Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
The KLF were a band from England. They made music from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A lot of the music they made was pop music or dance music. The band members were two men, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Bill Drummond is a musician, singer, and writer from Scotland. Jimmy Cauty is a musician and artist from England. Sometimes they used the names The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs and The Timelords as their band name, instead.

The KLF adopted the philosophy based on the series of the esoteric novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy.   

Musical groups from London
English hip hop bands
Electronic music bands
A monounsaturated fat is a kind of fat found in foods such as nuts, olives, and avocados. They are the main fat in olive oil. The group contrasts with, on the one hand, unsaturated fats. and on the other hand, polyunsaturated fats.

In general, these fats are considered to be healthier than others. They have the same amount of energy, but they reduce blood cholesterol levels. This reduces the risk to the heart.

Types

Omega 7 fatty acids
Palmitoleic acid
Vaccenic acid
Rumenic acid
Paullinic acid

Omega 9 fatty acids
Oleic acid
Elaidic acid
Mead acid
Erucic acid

References 

Lipids
Polyunsaturated fats are fats that are usually found in items like fatty fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Such items are typically found to be liquid at room temperature.

Chemistry
Polyunsaturated fats are long-chain organic compounds. Their molecules has more than one double bonds. The structure reduces the strength of the forces between molecules. This causes the items to have a lower melting point. This is why the items are usually liquid at room temperature.

Types

Omega 3 fatty acids
Alpha linolenic acid
Docosahexanoic acid
Eicosapentaenoic acid

Omega 6 fatty acids
Linoleic acid
Arachidonic Acid
Gamma linoleic acid
Conjugated linoleic acid

Related pages
Monounsaturated fat

Lipids
The North Avenue Irregulars is a 1979 movie starring Edward Hermann, Ruth Buzzi, Steven Franken, and Cliff Osmond.

Plot 

The movie is about a newly installed minister, who entrusts, despite objections by the founding pastors daughter, the churches "sinking fund" money into the hands of a congregate whom he does not even know, with instructions to increase the amount in the fund.

The money is bet on a horse race, and upon hearing this, the Pastor gives the shortest sermon in history and begins a pursuit of the money and the organized crime syndicate, amid the hijinx of assorted feminine members of the congregation in a pursuit of the "money trail".

1979 comedy movies
American comedy movies
English-language movies
Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action movie. It stars Jodie Foster as Casey Brown, Helen Hayes as Lady St. Edmund (in her last screen appearance), David Niven as Priory (as well as Colonel Dennis and Mr. Gipping), and Leo McKern as Harry Bundage. Candleshoe is loosely based on the Michael Innes novel Christmas at Candleshoe.

Other websites

1977 movies
Disney movies
Movies based on books
Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル Utada Hikaru, born January 19, 1983 in New York City), is a Japanese and American singer and songwriter. Because she was born in the United States, she can speak English perfectly. She is the only child of the 1970s Enka singer Keiko Fuji. Her first Japanese album, First Love, was very popular. It sold more copies than any other Japanese singer ever. She is also known in the west for singing the theme songs for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II: "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary".
Early Life
When Hikaru was little, she did not want to become a singer. She saw how busy her parents' lives were, and did not want that for herself. When she was 10 years-old, her parents asked her if she wanted to write songs. She did not want to, but tried doing it. She wrote a song called I'll Be Stronger. During this time, Hikaru went to school in New York. Her classmates were not able to say her name right (Hee-ka-roo) so she shortened it to 'Hikki'. 'Hikki' became Hikaru's nickname. Her fans in Japan call her that.  The name is not promoted very much in the United States because it sounds too much like 'hickey'.
Early career
In 1996, Hikaru started to record an album, when she was only 13 years old. It was in English. The album was in the R&B style. It was written all by herself. The album was going to be released on the EMI's record company, but since the company fell apart, it was never sold in the United States. A man called Akira Miyake from Japan heard the album, and wanted to release it there. Hikaru agreed, and the album was released in Japan in 1998.

Rise to fame
The album sold okay, but it was not until later when Hikaru started to sing Japanese songs that she became famous. Her music still sounded very R&B, but at this point, it sounded more like pop. Her first single, Automatic / Time Will Tell, reached #2 on the single charts in Japan. A while later, after another single, she released her first Japanese album, First Love. This sold a very large amount (over 9 million copies) and became the most sold album by a Japanese singer.
Hikaru went on to release two more albums: Distance (2001), and Deep River (2002). In each album, her style changed slightly. Each album was less R&B, and more pop. In 2004, she released an album made up of all her old single songs. She then released an album in English called Exodus. Exodus was released under the record label Island Def-Jam. It was sold in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She sang, wrote, and made the music for the whole album herself (except for when she got hip-hop producer Timbaland to help her). The album sold many copies in Japan, but it did not sell that well in the United States. However, many famous people and music critics thought that the album was good (for example, Elton John thought it was interesting).
Hikaru has started to make new Japanese music again, but continued on making all the music herself. Usually, a singer/songwriter will only write the music and the lyrics, but Hikaru decided she wanted to arrange her songs all by herself as well. She released her new album, Ultra Blue, in mid-2006. Soon after, she went on a tour all across Japan. This is the second time she had ever done this (despite having sung for eight years).

Albums
Precious (1998)
First Love (1999)
Distance (2001)
Deep River (2002)
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 (2004)
Exodus (2004)
Ultra Blue (2006)
Heart Station (2008)
This Is The One (2009)
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 (2010)

Other websites 
Hikki's Website  — Official Japanese Website

Pop musicians
Japanese singer-songwriters
Singers from New York City
1983 births
Living people
The Scramble for Africa, also called the Race for Africa was a time in history when colonial expansion in Africa became rapid.  It lasted from the 1880s until the beginning of World War I.  Many European countries started colonies in Africa during this time.  This was a new Imperialism. The last half of the 19th century saw a change in the way countries controlled their colonies.  In the old imperialism, Europeans only had direct control over small coastal areas.  Now they changed from economic control by settlement, to political and military control of the colony's resources. This was seen in the fight for areas that were controlled by European nations. 

Many people became famous for helping European countries find more land in Africa. They included the explorers David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza as well as the French politician Jules Ferry.
The Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885) tried to end disputes between Great Britain, the French Third Republic, the German Empire, and other European countries. They agreed that "effective occupation" would be the rule for colonial claims. Laws were made for using direct rule on a colony, backed up by military power.

Other reading 
 Maria Petringa, Brazza, A Life for Africa  (2006)  

19th century in Africa
20th century in Africa
Colonialism
The 1160s was a decade that began on 1 January 1160 and ended on 31 December 1169.

Events 
 Leipzig becomes a city.
 England starts to take over Ireland.

Births 
 Pope Innocent III
 Emperor Takakura of Japan
 Genghis Khan, leader and founder of the Mongol Empire

Deaths 
 Eric IX of Sweden
 Emperor Qinzong of China
 Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury

Leaders 
 Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury (1138–1161)
 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (1162–1170)

1160s
Seaweed is a term used for several kinds of algae that is endemic to the ocean. Red algae, green algae and brown algae are commonly considered to be seaweed. 

Seaweed gets its energy from photosynthesis, just as plants do.

Ecology
Two specific environmental requirements are important in seaweed ecology. These are the presence of seawater (or at least brackish water) and the presence of enough light for photosynthesis. 

Another common requirement is a place to attach to. As a result, seaweeds are commonly found near the shore. Within that area, they are found more often on rocky shores than on sand or shingle. Seaweeds occupy a wide range of ecological niches. The highest elevation is only wetted by the tops of sea spray, the lowest is several meters deep. In some areas, seaweeds near the shore can extend several miles out to sea. The limit to how much they grow in such cases is based on how much sunlight there is. The deepest living seaweeds are the various kelps.
A number of species such as Sargassum have adapted to a fully planktonic niche and are free-floating, depending on gas-filled sacs to stay afloat.

Others have adapted to live in tidal rock pools. In this niche seaweeds must withstand rapidly changing temperature and salinity (amount of salt) and even occasional drying.

Uses
Seaweed has different uses. Sometimes it is farmed or foraged from the wild.

Food 

People living on the coast often eat seaweed, especially those in East Asia, such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also used in Belize, Peru, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, Ireland, Wales, Philippines, and Scotland.

Tiwi, Albay residents discovered a new pancit or noodles made from seaweed. These have health benefits. Seaweed is rich in calcium and magnesium and seaweed noodles can be cooked into pancit canton, pancit luglug, spaghetti or carbonara.
In Asia, Zicai (紫菜) (in China), gim (in Korea) and nori (in Japan) are sheets of dried Porphyra used in soups or to wrap sushi. Chondrus crispus (commonly known as Irish moss or carrageenan moss) is another red alga used in producing various food additives, along with Kappaphycus and various gigartinoid seaweeds. Porphyra is a red alga used in Wales to make laver. Laverbread, made from oats and the laver, is a popular dish there. Affectionately called "Dulce" in northern Belize, seaweeds are mixed with milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla to make a common beverage.
Seaweeds are also harvested or cultivated for the extraction of alginate, agar and carrageenan, gelatinous substances collectively known as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids. Hydrocolloids have attained commercial significance as food additives. The food industry exploits their gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties. Agar is used in foods such as confectionery, meat and poultry products, desserts and beverages and moulded foods. Carrageenan is used in salad dressings and sauces, dietetic foods, and as a preservative in meat and fish products, dairy items and baked goods.

Medicine 

Seaweed is a source of iodine, necessary for thyroid function and to prevent goitre.

Seaweed extract is used in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills exploit the same effect as gastric banding, expanding in the stomach to make the body feel more full.
Other uses 
Seaweed is currently under consideration as a potential source of bioethanol. Seaweed is an ingredient in some toothpaste, cosmetics and paints.

References

Algae
A fairy tale is an English language expression for a kind of short story. It has the same meaning as the French expression  or , the German word , the Italian , the Polish , the Russian  or the Swedish . These stories are not all directly about fairies, but they are different from legends and traditions (which usually say that the stories are true) and directly moral stories. 

Fairy tales are usually set during the Middle Ages (but some are more modern) and typically include royalty, knights and fantasy elements such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants or gnomes and usually magic.

Fairy tales can also mean unusual happiness (for example, the expression "fairy tale ending", meaning a happy ending, even though not all fairy tales have a happy ending). Also, "fairy tale" can simply mean any unbelievable story.
Where demons and witches are seen as real, fairy tales can sometimes be similar to legends, where the story is claimed to be historically true. However, differently from legends and epics, they usually do not specifically mention religion and actual places, people, and events. They also do not say exactly when it happened. Instead, they say that the story happened "once upon a time".

Fairy tales are found in oral form (passed on from mouth to mouth) and in literary form (written down). Fairy tales' histories are hard to find. This is because only written fairy tales can be passed on for a long time. Still, literary works show that there have been fairy tales for thousands of years. Many fairy tales today have are based on very old stories that have appeared, though in different ways, in many different cultures around the world. Fairy tales, and works based on from fairy tales, are still written today.
At first, fairy tales were for both adults and children, but now children are mostly connected with fairy tales. Examples of traditional old fairy tales are Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and "The Three Little Pigs". There can also be new fairy tales written by an author, like The Little Mermaid or Pinocchio. New fairy tales were for example written by Hans Christian Andersen, James Thurber and Oscar Wilde.
Meaning 
People do not agree what a fairy tale exactly is. Some argue that a story with fairies or other magical beings in the story would make it a fairy tale. However, others have suggested that the expression began when the French expression conte de fées was being translated (it was first used by Madame D'Aulnoy in 1697). Vladimir Propp criticized the difference between "fairy tales" and "animal tales" in his book Morphology of the Folktale. He said that many stories had both fantastic qualities and animals. He suggested that fairy tales could be recognized by their story, but this has been criticized, because the same stories can be found in stories that are not fairy tales.

In fact, people such as Stith Thompson point out that there are often more talking animals and magic in fairy tales than fairies. However, just because there is a talking animal in a story does not mean that the story is a fairy tale.
Steven Swann Jones said that fairy tales were different from other sorts of folktales because of magic. Davidson and Chaudri say that "transformation (changing)" is the most important part of a fairy tale.

Some like to use the German expression Märchen or "wonder tale" instead of fairy tale. For example, in his 1977 edition of The Folktale, Thompson said that fairy tales were "a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries (enemies), succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses." The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple: princesses and girls taking care of geese; youngest sons and brave princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magic helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; rules, and people breaking rules.
History 
Fairy tales were passed down by speaking of it from person to person before writing was developed. Stories were told or acted out dramatically. Because of this, the history of fairy tales is not very clear. The oldest written fairy tales we know are from ancient Egypt, around 1300 BC. There are sometimes fairy tales in written literature in different cultures, such as The Golden Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100–200 AD). They show that fairy tales were told from very long ago.

References

Sources 
 Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson: The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography (Helsinki, 1961)	
 Thompson, Stith, The Folktale.
 Heidi Anne Heiner, "The Quest for the Earliest Fairy Tales: Searching for the Earliest Versions of European Fairy Tales with Commentary on English Translations" 
 Heidi Anne Heiner, "Fairy Tale Timeline"

Other websites 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

oc:Conte
A game show is a reality television program where people play a game for points, with the goal of winning money or prizes.  Different game shows use different games.  Most test the players' knowledge, skill, or cleverness.  Many game shows incorporate some element of chance; for example, in Wheel of Fortune, contestants spin a wheel to determine how much prize money they will get for a correct letter.   

Some game shows have the contestants compete against other individual contestants; other game shows group contestants into teams.  Some game shows have regular people as the contestants.  Other game shows have celebrities such as movie actors or musicians as the contestants.   

Many game shows air on the Game Show Network. 

The first game shows were on radio.

Prizes 
Game shows often reward people with money, holidays, or cars. These prizes are often given by the people or group of people that give the game show money to run. The people who give the game show money to run are called sponsors.
Examples 
Examples of game shows include:  

 Press Your Luck (1983-1986)
 Jeopardy! (1964)
 Wheel of Fortune (1973)
 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (1999)
 Match Game (1962-1982)
 Family Feud (1976)
 Blockbusters
 The Price is Right (1972)
 The Weakest Link (2000)
 Card Sharks
 Deal or No Deal (2005)
 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2007) 
 Snatch Game (2010)

Games

Television genres
For the game genre, check List of video game genres.

A genre (from ) is a style or type of music, literature, movies, or other media.

Some genres (styles) are used in more than one form of art or communication. For example, the genres fantasy and science fiction are used in literature, movies, and television.

Examples of genres
 General: comedy, romance, mystery, science fiction
 Literary (written): fiction, non-fiction, young adult
 Movie genres: action movie, documentary, film noir
 Musical: rock and roll, hip hop, pop punk
 Comedy: black comedy, slapstick, commedia dell'arte

Subgenre
A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre. Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in subgenre. For example, if a fantasy story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the subgenre of dark fantasy; whereas another fantasy story that features magic swords and wizards would belong to the subgenre of sword and sorcery.

References
Renee Kristen "Kristy" Swanson (born December 19, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the main character in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has also starred in the movie Flowers in the Attic as well as many movies and television programs.

1969 births
Living people
American movie actors
American television actors
Actors from Orange County, California
Octopus  is a genus of cephalopod mollusc in the order Octopoda. The genus is quite typical of most octopods. They have two, large eyes and eight limbs with suckers. They have a hard beak, with the mouth at the center point of the arms.

Octopods have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places and hide. Many stay in cracks between rocks or corals when they are not hunting. They are intelligent predators with a taste for crabs.

Octopods inhabit many regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use colour-changing camouflage. They live rather short lives.

An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopods are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopus is known to be deadly to humans.
There are about 300 octopod species, of which more than 100 are in the genus Octopus. Octopods make up over one-third of the total number of living cephalopods. The term 'octopus' may be used to refer to those in the genus Octopus. The term 'octopod' is correct for members of the order Octopoda in general.

Physiology: RNA editing 
Octopods, like other advanced cephalopods, can edit their genome. They can adapt the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules, more so than any other organisms. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. This has come at the cost of slower genome evolution.

Anatomy 
Unlike most other cephalopods, most octopods have only soft body with no internal skeleton. They have no protective outer shell like the nautilus, which is another type of cephalopod.
A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is their only hard part.
Because of this, it is very easy for an octopus to squeeze through very narrow openings between rocks, for example squeezing through a hole as big as its eye.

Eyes 
Octopod eyes are complex. In fact, they do not have a blind spot. A blind spot is a special place in the eyes that is not able to sense light. So, when we look somewhere, part of what is there is not actually perceived (the brain 'fills in' so we do not notice). However, an octopus does not have this problem.

The lens in octopod are movable. It moves back and forth to focus. This is the way a camera focuses. When a camera focuses on an object to take a picture, the lens moves back and forth until the image that the camera sees is in the right focus.
Colours 
Some octopuses can use their chromatophores for more than camouflage. If they are not blending in with their surroundings, they can signal their feelings using colour. When they are relaxed, for example, they are a dull, grayish brown or orange-tinged colour. When they become angry, they can become red. If they feel scared, they may turn white.

Behaviour

Intelligence 

Octopods are highly intelligent, probably more so than any other invertebrate. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can learn.

Some octopods, such as the mimic octopus, can move their arms in ways which copy the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been seen in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquaria and sometimes into others in search of food.

The largest of the 300+ species of octopods, the giant octopus Enteroctopus, is large indeed. Mature males average about 50 pounds and females about 33 pounds. Their arm spans are about eight feet. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to get in and eat crabs.

In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This gives them protection not normally given to invertebrates.
Octopods are the only invertebrate which have been definitely shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been seen picking up discarded coconut shells, and then reassembling them to use as shelter.

Octopods are active and intelligent predators, with good eyesight and brains. They eat mostly crabs and some fish.

Defences 
Octopods have a variety of defences. They use active camouflage and mimicry, controlled by their nervous system. Most can eject black ink clouds to help escape, and some can shed an arm in extreme danger. It wriggles, and attracts the attacker.

Reproduction and death 
To reproduce, males use a specialized arm to put packets of sperm into the female's mantle cavity. Males die in a few months after mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs mature.
After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure varies dramatically between species). The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blows currents of water over them so they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs, and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance.

At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats.

All octopods for which we have data have a relatively short life expectancy. Some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific giant octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances.
Reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one-month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but apparently they do not die of starvation. A biological explanation of these short lifespans (or rapid ageing) is not agreed at present. One idea is that the lifespan is limited by the number of safe niches in their environment. If adults lived longer, they would use up all the safe niches. In that case, the baby octopus would scarcely survive. It is known that the same niches are used by generations of octopods. They are usually in the calcium carbonate reefs which were formed in tropical waters.
Deep-sea octopod broods eggs 
Off the coast of California, marine biologists have watched the same female octopus guarding her eggs for over four years. Their development took a long time because the water 1.4 kilometres down was very cold. They knew it was the same octopod because it had a characteristic scar. The research was done using a remote diving vehicle with cameras, lights and robotic arms.

References 

Cephalopods
During the high period of the Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana, the western parts of the empire went through Latinization, while the eastern parts of the empire maintained to a large degree their Helenistic culture. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empire's  Greek East and Latin West diverged. Constantine I (r. 324–337) reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the capital, and legalised Christianity. Under Theodosius I (r. 379–395), Christianity became the state relegion, and other religious practices were proscribed. In the reign of Heraclius (r. 610–641), the empire's military and administration were restructured and Greek was gradually adopted for official use in place of Latin.
The borders of the empire fluctuated through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565), the empire reached its greatest extent after the fall of the west, reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast, including Africa, Italy, and Rome, which it held for two more centuries. The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 exhausted the empire's resources, and during the early Muslim conquests of the 7th century, it lost its richest provinces—Egypt and Syria—to the Rashidun Caliphate. It then lost Africa to the Umayyads in 698, before the empire was stabilized by the Isaurian dynasty.
During the Macedonian dynasty (9th–11th centuries), the empire expanded again and experienced the two-century-long Macedonian Renaissance, which came to an end with the defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Civil wars and the ensuing Seljuk invasion led to the loss of most of Asia Minor. The empire recovered during the Komnenian restoration, and up until the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe.

The empire was first dissolved during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, when Constantinople was sacked by the Latins and the territories that the empire formerly governed were divided into competing Byzantine Greek and Latin realms. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained a mere regional power for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were progressively annexed by the Ottomans in the Byzantine–Ottoman wars over the 14th and 15th centuries.
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Refugees fleeing the city after its capture would settle in Italy and other parts of Europe, helping to ignite the Renaissance. The Empire of Trebizond was conquered eight years later when its eponymous capital surrendered to Ottoman forces after it was besieged in 1461. The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans is sometimes used to mark the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the early modern period.

Name 
The Byzantine Empire did not get that name until a century after its fall. The empire was known at the time as the following:
 the "Roman Empire" or the "Empire of the Romans" (Latin: Imperium Romanum, Imperium Romanorum; Greek:  Basileia tōn Rhōmaiōn,  Archē tōn Rhōmaiōn),
 "Romania" (Latin: Romania; Greek:  Rhōmania),
 the "Roman Republic" (Latin: Res Publica Romana; Greek: , Politeia tōn Rhōmaiōn),
 "Graecia" (Greek:  meaning "land of the Greeks"),
 "Rhōmais" (Greek: ).

Beginning (330–476 AD)
In 324, Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. By the 5th century, the Roman Empire had lost its territories in the west, and the Western Roman Empire had been taken over by Germanic peoples during the Migration period. The surviving parts of the Roman Empire became known as the Eastern Roman Empire and is now called the Byzantine Empire.

Problems (476–717 AD)

Wars in west 
The Eastern Roman Empire tried to take back Rome and the rest of Italian Peninsula from the Germanic peoples. Between 530 and 555 AD, the Byzantine Greeks won many battles and took back Rome.
The Byzantines controlled Rome for a long time. Eventually, more Germanic peoples came, and Italy was lost again. Later, Avars and Slavs took parts of Southeast Europe from the Byzantines. After the 560s, invaders slowly conquered the Balkans except for parts of modern Greece and Albania. Bulgars from the steppes formed the First Bulgarian Empire north of the Byzantine Empire. At first, both the Avars and the Bulgars were Turkic peoples. They ruled over the Slavic people, who were called Sklavinai, and slowly absorbed the Slavic language and culture.
Wars in east 
After Rome had been captured by the Germanic peoples, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to control what is now Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. However, another empire, known as the Persian or the Sassanid Empire, tried to take the lands for itself. Between 224 and 628, the Greco-Romans and the Persians fought many battles, and many men were killed in the fighting. Eventually, the Persians were defeated in 627 by Emperor Heraclius in what is now Iraq, near the ancient city of Nineveh, which allowed the Byzantines to keep those lands.
Then, another enemy appeared, the Arabs. The Byzantines did not have much money to spend on war because of their battles with the Persians and so they could not withstand the Arabs. Palestine, Syria and Egypt were lost between 635 and 645 by Heraclius. However, the Byzantines defended Asia Minor (now in Turkey), and the Arab advance stopped there. Heraclius ordered the use of Greek as the only language of the empire, erased forever the name "Eastern Roman Empire" and cut the last links with Rome.

Recovery (717–1025 AD) 
In 718, the Arabs were defeated but left the Byzantines very weak. In the west, the Byzantines fought the Bulgarians many times. Some battles were successful, but others were not. Many emperors died fighting. Over time, the Byzantine Empire weakened as it lost land to outside invaders.
Recovery in west 
Between 1007 and 1014, Emperor Basil II ambitiously attacked Bulgaria many times and eventually won a great victory. Later, he fully recaptured Greece and recovered it for the empire. He then went on to take over Bulgaria, which was fully conquered in 1018.

Recovery in east 
In the east, the Arabs once again became a threat to the Byzantines. However, Basil II kept attacking and won many more victories. Much of Syria was restored to the empire, and Turkey and Armenia were secured. After 1025, the Arabs were no longer a threat to the Byzantines.

Decline (1025–1453 AD)
Start of decline (1025–1071) 
After Basil II died, many unskilled emperors came to the throne, wasted the empire's money and reduced its army. This meant that it could not defend itself well against enemies if they attacked. Later, the Byzantines relied on mercenaries, soldiers who fought for money, not for their country. That made them less loyal and reliable and more expensive. The mercenaries allowed military generals to come to power and to grab it from the elaborate bureaucracy, a system of administration in which tasks are divided by departments.

Rise of Turks (1071–1091) 
A large number of people, known as the Turks, rode on horseback from Central Asia and attacked the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Empire took most of Anatolia from the Byzantines by 1091. However, they received help from people in Western Europe in what is known as the First Crusade. Many knights and soldiers left to help the Byzantines and to secure Jerusalem for the Christians. The city wad then controlled by the Muslims.
Survival (1091–1185) 
The Byzantine Empire survived and, with the help of the European empires, took back half of Anatolia from the Turks, who managed to hold the other half of the region. The Byzantines survived due to three primarily good emperors in a row, that allowed the empire to recover from their recent conflicts.

Another weakening (1185-1261) 
The next few emperors ruled poorly and spent much of the existing treasury on many mercenary soldiers.

In the west, the Western Europeans betrayed the Byzantines and attacked their capital, Constantinople in in 1204. The Byzantines did not take it back until 1261. They were then divided into many smaller Greek states, which fought one another for control.
Fall to Turks (1261–1453) 
After the Byzantines had taken back Constantinople, they were too busy fighting the Europeans who had betrayed them and so they could not find enough soldiers or money to fight the Turks' new Ottoman Empire. All of Asia Minor had been lost by 1331, and in 1369, the Turks crossed over from Turkey and into Greece. They took over much of Greece between 1354 and 1450.

The Byzantines lost so much land, money and soldiers that they became very weak and begged for help from the Western Europeans. Italy and the Pope sent soldiers and ships to help the Byzantines when the Turks attacked Constantinople in April 1453. The Byzantines were badly outnumbered, however, and the walls of Constantinople were very damaged by cannons used by the Turks. In late May 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople by entering through one of the gates along the walls, and the empire came to an end.
Legacy 
The Byzantines had many achievements:
 They protected Europe from eastern invasions.
 They blocked the Islamic conquest of Christian Europe by the Arabs.
 They initially blocked the second Islamic tentative to conquer Christian Europe by the Turks (until 1453).
 They preserved the Greek language and culture.
 They preserved many Roman political traditions that had been lost in Western Europe.
 They kept a lot of knowledge that can be read about today.
 They produced much fine art with a distinctive style.
 They were the protectors and sponsors of the Eastern Church, which later becomes the Orthodox Church.
 They used good architecture that is still used.
 They had cities with plumbing, which is still in use.
 They built many beautiful churches, some of which are now mosques, in what are now Turkey and Greece. They are made from or inspired by Byzantine buildings.
 They made several inventions like the flamethrower and "Greek fire", a kind of napalm.
They made advances in many fields like political studies, diplomacy and military sciences.
Related pages 
 Byzantine art
 Byzantine Greeks

Notes

References

Sources

Other websites 

 World History Encyclopedia: Byzantine Empire
 Roman Emperors (De Imperatoribus Romanis)
 18 Centuries of Roman Empire: A Cartography by Howard Wiseman
 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of the Byzantine Empire (Lars Brownworth)
 18 centuries of Roman Empire by Howard Wiseman (Maps of the Roman/Byzantine Empire throughout its lifetime).
 Byzantine & Christian Museum
 Dumbarton Oaks: Byzantine Studies
 Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet
 Translations from Byzantine Sources: The Imperial Centuries, c. 700–1204
 De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History
 Medieval Sourcebook: Byzantium
 Bibliography on Byzantine Material Culture and Daily Life (University of Vienna)
 Constantinople Home Page
 Byzantium in Crimea: Political History, Art and Culture.
 Byzanzforschung: Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Places of Ancient Rome
 
Former countries in Europe
Former countries in the Middle East
Former countries in Africa
Roman Empire
285 establishments
1453 disestablishments
Establishments in Africa
3rd-century establishments in Asia
Establishments in Europe
Disestablishments in Europe
Disestablishments in Asia
Disestablishments in Africa
The  (; ; Wade–Giles: ku-ch'in; literally "ancient stringed-instrument") is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favored by educated people as an instrument of great beauty and refinement. It is uncommonly spelt as Gu Qin (and sometimes GuQin or Gu-qin) in English.
Traditionally the instrument was called simply qin 「琴」, but by the 20th century the term had come to be used on many other musical instruments as well (for example, the yangqin 「揚琴」 hammered dulcimer, the huqin 「胡琴」 family of bowed string instruments, and the Western piano (; literally "steel stringed-instrument")), so the prefix "gu-" 「古」 (meaning "ancient") was added for clarification. It can also be called qixianqin 「七絃琴」 ("seven-stringed instrument"). The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long zither also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string. Because Robert Hans van Gulik's famous book about the qin is called The Lore of the Chinese Lute, the qin is sometimes inaccurately called a lute. Other incorrect classifications (mainly from music CDs) include "harp" or "table-harp". Other Western nicknames for the guqin include "Chinese guitar" and "Chinaman's harp".
The qin is a very quiet instrument, with a range of about four octaves, and its open strings are tuned in the bass register (its lowest pitch is about two octaves below middle C, or the lowest note on the cello).  Sounds are produced by plucking open strings, stopped strings, and harmonics. Stopped sounds are special for the variety of slides and ornaments used, and the use of glissando (sliding tones) gives it a sound similar to a pizzicato cello or fretless bass guitar. Extended sections in music scores consisting entirely of harmonics are common, this made possible because the 91 indicated harmonic positions allow great flexibility; early tablature shows that even more harmonic positions were used in the past. By tradition the qin originally had five strings, but ancient qin-like instruments with 10 or more strings have been found. The modern form has been standardized from about two thousand years.

History
History

Legend has it that the qin, has a history of about 5,000 years; that the legendary people of China's pre-history; Fuxi, Shennong and Huang Di (the Yellow Emperor), was involved in its creation. It is mentioned in Chinese writings dating back nearly 3,000 years, and related instruments have been found in tombs from about 2,500 years ago. Chinese tradition says the qin originally had five strings, but then two were added about 1,000 BCE, making seven.
Based on the detailed description in the poetic essay "Qin Fu" 【琴賦】 by Xi Kang / Ji Kang (223–262), the form of the qin that is recognizable today was most likely set around the late Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). The earliest surviving qin in this modern form, preserved in both Japan and China, have been dated to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Many are still playable, the most famous perhaps being the one named "Jiuxiao Huanpei" 《九霄環佩》, said to have been made by the famous late Tang dynasty qin maker Lei Wei (雷威). It is kept in the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing.

According to Robert Temple, the qin played an important part in the gaining the first understanding of music timbre for the Chinese. He said that "the Chinese understanding of the nature of sound as vibration was much increased by studying the production of timbre on the strings of the ch'in." This understanding of timbre, overtones and higher harmonics eventually led the Chinese to discover equal temperament in music.
In 1977, a recording of "Liu Shui" (Flowing Water, as performed by Guan Pinghu, one of the best qin players of the 20th century) was chosen to be included in the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world, which was sent into outer space by NASA on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.  It is the longest music track included on the disc.  In 2003, guqin music was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Schools, societies and players

Historical schools and societies
Because of the difference in geography in China, many qin schools known as qin pai (琴派) developed over the centuries. Such schools generally formed around areas where qin activity was greatest.
The main schools are: 
Guangling (廣陵); Yushan (虞山 also known as Qinchuan (琴川) or Shu (熟)) in Changshu 常熟
Shu (蜀 or Chuan (川)) in Sichuan 四川
Fanchuan (泛川)
Songjiang (松江)
Jinling (金陵)
Zhucheng (諸城)
Mei'an (梅庵 / 楳盦)
Min (閩) in Fujian 福建
Pucheng (浦城)
Jiuyi (九嶷)
Zhe (浙)
Shaoxing (紹興)
Wu (吳)
Shan'nan (山南)

Most qin schools and groups are based in China. During the 20th century some societies began in other countries. Qin study was initially confined to China in ancient times. Today countries like Japan also have their own qin small traditions. The Tokyo Qin Society was recently founded. Japan has published a qinpu (qin tablature collection) in the past, known as Toukou Kinpu or Donggao Qinpu 【東臯琴譜】.

Players

There have been many players throughout the ages. The instrument was a favourite of the scholars, so many artists played it. Some famous players are also associated with some melodies, like Confucius and Qu Yuan.

Historical:
Confucius 孔子: Philosopher, 551–479 BCE, associated with the piece Kongzi Duyi 《孔子讀易》, Weibian Sanjue 《韋編三絕》 and Youlan 《幽蘭》.
Bo Ya 伯牙: Qin player of the Spring and Autumn Period, associated with the piece Gao Shan 《高山》 and Liu Shui 《流水》.
Zhuangzi 莊子: Daoist philosopher of the Warring States Period, associated with the piece Zhuang Zhou Mengdie 《莊周蒙蝶》 and Shenhua Yin 《神化引》.
Qu Yuan 屈原: Poet of the Warring States Period, associated with the piece Li Sao 《離騷》.
Cai Yong 蔡邕: Han Dynasty musician, author of Qin Cao 【琴操】.
Cai Wenji 蔡文姬: Cai Yong's daughter, associated with the piece Hujia Shiba-pai 《胡笳十八拍》, etc.
Sima Xiangru 司馬相如: Han poet, 179-117 BCE.
Ji Kang 嵇康: Sage of the Bamboo Grove, musician and poet, writer of Qin Fu 【琴賦】.
Li Bai 李白: Tang poet, 701-762.
Bai Juyi 白居易: Tang poet, 772-846.
Song Huizong 宋徽宗: Song emperor famous for his patronage of the arts, had a Wanqin Tang 『萬琴堂』 ("10,000 Qin Hall") in his palace.
Playing technique
The beauty of qin melodies comes not only from the melodies themselves, but from the variation a player can apply to the individual tones and their combinations. The rich tones of the qin can be categorised as three distinctively different "sounds." The first is san yin 〔散音〕, which means "scattered sounds." This meant simply pluck the required string to sound an open note. The second is fan yin 〔泛音〕, or "floating sounds." These are harmonics, and the player simply lightly touches the string with one or more fingers of the left hand at a position indicated by the white hui dots, pluck and then lift, creating a crisp and clear sound ringing sound. The third is an yin 〔按音 / 案音 / 實音 / 走音〕, or "stopped sounds." This forms the majority of most qin pieces and requires the player to press on a string with a finger or thumb of the left hand until it touches with the surface board, then pluck. Afterwards, the hand can slide up and down, thereby changing the pitch.
There are eight basic right hand finger techniques: pi 〈劈〉 (thumb pluck outwards), tuo 〈托〉 (thumb pluck inwards), mo 〈抹〉 (index in), tiao 〈挑〉 (index out), gou 〈勾〉 (middle in), ti 〈剔〉 (middle out), da 〈打〉 (ring in), and zhai 〈摘〉 (ring out); the little finger is not used. Out of these basic eight, their combinations create many more. Cuo 〈撮〉 is to pluck two strings at the same time, lun 〈輪〉 is to pluck a string with the ring, middle and index finger out in quick succession, the suo 〈鎖〉 technique involves plucking a string several times in a fixed rhythm, bo 〈撥〉 cups the fingers and strums two strings at the same time, and gun fu 〈滾拂〉 is to create a sequence of sounds by running up and down the strings continuously with the index and middle fingers. These are just a few.
Techniques executed by both hands together are more difficult to achieve, for example, qia cuo san sheng 〈掐撮三聲〉 (a combination of hammering on and off then plucking two strings, then repeating), to more exciting forms, like pressing of all seven strings with the left, then strumming all the strings with the right, then the left hand quickly moves up the qin, creating a rolling sound like a bucket of water being thrown in a deep pool of water (this technique is used in the Shu style of Liu Shui to copy the sound of water).

In order to master the qin, there are in excess of 50 different techniques that must be mastered. Even the most commonly used (such as tiao) are difficult to get right without proper instruction from a teacher.

Tablature and notation
Written qin music did not directly tell what notes were played like many outer musical instruments; instead, it was written in a tablature detailing tuning, finger positions, and plucking technique, thus made up of a step by step method and description of how to play a piece. Some tablatures do indicate notes using the gongche notation system, or indicate rhythm using dots.
The earliest example of the modern shorthand tablature survives from around the 12th century CE. An earlier form of music notation from the Tang era survives in just one manuscript, dated to the 7th century CE, called Jieshi Diao: You Lan 《碣石調幽蘭》 (Solitary Orchid, in Stone Tablet Mode). It is written in a longhand form called wenzi pu 〔文字譜〕 (literally "written notation"), which gives all the details using ordinary written Chinese characters. Later in the Tang dynasty, Cao Rou (曹柔) and others simplified the notation, using only the important elements of the characters (like string number, plucking technique, hui number and which finger to stop the string) and combined them into one character notation. This meant that instead of having two lines of written text to describe a few notes, a single character could represent one note, or sometimes as many as nine. This notation form was called jianzi pu 〔減字譜〕 (literally "reduced notation") and it was a great step forward for recording qin scores