AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
During World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. In 1918, following the Russian Revolution, all non-Russian countries declared their independence after the Russian Empire ceased to exist, leading to the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, and in 1922 became a founding member of the Soviet Union. In 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Armenia is divided into ten provinces, with the city of Yerevan having special administrative status as the country's capital. The chief executive in each of the ten provinces is the "marzpet" ("marz" governor), appointed by the government of Armenia. In Yerevan, the chief executive is the mayor, appointed by the president.
, Armenia includes 915 communities, of which 49 are considered urban and 866 are considered rural.
† 2011 censusSources: Area and population of provinces.
The Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD.
Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh, which was proclaimed in 1991.
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of the human past. It looks at remains and objects left by the people who lived long ago. These remains may include old coins, tools, buildings, and inscriptions. Archaeologists, the people who study archaeology, use these remains to understand how people lived.
When archaeologists do fieldwork, they look for remains, often by digging in the ground. As settlements (places where people lived in groups) change and grow, old buildings get buried. Usually, this is a natural process. A typical student project is to leave an object in a place where there is nothing going on. It will get covered rather quickly, because wind, water and plants will bury it. Sometimes buildings are deliberately buried to make way for new buildings. Ancient Rome, for example, is now up to 40 feet (12 metres) below the present city. This process of natural or man-made burial is why archaeological fieldwork involves digging, and is expensive and takes a long time.
When things are found, or even when nothing is found, the results of the fieldwork are taken back to a base. Short term, the base is often on or near the site. Longer term, the results will usually go to a university or museum. Everything is written down on paper or entered into a computer. Gradually, they build up a picture of what happened long ago. Archaeologists publish their research so others can understand what they learned.
Archaeologists do not all study the same topics. They have specialties. Some fields of interest include Ancient Egypt (these specialists are called Egyptologists), Ancient China, or the Vikings. Archaeologists study every civilization that is known, especially the ones where there is no written history. They can study any time period. For example, one might study the beginning of human life in Africa, or study World War II. Marine archaeologists study things that are now underwater. They search for sunken ships or cities that have been lost under the sea.
There are many different ways of doing archaeology. these depend on the methods used, the things studied, and the environment. Some of these subdisciplines overlap with each other.
Archaeology relating to oceans, seas and lakes is usually done underwater. It includes the study of sunken ships and submerged coastlines. "Maritime archaeology" is a part of this subdivision. It refers to the archaeological investigation of past ships and seafaring. A famous example of maritime archaeology is the recovery and restoration of the ship burial at Sutton Hoo.
When a glacier melts, objects that were captured in it are revealed. The recovery and study of these objects is called "ice-patch archaeology". A famous example is Ötzi the Iceman.
Historical archaeology deals with places, things, and issues from the past or present at or related to sites with written records or oral traditions. Or it can be defined as "the archaeological investigation of any past culture that has developed a literate tradition." A prominent example of historical archaeology is the work done at Colonial Williamsburg.
This relatively new branch of archaeology consists of "the systematic study of structures and artefacts as a means of enlarging our understanding of the industrial past."
Archaeozoology, or zooarchaeology, is the study of the relationships between humans and animals in the archaeological record. This includes the study of bones, feathers, teeth and other body parts as well as their interpretation.
This field involves attempts at replicating the actions and conditions of ancient cultures. Good examples are Butser Ancient Farm and Overton Down.
In many countries, governments and other groups of people protect important archaeological sites so they will not be destroyed and so that visitors can always come and see them.
Sometimes archaeological sites are found when foundations are dug for new buildings. Archaeologists have to work quickly when this happens, because people who are building often don't have a lot of time. As soon as the archaeologists are done with their work, the remains that they have found will be covered over, unless they are very important.
The word application has several uses.
Animals are living creatures with many cells. Animals are eukaryotic. They do not use light to get energy as plants do. Animals use different ways to get energy from other living things. They may eat other living things, though some are parasites or have photosynthetic protists as symbionts.
Most animals are mobile, meaning they can move around. Animals take in oxygen, and give out carbon dioxide. This cellular respiration is part of their metabolism (chemical working). In both these ways they are different from plants. Also, the cells of animals have different cell membranes to other eukaryotes like plants and fungi. The study of animals is called zoology.
Plants are also multicellular eukaryotic organisms, but live by using light, water and basic elements to make their tissues.
There are many different types of animals. The common animals most people know are only about 3% of the animal kingdom. When biologists look at animals, they find things that certain animals have in common. They use this to group the animals in a biological classification. They think several million species exist but they have only identified about one million.
Animals can mainly be divided into two main groups: the invertebrates and the vertebrates. Vertebrates have a backbone, or spine; invertebrates do not.
Vertebrates are:
Some invertebrates are:
The animal mode of nutrition is called heterotrophic because they get their food from other living organisms. Some animals eat only plants; they are called herbivores. Other animals eat only meat and are called carnivores. Animals that eat both plants and meat are called omnivores.
The environments animals live in vary greatly. By the process of evolution, animals adapt to the habitats they live in. A fish is adapted to its life in water and a spider is adapted to a life catching and eating insects. A mammal living on the savannahs of East Africa lives quite a different life from a dolphin or porpoise catching fish in the sea.
The fossil record of animals goes back about 600 million years to the Ediacaran period, or somewhat earlier. During the whole of this long time, animals have been constantly evolving, so that the animals alive on Earth today are very different from those on the edges of the sea-floor in the Ediacaran. The study of ancient life is called palaeontology.
In scientific usage, humans are animals. But in everyday use, humans are often not regarded as animals.
Acceleration is a measure of how fast velocity changes. Acceleration is the change of velocity divided by the change of time. Acceleration is a vector, and therefore includes both a size and a direction. Acceleration is also a change in speed and direction, there is:
Speed (a scalar quantity) (uses no direction)
Velocity (a vector quantity) (uses a direction)
The measurement of how fast acceleration changes is called jerk.
Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object. Acceleration formula_1 can be found by using:
Sometimes the change in velocity formula_6 is written as Δformula_7. Sometimes the change in time formula_8 is written as Δt.
In difficult situations, the acceleration can be calculated using mathematics: in calculus, acceleration is the derivative of the velocity (with respect to time), formula_9.
Acceleration has its own units of measurement. For example, if velocity is measured in meters per second, and if time is measured in seconds, then acceleration is measured in meters per second squared (m/s).
Acceleration can be positive or negative. When the acceleration is negative (but the velocity does not change direction), it is sometimes called deceleration. For example, when a car brakes it decelerates. Physicists usually only use the word "acceleration".
Newton's laws of motion are rules for how things move. These rules are called "laws of motion". Isaac Newton is the scientist who first wrote down the main laws of motion.
According to Newton's Second Law of Motion, the force something needs to accelerate an object depends on the object's mass (the amount of "stuff" the object is made from or how "heavy" it is).
The formula of Newton's Second Law of Motion is formula_10,
where formula_11 is the acceleration, formula_12 is the force, and formula_13 the mass.
This formula is very well-known, and it is very important in physics. Newton's Second Law of Motion, in short "Newton's Second Law", is often one of the first things that physics students learn.
Deceleration is negative or backwards acceleration. This means that something slows down instead of speeding up. For example, when a car brakes, it is decelerating.
Black pudding
Black pudding is an English name for zwarte pudding. It is food made by cooking down the blood of any mammal (usually pigs or cattle) with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal (become firm or solid) when cooled.
In Great Britain, blood sausage is called "black pudding". The ingredients include pig's blood, suet, bread, barley and oatmeal. The most common kind of German "blutwurst" is made from fatty pork meat, beef blood and filler such as barley. Though already cooked and "ready to eat" it is usually served warm.
Other kinds of blood sausage include "boudin noir" (France), "boudin rouge" (Creole and Cajun) and "morcilla" (Spain).
A legend says that blood sausage was invented in a bet between two Bavarian butchers drunk on the alcoholic drink absinthe during the 14th century. Homer's "Odyssey" from Ancient Greece says that "As when a man besides a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted...".
Boot device
A boot device is used to start a computer. It is named after a boot which fits on the foot. The word bootstrap is also closely related, and means, to use something simpler to get something more complex to make itself work better. It comes from the English phrase "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps."
Before a computer can operate normally, it must have operating system instructions that tell it how to perform basic functions. A boot device loads the operating system into the memory of the computer.
Devices that can boot a computer are usually boot disks or boot drives (normally a hard drive or Solid State Drive, but can be a floppy disk, flash drive or a CD). Some network computers use "boot chips" that get the operating system over a network. Web phones also use such chips to identify the user to the mobile phone network. Boot card standards may let many users boot kiosk computers with full privacy and access to all application software they own. There are also boot boards or boot "add-in" cards that are more permanent than boot cards.
Some people refer to the boot device as just a boot and non-boot devices as data devices, although it is not the computer but the operating system that cares about the difference between these.
The boot in boot device is the same as booting (or starting up). This is short for bootstrapping, or to start with simple stuff and make complex stuff out of it.
Bankruptcy is a legal process which happens when a person or an organization does not have enough money to pay all of its debts. Legally they are insolvent.
Where it is a person who cannot pay their debts, the person's creditors may ask the court to appoint a "trustee in bankruptcy". This is a professional accountant who is appointed by the court, to take control of the bankrupt person's assets. Some assets are protected by law, but the trustee in bankruptcy will sell off all of the other assets and use the money to pay as much of that person's debts as possible. After the process is complete the person is "discharged from bankruptcy", and the person is free from any further liability to pay those claims, but normally that person will be limited in their ability to borrow money again because their credit rating will be damaged.
Where it is an organisation which cannot pay its debts, the creditors may ask the court to appoint a "liquidator". The liquidator does a very similar job to the trustee in bankruptcy except that there are no assets which are protected so the liquidator can sell everything. Once all of the assets of the organisation have been sold, the organisation is then "dissolved" and no longer exists. Organisations do not get discharged from bankruptcy in the same way that a living person does.
People often confuse the terms bankruptcy and insolvency, and sometimes they use one word when they really mean the other. Insolvency usually just means that a someone does not have enough money to pay their debts or (sometimes) that the total amount of their debts is worth more than the total amount of their assets. Bankruptcy is a formal legal process in front of the courts. Although the two terms are connected, just because a person is insolvent does not necessarily mean that they will go into bankruptcy.
Many countries have alternatives to bankruptcy to try and allow people and businesses to try and avoid the bankruptcy process.
In various countries, individual people can try and reach "individual voluntary arrangements" (or IVAs) with their creditors. This means that the creditors agree to take less money to discharge their debts. There are similar processes for companies and other organisations, and they go by various different names in different countries, but in many countries they are called "schemes of arrangement".
In many countries a company or business can ask the courts for "bankruptcy protection" to try and protect the business so that the creditors cannot destroy all of the physical capital and goodwill by breaking it apart and moving it away. The aim of this is provide is more time for the business to reorganise itself and to work out a new deal between the owners and the people the business owes money. In many countries this is called "going into administration".
However, not all countries have bankruptcy protection laws for businesses.
Often a creditor threatens a debtor with debt slavery in many parts of the world. In some cases the debtor does not know that they have a right to go bankrupt. This is a human rights problem in some countries. Also, some creditors continue to harass a debtor even though bankruptcy laws say they should not, hoping that the debtor will pay them money that they do not deserve.
Bankruptcy in the United States falls mostly under federal law, Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code). The types of bankruptcy available in the United States are named after the primary divisions, or "chapters", of that law. The person or business that files a bankruptcy case is known as the "debtor".
When a bankruptcy case is filed, a trustee is chosen by the court. The trustee has authority over the property of the bankrupt person or business and may use some of the debtor's assets to pay the creditors. After a bankruptcy is filed, creditors are notified that they are to stop trying to collect money directly from the debtor and are to make claims for payment to the bankruptcy court.
The most common form of bankruptcy is the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which can be filed by businesses or individuals. It is also called liquidation bankruptcy because some of a debtor's property may be sold (liquidated) to satisfy creditors. When a business is in debt which it cannot pay, it may ask or be forced to file bankruptcy in court under Chapter 7. This usually makes a company stop doing business. Employees often lose their jobs when company files for chapter 7.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a complicated type of bankruptcy that reorganizes the debtor's finances, usually reducing the amount of debt owed and changing debt repayment terms. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy case allows a business to keep running while it finds ways to reduce and arrange payment of its debts.
Almost all Chapter 11 bankruptcies are filed by businesses. Ordinary people do not usually file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, because a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will almost always be cheaper and easier for them.
Chapter 13 is the most popular form of bankruptcy in the United States for ordinary people. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy some of your debts may be forgiven (discharged), but you will have to pay back a portion of your debt. The debt repayment plan is supervised by the bankruptcy court and usually lasts for three to five years. Businesses cannot file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Less common forms of bankruptcy may be filed under Chapter 9 and Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code.
Breakfast sausage
Breakfast sausage is a type of fresh pork sausage made from seasoned ground meat mixed with bread crumbs. Breakfast sausage has a blander flavor than many other types of sausage, such as British or Italian-style sausages.
Breakfast sausages are not cured or smoked like other types of sausages, which means that they have to be cooked soon after they are purchased (unless they are frozen). Uncooked sausages should be stored in the refrigerator or the freezer. Individuals handling them should wash their hands in hot soapy water, because uncooked pork is unhealthy for humans. Pork sausages have to be heated until all of the meat inside is cooked.
They are usually fried or grilled in a pan until they are browned and served at breakfast, often with cooked eggs, pancakes, and toasted bread. Breakfast sausages are also used in other dishes, such as "toad in the hole" a cooked batter dish.
Different types made from pork and beef mixtures as well as poultry can now be found. There are also vegetarian types that use textured vegetable protein in place of meat. Breakfast sausages are available in patties or slices from a large roll, or in weiner-like links of different lengths and thickness.
Beekeeping or apiculture is the farming of honeybees.
The keeping of bees is usually, and has been in the past, for honey. That is becoming less true. Instead, it is more used for crop pollination and other products. These are wax and propolis.
There is only one queen bee in each hive and she is bigger than the rest. She lays all the eggs, which makes all the other bees in the hive her daughters and sons. However, they do not control the hive.
The largest beekeeping operations are agricultural businesses that are operated for profit. Some people also have small beekeeping operations that they do as a hobby. Urban beekeeping is a growing trend, and some have found that "city bees" are actually healthier than "rural bees" because there are fewer pesticides and greater biodiversity.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a growing problem, along with mites.
The British English is the kind of English language which is used in the United Kingdom and in most countries which previously were in the British Empire.
In the United Kingdom, many different people say words in different ways. For example, a man from a place near London may not pronounce his "r"s the same as a man from Scotland or a man from Northern Ireland. Across the country, the accent is different. For instance, in Liverpool, people may speak with a "scouse" accent, in Birmingham with a "brummie" accent, and in London with a "cockney" accent. Different variations on all of British English exist from the manner in which words are pronounced to the manner in which they are spelt. One place people speak English in a different way is Cornwall, where the Cornish dialect is spoken.
Britain, like other countries, has languages other than English. In Wales many speak Welsh; in Scotland some people speak Gaelic, and in Ireland a few people speak Irish. However, that is not the subject of this particular article.
British English often keeps more traditional ways of spelling words than American English.
In British English, "dock" refers to the water in the space between two "piers" or "wharfs". In American English, the "pier" or "wharf" could be called a "dock", and the water between would be a "slip".
Some common differences:
British – American
American English is used in the United States. In Canada, the accent sounds extremely similar to American English but with few exceptions (see Canadian English). The American spelling in Canada is sometimes used, but traditionally, the British Spelling (with the exceptions of some words like programme, -isation/-ise/-isable, chilli, etc.) is used. Although Commonwealth English is the most spoken, American English is seen more often on the internet. American English vocabulary dominates the visual media: "movies" (British: "films") and television.
All Commonwealth nations and Africa learn Commonwealth English, while American English is often learnt in the Americas and China. Z pronounced 'Zee' is only seen in the U.S.A and less commonly in Canada, while Z pronounced 'Zed' is spoken almost everywhere else. The United Kingdom and Ireland use British layout keyboards, while Australia, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A use American layout keyboards. In continental Europe English as a second language is nowadays sometimes even taught in American English, except perhaps in Scandinavia and the Netherlands.
The word being means a living person or animal. ‘Human being’ means the same as ’person’. Men, women, and children are human beings.
Some people write stories or make movies about beings from other planets. Most religions talk about supernatural beings, for example spirits, angels, devils, gods, or God.
Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. The city used to be known as Peking. It is in the northern and eastern parts of the country. It is the world's most populous capital city.
The city of Beijing has played a very important role in the development of China. Many people from different cities and countries come to Beijing to look for better chances to find work. Nearly 15 million people live there. In 2008 Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games, and will host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the only city to host both.
Beijing is well known for its ancient history. Since the Jin Dynasty, Beijing has been the capital of several dynasties (especially the later ones), including the Yuan, Ming, and Qing. There are many places of historic interest in Beijing.
The Mandarin Chinese name of the city is "Běijīng", which means "The Northern Capital". It got this name when the Yongle Emperor of the Ming family of rulers moved most of his government from Nanjing ("The Southern Capital") in the early 1400s. In Chinese, Beijing's name is written Today, people spell it "Beijing" because they use the pinyin way of spelling, which shows what the name should sound like in Mandarin. People used to spell it "Peking" because that was the spelling used by some of the first people from Europe to visit the Ming and write home about it; the Jesuits' work was made popular by their French brother Du Halde. It then became the official Chinese Postal Map spelling around 1900 and continued to be used until pinyin became more popular.
Beijing was also known as Beiping ("City of Northern Peace") between 1928 and 1949, when the Nationalists moved the Chinese capital to Nanjing and Chongqing.
The center of Beijing was settled in the 1st millennium BC. In those days, the Kingdom of Yan (燕, Yān) set up their capital where Beijing is today. They called it Ji (蓟, Jì). After the Kingdom of Yan was destroyed, the city became smaller, although it was still an important place.
Beijing became more important again in the 10th century, when the Jin dynasty set its capital there. This city was destroyed by Mongol forces in 1215. Then in 1267, Mongols built a new city on the north side of the Jin capital, and called it "Great Capital" (大都, Dàdū), which was the beginning of modern Beijing. When Kublai Khan the Mongolian monarch, set up the Yuan dynasty, this city became his capital.
The Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasty all made Beijing their capital. When the Qing dynasty lost power and the Republic of China was set up, the new Republic moved its capital from Beijing to Nanjing. When the People's Republic of China seized power, Beijing became the capital of China again.
In 1989, there were protests in Tian'anmen Square because some people wanted democracy.
Important places in Beijing include:
Beijing is the education center of People's Republic of China. More than 500 famous universities of China are in Beijing. They also include 5 of the top universities: Peking University, Tsinghua University, China People University, Beijing Normal University, and Beihang University. Beijing is also education center of China for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The standard Chinese pronunciation is based on Beijing dialect, so over 70% foreigners who want to study Chinese go to Beijing for their studies.
A bottle is a container used to carry liquids. Bottles can have many different sizes. Bottles are usually made of glass or plastic. Usually, Beer bottles are made of glass, and soft drinks are made of plastic.
Milk, wine, lemonade, and water are often put into bottles.
The word berry is used for many different kinds of small fruits that have many seeds and can be used as food. Some examples are raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry and blueberry.
When botanists talk about "berries", they mean a simple fruit produced from a single ovary. They sometimes call this "true berry", to distinguish it from "false berries". By that statement of how words are used, grapes or tomatoes are true berries.
The berry is the most common type of soft fruit in which the entire ovary wall gets to the right stage of development of the pericarp which can be taken as food. The flowers of these plants have an upper ovary with one or more carpels. The seeds are inside the soft body of the ovary.
Berries are small, sweet, bright colored fruits. Due to this, they are able to bring more animals towards them and spread their seeds.
Some fruits that are called "berries" in English are not "true berries" by the use of words above. These include raspberries, strawberry, blackberries, cranberries, and boysenberries. Some true berries do not have "berry" in their name. These include tomatoes, bananas, eggplants, guavas, pomegranates and chillies. Pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, oranges and lemons are also berries that have slightly different structure and may be called by different names (pepo for pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons, or hesperidium for oranges and lemons).
Boil
Boil might mean:
A beard is the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face.
The hair that grows on the upper lip of some men is a mustache. When a man has hair only below the lower lip and above the chin, it is called a soul patch. Some men have a lot of hair and a big beard, and some have very little. In the modern world, many men shave part or all of their beards, or cut their beard so it does not get very long. Women with hirsutism will also have beards.
Some animals also have hair like this, and people sometimes also call this hair a beard.
In light, black is lack of all color. In painting, however, the black pigment is the combination of all colors. In heraldry, black is called "sable". It is the opposite of white.
The word "black" comes from Old English blæc ("black, dark", also, "ink"), from Proto-Germanic *blakkaz ("burned"), and from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg-. Black is the darkest color/tone on a scale.
In science, an object that is black absorbs the light that hits it. Because these objects do not reflect any light, the human eye can't see any color coming from that object. The brain then sees these objects as black.
A way to create black objects is to mix pigments. A pigment works by reflecting only the color of the pigment. For example, a blue pigment absorbs all colors except blue. By mixing pigments in the right quantities, black can be made.
In sunlight, black objects become quickly warm because they absorb much light.
Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, safety, birth, male, and mystery. Black is a dark color, the darkest color there is. Black, along with gray and white, is a "neutral" color. This means that it is not a "hot" color or a "cool" color.
Black is a color seen with fear and the unknown (black holes). It can have a bad meaning (blackbird, black bunny) or a good meaning ('in the black', 'black is beautiful'). Black can stand for strength and power. It can be a formal, elegant, and high-class color (black tie, black Mercedes, black man). Black clothing is dark in emo and goth subculture.
Bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is the best-known form of the disease plague, which is caused by the bacterium "Yersinia pestis". The name "bubonic plague" is specific for this form of the disease, which enters through the skin, and travels through the lymphatic system.
The plague was spread by fleas on rats. That kind of disease is called a zoonosis.
If the disease is left untreated, it kills about half its victims, in between three and seven days. The bubonic plague was the disease that caused the Black Death, which killed tens of millions of people in Europe, in the Middle Ages.
Symptoms of this disease include coughing, fever, and black spots on the skin.
There are different kinds of Bubonic plague. The most common form of the disease is spread by a certain kind of flea, that lives on rats. Then there is an incubation period which can last from a few hours to about seven days.
Sepsis happens when the bacterium enters the blood and makes it form tiny clots.
This happens when the bacterium can enter the lungs. About 95% of all people with this form will die. Incubation period is only one to two days.
This is the most harmless form. It will result in a little fever. After that, there are antibodies that protect against all forms for a long time.
The first recorded epidemic was in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), It was called the Plague of Justinian after emperor Justinian I, who was infected but survived through extensive treatment. The pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (6th century outbreak) to 50 million people (two centuries of recurrence).
During the 1300s, this epidemic struck parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Almost a third of the people in Europe died of it. Unlike catastrophes that pull communities together, this epidemic was so terrifying that it broke people's trust in one another. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer of the time, described it: ""This scourge had implanted so great a terror in the hearts of men and women that brothers abandoned brothers, uncles their nephews, sisters their brothers, and in many cases wives deserted their husbands. But even worse... fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own children"."
Local outbreaks of the plague are grouped into three plague pandemics, whereby the respective start and end dates and the assignment of some outbreaks to either pandemic are still subject to discussion. The pandemics were:
Globally about 600 cases of plague are reported a year. In 2017 the countries with the most cases include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.
The transmission of "Y. pestis" by fleas is well known. Fleas are the vector. The flea gets the bacteria as they feed on an infected animal, usually a rodent. Several proteins then work to keep the bacteria in the flea digestive tract. This is important for the survival of "Y. pestis" in fleas.
In the 20th century, some countries did research on the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. They did research to use it for biological warfare.
Samples of this bacteria are carefully controlled. There is much paranoia (fear) about it. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, a US expert in this organism was charged in October 2003 by the FBI with various crimes. This happened after he said he lost samples of "Yersinia pestis". This is the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. The FBI did not find the samples. They do not know what happened to them.
Biology is the science that studies life, and living things, and the evolution of life. Living things include animals, plants, fungi (such as mushrooms), and microorganisms such as bacteria and archaea.
The term 'biology' is relatively modern. It was introduced in 1799 by a physician, Thomas Beddoes.
People who study biology are called biologists. Biology looks at how animals and other living things behave and work, and what they are like. Biology also studies how organisms react with each other and the environment. It has existed as a science for about 200 years, and before that it was called "natural history". Biology has many research fields and branches. Like all sciences, biology uses the scientific method. This means that biologists must be able to show evidence for their ideas and that other biologists must be able to test the ideas for themselves.
Biology attempts to answer questions such as:
Modern biology is influenced by evolution, which answers the question: "How has the living world come to be as it is?"
The word "biology" comes from the Greek word "βίος" ("bios"), "life", and the suffix "-λογία" ("logia"), "study of".
Applications in biology
Applications in biology are not just limited to the medical field,it also applies in other careers too. Many competitive exams demand the basic knowledge of biology.biology questions for rrb exams
Botany is the study of plants. It is a science. It is a branch of biology, and is also called plant biology. It is sometimes called phytology. Scientists who study botany are called botanists. They study how plants work.
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: "Koninkrijk België", German: "Königreich Belgien", French: "Royaume de Belgique"), is a federal state in Western Europe. Belgium has an area of . Around 11 million people live in Belgium. It is a founding member of the European Union and is home to its headquarters. The capital city of Belgium is Brussels, where the European Union, NATO and other famous organisations are based.
There are three regions in Belgium:
The population is about 60% Dutch-speaking, 39% French-speaking, and 1% German-speaking (the so-called "Deutschbelgier"). To look after all these groups, Belgium has a complicated system of government.
The name 'Belgium' comes from "Gallia Belgica". This was a Roman province in the northernmost part of Gaul. Before Roman invasion in 100 BC, the "Belgae", a mix of Celtic and Germanic peoples, lived there. The Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings. A slow shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to change into the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the region into Middle and West Francia. They were vassals either of the King of France or of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries.
The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. Southern Netherlands were ruled by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs. This made up most of modern Belgium.
After the , the Low Countries were added into the French First Republic. This ended Austrian rule in the area. Adding back the Low Countries formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. This happened at the end of the First French Empire in 1815.
The Belgian Revolution was in 1830. Leopold I became king on 1831. This is now celebrated as Belgium's National Day.
The Berlin Conference of 1885 gave control of the Congo Free State to King Leopold II. This was for him personally and not for the country of Belgium. Millions of Congolese people were hurt or killed, mostly to make rubber, and Leopold became very wealthy. In 1908 the Belgian state took control of the colony after there was a scandal about the deaths. It was then called the Belgian Congo, but the indigenous peoples continued to be killed and face violence from the colonial government.
Germany invaded Belgium in 1914. This was part of World War I. The opening months of the war were very bad in Belgium. During the war Belgium took over the of Ruanda-Urundi (modern-day Rwanda and Burundi). After the First World War, the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy were added into Belgium in 1925. The country was again invaded by Germany in 1940 and under German control until 1944. After World War II, the people made king Leopold III leave his throne in 1951. This is because they thought he helped the Germans.
In 1960 the Belgian Congo stopped being under Belgian rule. Two years later Ruanda-Urundi also became free. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member.
Since 1993, Belgium is a federal state, divided into three regions and three communities.
Regions:
Communities:
It has a system of government known as a constitutional monarchy, meaning that it has a monarch, but that the monarch does not rule the country, and that a government is elected democratically.
Belgium has had its own monarchy since 1831. King Albert II left the throne on July 21, 2013 and the current king is Philippe.
In Belgium, the government is elected. Between mid-2010 and late 2011, after no clear result in the election, Belgium had no official government, until Elio Di Rupo became Prime Minister. Flanders and Wallonia both also have their own regional governments, and there is a notable independence movement in Flanders. Charles Michel is currently the Prime Minister.
Belgium is next to France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Its total area is 33,990 square kilometers. The land area alone is 30,528 km². Belgium has three main geographical regions. The coastal plain is in the north-west. The central plateau are part of the Anglo-Belgian Basin. The Ardennes uplands are in the south-east. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.
The coastal plain is mostly sand dunes and polders. Further inland is a smooth, slowly rising landscape. There are fertile valleys. The hills have many forests. The plateaus of the Ardennes are more rough and rocky. They have caves and small, narrow valleys. Signal de Botrange is the country's highest point at 694 metres (2,277 ft).
Belgium is divided into three Regions. Flanders and Wallonia are divided into provinces. The third Region, Brussels is not part of any province.
The Belgian Armed Forces have about 46,000 active troops. In 2009 the yearly defence budget was $6 billion. There are four parts: Belgian Land Component, or the Army; Belgian Air Component, or the Air Force; Belgian Naval Component, or the Navy; Belgian Medical Component.
Adding to science and technology has happened throughout the country's history. cartographer Gerardus Mercator, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens and mathematician Simon Stevin are among the most influential scientists.
Chemist Ernest Solvay and engineer Zenobe Gramme gave their names to the Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo in the 1860s. Bakelite was formed in 1907–1909 by Leo Baekeland. A major addition to science was also due to a Belgian, Georges Lemaître. He is the one who made the Big Bang theory of the start of the universe in 1927.
Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet in 1919, Corneille Heymans in 1938 and Albert Claude together with Christian De Duve in 1974. Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. Two Belgian mathematicians have been awarded the Fields Medal: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994.
In February 2014, Belgium became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia without any age limits.
There have been many additions to painting and architecture. Several examples of major architectural places in Belgium belong to UNESCO's World Heritage List. In the 15th century the religious paintings of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden were important. The 16th century had more styles such as Peter Breughel's landscape paintings and Lambert Lombard's showing of the antique. The style of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck was strong in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands.
During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Belgian painters started. These include James Ensor and other artists in the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux and René Magritte. The sculptor Panamarenko is still a remarkable figure in contemporary art. The artist Jan Fabre and the painter Luc Tuymans are other internationally known figures in contemporary art.
Belgian contributions to architecture were also in the 19th and 20th centuries. Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde were major starters of the Art Nouveau style.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux. Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822. Newer music in Belgium is also famous. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans and singer Jacques Brel have made global fame. In rock/pop music, Telex, Front 242, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax and dEUS are well known. In the heavy metal scene, bands like Machiavel, Channel Zero and Enthroned have a worldwide fan-base.
Belgium has several well-known authors, including the poet Emile Verhaeren and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar and Amélie Nothomb. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. "The Adventures of Tintin" by Hergé is the best known of Franco-Belgian comics. Many other major authors, including Peyo, André Franquin, Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame.
Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen. Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Well-known actors include Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain. Successful films include "Man Bites Dog" and "The Alzheimer Affair".
Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries. French fries were first made in Belgium. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".
Other local fast food dishes include a Mitraillette. Brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines, like Côte d'Or, Guylian, Neuhaus, Leonidas, Corné and Galler are famous. Belgium makes over 1100 varieties of beer. The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer. The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven.
Since the 1970s, sports clubs are organised separately by each language community. Association football is one of the most popular sports in both parts of Belgium, together with cycling, tennis, swimming and judo. With five victories in the Tour de France and many other cycling records, Belgian Eddy Merckx is said to be one of the greatest cyclists of all time. Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is said to be one of the greatest in the history of football (soccer). Belgium and The Netherlands hosted the UEFA European Football Championship in 2000. Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships.
Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both were Player of the Year in the Women's Tennis Association. The Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit hosts the Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver, Jacky Ickx, won eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans. Belgium also has a strong reputation in motocross. Sporting events held each year in Belgium include the Memorial Van Damme athletics competition, the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, and a number of classic cycle races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp.
Brazil (officially called Federative Republic of Brazil; how to say: ) is a country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country. The country has about 209 million people. The capital of Brazil is Brasília. Brazil was named after brazilwood, which is a tree that once grew very well along the Brazilian coast.
The first people to come to Brazil came around 9,000 B.C. That group of indigenous people is often called the South American Indians and probably came from North America. They practiced hunting, foraging, and farming. Over thousands of years, many different indigenous peoples were living there.
Pedro Álvares Cabral was the first European to see Brazil. He saw it in 1500. He was from Portugal and the Portuguese kingdom claimed Brazil. Soon, Portugal colonized Brazil and created colonies all along the coastline. They began to import black slaves from Africa and force them to work. Because of the violence of the slave masters, many of these slaves would run away into the forest and create their own communities called quilombos.
In the late 1500s and early 1600s, the Dutch and the French tried to take land in Brazil. Dutch, French, and Portuguese started moving inland further than the Treaty of Tordesillas said they could. This caused some fights with the Spaniards (people from Spain) and indigenous peoples in the area.
In 1822, Brazil claimed to be its own country and not a part of Portugal anymore. Soon there was civil war. Meanwhile, the quilombos survived and Brazil was bringing in more slaves than any other country in the Americas, even though many countries were beginning to legally abolish slavery. This led to an increase in slave revolts, especially in the 1860s and 1880s, which forced the government to change the system in order to keep the country stable. Slavery was legally abolished in 1888.
In 1889, there was a military coup, and Pedro II had to leave the country. In 1889, Brazil became a republic. The only people who could vote were people who owned land. There were some uprisings in the 1920s because some people thought the government was unfairly helping coffee growers. Brazil joined the Allies during World War II.
During the 1960s, the military leader Castelo Branco overthrew the government and created a dictatorship that was supported by the United States. It was very anti-communist and they imprisoned, tortured, or killed many people on the left. Since then, the country has become more democratic, but some people feel that there are still big problems in health, education, crime, poverty and social inequality.
In August 2016, then-president Dilma Rousseff was removed from office because of impeachment.
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese. Brazil is the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese.
Some people in Brazil speak German dialects. That came from German immigrants. 2% of Brazilians speak German as their first language. Yiddish is spoken by the elders of the Jewish community.