Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
Under-diagnosis 
In the past, autism was considered a disorder for white boys. Still, more white boys are diagnosed, and it is 4 times more diagnosed in boys than in girls.Girls and children of color are under-diagnosed. Under-diagnosed means that girls and people of color are not diagnosed as often as they should be. This means that many girls and children of color do not get a diagnosis. They may receive a different diagnosis, or they may not receive any diagnosis at all. Now, more girls and children of color are getting diagnosed. Many women and people of color also get a diagnosis or realize they are autistic as adults. Another reason might be that girls are more likely to mask or camouflage their autism to fit in.

Causes 
Scientists do not know exactly what causes autism. There may be many different causes for autism. Scientists do know about some things that make a person more likely to have an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Genes 
Autism may be caused by genes. Genes are passed on from parents to children. If you have an autistic family member, you are more likely to be autistic. Some doctors look for the genes that cause autism. This is criticized by some autistic people.

Differences in the brain 
Some researchers think that differences in the brain may cause autism. However, no one type of abnormal functioning of the brain is the only cause of autism. Still, scientists found some differences between the brains of autistic people and the brains of people who are not autistic. Autistic people and non-autistic people might use their brain differently. Autistic people might use certain parts of the brain more than non-autistic people.
Risk Factors During Pregnancy 
There are some factors during pregnancy that can make autism more likely. The likelihood of autism increases if the mother uses thalidomide, valproic acid or drinks too much alcohol during pregnancy. The risk for autism also increases with the age of father and mother at the time of pregnancy.
Maternal folate deficiency is also a prenatal and perinatal factor that is a risk factor for autism. Folate (i.e., Folic Acid) is a micronutrient that is a type of B vitamin. This nutrient can play a vital role in a uterus’s development and the production of healthy red blood cells. A person can obtain folate in their diet by consuming fruits and vegetables as various supplements. It was hypothesized that maternal supplementation of folate can help reduce a baby’s risk of developing ASD. Research on the relationship between folate and Autism Spectrum Disorder has had mixed results. Studies conducted by Raghavan et al. (2017) and Levine et al. (2018) found that when a mother was exposed to folate through supplements before and/or during pregnancy, there was a reduced risk of the child having Autism. However, in Egorova et al
.’s (2020) study of the biomarkers found in the blood serum samples of mothers of children with Autism, it was found that higher levels of folate were correlated with an increased risk of ASD.
Debunked Theories 
Some thing don't cause autism but people used to think they did.

"Refrigerator Mother" Theory 
Scientists used to think that the parents caused autism by not loving their child enough. This is not true.

Scientists know that parents do not cause their children's autism.

Vaccines 
Scientists do know for sure that vaccines do not cause autism. Vaccines do not even make a person more likely to have autism, even if they are already likely to have autism before they get their vaccines.

One paper said in 1997 that vaccines caused autism. This study did not do research the right way. Many studies have shown that this is not true. Vaccines do not cause autism. This paper was retracted, which means that it was unpublished because it was incorrect.

Diagnosis 
Diagnosing autism can be hard because there is no medical test like a blood test. Instead, an evaluation is made by a team of doctors and other health professionals who are experienced in autism and know the person trying to get diagnosed.
Diagnosis in children 
A reliable diagnosis can first be given at the age of two. At the age of 18 and 24 months, children should get a check-up. If anything wrong is noticed, a further evaluation is done. In this, a team of professionals will talk to the child’s guardians about the child’s behaviour and see what they are like in different settings. This may also include behavioural or physical assessments as well as intelligence tests or developmental tests. A good, detailed history of the child is often very useful in getting a diagnosis.

Diagnosis in adults 
Autism can be diagnosed in adults as well as children. This can be difficult because autism has symptoms that can also be a part of other disorders, such as OCD, that may have appeared by adulthood. An expert will usually ask the adult about concerns, challenges in life (such as socially or behaviourally) as well as standardised testing in these areas. They also often ask for a developmental history.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) 
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association published the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). In order to be diagnosed with autism, a person must fulfill two standardized criteria. It is important that individuals must show symptoms from early childhood, even if those symptoms are recognized later. These symptoms have to limit everyday functioning. These symptoms also cannot be explained by an intellectual disability or a developmental delay.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviours.
Co-occurring conditions 
Autism spectrum disorder includes a wide range of symptoms, skills and levels of disability. Some autistic people also have learning disabilities, mental health issues or other conditions. This means that autism can also co-occur with other conditions and symptoms of the following disorders:
 Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
 Learning disability
 Intellectual disability
 Anxiety disorder

In the DSM-V, making a diagnosis of autism means a formal diagnosis of other psychiatric disorders cannot be made. Therefore, other mental health conditions may be undiagnosed in an autistic person, because it is impossible to make a comorbid clinical diagnosis.
Treatment 
Since autism is a spectrum, every person with autism is different. Different treatments help different people. There are a few different categories of treatment. The main ones are medication, different therapies and diets. The treatment is fitted depending on what a person with autism needs.

Medication 
It is still unclear what causes autism. There may be a few causes. At the moment, it is only possible to lower the symptoms of autism. A full recovery from autism is not possible. If therapies cannot reduce the symptoms of autism, medications are used additionally. Often, several medications are used at the same time to treat different symptoms of autism.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) 
Serotonin is a chemical messenger that transports signals between cells and is very important for normal function, such as with sensory perception, memory, learning, and sleep, all of which are impaired in autistic people.
Researchers have not yet found a link between autism and serotonin, although they have been successful in treating autism with SSRIs, which stop cells from absorbing serotonin, meaning more is used for signals.

They can be used to treat repetitive behaviour, aggression, hyperactive behaviour and outbursts of anger. The SSRIs can have many side-effects. Usually the medication is better tolerated by adults than by children. Examples of SSRIs are Clomipramine, Fluvoxamine, Sertraline, Venlafaxine, Trazodone and Mirtazapine.
Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain. It helps to do movements, release hormones and strengthen cognitive abilities. Researchers found that increasing the amount of dopamine in the brain will worsen the symptoms of autism. Substances that help to reduce symptoms of autism are the antipsychotic drugs. There are two types of antipsychotic medications. One of the types are typical antipsychotics. They block the sites where dopamine would bind to a cell. Atypical antipsychotic drugs on the other hand block the sites where dopamine or serotonin would bind to a cell. Antipsychotic medicine is the most successful treatment for excitability in autism. It can also help to reduce aggression, self-injury, hyperactivity and repetitive behaviours, although it may have many side-effects. Originally, antipsychotic medications were used to treat mental disorders like depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Examples of antipsychotic drugs are Haloperidol, Clozapine, Risperidone and Paliperidone.
Psychostimulants 
In the beginning, psychostimulants were only used for patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Researchers found out that they can also help patients with autism. The medication can reduce hyperactivity and inattention in people with autism. The medication can have many side-effects. Examples are Methylphenidate, Clonidine and Guanfacine.
Diet 
People with autism often have problems with their digestive organs like the stomach or gut. These problems could be inflammations, abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea or bacterial overgrowth. The reasons may be malnutrition, food intolerances or allergies. Specific food products causing these problems are left out from the diet. In many cases, products containing gluten or casein, the main protein occurring in dairy products, are excluded. In many cases vitamins, minerals as well as essential fatty acids are additionally provided. A big problem is that many autistic people cannot tell that they have pain. Because of this, many problems concerning the digestive organs are not noticed.

Therapies 
Applied Behavioral Analysis
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) uses research-supported data to design treatment protocols that aim to reduce problematic behavior among individuals with autism and build habits and skills to help them live more independently. ABA often includes different types of therapies including occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc.

Occupational therapy 
Therapy can be used to minimize distress caused by sensory overload. Special therapy plans are created for each autistic person. What is part of these plans depends on what the autistic person needs help with. The therapist tries to help the autistic person in many different aspects.

One part of this is sensory integration. The therapist will help the patient to make sense of different sensory inputs. For example, they may ask a child patient to play with finger paints or collect objects from a bag of dried beans.
Another part is the training of daily life activities. The therapist may help the patient to get used to things like getting dressed, eating, hygiene, shopping and financial management. These may be done one step at a time if the activity involves multiple steps, such as cooking.

Play therapy is also helpful, especially for children. It can be useful to learn about certain emotions, which can be hard for autistic people. This can also be used to help learn social conventions, such as shaking hands instead of hugging when meeting a stranger.

Therapy with animals 
Often animals are used to help autistic people. Most often dogs or horses are used. The people diagnosed with autism can care for these animals, pet them, and, in the case of the horse, even ride on them. Studies showed that the interaction between an autistic person and animals can increase communication, reduce stress, fear, and aggression, and reduce the severity of the symptoms of autism.
Music therapy 
Music therapy consists of two parts. One is an active listening part. Here, the therapist is making music himself or playing music from a record. In the other part, the autistic person can make music himself like playing an instrument or singing. Music therapy will improve different aspects of communication.

Art therapy 
Here, different materials and techniques are used to draw pictures. The aim of art therapy is to make the autistic person more flexible and relaxed and to improve communication skills, self-image and learning skills. The effects of the therapy can be long lasting and transferred to the school, work or home setting.

Related pages 
 Nonverbal learning disorder (common in people with autism spectrum disorders)
 Asperger Syndrome (a form of autism spectrum disorder)
 Imprinted Brain Theory
 Monotropism

Other websites 
 
 
 National Autistic Society http://www.autism.org.uk
 What’s the relationship between Autism and ADHD?
 About Autism from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Scientific studies
 Five Very Different and Major Psych Disorders Have Shared Genetics - from Science World Report (February 28, 2013) (shows genetic links between autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia)
 5 Disorders Share Genetic Risk Factors, Study Finds - from The New York Times (February 28, 2013)
 Psychiatric Disorders Linked Genetically - from the Wall Street Journal (February 27, 2013)
 How to talk about autism: guidance from the community

References 

 
Pervasive developmental disorders
The Italian language is a Romance language spoken in Italy. Other countries that use Italian as their official language are San Marino, Vatican City and Switzerland.  Slovenia, and Croatia also use Italian as an official language, but only in some regions.  Italian is spoken by about 70 million people in several countries, including some parts of Monaco, Malta, Albania, Montenegro, Dodecanese (Greece), Eritrea, Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tunisia. The standard version from Tuscany is used for most writing but other dialects are sometimes written.

It is mostly derived from Latin, with some words from Greek, Etruscan and elsewhere. It is called an inflected language - that means that the meaning of words can be changed by changing their endings. Italian nouns are either masculine or feminine in gender (these usually have little to do with natural genders).

Most singular masculine nouns end in -o, and most plural masculine nouns end in -i.
Most singular feminine nouns end in -a, and most plural feminine nouns end in -e.

So:
  = male cat
  = female cat
  = male cats
  = female cats

The ending of verbs are quite complicated because of conjugation. The endings depend upon the tense of the verb (past, present, future and so on) and on the person of the verb (I, you, they etc.). Because Italian grammar uses endings for these inflections, the personal pronoun is not always needed (in the following example it is in parenthesis).

So:
 (io) parlo = I speak
 (noi) parliamo = we speak
 (lui) parlava = he was speaking
 (loro) parlarono = they spoke
 (io) parlerò = I will speak
 parliamo! = let's speak!

There are very many of these endings to learn - it is one of the more difficult parts of the Italian Grammar. But pronunciation is simple - there are just a few rules to learn, and hardly any difficult sounds.
Many Italian words for food have entered the English language, such as: pizza, spaghetti and ravioli. Many technical words in music are Italian, such as forte and allegro. Many musical instrument names are also Italian, such as cello and tuba. Mafia and vendetta come from the darker side of Italian culture. 

Pidgin versions of the Italian language were developed in the colonies of Italy: the most important were in Eritrea, Somalia and Libya.

Further reading

References

Other websites 

 Italian grammar and interactive course
 Italian proverbs
 Italian Learning Tips 
 Italian Grammar Primer 
 Italian Online Dictionaries and Glossaries 
 A dictionary of Italian orthography and pronunciation
 English-Italian Dictionary and English-Italian Dictionary on http://www.wordreference.com/
The Republic of Namibia is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south. It does not border Zimbabwe, but it is very close to it. It gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Before that it was called South West Africa. Its capital is Windhoek.

Before World War I Namibia was a German colony. German is still widely spoken in the country, although English is the official language.

Namibia has a population of 2.1 million people.

The name of the country is from the Namib Desert.  This is said to be the oldest desert in the world.
History 
The dry lands of Namibia were lived in since early times by Bushmen, Damara and Nama. About the 14th century AD, Bantu came to the area from central Africa. From the late 18th century onwards, Orlam clans from the Cape Colony crossed the Orange River.  They moved into the area that today is southern Namibia. The nomadic Nama tribes were largely peaceful. The missionaries with the Orlams were well received by them, the right to use waterholes and grazing was given. On their way further north, the Orlams met clans of the Herero tribe.  They were not as friendly. The Nama-Herero War started in 1880.  They did not stop until Imperial Germany sent troops.

The first Europeans to explore the region were the Portuguese navigators Diogo Cão in 1485 and Bartolomeu Dias in 1486. Like most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia was not largely explored by Europeans until the 19th century.  At this time traders and settlers arrived, mostly from Germany and Sweden.
German rule
Namibia became a German colony in 1884.  This was to stop the British.  The country was called German South-West Africa.   From 1904 to 1907, the Herero and the Namaqua took up arms against the Germans.  In the following Herero and Namaqua genocide, 10,000 Nama (half the population) and about 65,000 Hereros (about 80% of the population) were killed.

South African rule
South Africa began to rule the land in 1915.  They defeated the German force during World War I.  It was a League of Nations mandate territory from 1919.  In 1946 the League was replaced by the United Nations.  South Africa would not give up their rule of the land.  Many people thought the land should be independent from South Africa.  In 1971 South Africa was told their hold on the country was illegal.  They still did not leave.

The country officially became independent on 21 March 1990. Sam Nujoma became the first President of Namibia.

Administrative divisions
Namibia is divided into 14 regions and subdivided into 121 constituencies. Regional councillors are directly elected through secret ballots.

Cities

 Gobabis
 Grootfontein
 Henties Bay
 Karasburg
 Karibib
 Keetmanshoop
 Mariental
 Okahandja
 Omaruru
 Otjiwarongo
 Outjo
 Swakopmund
 Tsumeb
 Usakos
 Walvis Bay
 Windhoek (capital)

Tourism

Tourism is a major contributor (14.5%) to Namibia's economy.  It creates tens of thousands of jobs (18.2% of all employment).  There are over a million tourists per year. The country is among the main tourist places in Africa and is known for ecotourism which features Namibia's extensive and diverse wildlife.
There are many lodges and reserves for tourists. Sport Hunting is also a large, and growing part of the Namibian economy.  It was 14% of total tourism in the year 2000. Namibia has numerous species wanted by international sport hunters. In addition, extreme sports such as sandboarding and 4x4ing have become popular. Many cities have companies that provide tours. The most visited places include the Caprivi Strip, Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei, the Skeleton Coast Park, Sesriem, Etosha Pan and the coastal towns of Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Lüderitz.

Education

Namibia has required free education for 10 years between the ages of 6 and 16. Grades 1–7 are primary level, grades 8–12 secondary.

Most schools in Namibia are state-run. There are a few private schools. There are four teacher training colleges, three colleges of agriculture, a police training college, a Polytechnic at university level, and a National University.
Sport
The most popular sport in Namibia is football. The Namibia national football team qualified for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.  They have yet to qualify for any World Cups. The Namibian rugby team has been in four separate World Cups. Namibia were participants in the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cups.  Cricket is also popular. The national team played in the 2003  Cricket World Cup.

Inline Hockey was first played in 1995.  It has become more and more popular in the last years. The Women's Inline Hockey National Team were in the 2008 FIRS World Championships. Namibia is the home for one of the toughest footraces in the world, the Namibian ultra marathon.

The most famous athlete from Namibia is certainly Frankie Fredericks, sprinter (100 and 200 m). He won four Olympic silver medals (1992, 1996). He also has medals from several World Athletics Championships. He is also known for humanitarian activities in Namibia and further.
Related pages
List of rivers of Namibia
Namibia at the Olympics
Namibia national football team

References

Other websites 

 Republic of Namibia - Namibian Governmental Portal

 
English-speaking countries
German-speaking countries
Commonwealth member states
Jubal Anderson Early  (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War.  He commanded a corps in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. He invaded the north in 1864.  After the war, he was one of the major defenders of the Confederate.

References 

1816 births
1894 deaths
Confederate Army generals
Military people from Virginia
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Daresbury, Cheshire, 27 January 1832 – Guildford, Surrey, 14 January 1898). Dodgson was an Oxford don, a logician (mathematics expert), a writer, a poet, an Anglican clergyman, and a photographer. He is most famous for his story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which he told to a young friend, Alice Liddell, when he took the girl and two sisters on a boat trip. Alice enjoyed the story and asked Dodgson to write it down. Carroll then wrote a second story about Alice called Through the Looking-Glass. Both stories are still popular all over the world.

Dodgson was a Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford, specialising in logic and mathematics. He wrote a number of books and pamphlets on the subject. He died of pneumonia in Guildford, Surrey.

Works
Works

Literary works
 La Guida di Bragia, a ballad opera for the marionette theatre (around 1850)
 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
 Phantasmagoria, and other poems (1869). A collection of poems. 
 Through the Looking-Glass, and what Alice found there (includes "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter") (1871)
 Pillow Problems
 The Hunting of the Snark (1876)
 Rhyme? and Reason? (1883) A collection of poems, including Phantasmagoria and The Hunting of the Snark
 A Tangled Tale (1886)
 Sylvie and Bruno (1889)
 Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893)
 Three Sunsets and other poems
 What the Tortoise said to Achilles (1895)
Mathematical works 
 A syllabus of Plane Algebraic Geometry (1860)
 The Fifth Book of Euclid treated algebraically (1858 and 1868)
 The Alphabet Cipher.
 An elementary treatise on determinants, with their application to simultaneous linear equations and algebraic equations
 Euclid and his modern rivals (1879), both literary and mathematical in style
 Symbolic Logic Part I
 Symbolic Logic Part II (published posthumously)
 The Game of Logic
 Some popular fallacies about vivisection
 Curiosa Mathematica I (1888)
 Curiosa Mathematica II (1892)
 The Theory of Committees and Elections, collected, edited, analyzed, and published in 1958, by Duncan Black
Further reading 
 Bowman, Isa 1899. The Story of Lewis Carroll, told by the real Alice in Wonderland. Dent, London
 Cohen, Morton N. 1995. Lewis Carroll: a biography. London: Macmillan. 
 Clark, Ann 1979. Lewis Carroll: a biography. London: J.M. Dent) 
 Collingwood, Stuart Dodgson 1898. The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll. London: T. Fisher Unwin
 De La Mare, Walter 1932. Lewis Carroll. Faber & Faber, London.
 Dodgson, Charles L. The Pamphlets of Lewis Carroll, v.1 The Oxford Pamphlets (1993) ; v.2 The Mathematical Pamphlets (1994) ; v.3 The Political Pamphlets (2001) ; v.4 The Logic Pamphlets (2010) 
 Lennon, Florence Becker 1947. Lewis Carroll: a biography. Cassell, London. 
 Williams et al 1979. The Lewis Carroll handbook. Dawson, Kent. List of literature by and about Dodgson.

References
References 

1832 births
1898 deaths
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Deaths from pneumonia
English Anglicans
English children's writers
English mathematicians
English novelists
English photographers
English poets
Infectious disease deaths in England
Pen names
People educated at Westminster School, London
Writers from Cheshire
Events
 April 15 – Roerich Pact signed in Washington D.C.

Births 
January 8 – Elvis Presley, musician (d. 1977)
February 5 – Hank Aaron, professional baseball player
March 31 – Herb Alpert, musician
July 17 – Donald Sutherland, actor
August 30 - John Phillips, American guitarist (The Mamas & the Papas) (d. 2001)
September 29 – Jerry Lee Lewis, muisican
October 12 - Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer (The Three Tenors) (d. 2007)
December 1 – Woody Allen, movie maker

People who were born in this year but their day of birth is unknown
 Mike O'Malley, English actor

Death 

 November 9 - Santadasji Kathia Baba, Hindu Philosopher  (b. 1859)

Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Hans Spemann, a German doctor and zoologist.

Movies released 
The Turn of the Tide

Hit songs
 "Lullaby of Broadway" – by Al Dubin and Harry Warren, from the movie Gold Diggers of 1935, won the Academy Award for the best song.
Belize () is a country in Central America. It used to be called British Honduras, but changed its name in 1973. Long before that it was part of the Mayan Empire. Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America. 

Some people in Belize speak Spanish or Kriol, but English is the official language and the most commonly spoken. This is because Belize is a former colony of the United Kingdom, while its neighbors were once colonies of Spain. Many people speak two languages. Belize is a melting pot of cultures. 

More than three hundred and thirty thousand (374,681 (2017))  people live in Belize. Kriols make up about 21% of the Belizean people. Three Maya groups now live in the country: the Yucatec, the Mopan, and Kekchi.  The Garinagu are a mix of African, Arawak, and Carib ancestry.  There are also Mestizos.
Belmopan, which is near the centre of the country, is its capital. The first capital was Belize City. Other towns and cities include Belize City, Corozal Town, Orange Walk Town, Punta Gorda, Santa Elena/San Ignacio (known as the twin town) and San Pedro Town.

Belize is on the coast of the Caribbean Sea.  There are about 450 islands. The largest island, Ambergris Caye, is forty kilometres long.  Many other islands are very small. In the water around the islands are coral reefs.

The temperature along the coast is hot all year round.  It typically ranges from 21 °C to 32 °C. Sometimes hurricanes hit, causing great damage.

Geography
Geography

Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. To the east is the Caribbean Sea.  The Belize Barrier Reef is along most of the  of predominantly marshy coastline. Belize have the second largest living barrier reef in the world. The area of the country totals . There are many lagoons along the coasts and in the northern part of the country.  This makes the actual land area smaller at .

The Hondo and the Sarstoon River make the northern and southern border.
The north of Belize is mostly flat, swampy coastal plains. In some places it is heavily forested. The south has the low mountain range of the Maya Mountains. The highest point in Belize is Doyle's Delight at .  The Caribbean coast is lined with a coral reef and about 450 islets and islands.The islands are locally called cayes (pronounced "keys"). Three of only four coral atolls in the Western Hemisphere are off the coast of Belize.

Over 60% of Belize's land surface is covered by forest. 20% is covered by cultivated land (agriculture) and human settlements.  There are also important mangrove ecosystems across Belize's landscape.

Districts
Districts

Belize is divided into 6 districts.  The districts are shown below with their areas (in km2) and number of people at the 2010 Census:
Belize District  4,204 – 89,247
Cayo District  5,338 – 73,202
Corozal District  1,860 – 40,324
Orange Walk District  4,737 – 45,419
Stann Creek District  2,176 – 32,166
Toledo District  4,649 – 30,538
Total areas and number of people  22,964 – 312,971

These districts are further divided into 31 constituencies.

Cities
The largest communities as of 2017 are:

Armed forces
The Belize Defence Force (BDF) is the military.  It is responsible for protecting Belize. In 1997, the regular army had over 900 people, the reserve army 381, the air wing 45 and the maritime wing 36.  This amounts to an overall strength of about 1400. In 2005, the maritime wing became part of the Belizean Coast Guard. In the same year, the government spent $1.2 million on the military.  This is 1.87% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
After Belize became independent in 1981 the United Kingdom kept some military in the country to protect it from invasion by Guatemala. The main British force left in 1994.  This was three years after Guatemala said Belize was independent.  The United Kingdom still keeps some military people in the country. In 2011 the base was only 10 soldiers due to British budget cuts.  They hope to reopen the base later.

Culture
Culture

Cuisine
Belizean cuisine is inspired by British, Mexican and Western Caribbean cooking. Since Belize is a melting pot of culture, it has adopted dishes from many different countries. The basic ingredients are rice and beans.  These are often eaten with chicken, pork, veal, fish or vegetables. Coconut milk and fried plantains are added to the dishes to create a truly tropical taste. Exotic ingredients include armadillo meat, venison, iguana, iguana egg, and fried paca. Conch soup is a traditional dish.  It has a characteristic taste and thick consistency due to added okra, potatoes, yams, cassava flour and a touch of toasted habanero. Belizean food is almost always served alongside white rice in coconut milk.

The most common dishes that you will encounter in Belize are the following:

Mestizo- Tamales, Relleno, Escabeche, Empanades and many other corn food. 

Creole- The famous Rice and Beans, sere, and other dishes with may include cassava and yam.
Sports
The major sports in Belize are football, basketball, volleyball and cycling.  There are smaller followings of boat racing, track & field, softball and cricket. Fishing is also popular in areas of Belize. The Cross Country Cycling Classic is one of the most important Belize sports events. This one-day sports event is meant for amateur cyclists but has also gained a worldwide popularity.

On Easter day, citizens of Dangriga participate in a yearly fishing tournament. First, second, and third prize are awarded based on a scoring combination of size, species, and number. The tournament is broadcast over local radio stations.  Prize money is awarded to the winners.

Belize's National Basketball Team is the only National Team to have major victories internationally.

National Symbols

Black Orchid
Black Orchid

The black orchid (Encyclia Cochleatum) is the National Flower of Belize. This orchid grows on trees in damp areas, and flowers nearly all year round. Its clustered bulblike stems vary in size up to six inches long and carry two or three leaves.

The black orchid flower has greenish-yellow petals and sepals with purple blotches near the base. The "lip" (one petal of special construction, which is the flower's showiest) is shaped like a valve of a clamshell (hence the name Encyclia Cochleatum) and is deep purple-brown, almost black, with conspicuous radiating purple veins.

Mahogany Tree
Mahogany Tree

The National Tree of Belize is the Mahogany Tree (Swietenia macrophylla), one of the magnificent giants of the Belize rain forest. It rises straight and tall to over a hundred feet. In the early months of the year, when the leaves fall and new red-brown growth appears, the tree can be seen from a great distance. The tree puts out a many small whitish flowers.  The flowers blossom into dark fruits, which are pear-shaped capsules about six inches long. The mahogany tree matures in 60 to 80 years.

Keel Billed Toucan
Keel Billed Toucan

The Keel Billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) is the National Bird of Belize. It is noted for its great, canoe-shaped bill and its brightly coloured green, blue, red and orange feathers. There are toucans in open areas of the country with large trees. It is mostly black with bright yellow cheeks and chest, red under the tail and a distinctive white patch at the base of the tail. They make a monotonous frog-like croak. Toucans like fruits.  They eat by cutting with the serrated edge of their bills.

Tapir
The Tapir or Mountain Cow (Tapirello Bairdii) is the largest land mammal of the American tropics. The tapir is a stoutly built animal with short legs, about the size of a donkey and weighs up to 600 pounds. Its general color is dusty brown with a white fringe around the eyes and lips, white tipped ears and occasional white patches of fur on the throat and chest.
In spite of its local name, the tapir is not a cow. It is closely related to the horse and is also kin to the rhinoceros. The tapir is a vegetarian. It spends much of its time in water or mud shallows, and is a strong swimmer.

The National Animal is protected under the law thus the hunting of the tapir is illegal.

Related pages
Belize at the Olympics
Belize national football team
List of rivers of Belize

References

Notes

Other websites
 
 
 

 
Current monarchies
Caribbean Community
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Michael Landon (October 31, 1936 - July 1, 1991) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles on the TV shows, Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, and Highway to Heaven.

Other websites 
Little House Wiki: Michael Landon

1935 births
1991 deaths
American television actors
Actors from New York City
The RMS Titanic was a British passenger ship. It was built by Harland and Wolff ship builders, in Belfast, for the White Star Line company. It sank during the first trip at sea.

Before the Titanic sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ships of this design to sink.

Sinking on  

At 11:40 PM on 14 April 1912, during the Titanic's first trip, it hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. The iceberg broke the Titanic's hull (bottom), letting water into the ship. The Titanic sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 AM on 15 April.

As it sank, the Titanic split in two. The wreck killed over 1,500 people. Only around 705 people survived. It was one of the worst shipwrecks that was not during a war.
One reason why so many people died was that the ship did not have enough lifeboats for everyone on board. The Titanic had 20 lifeboats with room for 1,178 passengers, only a third of the number of passengers the ship could carry. It actually had more lifeboats than was needed by law (it needed 16 with room for 990 passengers). This was because the laws in the UK were out of date. They did not say that a ship needed enough lifeboats for all passengers. They only said that a ship weighing more than 10,000 tons needed 16 lifeboats (the Titanic weighed 46,000 tons). Furthermore, the White Star Line believed that the lifeboats on the Titanic would only be needed to take passengers a short distance to a rescue ship.
Higher class women and children were allowed on the lifeboats first, and passengers who sailed in first class (which meant that they paid for better rooms on the ship) were allowed on before other passengers. Few of the poorer people who had paid less (called second class and third class passengers) got out safely.

Another reason so few people survived was that the radio was off on the SS Californian, the ship closest to the Titanic. The Californian crew did not hear about the accident. Also, the Titanic did have flares but they were white. Back then (and still now), red meant emergency and other colors were used for identification (White = White Star Line). The Californian and other ships saw the flares but they didn't think of the flares as distress signals. Another ship, the SS Carpathia, did hear about the accident and collected all 705 survivors.

This had several reasons:
There was no information. The ship didn't have an alarm system (like the common ones, where sirens could be sounded). This means that the crew had to tell each passenger to go and evacuate the ship. There was less crew for second and third class, and there were much more people.
 People who paid less had no access to certain decks.
 There was a clear separation between the classes. The passage between decks of different classes could be locked. This was especially a problem in the first phase of the evacuation. According to some survivors, some passages were not opened even when the ship started sinking.
 Many people travelling in third class were foreigners. Their language skills were limited.
The following table gives a listing of those who died and those who survived, grouped by age, gender and ships class. Children are those up to age 12. It is taken from a report to British parliament of 1912. There are other lists, with slightly different numbers.

Last survivor
The last survivor of the Titanic disaster to die was a woman named Millvina Dean. She was the youngest passenger on board, as she was then a baby of only nine weeks old. She died in Ashhurst, Hampshire, England on 21 May 2009 aged 97.

Changes after the accident 
The Titanic disaster changed many maritime ship laws. Because so many people died, authorities felt that laws should be put into place to make ship travel safer. Changes included requiring all ships to carry enough lifeboats for everyone on the ship, and emergency materials such as flares.  Someone must be at the ship's radio all the time.
Alexander Brehm, a German physicist, was shocked when he heard about the disaster. He wanted to invent a technology that would be able to detect icebergs. He wasn't able to achieve that goal until his death, but he was granted patents relating to the measurement of the depth at sea, using sound. Today, this is known as echo sounding.

Discovery

The wreck was found by a French and American team, led by Robert Ballard, on September 1, 1985 early that morning.

In 1986, Ballard returned to the wreck with a submarine. He took many photos and made lots of films.

In 1987, a French team salvaged 900 objects and took them to the surface.

Culture 
The story of the sinking has been made into several movies. The most popular film version is a 1997 film starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio called Titanic. It won 11 Academy Awards, tying Ben-Hur for the record for the most Academy Awards won by one movie.
Other movie versions of the story include the 1958 film A Night to Remember, the 1953 film Titanic, the 1979 film S.O.S. Titanic and the 1996 movie Titanic.

In the 1980 film Raise the Titanic, directed by Jerry Lameson, salvagers raise the shipwreck from the bottom of the ocean to the surface.  However, this is impossible to do in reality.  The Titanic broke in two, and the wreck is partially stuck in the bottom, buried under more than a yard (1 m) of mud in some spots.  The ship has been on the ocean floor for more than 100 years, and would shatter into many more pieces if disturbed.  Worms and other animals have eaten away much of the wood and many other parts.

References

Other websites 

 RMS Titanic Citizendium
 Titanic Britannica

 
1910s in the United Kingdom
1912
Steel is iron mixed with carbon and perhaps other metals. It is harder and stronger than iron. Iron with more than 1.7% percent carbon by weight is named cast iron. Steel is different from wrought iron, which has little or no carbon.

Making steel 
Steel has a long history. People in India and Sri Lanka were making small amounts of steel more than 2,500 years ago. It was very expensive and was often used to make swords and knives. In the Middle Ages, steel could be made only in small amounts since the processes took a long time.

In the time since, there have been many changes to the way steel is made. In about the year 1610 steel started to be made in England, and the way it was made got better and cheaper over the next 100 years. Cheap steel helped start the Industrial Revolution in England and in Europe. The first industrial Converter (metallurgy) for making cheap steel was the Bessemer converter, followed by Siemens-Martin open-hearth process.
Today the most common way of making steel is the basic-oxygen process.  The converter is a large turnip-shaped vessel.  Liquid raw iron called "pig iron" is poured in and some scrap metal is added in to balance the heat. Oxygen is then blown into the iron. The oxygen burns off the extra carbon and other impurities.  Then enough carbon is added to make the carbon contents as wanted. The liquid steel is then poured. It can be either cast into molds or rolled into sheets, slabs, beams and other so-called "long products", such as railway tracks. Some special steels are made in electric arc furnaces.
Steel is most often made by machines in huge buildings called steel mills.  It is a very cheap metal and is used to make many things.  Steel is used in making buildings and bridges, and all kinds of machines. Almost all ships and cars are today made from steel. When a steel object is old, or it is broken beyond repair, it is called scrap. It can be melted down and re-shaped into a new object. Steel is recyclable material; that is, the same steel can be used and re-used.

Iron and steel chemistry 
Steel is a metal alloy which includes iron and often some carbon. 

Every material is made up of atoms which are very small parts. Some atoms hold together quite well, which is what makes some solid materials hard. Something made of pure iron is softer than steel because the atoms can slip over one another. If other atoms like carbon are added, they are different from iron atoms and stop the iron atoms from sliding apart so easily. This makes the metal stronger and harder.
Changing the amount of carbon (or other atoms) added to steel will change those things that are interesting and useful about the metal. These are called the properties of the steel. Some properties are:

 Hardness 
 How easily it bends 
 Ductility: can it be made into thin wires? 
 Is it magnetic? Can a magnet pick it up?
 Will it rust (or corrode)?

Steel with more carbon is harder and stronger than pure iron, but it also breaks more easily (brittle).

Types of steel 

There are thousands of steel types, each made of different amounts of different chemical elements.

All steels have some elements that have a bad effect, such as phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S). Steel makers take out as much P and S as possible.
Plain carbon steels are made only of iron, carbon, and undesired elements.  They fall into three general groups. Plain carbon steel with 0.05 to 0.2% carbon does not harden by heat treating.  Welding it is simple, so it is used for shipbuilding, boilers, pipes, fence wire and other purposes where low cost is important.  Plain  steels are used for springs, gears, and engine parts.  Plain carbon steel with 0.45 to 0.8% carbon is used for very hard items such as shears and machine tools.

Alloy steels are plain carbon steel with metals such as Boron (B), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), and cobalt (Co) added.  These give other properties than plain carbon steel.  Alloy steels are made for specialized purposes. For example, chromium can be added to make stainless steel, which does not rust easily, or boron can be added to make very hard steel that is also not brittle.
Uses of steel 
There are a huge number of things that people make from steel. It is one of the most common and useful metals. 
A lot of items made from iron in the past are now made of steel. Some of them are:
 Tools
 Machines
 Motors and engines
 Wires
 Rails for trains
 Buildings
 Bridges
 Bars for making reinforced concrete 
 Hulls of ships and large boats
 Car and train bodies
 Major appliances
 Cutlery and knives

Other websites 

 steel -Citizendium
Basic English 850 words
Construction
Alloys
Iron
The Luftwaffe (pronounced ) is the name for the air force of Germany. It was the name for the air force of Germany during the Third Reich when Adolf Hitler was in power (between 1933 and 1945). It has also been the name for the air force since it was re-established in 1955 during the era of the Cold War. Luftwaffe means Air weapon in English.

The early years including World War I 
Germany first had aeroplanes in its army in 1910, four years before the start of World War I in 1914. At that time, aeroplanes had no guns. They were being used for reconnaissance duties. They would fly over the battlefield to see what the enemy was doing and fly back so that the pilots could tell their generals what they knew. The generals used that information to help plan the fighting.

During World War I, Germany created the Luftstreitkräfte, known in English as the Imperial German Air Service. The German navy also had its planes in the Marine-Fliegerabteilung.
Guns were fitted to planes in 1915. 
The fighter aeroplanes became very famous because of its brave pilots. The most famous German pilot of World War I was Manfred von Richthofen, also known as "The Red Baron" of Jasta 11. When he died in combat, Hermann Goering replaced him.

Germany also used airships called "Zeppelins". They were named after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who had built the first airships in 1900. He had wanted them to carry cargo and passengers, not bombs. He died in 1917.

After the war 
In November 1918, the "Allies of World War I" (which included Britain and France) won the war, and Germany had to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty said that Germany could not have any military aeroplanes at all because it was blamed for starting the war in 1914. Germany therefore had to destroy all its military aeroplanes as a punishment, so until 1933 it had no air force at all.
Between January and September 1918 German pilots shot down 3,732 Allied planes while losing 1,099 aircraft. By the end of the war, the German Army Air Service had a total of 2,709 frontline aircraft, 56 airships, 186 balloon detachments and about 4,500 flying personnel. After the war ended in German defeat, the service was dissolved completely. The Treaty of Versailles demanded that its aeroplanes should be destroyed.

Between the two world wars 
For many years, Germany pretended to have no army pilots. The German army generals did not like the idea of not having any aeroplanes,  so they acted secretly and used tricks. At first, pilots would pretend to be training to become airline pilots but this was not much use because they really needed to fly fighters and bombers. The Treaty of Versailles did not allow Germany to have them, so Germany had to ask for help from Russia, its former (and future) enemy.
In 1924, German army pilots started to fly Russian fighters and bombers at a secret training school near the Russian city of Lipetsk. These pilots would then become the first ones to fly for the new German air force, the Luftwaffe, when Hitler said that it now existed. The training school closed in 1933.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler finally told the world that Germany had a new air force, even though the Treaty of Versailles forbade it. Hitler was defying the Allies, who had won World War I. The allies did nothing about this, because many still remembered the war in 19141918. They were frightened by the idea of war and did not want another one.