244 résultats pour "resources"
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Renaissance Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Renaissance Composition
During the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries) artists discovered new ways to help them create more realistic and
compelling images.
with reliefs, had been familiar for centuries. A Early Renaissance Sculpture Ghiberti’s Gates of ParadiseThe Gates of Paradise are bronze doors created by Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452for the east entrance to the baptistery of the Florence Cathedral in Italy. This detail, showing Isaac and Esau, is from oneof the doors' ten panels, each of which illustrates a story from the Bible. Ghiberti endowed the scenes with volume, depth,and movement, and helped initi...
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Native Americans of Middle and South America.
A line that snakes across central Mexico near the Tropic of Cancer forms the northern boundary of Mesoamerica; north of this line rainfall sharply declines and theclimate is much drier. The ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica all arose and developed in the area between this line and the Guatemalan highlands far to the south. Richvolcanic soils are found throughout much of the region. A2 People and Languages Mesoamerica was a great melting pot, home to many peoples and interrelated cultures. In...
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Art Nouveau
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INTRODUCTION
Detail of Art Nouveau Decoration
This detail of a door decoration from a building constructed in the early 20th century in Milan, Italy, illustrates the stylistic
themes associated with art nouveau.
Wallpaper by William MorrisIn the early 19th century manufacturers began to mass-produce wallpaper, and the quality of designs suffered. WilliamMorris, a British artist who had become interested in the design of household furnishings and items for everyday use,began to create handmade wallpapers that he integrated into the overall design of the home. This artichoke design isbased on stylized plant motifs, a common theme in art nouveau designs.Art Resource, NY Art nouveau in Britain evolved out o...
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Laos - country.
by the year 2025. About one-quarter of Laos’s people live in mountainous regions. The rest live in upland valleys or on the flood plains of the Mekong and its tributaries.Just over three-quarters of the population live in rural areas, although the proportion of people living in urban areas is steadily increasing. Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos. Louangphrabang, the former royal capital, is an increasingly popular tourist destination. Other major cities are theregional capitals...
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Hungary - country.
Northern Hungary lacks sufficient water, especially between July and October, when precipitation levels are typically low. Canals irrigate the Great Hungarian Plain,which is subject to drought. Because of the country’s mainly flat terrain, only limited water resources can be harnessed for hydroelectric power. F Environmental Issues Rapid industrialization in Hungary following World War II contributed significantly to a number of major environmental problems, including air, water, and soil pollu...
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Iceland - country.
III PEOPLE Icelanders are one of the most homogenous peoples in the world. They are predominantly of Nordic origin, descendants of the hardy people who emigrated fromNorway to Iceland in the Middle Ages. There are also some Celtic influences from Irish and Scottish immigrants who arrived from the British Isles ( see Celts). The population of Iceland (2008 estimate) is 304,367. Numerous times in its history, Iceland has suffered major population losses due to epidemics, volcanic eruptions, and...
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Idaho - geography.
Idaho-Montana state line in the southern part of the Bitterroot Mountains. Consequently, nearly all the rivers in the state drain toward the Pacific. Most of Idaho lieswithin the drainage basin of the Columbia River system. The Snake River, which is the chief river in southern and central Idaho, follows a crescent-shaped course forabout 790 km (about 490 mi) across southern Idaho. It then swings northward along the Idaho state line and joins the Columbia River in Washington. Major tributariesof...
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Idaho - USA History.
Idaho-Montana state line in the southern part of the Bitterroot Mountains. Consequently, nearly all the rivers in the state drain toward the Pacific. Most of Idaho lieswithin the drainage basin of the Columbia River system. The Snake River, which is the chief river in southern and central Idaho, follows a crescent-shaped course forabout 790 km (about 490 mi) across southern Idaho. It then swings northward along the Idaho state line and joins the Columbia River in Washington. Major tributariesof...
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Impressionism (art)
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INTRODUCTION
Vegetable Garden at the Hermitage, Pontoise
Vegetable Garden at the Hermitage, Pontoise (1879) was painted by the French artist Camille Pissarro.
the Grass; 1863, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), which depicts a nude woman at a woodland picnic. To emphasize the woman’snakedness, Manet not only shows that she has recently disrobed (by painting her clothes in a heap nearby) but alsodepicts her male companions fully clothed. In addition, the woman stares directly and unabashedly at the viewer, makingus feel almost like voyeurs as we gaze back. Manet’s painting style–the flat figures, which look almost like cutouts, andloose brushwork–also bewildered a...
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Indian Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Art on the Indian Subcontinent
This map highlights places in India and Pakistan where prominent examples of Indian art and architecture have been
produced.
Sun Temple of KonarakThis 13th-century relief depicting a wheel of the chariot of Indian sun god Surya is situated in the Konarak temple. Thetemple, dedicated to Surya, is situated at Puri in the Gulf of Bengal.Keren Su/Corbis The arts of India expressed in architecture, sculpture, painting, jewelry, pottery, metalwork, and textiles, were spread throughout the Far East with the diffusion ofBuddhism and Hinduism and exercised a strong influence on the arts of China, Japan, Myanmar (formerly known...
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Baroque Art and ArchitectureIINTRODUCTIONGerman Baroque ArchitectureThe baroque style of architecture flourished in Germany in the 18th century.
C Early baroque styles Conversion of Saint PaulItalian baroque painter Caravaggio painted scenes of realism and drama, often selecting lofty, religious themes anddepicting them with lower-class characters and settings with dramatic spotlighting. With its unidealized characters andfocus on the horse’s body, his Conversion of Saint Paul seems to record a stable accident, not a miraculous conversion byGod. This work was painted in 1601 and is in the Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, It...
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Uzbekistan - country.
E Environmental Issues The evaporation of the Aral Sea is one of the worst ecological disasters in the world. The Aral has shrunk so much that it now holds only about one-fifth the volume ofwater it held in 1960. The shrinkage is due to irrigation withdrawals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a practice that began on a massive scale in the early 1960s aspart of the Soviet Union’s ill-conceived drive to increase cotton yields in Central Asia. Growing cotton in the naturally arid and saline soil...
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Montana - geography.
(191 sq mi), is Montana’s largest lake, and the largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous states west of the Mississippi River. C Climate Climatic regions in Montana coincide roughly with the two major physiographic regions. In western Montana, as compared with the eastern plains area, winters tend tobe milder while summers are cooler. Precipitation is more evenly distributed throughout the year in the west, and it is cloudier and somewhat more humid in all seasons.In addition, the grow...
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Montana - USA History.
(191 sq mi), is Montana’s largest lake, and the largest natural freshwater lake in the contiguous states west of the Mississippi River. C Climate Climatic regions in Montana coincide roughly with the two major physiographic regions. In western Montana, as compared with the eastern plains area, winters tend tobe milder while summers are cooler. Precipitation is more evenly distributed throughout the year in the west, and it is cloudier and somewhat more humid in all seasons.In addition, the grow...
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Wyoming (state) - geography.
The basins, which lie in the rain shadow of mountains, are very dry, with an average annual precipitation of about 250 mm (about 10 in) or less; the Great Plains regionhas an annual average of about 380 mm (about 15 in), and the Black Hills region receives slightly more. Thunderstorms and hailstorms are relatively frequent insummer. The annual snowfall ranges from about 500 mm (about 20 in) in the Bighorn Basin to well over 5,100 mm (over 200 in) in the higher mountains, where annualprecipitatio...
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Wyoming (state) - USA History.
The basins, which lie in the rain shadow of mountains, are very dry, with an average annual precipitation of about 250 mm (about 10 in) or less; the Great Plains regionhas an annual average of about 380 mm (about 15 in), and the Black Hills region receives slightly more. Thunderstorms and hailstorms are relatively frequent insummer. The annual snowfall ranges from about 500 mm (about 20 in) in the Bighorn Basin to well over 5,100 mm (over 200 in) in the higher mountains, where annualprecipitatio...
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Cuba - country.
Only two land mammals, the hutia, or cane rat, and the solenodon, a rare insectivore that resembles a rat, are known to be indigenous. The island has numerous batsand nearly 300 kinds of birds, including vultures, wild turkeys, quail, finches, gulls, macaws, parakeets, and hummingbirds. The bee hummingbird of Cuba is thesmallest bird in the world. Among the few reptiles are tortoises, caimans, the Cuban crocodile, and a species of boa that can attain a length of 3.7 m (12 ft). More than700 speci...
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Byzantine Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Archangel Michael
This depiction of the archangel Michael, in Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy, is an example of ancient enamel art.
This Byzantine ivory relief shows Christ the Pantocrator, or ruler of the world, raising his hand in a gesture of blessing. Itcomes from the cover of a lectionary, or book containing portions of the scriptures, and dates from the second golden ageof Byzantine art, the late 10th century. The relief is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England.Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Mosaics were the favored medium for the interior adornment of Byzantine churches. The small cubes, or tesserae, t...
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Ocean and Oceanography.
of sediment. When studied in sedimentary core samples, which can represent many millions of years of deposits, they provide a detailed and continuous history of theearth’s environmental changes. The record is particularly informative for the most recent 2 million to 5 million years, during which major fluctuations in global climatehave occurred. Successive ice ages can be traced by the relative scarcity or abundance of the shells of warm-water and cold-water diatoms in various layers of asedimen...
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Ocean and Oceanography - Geography.
of sediment. When studied in sedimentary core samples, which can represent many millions of years of deposits, they provide a detailed and continuous history of theearth’s environmental changes. The record is particularly informative for the most recent 2 million to 5 million years, during which major fluctuations in global climatehave occurred. Successive ice ages can be traced by the relative scarcity or abundance of the shells of warm-water and cold-water diatoms in various layers of asedimen...
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United Arab Emirates - country.
III PEOPLE Most people living in the UAE (known as Emiris) are Arabs, a large majority of whom are city and town dwellers. A small number are nomadic (having no permanent home). The population has grown dramatically since the mid-1960s, largely due to the influx of oil workers to the country. Four-fifths of the UAE’s inhabitants areforeign workers and their families. The UAE also has a very youthful population, due to the large numbers of young foreign workers, a cultural preference for larg...
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Islamic Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Córdoba Mosque Courtyard
This mosque and courtyard with its repeated horseshoe arches was built between the 8th and 10th centuries in Córdoba,
Spain.
Süleymaniye MosqueThe Süleymaniye Mosque in İstanbul was built in 1550. The architect, Sinan, based his design on Byzantine churches, inparticular the Hagia Sophia. The large central dome above a square opens to smaller spaces vaulted by buttressing half-domes. The four tapering minarets with balconies are characteristic of the architectural style of later Islamic mosques.Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY The few and relatively simple rituals of the Islamic faith gave rise to a unique religious...
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Mesoamerica.
for cooking. In other regions, the earliest ceramics are more sophisticated technically and aesthetically. At around 1800 BC in the Pacific coastal region of Soconusco (in what is now southeastern Chiapas State, Mexico), the earliest pottery was very complex both in forms and decoration. It seems to have had a social function and beenused primarily for ritual feasting. III MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS Over a period of 3000 years, beginning in about 1500 BC, a number of important cultures emerged in M...
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Lithuania - country.
pollution. III PEOPLE Ethnic Lithuanians constitute about 80 percent of the country’s population. The proportion of Lithuanians increased slightly in the first years after the dissolution of theSoviet Union—many Lithuanians returned to their homeland from that country and abroad while some Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians left the country. Russiansand Poles constitute the country’s largest minority groups, each accounting for roughly 7 percent of the population. Jews were the largest mino...
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Pottery
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INTRODUCTION
Pottery, clay that is chemically altered and permanently hardened by firing in a kiln.
basket, or a clay or plaster form. Liquid clay can be poured into plaster molds. A pot can be coil built: Clay is rolled between the palms of the hands and extended intolong coils, a coil is formed into a ring, and the pot is built up by superimposing rings. Also, a ball of clay can be pinched into the desired shape. The most sophisticatedpottery-making technique is wheel throwing. The potter's wheel, invented in the 4th millennium BC, is a flat disk that revolves horizontally on a pivot. Both...
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South Dakota - geography.
C1 Temperatures Average January temperatures are everywhere less than -4° C (24° F) and decrease to less than -12° C (10° F) in some northern sections. The January temperaturesin Sioux Falls range from -16° to -4° C (3° to 24° F). Nightime lows of -29° C (-20° F) occur during most winters. July averages are in the low and middle 20°s C (lowand middle 70°s F) throughout most of the state, and are somewhat lower in the Black Hills. The average temperature range in Sioux Falls in July is 17° to 30...
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South Dakota - USA History.
C1 Temperatures Average January temperatures are everywhere less than -4° C (24° F) and decrease to less than -12° C (10° F) in some northern sections. The January temperaturesin Sioux Falls range from -16° to -4° C (3° to 24° F). Nightime lows of -29° C (-20° F) occur during most winters. July averages are in the low and middle 20°s C (lowand middle 70°s F) throughout most of the state, and are somewhat lower in the Black Hills. The average temperature range in Sioux Falls in July is 17° to 30...
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Saudi Arabia - country.
C Natural Resources Some of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields lie beneath Saudi Arabia and its offshore waters, representing the country’s most economically important naturalresource. In 2007 Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves were estimated at 264 billion barrels. Before the discovery and exploitation of these reserves in the mid-20th century,Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its relatively small population subsisted in a harsh environment with little agricultur...
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Ancient Greece.
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Ancient Greece .
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Ancient Greece - USA History.
The first culture of Aegean civilization on the Greek mainland is named Mycenaean for the palace at Mycenae on the Pelopónnisos. Scholars call the Mycenaeans the“earliest Greeks” because they are the first people known to have spoken Greek. Mycenaean culture developed later than Minoan. The ancestors of the Mycenaean people wandered onto the mainland from the north and the east from about 4000 to2000 BC, mixing with the people already there, and by about 1400 BC the Mycenaeans had become very...
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Florida - USA History.
accidentally introduced into the region in the 1880s, and it spread with alarming rapidity throughout the upper reaches of the river. The plant is very difficult toeradicate, and it has also clogged the channels of other Florida rivers. To increase drainage of the Everglades, which drain naturally to Florida Bay and the Gulf ofMexico, a number of drainage channels and canals have been built across southern Florida. Among the rivers flowing from the peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico are the Suwanne...
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Federal Republic of Germany - country.
B Rivers and Lakes Rivers have played a major role in Germany’s economic development. The Rhine River flows in a northwesterly direction from Switzerland through much of westernGermany and The Netherlands into the North Sea. It is a major European waterway and a pillar of commerce and trade. Its primary German tributaries include theMain, Mosel, Neckar, and Ruhr rivers. The Oder (Odra) River, along the border between Poland and Germany, runs northward and empties into the Baltic; it provides an...
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Surrealism
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INTRODUCTION
Surrealism, artistic and literary movement that explored and celebrated the realm of dreams and the unconscious mind through the creation of visual art, poetry, and
motion pictures.
Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (about 1505-1510).© 2008 Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York./Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Dreams, according to Freud, were the royal road to studying the unconscious, because it is in dreams that our unconscious, primal desires manifest themselves. Theincongruities in dreams, Freud believed, result from a struggle for dominance of ego and id. In attempting to access the real workings of...
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Liberia - country.
West Atlantic, or Kwa linguistic groups. D Education Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15. However, a scarcity of educational facilities means that few Liberians progress beyondprimary school. Almost all children of primary school-age attend school, but the figure drops to 23 percent (1999–2000) for secondary school-age children. Just 60percent of the population was literate in 2005. Higher education is provided by the University of Liberia (1862), in Monro...
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Tunisia - country.
mixture of Berber and Arab stock, and they regard themselves as Arabs. Nearly everyone speaks Arabic. The population of Tunisia is concentrated in the coastal plain. It is fairly dense in the hilly north, but the arid plateau, basin, and south are thinly settled. About two-thirds of the country’s people live in urban areas. A Principal Cities The capital and largest city of Tunisia is the seaport of Tunis. Other important cities include Sfax, a port and center of trade on the eastern coast; Sūs...
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Protests in the 1960s - U.
E Youth Culture Young people played an important role in the movements for social change during the 1960s. Numbers alone made them important; more than 76 million babies wereborn during the post-World War II “baby boom.” In addition, these young people spent more years in school and were more affluent than previous generations. In theearly 20th century, most young Americans had moved quickly from childhood to adulthood. In the 1920s only 1 in 5 Americans graduated from high school, and almostal...
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Gothic Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, was begun in 1163 and completed for the most part in 1250.
and by external arches, called flying buttresses. Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be largely replaced by thinner walls with glass windows,and the interiors could reach unprecedented heights. A revolution in building techniques thus occurred. With the Gothic vault, a ground plan could take on a variety of shapes. The general plan of the cathedrals, however, consisting of a long three-aisled nave interceptedby a transept and followed by a shorter choir and sanctuary,...
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Ghana - country.
times of depressed cacao prices, Ghana has significantly increased exports of timber to generate needed revenue. In 1988 Ghana initiated a conservation plan called the Forest Resource Management Project. In 1989 Ghana restricted the export of 18 tree species, and in 1994 thecountry banned the export of raw logs. About 4.8 percent (1997) of the country’s land is officially protected, but illegal logging threatens Ghana’s remaining forests. Deforestation, overgrazing, and periodic drought have led...
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European Union .
safeguard the interests of the member states, a common assembly with advisory authority only, and a court of justice to settle disputes. D European Economic Community (EEC) In 1957 the participants in the ECSC signed two more treaties, known as the Treaties of Rome. These treaties created the European Atomic Energy Community(Euratom) for the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy and, most important, the European Economic Community (EEC, often referred to as the CommonMarket). The EEC tr...
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Arctic Ocean - Geography.
formal claim. Russia maintains that the Lomonosov Ridge, a seabed feature that extends from Siberia to Greenland, is part of its continental shelf. With the warming of the Arctic Ocean and the melting of sea ice, the competition for seabed rights has grown more acute as nations contemplate the ability to explorefor and exploit seabed resources, especially oil and natural gas deposits. In 2007 Russia claimed sovereignty over the North Pole, and Canada claimed sovereignty overthe Northwest Passage...
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Public Finance.
obtained by borrowing instead of taxation—can be helpful for the economy. For example, when unemployment is high, the government can undertake projects that useworkers who would otherwise be idle. The economy will then expand because more money is being pumped into it. However, deficit spending also can harm theeconomy. When unemployment is low, a deficit may result in rising prices, or inflation. The additional government spending creates more competition for scarce workersand resources and thi...
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Kangaroo - biology.
ungulates, they have evolved multi-chambered stomachs containing bacteria that can break down plant cell walls and release the nutritious cell contents. V SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Kangaroo social life is poorly understood, as few species have been studied in detail. Small species, such as potoroos, bettongs, and musky rat-kangaroos, tend to besolitary and widely dispersed, with a male's territory encompassing those of several females. The animals come together briefly for mating, and mother and offs...
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Byzantine Empire .
Emperor Alexius I, founder of the Comnenian dynasty, nevertheless appealed to the pope for aid against the Turks. Western Europe responded with the First Crusade(1096-99). Although Byzantium initially benefited from the Crusades, recovering some land in Asia Minor, in the long run they hastened the empire's decline. Italian merchant citieswon special trading privileges in Byzantine territory and gained control of much of the empire's commerce and wealth. The Byzantines experienced a superficialp...
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Foreign Trade.
tax policies. Direct government support of various domestic industries is also viewed as a nontariff barrier to trade, because such support puts the aided industries at anunfair advantage among trading nations. V 20TH-CENTURY TRENDS In the first half of the 20th century, equal tariffs for similar goods was not the policy of all nations. Countries levied differential tariffs (charging lower tariffs to favorednations) and established other restrictive trading practices as weapons to fight unfrien...
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Guinea - country.
Mining operations in 2004 yielded 16 million metric tons of bauxite, 468,400 carats of high-quality diamonds, and 16,000 kg (35,300 lb) of gold. Environmental concernsand political instability in neighboring Liberia have delayed exploitation of high-grade iron ore from Mount Nimba. In 1999 the national budget included $466 million in revenues and $414 million in expenditures. The unit of currency is the Guinean franc, which is divided into 100 centimes (3,644 francs equal U.S.$1; 2005 average...
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Middle East - geography.
years.Spectrum Colour Library Apart from the Nile River, which provides much of the water supply and irrigation systems of Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which supply Iraq, Syria, andTurkey, there are no major rivers or navigable waterways. The Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) in northern Israel, fed from the north by the shallow, unnavigable JordanRiver, provides Israel’s main source of fresh water. With such a limited water supply, access to water for drinking, irrigation, and hydro...
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Togo - country.
corn, millet, and sorghum. The leading export crops are coffee, cotton, groundnuts, and cacao. Livestock, chiefly sheep and goats, are raised on the northern plateau.Fish are caught in Togo’s rivers and in the Gulf of Guinea. B Mining and Manufacturing Togo is a leading producer of phosphates, which are by far the country’s most significant mineral product. In 2004, 400,000 metric tons of phosphate rock were mined.Industrial activity is limited but growing. The leading manufactures include ceme...
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Temple (building)
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INTRODUCTION
Wat Phra Kaeo
Thailand has nearly 18,000 Buddhist temples, called wats, throughout the country.
colonnaded terraces connected by ramps. The surrounding area was planted with trees and flowers during Hatshepsut’sreign and for many years after.Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY In ancient Egypt, temples were grandiose, built of huge blocks and columns of stone. Often they were enlarged by successive rulers to form strung-out series of templeparts, as in the gigantic Temple of Amon (circa 1550-1070 BC) at Al Karnak. The Nile cliffs were used as settings for temples, such as the massive mortuar...
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Cubism
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INTRODUCTION
Cubism, movement in modern art, especially in painting, invented by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and French artist Georges Braque in 1907 and 1908.
Mont Sainte-Victoire by CézanneFrench artist Paul Cézanne painted Mont Sainte-Victoire, a mountain near his home in Provence in southern France, onmany occasions. Over time, the images he produced became flatter, less realistic, and more abstract. In this late version,painted from 1902 to 1904, patches of color barely indicate the mountain, sky, and foreground, while creating a rhythmicpattern across the painting’s surface. The mountain and sky, both intensely blue, appear almost to merge.Philad...