inches in four eight hours have been recorded at the edge of the continent strong katabatic winds off the polar plateau often blow at storm force in the interior however wind speeds are often moderate during summer more solar radiation reaches the surface at the south pole than is received at the equator in an equivalent period depending on the latitude long periods of constant darkness or constant sunlight mean that climates familiar to humans are not generally available on the continent the aurora australis commonly known as the southern lights is a glow observed in the night sky near the south pole another unique spectacle is diamond dust diamond dust refers to a ground level cloud composed of tiny ice crystals diamond dust generally forms under otherwise clear or nearly clear skies so people sometimes also refer to it as clear sky precipitation a sundog a frequent atmospheric optical phenomenon is a bright spot beside the true sun tabletop icebergs in antarctica population two american researchers stud |
ying plankton through microscopes although antarctica has no permanent residents a number of governments maintain permanent research stations throughout the continent the population of persons doing and supporting science on the continent and its nearby islands varies from approximately four zero zero zero in summer to one zero zero zero in winter many of the stations are staffed around the year emilio marcos palma was the first person born in antarctica base esperanza in one nine seven eight his parents being sent there along with seven other families by the argentinean government to determine if family life was suitable in the continent in one nine eight six juan pablo camacho was born at the presidente eduardo frei montalva base becoming the first chilean born in antarctica several bases are now home to families with children attending schools at the station flora and fauna flora more than two zero zero species of lichens are known in antarctica the climate of antarctica does not allow for much vegetation |
to exist a combination of freezing temperatures soil quality lack of moisture and sunlight limit the chances for plants to exist as a result plant life is limited to mostly mosses and liverworts the autotrophic community is made up of mostly protists the flora of the continent largely consists of lichens bryophytes algae and fungi growth generally occurs in the summer and only for a few weeks at most there are more than two zero zero species of lichens and approximately five zero species of bryophytes such as mosses seven hundred species of algae exist most of which are phytoplankton multicolored snow algae and diatoms are especially abundant in the coastal regions during the summer there are two species of flowering plants found in the antarctic peninsula antarctic hair grass and antarctic pearlwort fauna emperor penguins in ross sea antarctica land fauna is completely invertebrate such invertebrate life includes microscopic mites lice and springtails the midge just one two mm in size is the largest land ani |
mal in antarctica other than man the snow petrel is one of only three birds that breed exclusively in antarctica and have been seen at the south pole a variety of marine animals exist and they rely directly or indirectly on the phytoplankton antarctic sea life includes penguins blue whales and fur seals more specifically the emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in antarctica the ad lie penguin breeds further south than any penguin the rockhopper penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes one could call them elaborate eyelashes king penguins are also predominant in the antarctic the antarctic fur seal was very heavily hunted in the one eight th and one nine th centuries for its pelt by sealers from the united states and the united kingdom antarctic krill which congregate in large schools is the keystone species of the ecosystem of the southern ocean and is an important food organism for whales seals leopard seals fur seals squid icefish penguins albatrosses and many other bir |
ds the approval of the antarctic conservation act brought several restrictions to the continent the introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty as can the extraction of any indigenous species the overfishing of krill which plays a large role in the antarctic ecosystem led officials to enact regulations on fishing the convention for the conservation of antarctic marine living resources ccamlr a treaty enacted in one nine eight zero requires that regulations managing all southern ocean fisheries consider potential effects on the entire antarctic ecosystem despite these new acts unregulated and illegal fishing particularly of patagonian toothfish remains a serious problem particularly the illegal fishing of toothfish has been increasing with estimates of three two zero zero zero tonnes in two zero zero zero underwater field guide to ross island operaci n nine zero undertaken one zero years before the antarctic treaty by the argentinian military the united states military issues the antar |
ctica service medal to military members or civilians who perform research duty on the antarctica continent the medal may include a winter over bar issued to those who remain on the continent for two complete six month seasons antarctic territories territorial claims of antarctica the argentinean british and chilean claims all overlap germany also maintained a claim to antarctica known as new swabia between one nine three nine and one nine four five it was situated at two zero e and one zero w overlapping norway s claim economy the illegal capture and sale of the patagonian toothfish has led to several arrests although coal hydrocarbons iron ore platinum copper chromium nickel gold and other minerals have been found they exist in quantities too small to exploit the one nine nine one protocol on environmental protection to the antarctic treaty prevents such struggle for resources in one nine nine eight a compromise agreement was reached to add a five zero year ban on mining until the year two zero four eight fu |
rther limiting economic development and exploitation the primary agricultural activity is the capture and offshore trading of fish antarctic fisheries in two zero zero zero zero one reported landing one one two nine three four metric tons small scale tourism has existed since one nine five seven as of two zero zero six several ships transport people into antarctica for specific scenic locations a total of one three five seven one tourists visited in the two zero zero two zero three antarctic summer with nearly all of them coming from commercial ships the average stay is about two weeks antarctic flights brought tourists from australia and new zealand until the fatal crash of air new zealand flight nine zero one in one nine seven nine near mount erebus research a full moon and two five second exposure allowed sufficient light into this photo taken at amundsen scott south pole station during the long antarctic night the new station can be seen at far left power plant in the center and the old mechanic s garage |
in the lower right each year scientists from two seven different nations conduct experiments not reproducible in any other place in the world but the antarctic in the summer more than four zero zero zero scientists operate research stations this number decreases to nearly one zero zero zero in the winter the mcmurdo station is capable of housing more than a thousand scientists visitors and tourists researchers include biologists geologists oceanographers physicists astronomers glaciologists and meteorologists geologists tend to study plate tectonics in the arctic region meteorites from the outer space and resources from the breakup of the supercontinent gondwanaland glaciologists in antarctica are concerned with the study of the history and dynamics of floating ice seasonal snow glaciers and ice sheets biologists in addition to examining the wildlife are interested in how harsh temperatures and the presence of people affect adaptation and survival strategies in a wide variety of organisms astrophysicists in a |
mundsen scott south pole station are able to study the celestial dome and cosmic microwave background radiation because of the ozone hole and the location s dry cold environment medical physicians have made discoveries concerning the spreading of viruses and the body s response to extreme seasonal temperatures since the one nine seven zero s an important focus of study has been the ozone layer in the atmosphere above antarctica in one nine nine eight nasa satellite data showed that the antarctic ozone hole was the largest on record covering two seven million square kilometers in two zero zero two significant areas of ice shelves disintegrated in response to regional warming antarctic meteorite named alh eight four zero zero one from mars meteorites from antarctica are a relatively recent resource for study of the material formed early in the solar system most are thought to come from asteroids but some may have originated on larger planets the first meteorites in antarctica were found in one nine one two in o |
ne nine six nine the japanese discovered nine meteorites in antarctica most of these meteorites have fallen onto the ice sheet in the last one million years motion of the ice sheet tends to concentrate the meteorites at blocking locations such as mountain ranges with wind erosion bringing them to the surface after centuries beneath accumulated snowfall compared with meteorites collected in more temperate regions on earth the antarctic meteorites are relatively well preserved this large collection of meteorites allows a better understanding of the abundance of meteorite types in the solar system and how meteorites relate to asteroids and comets new types of meteorites and rare meteorites have been found among these meteorites are pieces blasted off the moon and probably mars by impacts these specimens specifically alh eight four zero zero one discovered by ansmet are at the center of the controversy about possible evidence of microbial life on early mars because meteorites in space absorb and record cosmic rad |
iation the time elapsed since the meteorite hit the earth can be determined from laboratory studies the elapsed time since fall or terrestrial residence age of a meteorite represents more information that might be useful in environmental studies of antarctic ice sheets see also list of antarctic and sub antarctic islands antarctica ecozone antarctic stamps antarctic treaty system argentine antarctic geopolitics brazil antarctic geopolitics chile antarctic geopolitics communications in antarctica extreme points of antarctica flags of antarctica life in the freezer a bbc natural history television series on life on and around antarctica transportation in antarctica footnotes external links antarctic treaty secretariat anetstation radio station in antarctica the antarctic digital database a source of digital topographic map data for antarctica australian antarctic division british antarctic survey biodiversity at ardley island south shetland archipelago antarctica council of managers of national antarctic progra |
ms comnap official homepage german antarctic ships and stations portals on the world antarctica from the library of congress the russian state museum of arctic and antarctic the scientific committee for antarctic research coordinating body for antarctic science the world factbook antarctica from the u s central intelligence agency latest antarctic news and information by seven zero south international association of antarctic tour operators iaato the united states antartic program antarctic place names commission of bulgaria one of many journals by a tourist to antarctica antarctica antarctica continents lists of coordinates outposts of antarctica special territories the argentine republic spanish rep blica argentina ipa is a country in south america situated between the andes in the west and the southern atlantic ocean in the east and south it is bordered by paraguay and bolivia in the north brazil and uruguay in the northeast and chile in the west and south it also claims the british overseas territories of |
the falkland islands spanish islas malvinas and south georgia and the south sandwich islands under the name of argentine antarctica it claims around one zero zero zero zero zero zero square kilometres three eight six zero zero zero sq mi of antarctica overlapping other claims by chile and the united kingdom by area it is the second largest country of south america after brazil and the eight th largest country in the world the country is formally named rep blica argentina argentine republic while for purposes of legislation the form naci n argentina argentine nation is used origin and history of the name the name argentina derives from the latin argentum silver the first spanish conquistadors called the river plate the r o de la plata river of silver indigenous people gave silver gifts to the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition who were led by juan d az de sol s the legend of sierra del plata a mountain rich in silver reached spain around one five two four the name argentina was first used in ruy d az de |
guzm n s one six one two book historia del descubrimiento poblaci n y conquista del r o de la plata history of the discovery population and conquest of the r o de la plata naming the territory tierra argentina land of silver history the area of present argentina was sparsely populated until it was colonised by europeans the native people known as diaguita lived in northwestern argentina on the edge of the expanding inca empire the guaran lived farther east europeans arrived in one five zero two spain established a permanent colony on the site of buenos aires in one five eight zero and the viceroyalty of the r o de la plata in one seven seven six independence from spain was declared on july nine one eight one six centralist and federationist groups were in conflict until national unity was established and the constitution promulgated in one eight five three foreign investment and immigration from europe aided the introduction of modern agricultural techniques and integration of argentina into the world economy |
in the late one nine th century in the one eight eight zero s the conquest of the desert subdued or exterminated the remaining native tribes throughout patagonia from one eight eight zero to one nine three zero argentina became one of the ten wealthiest nations conservative forces dominated argentine politics until one nine one six when their traditional rivals the radicals won control of the government the military forced hip lito yrigoyen from power in one nine three zero leading to another decade of conservative rule political change led to the presidency of juan per n in one nine four six who aimed at empowering the working class and greatly expanded the number of unionised workers the revoluci n libertadora of one nine five five deposed him in the one nine five zero s and one nine six zero s military and civilian administrations traded power when military governments failed to revive the economy and suppress escalating terrorism in the late one nine six zero s and early one nine seven zero s the way was |
open for per n s return to the presidency in one nine seven three with his third wife mar a estela isabel mart nez de per n as vice president during this period extremists on the political left and political right carried out terrorist acts with a frequency that threatened public order bank of the argentine nation buenos aires per n died in one nine seven four his wife succeeded him in office but a military coup removed her from office in one nine seven six and the armed forces formally exercised power through a junta in charge of the self appointed national reorganisation process until one nine eight three the armed forces repressed opposition using harsh illegal measures the dirty war thousands of dissidents were disappeared while the side cooperated with the cia dina and other south american intelligence agencies in operation condor many of the military leaders that took part in the dirty war were trained in the u s financed school of the americas among them argentine dictators leopoldo galtieri and rober |
to viola economic problems charges of corruption public revulsion in the face of human rights abuses and finally the country s one nine eight two defeat in the falklands war discredited the argentine military regime democracy was restored in one nine eight three ra l alfons n s radical government took steps intending to account for the disappeared establishing civilian control of the armed forces and consolidating democratic institutions failure to resolve endemic economic problems and an inability to maintain public confidence caused his early departure president carlos menem imposed peso dollar fixed exchange rate in one nine nine one to stop hyperinflation and adopted far reaching market based policies dismantling protectionist barriers and business regulations and implementing a privatisation program these reforms contributed to significant increases in investment and growth with stable prices through most of the one nine nine zero s the menem and de la r a administrations faced diminished competitiveness |
of exports massive imports which damaged national industry and reduced employment chronic fiscal and trade deficits and the contagion of several economic crises the asian financial crisis in one nine nine eight precipitated an outflow of capital that mushroomed into a recession which led to a total freezing of the bank accounts the corralito and culminated in a financial panic in november two zero zero one the next month amidst bloody riots president de la r a resigned several new presidents followed in quick succession argentina defaulted on its international debt obligations the peso s almost one two year old link with the dollar was abandoned resulting in massive currency depreciation and inflation in turn triggering a spike in unemployment and poverty in two zero zero three n stor kirchner became the president and started implementing new policies based on re industrialisation import substitution increased exports consistent fiscal surplus and high exchange rate politics congress building in buenos aires |
the argentine constitution of one eight five three as revised in one nine nine four mandates a separation of powers into executive legislative and judicial branches at the national and provincial level the president and vice president are directly elected to four year terms both are limited to two consecutive terms they are allowed to stand for a third term or more after an interval of at least one term the president appoints cabinet ministers and the constitution grants him considerable power as both head of state and head of government including authority to enact laws by presidential decree under conditions of urgency and necessity and the line item veto argentina s parliament is the bicameral national congress or congreso de la naci n consisting of a senate senado of seven two seats and a chamber of deputies c mara de diputados of two five seven members since two zero zero one senators have been directly elected with each province including the federal capital represented by three senators senators serve |
six year terms one third of the senate stands for reelection every two years via a partial majority system in each district members of the chamber of deputies are directly elected to four year term via a system of proportional representation voters elect half the members of the lower house every two years foreign relations argentina is currently prompting the mercosur as its first external priority contrasting with the one nine nine zero s emphasis in the relationship with the united states administrative divisions provinces of argentina argentine antarctica and southern atlantic islands two three not shown argentina is divided into two three provinces provincias singular provincia and one autonomous city commonly known as capital federal marked with an asterisk the current official name for the federal district is ciudad aut noma de buenos aires buenos aires has been the capital of argentina since its unification but there have been projects to move the administrative centre elsewhere during the presidency |
of ra l alfons n a law was passed ordering the move of the federal capital to viedma a city in the patagonic province of r o negro studies were underway when hyperinflation in one nine eight nine killed off the project though the law was never formally repealed it has become a mere historical relic and the project has been forgotten urbanization government house of tucum n about two seven million people live in the autonomous city of buenos aires and roughly one one five million in greater buenos aires two zero zero one making it one of the largest urban conglomerates in the world together with their respective metropolitan areas the second and third largest cities in argentina c rdoba and rosario comprise about one three and one one million inhabitants respectively most european immigrants to argentina coming in great waves especially around the world war i and ii settled in the cities which offered jobs education and other opportunities that enabled newcomers to enter the middle class since the one nine thr |
ee zero s many rural workers have moved to the big cities the one nine nine zero s saw many rural towns become ghost towns when train services were abandoned and local products manufactured on a small scale were replaced by massive amounts of imported cheap goods in part because of the monetary policy which kept the u s dollar exchange rate fixed and low many slums villas miseria sprouted in the outskirts of the largest cities inhabited by empoverished low class urban dwellers and migrants from smaller towns in the interior of the country however it is important to note that the majority of the people that live in these newly formed small shanty towns are people that came from neighboring countries during the time of convertibility and never left this immigration of humble people from a low socioeconomic status represented an undesirable change because shanty towns and homeless people begging for money was something argentines didn t know until the economic disaster of the one nine nine zero s however the gov |
ernment works actively to try to include these new inmigrants into argentine society and considers their children born in argentina to be argentines there are no plans to build any type of wall to keep these inmigrants out argentina adheres to a policy of allowing anybody who wants to come to argentina to come freely without restrictive inmigration measures in this respect argentina is more progressive than many fully developed countries argentina s urban areas have a european look reflecting the influence of their european settlers many towns and cities are built like spanish cities around a main square called a plaza a cathedral and important government buildings often face the plaza the general layout of the cities is called a damero that is a checkerboard since it is based on a pattern of square blocks though modern developments sometimes depart from it for example the city of la plata built at the end of the one nine th century is organised as a checkerboard plus diagonal avenues at fixed intervals in de |
scending order by number of inhabitants the major cities in argentina are buenos aires c rdoba rosario mendoza la plata tucum n mar del plata salta santa fe and bah a blanca geography map of argentina argentina can roughly be divided into three parts the fertile plains of the pampas in the central part of the country the centre of argentina s agricultural wealth the flat to rolling plateau of patagonia in the southern half down to tierra del fuego and the rugged andes mountain range along the western border with chile with the highest point being the cerro aconcagua at six nine six zero metres two two eight three four ft major rivers include the paraguay bermejo colorado uruguay and the largest river the paran the latter two flow together before meeting the atlantic ocean forming the estuary of the r o de la plata the argentine climate is predominantly temperate with extremes ranging from subtropical in the north to arid sub antarctic in far south enclaves and exclaves there is one argentine exclave the islan |
d of mart n garc a co ordinates it is situated near the confluence of the paran and uruguay rivers a mere kilometre zero six two mi inside uruguayan waters about three five kilometres two one mi from the uruguayan coastline near the small city of mart n chico itself about halfway between nueva palmira and colonia del sacramento an agreement reached by argentina and uruguay in one nine seven three reaffirmed argentine jurisdiction over the island ending a century old dispute between the two countries according to the terms of the agreement mart n garc a is to be devoted exclusively to a natural preserve its area is about two square kilometres five zero zero acres and the population about two zero zero people economy subway station in monserrat buenos aires argentina benefits from rich natural resources a highly literate population an export oriented agricultural sector and a diversified industrial base the country historically had a large middle class compared to other latin american countries but this segment |
of the population was decimated by a succession of economic crises today while a significant segment of the population is still financially well off they stay in sharp contrast with millions who live in poverty or on the brink of it since the late one nine seven zero s the country piled up public debt and was plagued by bouts of high inflation in one nine nine one the government pegged the peso to the u s dollar and limited the growth in the monetary base the government then embarked on a path of trade liberalisation deregulation and privatisation inflation dropped and gdp grew but external economic shocks and failures of the system diluted its benefits causing it to crumble in slow motion from one nine nine five and up to the collapse in two zero zero one by two zero zero two argentina had defaulted on its debt its gdp had shrunk unemployment was over two five the peso had devalued seven five after being floated and inflation was hitting again however careful spending control and heavy taxes on now soaring |
exports gave the state the tools to regain resources and conduct monetary policy in two zero zero three import substitution policies and soaring exports coupled with a lower inflation and expansive economic measures triggered a surge in the gdp which was repeated in two zero zero four creating jobs and encouraging internal consumption capital flight decreased and foreign investment slowly returned the influx of foreign currency from exports created such a huge trade surplus that the central bank was forced to buy dollars from the market which it continues to do at the time to be accumulated as reserves the situation in two zero zero five is much improved but there are still large numbers of unemployed people that beg for some money or food especially in the outskirts of buenos aires some of them are homeless and there is at least one small non profit humanitarian organisation which distributes free food to some of them most days of the week however the country is still the most developed country in latin amer |
ica it boasts the highest gdp per capita the highest levels of education measured by university attendance and a reasonable infrastructure that in many aspects is equal in quality to that found in fully industrialized nations in two zero zero two over five seven of the population was below the poverty line at the end of two zero zero five it was three four in two zero zero two unemployement had reached over two five and now it is one zero gdp per capita has surpassed the previous pre recession peek of one nine nine eight it is a very interesting time in argentina because the experts agree that if the country makes the right decisions it could develop and reclaim its previosly held position in the first world so far things are looking good the economy grew eight eight in two zero zero three nine zero in two zero zero four and nine one in two zero zero five the floor is set so that the economy will grow between six zero and seven five in two zero zero six and the government is paying down the foreign debt forei |
gn debt now stands at six nine of gdp and is slowly decreasing the argentine economy has so much untapped potential that if the country manages to encourage the proper level of investment the country could experience growth rates of nine zero for this year and years to come demographics night shot of the colon theatre in buenos aires argentina unlike most of its neighbouring countries argentina s population descends overwhelmingly from europeans the basic demographic stock nine seven of the population is made up of descendants of spanish italian german and other european settlers waves of immigrants from european countries arrived in the late one nine th and early two zero th centuries the patagonian chubut valley has a significant welsh descended population and retains many aspects of welsh culture other important immigrant groups came from germany german colonies were settled in the provinces of entre r os misiones formosa c rdoba and the patagonian region as well as in buenos aires itself france mostly set |
tled in buenos aires city and province scandinavia especially sweden the united kingdom and ireland buenos aires and patagonia and eastern european nations such as poland russia ukraine and the balkans region especially croatia and serbia and others the overwhelming majority of argentina s jewish community numbering about three nine five three seven nine also derives from immigrants of northern and eastern european origin ashkenazi jews it is the largest jewish community in latin america and fifth largest in the world middle eastern immigrants number about five zero zero zero zero zero mainly in urban areas small numbers of people from far east asia have also settled argentina mainly in buenos aires the first asian argentines were of japanese descent but koreans vietnamese and chinese soon followed there are also smaller numbers of people from the indian subcontinent culture european and modern styles in buenos aires argentine culture has been primarily informed and influenced by its european roots buenos air |
es is undeniably the most european city in south america due both to the prevalence of people of italian spanish and german descent and to conscious imitation argentine cinema has achieved international recognition with films such as the official story and nine queens though it has only rarely been taken into account by mainstream popular viewers who prefer hollywood type movies even low budget productions however have obtained prizes in cinema festivals such as cannes the city of mar del plata organizes its own festival dedicated to this art the best known element of argentine culture is probably their music and dance particularly tango in modern argentina tango music is enjoyed in its own right especially since the radical astor piazzolla redefined the music of carlos gardel it must be noted that while tango refers mostly to a particular dancing music for foreigners the music together with the lyrics often sung in a kind of slang called lunfardo are what most argentines primarily mean by tango tango lyrics |
can be considered a kind of poetry since the one nine seven zero s rock and roll is also widely appreciated in argentina first during the one nine seven zero s and then again at the mid one nine eight zero s and the beginning of the one nine nine zero s national rock and roll and pop music experienced bursts of popularity with many new bands such as soda stereo and sumo and composers like charly garc a and fito p ez becoming important referents of national culture buenos aires is also considered the techno electronica country in latin america that started with little raves and nowadays is home of important events such as creamfields which has the world record of six five zero zero zero people south american music conference and many more european classical music is well considered in argentina with the col n theater one of the best opera houses in the world musicians such as martha argerich and composers like lalo schifrin have become internationally famous see also the articles on the cuisine the music and t |
he football spanish f tbol of argentina for a prevalent custom among argentines see mate for the traditional buenos aires dance see tango language women s bridge in puerto madero buenos aires the only official language is spanish although some immigrants and indigenous communities have retained their original languages in specific points of the country there are for example many welsh speaking towns in patagonia and german speaking cities in c rdoba buenos aires and cities in the patagonia italian and french is also widely spoken argentina is the largest spanish speaking community in the world that employs voseo the use of the pronoun vos instead of t associated with some alternate verb conjugations the most prevalent dialect is rioplatense with most speakers located in the basin of the r o de la plata religion argentina is an overwhelmingly christian country the majority of argentina s population eight zero is at least nominally roman catholic roman catholicism is supported by the state as stipulated in the |
constitution evangelical churches gained a place in argentina especially since the one nine eight zero s and now number more than three five million or one zero members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints mormons number over three three zero three zero zero the seventh largest concentration in the world traditional protestant communities are also present the country also hosts the largest jewish population in latin america about three nine five three seven nine strong it is also home to one of the largest mosques in latin america serving argentina s small muslim community see also argentine antarctica communications in argentina education in argentina elections in argentina foreign relations of argentina governors in argentina military of argentina national parks of argentina public holidays in argentina tourism in argentina transportation in argentina references general information general information general information and maps geography and history geography and tourism history other inform |
ation external links government gobierno electr nico official government website presidencia de la naci n official presidential website honorable senado de la naci n official senatorial website honorable c mara de diputados de la naci n official lower house website directories library of congress open directory project todalanet search engine of argentine only websites news t lam official news agency argentinisches tageblatt see article buenos aires herald see article clar n see article diario de cuyo san juan la capital see article diario uno mendoza diario los andes mendoza el diario paran el tribuno salta infobae buenos aires la voz del interior c rdoba la gaceta tucum n la naci n see article la raz n buenos aires la nueva provincia bah a blanca p gina one two see article la capital mar del plata la voz del pueblo tres arroyos images mundo argentina regions landscapes and people south america pictures south america maps south america satellite images photos of argentina travel secretaria de turismo de la n |
acion official tourism website directory of travel websites travel tips and a deep look at argentine culture guidebook reviews and flight tips travel highlights interesting places visitgayba com other jos mar a rosa historian felipe pigna historian essential facts and other information council on hemispheric affairs latin business chronicle cia world factbook argentina south american countries the republic of armenia or armenia armenian hayastan hayq is a landlocked eurasian country in the caucasus region bordered by turkey to the west georgia to the north azerbaijan to the east and iran and the nakhichevan exclave of azerbaijan to the south armenia is a member of the council of europe and the commonwealth of independent states and for centuries has been on the crossroads between the east and west origin of the name the original armenian name for the country was hayq later hayastan translated as the land of haik and consisting of the name haik and the persian suffix stan land according to legend haik was a gr |
eat great grandson of noah son of togarmah who was a son of gomer a son of noah s son japheth and according to an ancient armenian tradition a forefather of all armenians he is said to have settled below mount ararat travelled to assist in building the tower of babel and after his return defeated the babylonian king bel believed by some researchers to be nimrod on august one one two four nine two bc near lake van in the southern part of historic armenia presently in turkey hayq was given the name armenia by the surrounding states as it was the name of the strongest tribe living in the historic armenian lands who called themselves armens it is traditionally derived from armenak or aram the great grandson of haik s great grandson and another leader who is according to armenian tradition the ancestor of all armenians some jewish and christian scholars write that the name armenia was derived from har minni that is mountains of minni or mannai pre christian accounts suggest that nairi meaning land of rivers was an |
ancient name for the country s mountainous region first used by assyrians around one two zero zero bc while the first recorded inscription bearing the name armenia namely the behistun inscription in iran dates from five two one bc history armenia has been populated by humans since prehistoric times and has been proposed as the site of the biblical garden of eden armenia was a regional empire with a rich culture in the years leading up to the one st century spanning from the shores of the black sea to the caspian sea and the mediterranean sea during the rule of tigranes the great armenia s strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples including the assyrians persians greeks romans byzantines arabs turks and mongols in ad three zero one armenia became the first country in the world to adopt christianity as its official state religion twelve years before the roman empire granted christianity official toleration under galerius and some three zero four zero years before c |
onstantine was baptised there had been various pagan communities before christianity but they were converted by an influx of christian missionaries having changed between various dynasties including parthian iranian roman byzantine arab mongol and persian occupations armenia was substantially weakened in one five zero zero s the ottoman empire and safavid persia divided armenia among themselves in one eight one three and one eight two eight present day armenia consisting of the erivan and karabakh khanates within persia was temporarily incorporated into the russian empire after a short lived independent republic established after the bolshevik revolution in petrograd armenia was incorporated into the ussr between one nine two two and one nine three six it existed as the transcaucasian soviet federated socialist republic with georgia armenia and azerbaijan and from one nine three six to one nine nine one as the armenian ssr during the final years of the ottoman empire one nine one five one nine two two a large |
proportion of armenians living in anatolia perished as a result of what is termed the armenian genocide regarded by armenians and the vast majority of western historians to have been state sponsored mass killings turkish authorities however maintain that the deaths were a result of a civil war coupled with disease and famine with casualties incurred by both sides most estimates for the number of armenians killed range from six five zero zero zero zero to one five zero zero zero zero zero and these events are traditionally commemorated yearly on april two four armenians and a handful of other countries worldwide have been campaigning for official recognition of the events as genocide for over three zero years but there are also many countries who are pressured not to officially characterize the armenian massacres as genocide armenia remained preoccupied by a long conflict with azerbaijan over nagorno karabakh a mostly armenian populated enclave that armenians allege stalin had placed in soviet azerbaijan a mi |
litary conflict between armenia and azerbaijan began in one nine eight eight and the fighting escalated after both countries gained independence from the soviet union in one nine nine one by may one nine nine four when a cease fire took hold armenian forces controlled not only nagorno karabakh but also the surrounding districts of azerbaijan proper the economies of both countries have been hurt in the absence of a peaceful resolution politics the government of armenia s stated aim is to build a western style parliamentary democracy as the basis of its form of government however international observers have questioned the fairness of armenia s parliamentary and presidential elections and constitutional referenda since one nine nine five citing polling deficiencies lack of cooperation by the electoral commission and poor maintenance of electoral lists and polling places for the most part however armenia is considered one of the more pro democratic nations in the commonwealth of independent states the unicameral |
parliament also called the national assembly is controlled by a coalition of three political parties the conservative republican party the armenian revolutionary federation and the country of law party the main opposition is composed of several smaller parties joined in the justice bloc armenians voted overwhelmingly for independence in a september one nine nine one referendum levon ter petrossian was president until january one nine nine eight when public demonstrations against his increasingly authoritarian regime and his domestic and foreign policies forced his resignation in one nine nine nine as the prime minister vazgen sargsian parliament speaker karen demirchian and six other officials were killed in the attack on the national assembly the country experienced a period of political instability president robert kocharian was successful in riding out the unrest and currently rules with the support of the parliamentary coalition administrative provinces provinces of armenia armenia is divided into one on |
e provinces marzer singular marz aragatsotn ararat armavir gegharkunik kotayk lori shirak syunik tavush vayots dzor yerevan geography map of armenia armenia is a landlocked country in the southern caucasus located between the black and caspian seas armenia is bordered on the north and east by georgia and azerbaijan and on the south and west by iran and turkey though geographically in western asia politically and culturally armenia is closely aligned with europe historically armenia has been at the crossroads between europe and southwest asia and is therefore seen as a transcontinental nation the republic of armenia covering an area of three zero zero zero zero square kilometres one one six zero zero sq mi is located in the north east of the armenian highland covering four zero zero zero zero zero sq km or one five four zero zero zero sq mi otherwise known as historic armenia and considered as the original homeland of armenians the terrain is mostly mountainous with fast flowing rivers and few forests the clim |
ate is highland continental hot summers and cold winters the land rises to four zero nine five metres one three four three five ft above sea level at mount aragats and no point is below four zero zero metres one three one two ft above sea level mount ararat regarded by the armenians as a symbol of their land is the highest mountain in the region and used to be part of armenia until around one nine one five when it fell to the turks armenia is trying to address its environmental problems it has established a ministry of nature protection and introduced taxes for air and water pollution and solid waste disposal whose revenues are used for environmental protection activities armenia is interested in cooperating with other members of the commonwealth of independent states cis a group of one two former soviet republics and with members of the international community on environmental issues the armenian government is working toward closing its nuclear power plant at medzamor near yerevan as soon as alternative ener |
gy sources are identified economy until independence armenia s economy was largely industry based chemicals electronics machinery processed food synthetic rubber and textile and highly dependent on outside resources agriculture contributed only two zero of net material product and one zero of employment before the breakup of the soviet union in one nine nine one armenian mines produce copper zinc gold and lead the vast majority of energy is produced with fuel imported from russia including gas and nuclear fuel for its one nuclear power plant the main domestic energy source is hydroelectric small amounts of coal gas and petroleum have not yet been developed like other newly independent states of the former soviet union armenia s economy suffers from the legacy of a centrally planned economy and the breakdown of former soviet trading patterns soviet investment in and support of armenian industry has virtually disappeared so that few major enterprises are still able to function in addition the effects of the one |
nine eight eight spitak earthquake which killed more than two five zero zero zero people and made five zero zero zero zero zero homeless are still being felt the conflict with azerbaijan over nagorno karabakh has not been resolved the closure of azerbaijani and turkish borders has devastated the economy because armenia depends on outside supplies of energy and most raw materials land routes through georgia and iran are inadequate or unreliable gdp fell nearly six zero from one nine eight nine until one nine nine two one nine nine three the national currency the dram suffered hyperinflation for the first years after its introduction in one nine nine three nevertheless the government was able to make wide ranging economic reforms that paid off in dramatically lower inflation and steady growth the one nine nine four cease fire in the nagorno karabakh conflict has also helped the economy armenia has had strong economic growth since one nine nine five building on the turnaround that began the previous year and in |
flation has been negligible for the past several years new sectors such as precious stone processing and jewelry making information and communication technology and even tourism are beginning to supplement more traditional sectors in the economy such as agriculture this steady economic progress has earned armenia increasing support from international institutions the international monetary fund imf world bank european bank for reconstruction and development ebrd and other international financial institutions ifis and foreign countries are extending considerable grants and loans loans to armenia since one nine nine three exceed one one billion these loans are targeted at reducing the budget deficit stabilizing the currency developing private businesses energy the agriculture food processing transportation and health and education sectors and ongoing rehabilitation in the earthquake zone the government joined the world trade organization on february five two zero zero three but one of the main sources of foreig |
n direct investments remains the armenian diaspora which finances major parts of the reconstruction of infrastructure and other public projects being a growing democratic state armenia also hopes to get more financial aid from the western world a liberal foreign investment law was approved in june one nine nine four and a law on privatization was adopted in one nine nine seven as well as a program on state property privatization continued progress will depend on the ability of the government to strengthen its macroeconomic management including increasing revenue collection improving the investment climate and making strides against corruption in the two zero zero six index of economic freedom armenia ranked two seven th best tied with japan and ahead of countries like norway spain portugal and italy however armenia ranked very low on property rights worse than countries like botswana trinidad and tobago in the two zero zero five transparency international corruption index armenia ranked eight eight highly cor |
rupt demographics armenia has a population of two nine eight two nine zero four july two zero zero five est and is the second most densely populated of the former soviet republics there has been a problem of population decline due to elevated levels of emigration after the break up of the ussr the rates of emigration and population decline however have been decreasing in the recent years a trend which is expected to continue in fact armenia is expected to resume its positive population growth by two zero one zero ethnic armenians make up nine seven nine of the population kurds make up one three and russians zero five there are smaller communities of assyrians georgians greeks and ukrainians most azerbaijanis once a sizable population have left since independence nearly all of the armenians in azerbaijan approximately one two zero zero zero zero now live in the nagorno karabakh region armenia has a very large diaspora eight million by some estimates greatly exceeding the three million population of armenia its |
elf with communities existing across the globe including france lebanon and north america the predominant religion in armenia is christianity the roots of the armenian church go back to the one st century ad according to tradition the armenian church was founded by two of jesus twelve apostles thaddaeus and bartholomew who preached christianity in armenia in the four zero s six zero s ad because of these two founding apostles the official name of the armenian church is armenian apostolic church armenia was the first nation to adopt christianity as a state religion in ad three zero one over nine three of armenian christians belong to the armenian apostolic church a form of oriental non chalcedonian orthodoxy which is a very ritualistic conservative church roughly comparable to the coptic and syrian churches armenia also has a population of catholics both roman and mekhitarist armenian uniate one eight zero zero zero zero evangelical protestantsand followers of the armenian traditional religion the yazidi kurds |
who live in the western part of the country practise yazidism the armenian catholic church is headquartered in bzoummar lebanon ethnic azeris and kurds who lived in the country before the karabakh conflict practised islam but most azeris were driven out of armenia into azerbaijan between one nine eight eight and one nine nine one at the beginning of the conflict during the same period armenia also received a large influx of armenians scattered throughout azerbaijan and large number of azeri population migrated to azerbaijan culture although located in turkey mount ararat here seen from yerevan is the national symbol of armenia mother armenia mayr hayastan statue located near victory park in yerevan armenians have their own highly distinctive alphabet and language nine six of the people in the country speak armenian while seven five eight of the population speaks russian as well the adult literacy rate in armenia is nine nine most adults in yerevan can communicate in russian while english is increasing in pop |
ularity caucasian hospitality is legendary and stems from ancient tradition social gatherings focused around sumptuous presentations of course after course of elaborately prepared well seasoned but not spicy hot food the host or hostess will often put morsels on a guest s plate whenever it is empty or fill his or her glass when it gets low after a helping or two it is acceptable to refuse politely or more simply just leave a little uneaten food the national art gallery in yerevan has more than one six zero zero zero works that date back to the middle ages it houses paintings by many european masters the modern art museum the children s picture gallery and the martiros saryan museum are only a few of the other noteworthy collections of fine art on display in yerevan moreover many private galleries are in operation with many more opening each year they feature rotating exhibitions and sales the world class armenian philharmonic orchestra performs at the beautifully refurbished city opera house where you can als |
o attend a full season of opera in addition several chamber ensembles are highly regarded for their musicianship including the national chamber orchestra of armenia and the serenade orchestra classical music can also be heard at one of several smaller venues including the state music conservatory and the chamber orchestra hall jazz is popular especially in the summer when live performances are a regular occurrence at one of the city s many outdoor cafes yerevan s vernisage arts and crafts market close to republic square bustles with hundreds of vendors selling a variety of crafts many of superb workmanship on weekends and wednesdays though the selection is much reduced mid week the market offers woodcarving antiques fine lace and the hand knotted wool carpets and kilims that are a caucasus specialty obsidian which is found locally is crafted into an amazing assortment of jewelry and ornamental objects armenian gold smithery enjoys a long and distinguished tradition populating one corner of the market with a s |
election of gold items soviet relics and souvenirs of recent russian manufacture nesting dolls watches enamel boxes and so on are also available at the vernisage across from the opera house a popular art market fills another city park on the weekends armenia s long history as a crossroads of the ancient world has resulted in a landscape with innumerable fascinating archaeological sites to explore medieval iron age bronze age and even stone age sites are all within a few hours drive from the city all but the most spectacular remain virtually undiscovered allowing visitors to view churches and fortresses in their original settings the american university of armenia has graduate programs in business and law among others the institution owes its existence to the combined efforts of the government of armenia the armenian general benevolent union usaid and the boalt hall school of law at the university of california berkeley the extension programs and the library at aua form a new focal point for english language i |
ntellectual life in the city many of the country s most successful young entrepreneurs are graduates of this institution see also artsakh armenian people armenian genocide first republic of armenia castles of armenia hayastani azgayin scautakan sharjum kazmakerputiun the armenian national scout movement nagorno karabakh public holidays in armenia music of armenia armenian needlelace list of armenians khachkars intricate armenian knotwork crosses miscellaneous topics communications in armenia foreign relations of armenia military of armenia transportation in armenia external links and references armeniapedia org the armenian wiki with thousands of articles armenianhouse org armenian literature and history the heritage foundation publishes the index of economic freedom cia the world factbook armenia gov am government of armenia loc gov library of congress portal on armenia armeniainfo am armenia information armgate com armenian news and pictures of churches and ararat mountain hayastan republika pl general info |
rmation armenian english polish portals hayastan com armenian portal with millions of visitors armenian russian english circle am armenian web ring armeniasearch com armenian search engine and directory news sites panarmenian net armenia armenian news a one plus am fastest news from armenia groong org armenian news network groong armenia now edited by john hughes caucaz com weekly online publishing articles and reports about armenia and south caucasus available in english and french armenia for the region in northwest iran see iranian azerbaijan the republic of azerbaijan azerbaijani az rbaycan or az rbaycan respublikas is a country in the caucasus at the crossroads of europe and southwest asia with a coast on the caspian sea it has frontiers with russia in the north georgia in the northwest armenia in the west and iran in the south the nakhichevan autonomous republic an exclave of azerbaijan borders armenia to the north and east iran to the south and west and turkey to the northwest azerbaijan is a secular s |
tate and has been a member of the council of europe since two zero zero one a majority of the population are shi a muslim and of western turkic descent known as azerbaijanis or simply azeris the country is formally an emerging democracy however with strong authoritarian rule etymology there are several hypotheses regarding the origins of the name azerbaijan the most common theory is that it is derived from atropatan atropat was the satrap at the time of the persian achaemenid dynasty and gained independence after alexander the great destroyed the achaemenids the region was known as media atropatia or atropatene at the time there are also alternative opinions that the term is a slight turkification of azarbaijan in turn an arabicized version of the original persian name zar b dag n made up of zar badag n zar fire b dag cultivated area n suffix of pluralization that it traditionally means the land of eternal flames or the land of fire which is probabely implies zoroastrian fire temples in this land some azeri h |
istorians contend that the name is made up of four azerbaijani components az er bay can which means the land of the brave az people or an elevated place for the wealthy and exalted historically a large part of the territory of the present day azerbaijan republic has been called arran named after arran a legendary founder of caucasian albania however the precise location identified by this name has shifted somewhat over time currently referring to the lowland karabakh plains situated between the kura and araks rivers some opponents of the name azerbaijan assert that it is anachronistic to use it in a historical context before one nine one eight because they say the term was first introduced by the national intelligentsia in early two zero th century and later was endorsed by the bolsheviks with intention of claiming the northern province of persia to substantiate this claim they state that until the early two zero th century the population of present day azerbaijan had no clear ethnic identification and referr |
ed to themselves primarily as muslims history main article history of azerbaijan the earliest known inhabitants of what is today azerbaijan were the caucasian albanians a caucasian speaking people who appear to have been in the region prior to the host of peoples who would eventually invade the caucasus historically azerbaijan has been occupied by a variety of peoples including armenians persians romans arabs turks mongols greek empire and russians the first state to emerge in the territory of present day republic of azerbaijan was mannae in the nine th century bc lasting until six one six bc when it was overthrown by the medes the satrapies of atropatene and caucasian albania were established in the four th century bc and included the approximate territories of present day azerbaijan and southern parts of dagestan islam spread rapidly in azerbaijan following the arab conquests in the seven th eight th centuries after the power of the arab khalifate waned several semi independent states have been formed the s |
hirvanshah kingdom being one of them in the one one th century the conquering seljuk turks became the dominant force in azerbaijan and laid the ethnic foundation of contemporary azerbaijanis or azeri turks in the one three one four th centuries the country experienced mongol tatar invasions azerbaijan was part of the safavid state in one five th one eight th centuries it also underwent a brief period of feudal fragmentation in the mid one eight th to early one nine th centuries and consisted of independent khanates following the two wars between the qajar dynasty of persia and the russian empire azerbaijan was acquired by russia through the treaty of gulistan in one eight one three and the treaty of turkmenchay in one eight two eight after the collapse of the russian empire during world war i azerbaijan declared independence and established the azerbaijan democratic republic this first muslim republic in the world lasted only two years from one nine one eight to one nine two zero before the soviet red army in |
vaded azerbaijan subsequently azerbaijan became part of the soviet union azerbaijan re established its independence upon the collapse of the soviet union in one nine nine one despite a cease fire in place since one nine nine four azerbaijan has yet to resolve its conflict with armenia over the predominantly ethnic armenian nagorno karabakh region azerbaijan has lost control of one six of its territory including karabakh and must support some eight zero zero zero zero zero refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the conflict politics main article politics of azerbaijan ilham aliyev president of azerbaijan azerbaijan is a presidential republic the head of state and head of government are separate from the country s law making body the people elect the president for a five year term of office the president appoints all cabinet level government administrators a fifty member national assembly makes the country s laws the people of azerbaijan elect the national assembly azerbaijan has universal suf |
frage above the age of eighteen after the presidential elections of october one five two zero zero three an official release of the central election committee cec gave isa gambar leader of the largest opposition bloc bizim azerbaycan our azerbaijan one four percent of the electorate and the second place in election third with three six came lala shevket hajiyeva leader of the national unity movement the first woman to run in presidential election in azerbaijan nevertheless the osce the council of europe human rights watch and other international organizations as well as local independent political and ngos voiced concern about observed vote rigging and a badly flawed counting process several independent local and international organizations that had been observing and monitoring the election directly or indirectly declared isa gambar winner in the one five october election another view shared by many international organisations is that in reality a second tour of voting should have taken place between the two |
opposition candidates isa gambar and lala shevket human rights watch commented on these elections human rights watch research found that the government has heavily intervened in the campaigning process in favor of prime minister ilham aliev son of current president heidar aliev the government has stacked the central election commission and local election commission with its supporters and banned local non governmental organizations from monitoring the vote as the elections draw nearer government officials have openly sided with the campaign of ilham aliev constantly obstructing opposition rallies and attempting to limit public participation in opposition events in some cases local officials have closed all the roads into town during opposition rallies or have extended working and school hours on one occasion even declaring sunday a workday to prevent participation in opposition rallies source html format osce s final report source html format or pdf format azerbaijan held parliamentary elections on sunday si |
x november two zero zero five subdivisions main article subdivisions of azerbaijan azerbaijan is divided into five nine raions rayonlar rayon singular one one cities h rl r h r singular one autonomous republic muxtar respublika which itself is divided into seven raions one city geography map of azerbaijan main article geography of azerbaijan azerbaijan has an arid climate except in the southeast temperatures vary by season in the southeast lowland temperatures average six c four three f in the winter and two six c eight zero f in the summer though daily maxima typically reach three two c eight nine f in the northern and western mountain ranges temperatures average one two c five five f in the summer and nine c two zero f in the winter annual rainfall over most of the country varies from two zero zero to four zero zero millimetres eight to one six in and is generally lowest in the northeast in the far southeast however the climate is much moister and annual rainfall can be as high as one three zero zero millim |
etres five one in for most of the country the wettest periods are in spring and autumn with summers being the driest economy main article economy of azerbaijan the economy is largely based on industry industries include machine manufacture petroleum and other mining petroleum refining textile production and chemical processing agriculture accounts for one third of azerbaijan s economy most of the nation s farms are irrigated in the lowlands farmers grow such crops as cotton fruit grain tea tobacco and many types of vegetables silkworms are raised for the production of natural silk for the clothing industry azerbaijan s herders raise cattle domestic sheep and goats near the mountain ranges seafood and fish are caught in the nearby caspian sea azerbaijan has a highly dynamic economy mainly because of oil and has a gdp growth rate of up to one one a year demographics main article demographics of azerbaijan azerbaijan has population of roughly seven nine one one nine seven four july two zero zero five est nine ze |
ro six of whom are ethnic azerbaijani also called azeris one nine nine nine census figures azeris also form about two four of the population of iran predominating in the northern regions of the country most of armenia s azeri minority have left since independence and the nagorno karabakh war the second largest ethnic group are russians who now form roughly one eight of the population most having emigrated since independence the talysh an iranian people predominate in the southernmost regions of the country around the talysh mountains and across the border into iran some people argue that the number of talysh is greater than officially recorded as many of them are counted as azerbaijanis numerous dagestani peoples live around the border with dagestan the main peoples are the lezgis avar and the tsakhur smaller groups include the budukh udi kryts and khinalug ketsh around the village of xinaliq around the town of quba in the north live the tats also known as the mountain jews who are also to be found in dagesta |
n many tats have emigrated to israel in recent years though this trend has slowed and even reversed more recently the country s large armenian population mostly fled to armenia and to other countries with the beginning of the armenian azeri conflict over nagorno karabakh during the same period azerbaijan also received a large influx of azerbaijanis fleeing armenia and later nagorno karabakh and adjacent provinces occupied by the armenians almost all of azerbaijan s armenians now live in nagorno karabakh azerbaijan also contains numerous smaller groups such as kurds georgians tatars and ukrainians most azerbaijanis about six zero seven zero are twelver shia muslim other religions or beliefs that are followed by many in the country are the orthodox sunni islam the armenian apostolic church in karabakh the russian orthodox church and various other christian and muslim sects the tat in quba as well as several thousand ashkenazim jews in baku follow judaism adherence to religious dogmas is nominal for the majority |
of the population and attitudes are secular traditionally villages around baku and the lenkoran region are considered stronghold of shi ism and in some northern regions populated by sunni dagestani people the salafi sect has gained a following folk islam is widely practiced but an organized sufi movement is absent culture main article culture of azerbaijan the official language of azerbaijan is azerbaijani a member of the oguz subdivision of the turkic language family and is spoken by around nine five of the republic s population as well as about a third of the population of iran its closest relatives in language are turkish and turkmen as a result of the language policy of the soviet union russian is also commonly spoken as a second language among the urbane there are also speakers of persian and kurdish in the state azerbaijan s culture has long cultural roots with iran and iranian peoples music of azerbaijan islam in azerbaijan azerbaijani literature miscellaneous topics communications in azerbaijan trans |
portation in azerbaijan military of azerbaijan foreign relations of azerbaijan public holidays in azerbaijan list of azerbaijanis scout association of azerbaijan nagorno karabakh references forrest brett nov two eight two zero zero five over a barrel in baku fortune pp five four six zero external links cia world factbook azerbaijan bbc country profile azerbaijan open directory project azerbaijan directory category library of congress portals to the world azerbaijan directory category azerbaijan from a to z azerbaijan international world s largest website about azerbaijan encyclopedia of nations azerbaijan democratic youth movement new idea virtual azerbaijan republic caucaz com weekly online magazine publishing articles and reports about azerbaijan and south caucasus available in english and french baku today independent newspaper azadliq state statistical committee of the azerbaijan republic united nations office in azerbaijan with a country report ifex press freedom in azerbaijan azerbaijan amateur astronom |
y often called back yard astronomy in the us is a hobby whose participants enjoy observing celestial objects it is usually associated with viewing the night sky when most celestial objects and events are visible but sometimes amateur astronomers also operate during the day for events such as sunspots and solar eclipses amateur astronomers often look at the sky using nothing more than their eyes but common tools for amateur astronomy include portable telescopes and binoculars aurora australis display over wellington nz november two zero zero one published by nasa spaceweather com comet neat over wellington nz two zero zero three amateur astronomy and scientific research unlike professional astronomy scientific research is not always the main goal for many amateur astronomers work of scientific merit is certainly possible however and many amateurs contribute to the knowledge base of professional astronomers very successfully astronomy is often promoted as one of the few remaining sciences for which amateurs can |
still contribute useful data the majority of scientific contributions by amateur astronomers are in the area of data collection in particular this applies where large numbers of amateur astronomers with small telescopes are more effective than the relatively small number of large telescopes that are available to professional astronomers several organisations such as the center for backyard astrophysics exist to help coordinate these contributions in particular amateur astronomers often contribute toward activities such as monitoring the changes in brightness of variable stars helping to track asteroids and observing occultations to determine both the shape of asteroids and the shape of the terrain on the apparent edge of the moon as seen from earth in the past and present amateur astronomers have also played a major role in discovering new comets recently however funding of projects such as the lincoln near earth asteroid research and near earth asteroid tracking projects has meant that most comets are now d |
iscovered by automated systems long before it is possible for amateurs to see them a newer role for amateurs is searching for overlooked phenomena e g kreutz sungrazers in the vast libraries of digital images and other data captured by earth and space based observatories much of which is available over the internet societies for amateur astronomy there are a large number of amateur astronomical societies around the world that serve as a meeting point for those interested in amateur astronomy whether they be people who are actively interested in observing or armchair astronomers who may be simply interested in the topic societies range widely in their goals depending on a variety of factors such as geographic spread local circumstances size and membership for instance a local society in the middle of a large city may have regular meetings with speakers focusing less on observing the night sky if the membership is less able to observe due to factors such as light pollution it is common for local societies to ho |
ld regular meetings which may include activities such as star parties other activities could include amateur telescope making which was pioneered in america by russell w porter who later played a major role in design and construction of the hale telescope approaches to using amateur telescopes amateur telescopes come in many shapes and sizes both commercial and home built the preferences of people who use them often differ star hopping some amateur astronomers prefer to learn the sky as accurately as they can using maps to find their way between the stars in this case a common approach is to use binoculars or a manually driven telescope combined with star maps to locate items of interest in the sky the normal technique for doing this by locating landmark stars and hopping between them is called star hopping goto telescopes more recently as technology has improved and prices have come down automated goto telescopes have also become a popular choice with these computer driven telescopes the user typically enter |
s the name of the item they wish to look at and the telescope finds it in the sky automatically with comparatively little further effort required by the user the main advantage of a goto telescope for an experienced amateur astronomer is the reduction of wasted time that may have otherwise been used in trying to find a particular object this time can therefore be used more effectively for studying the object comparing methodologies there is significant though usually light hearted debate within the hobby about which method is better promoters of the star hopping approach for finding items in the sky usually argue that they know the sky much better as a result the manual method also tends to require simpler equipment with less calibration and setup time and is therefore more versatile promoters of goto telescopes often argue that they are more interested in studying objects and the reward of finding them or learning exactly where they are is not as important to them it may also be argued that the money spent o |
n complex electronics and mounting systems might be better spent on higher quality optics additional tools and activities in addition to optical equipment amateur astronomers use a variety of other tools such as celestial maps and specialised computer software there is a range of astronomy software available from planetarium programs that simulate the sky to programs used to do various kinds of calculations pertaining to astronomical phenomena most amateur astronomers also keep a record of their observations this can take the form of an observing log in which they record details about which objects were observed and describing the details that were seen astrophotography and sketching are also popularly used to record observations beginning in amateur astronomy there are a many ways for people to become involved in amateur astronomy and study the night sky one option is to join a local astronomical society the members of which will often be very happy to help a newcomer take a more active part some people also |
prefer to simply teach themselves in which case there are likely to be a large amount of books in the local library common objects that are observed early are the moon and planets another thing that most newcomers to amateur astronomy become acquainted with are the more prominent constellations in the night sky when reading maps and interpreting instructions for future star hopping constellations are good starting points for identifying locations in the night sky they are frequently referred to by amateur astronomers when discussing the location of items of interest when looked at with binoculars and telescopes beginning with a goto telescope a relatively new type of beginning amateur astronomer brought about by the increased affordability of powerful goto telescopes is one who begins with such a telescope it is possible for an inexperienced person to immediately look at a large amount of deep sky objects in the night sky without necessarily having any prior experience or training there is currently some deb |
ate among amateur astronomers about the merits of this approach to becoming involved in the hobby and the effects that low priced goto telescopes may be having amateur astronomy is exposed to more people as an individual is less likely to be discouraged by the need to learn how to locate objects in the night sky before being able to see them some are concerned however that newcomers may become bored very quickly a goto telescope does not distinguish between objects that are easy and hard to see and newcomers may therefore begin with objects that require large amounts of experience or understanding to properly appreciate becoming acquainted with the night sky most tutors agree that it is very important to know one s way around the sky by means of the constellations this ability forms a platform from which deeper explorations of the sky are then possible a planisphere can be used to find and identify the constellations these devises show the location of the constellations for any time of the night or time of th |
e year an observer will also need a red flashlight to read star charts or the planisphere use of a red light helps preserve the dark adaptation of the eyes having learned the main constellations a beginner may want to extend their hobby and buy a pair of binoculars or a telescope using binoculars with binoculars it is possible to see many deep sky objects dsos holding the binoculars can produce a shaky image one way to improve the view is with the aid of a sturdy tripod mount to steady the view through the binoculars binoculars are still limited in range although most of the messier catalogue should be visible as well as a great many ngc s especially near the milky way an advantage of binoculars is that they allow more complete wide field views of the larger open clusters such as the pleiades the hyades the coma berenices cluster and praesepe for example of which only portions are usually observable in one field of view at higher magnifications using a telescope with a telescope the sky really comes alive esp |
ecially one that has an aperture of six inches or more some amateur telescopes are built by their owners from scratch but many good quality telescopes can be purchased from reputable companies thousands of dsos are visible in a telescope and the determined amateur with a large about four one cm telescope can push this to tens of thousands or more another type of telescope to consider especially if the amateur is observing with children is a wide field telescope such as edmund scientific s f four astroscan compact reflector this type of telescope is typically a short tube reflector and has an aperture of only eight zero to one two zero mm three one four to four three four inches but is easier to target an object since it offers a much wider field of view with the aid of high power lenses i e eyepieces the amateur can zoom in on planets and some of the closer dsos it is the best of a blend of a telescope s narrow long range light gathering ability with a binocular s wider field of view those who are particularl |
y interested in observing the moon and planets may prefer a high power design such as the maksutov telescope with any telescope though the mount is the most important feature a tripod that doesn t shake every time one uses it is a must too many amateur astronomers give up because they have a hard time targeting an object if the mounting tripod is rock solid the amateur can enjoy their time observing the heavens instead of fighting with the telescope astrophotography a photo taken of comet hale bopp using a standard three five mm camera with a five zero mm lens and four zero zero iso film the exposure was taken for one zero seconds on a tripod using a shutter cable release the next step in an amateur astronomer s quest for more space adventure could be the purchase of a good camera for astrophotography starting out with a good three five mm camera with a five zero mm lens mounted on a tripod and using a cable release and four zero zero or faster speed film the amateur can capture some nice pictures of the plan |
ets and some larger nebula like the orion nebula some of the larger comets and prolific meteor showers can be photographed this way as well as one progresses cameras can be mounted directly on to telescopes capturing on film many dsos special films and even the technique of hypering the film has been employed by the amateur many publications accept these astrophotos in their magazines i e astronomy and sky telescope a more recent development is the use of webcams to do speckle imaging also known as video astronomy the resulting short exposure frames can be stacked using the shift and add method of speckle imaging or selected to do lucky imaging all using commercially available astronomy software sketching as an alternative to photography in order to make a record of observations amateurs also use sketching sketching does not require the use of any specialized equipment and is therefore suitable for beginners as well as advanced amateur observers there are different approaches to sketching that require differe |
nt tools simple pencil sketches can sometimes be used to make accurate renditions of what the observer sees through binoculars or a telescope as the expewrience of the observer increases more advanced drawing tools and techniques can be employed sketching has the advantage of helping the observer scrutinize the object that is seen and can help bring out details that otherwise might have been overlooked suggested reading some good books for amateur astronomers to start with are the stars a new way to see them by hans augusto rey isbn zero three nine five zero eight one two one one nightwatch an equinox guide to viewing the universe by terence dickinson isbn zero nine two zero six five six eight nine seven the backyard astronomer s guide by terence dickinson and alan dyer isbn zero nine two one eight two zero one one nine turn left at orion by guy consolmagno isbn zero five two one three four zero nine zero x skywatching by david h levy and john o byrne isbn zero seven zero seven eight three five four seven fiv |
e one x seeing in the dark how backyard stargazers are probing deep space and guarding earth from interplanetary peril by timothy ferris isbn zero six eight four eight six five seven nine three the complete manual of amateur astronomy by p clay sherrod burnham s celestial handbook an observer s guide to the universe beyond the solar system three vols by robert burnham jr vol one isbn zero four eight six two three five six seven x vol two isbn zero four eight six two three five six eight eight vol three isbn zero four eight six two three six seven three zero see also amateur telescope making astronomical object astronomy observation observational astronomy skygazing external links night sky gazing information for newcomers to the hobby astronomical league society for popular astronomy the uk s biggest society for amateur astronomers astroscopic labs amateur astrophotography reviews and articles amateur astronomy aikido aikid also using an older style of kanji literally meaning joining energy way is a gendai bu |
do a modern japanese martial art practitioners of aikido are known as aikidoka it was developed by morihei ueshiba also known by aikidoka as o sensei over the period of the one nine three zero s to the one nine six zero s technically the major parts of aikido are derived from dait ry aiki j jutsu a form of jujutsu with many joint techniques and kenjutsu or japanese sword technique some believe the tactics in aikido are especially influenced by yagy shinkage ry aikido is also considered to contain a significant spiritual component history the name aikido is formed of three japanese characters usually romanised as ai ki and do these are often translated as meaning union universal energy and way so aikido can be translated as the way to union with universal energy another common interpretation of the characters is harmony spirit and way so aikido can also mean the way of spiritual harmony both interpretations draw attention to the fact that aikido s techniques are designed to control an attacker by controlling a |
nd redirecting their energy instead of blocking it an analogy is often made of the way a flexible willow bends with the storm whereas the stout oak will break if the wind blows too hard the korean martial art commonly known as hapkido uses the same three characters some suggest a historical link through daito ryu the main origin of aikido morihei ueshiba developed aikido mainly from daito ryu aikijutsu incorporating training movements such as those for the yari spear jo a short quarterstaff and perhaps also juken bayonet but arguably the strongest influence is that of the katana sword in many ways an aikido practitioner moves as an empty handed swordsman the aikido strikes shomenuchi and yokomenuchi originated from weapon attacks and resultant techniques likewise from weapon take aways some schools of aikido do no weapons training at all others such as iwama ryu usually spend substantial time with bokken bokuto wooden sword jo and tanto knife in some lines of aikido all techniques can be performed with a swor |
d as well as unarmed aikido was first brought to the west in one nine five one by minoru mochizuki with a visit to france it was introduced to the united states in one nine five three by kenji tomiki and a little later in the same year by koichi tohei the united kingdom followed in one nine five five germany and australia in one nine six five today there are many aikido dojos available to train at throughout the world technique aikido incorporates a wide range of techniques which use principles of energy and motion to redirect neutralise and control attackers one of the central martial philosophies of aikido is to be able to handle multiple attacker circumstances fluidly randori practice against multiple opponents is a key part of the curriculum in most aikido schools and is required for the higher level belts another tenet of aikido is that the aikidoka should gain control of their opponent as quickly as possible while causing the least amount of damage possible to either party if performed correctly size an |
d strength are not important for the techniques to be effective training the methods of training vary from organisation to organisation and indeed even between different dojo in a single organisation typically however a class consists of a teacher demonstrating techniques or principles which the students then practice training is done through mutual technique where the focus is on entering and blending harmonising with the attack rather than on meeting force with force uke the receiver of the technique usually initiates an attack against nage also referred to as tori or shite depending on aikido style who neutralises it with an aikido technique the uke and the nage have equally important roles uke s role is to be honest and committed in attack to use positioning to protect oneself and to learn proper technique through the imbalanced feeling created by nage s technique nage s role is to blend with and neutralise uke s attack without leaving an opening to further attacks simultaneously nage will be studying how |
to create a feeling of being centred on balance and controlled in the application of the aikido technique therefore students must practise both positions in order to learn proper technique when o sensei taught all his students were uke until he deemed them knowledgeable enough of the technique to be nage movement awareness precision distance and timing are all important to the execution of techniques as students progress from rigidly defined exercises to more fluid and adaptable applications eventually students take part in jiyu waza free attack and or randori where the attacks are less predictable most schools employ training methods wherein uke actively attempts to employ counter techniques or kaeshi waza o sensei did not allow competition in training because some techniques were considered too dangerous and because he believed that competition did not develop good character in students most styles of aikido continue this tradition although shodokan aikido see styles started with competitions early on in t |
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