AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Leather is the skin of an animal made into a durable material by tanning. The skins of cows, pigs, and goats are often used to make leather. Skins of snakes, alligators or crocodiles, and ostriches are sometimes used to make fancier leather. Shoes, bags, clothes, and balls are often made of leather. Sometimes people make leather out of whales, ducks, giraffes, and African elephants, but all of these ways of making leather are very simple but can also be very hard and rare sometimes.
The way leather is made is divided into three processes. They are preparing the leather, tanning it, and crusting.
In preparing the leather, many things are done to make it ready for tanning. They include soaking it, removing the hair, liming, deliming, bating, bleaching, and pickling.
Tanning is a process that makes the proteins, especially collagen, in the raw hide stable. It increases the thermal and chemical stability of the animal skins. The difference between fresh and tanned animal skin is that fresh animal skin dries to make it hard and stiff. When water is added to it, it becomes bad. But, animal skin that is tanned dries to make it flexible. It does not become bad when water is added to it.
Crusting is a process that makes the leather thin and lubricates it. Chemicals added when crusting must be set in place. Crusting ends with drying and making the leather soft. It may include splitting, shaving, dyeing, whitening or other methods.
Today, most leather is made from the skin of cattle, which makes up about 65% of all the leather made. Other animals that are used include sheep (about 13%), goats (about 11%), and pigs (about 10%).
Horse skin is used to make strong leather. Lamb and deerskin are used for soft leather. It is used in work gloves and indoor shoes.
Kangaroo leather is used to make things that must be strong and flexible. It is used in bullwhips.
In Thailand, stingray leather is used in wallets and belts. Stingray leather is tough and durable.
A license (or licence) allows someone to do something that they otherwise are not allowed to do. A person usually has to pay some money, and maybe pass a test to get a license. A license is usually written but it does not have to be. Most kinds of licenses can only be used by the person they were given to. Licenses may be temporary or permanent. Some licenses can not be taken away once they are given. A person with a license is called a licensee.
In many countries, if a person tries to do something without the correct license to do it, they might have to pay a fine or go to prison.
There are many different types of licenses.
The laws of most countries say that people are only allowed to drive cars if they have a driver's license. If a person does not have a license, they may have to pay a fine if they are caught by the police. In many countries, a person must take a test and pay money to get a license. The test would check that they know the road rules, and have the skill to drive a car.
Other licenses give permission to shoot animals (often called a hunting license). The hunting license usually says when a person may hunt. A hunter may have to pass a test to show that they understand the rules about hunting.
In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, if someone has a television set, they must buy a "television licence" every year.
Copyright is a law that gives the owner of a creative work the right to decide what other people can do with it. A person or a company can give a license to a copyright that they own. So in order for another person to use an owner's copyright they need permission from the owner. For example, when someone buys computer software, they also need a license from the creator of the software (a copyright owner) allowing the buyer to use the software.
"License" is a verb and "licence" is a noun. "Licensing sessions" were the meetings of magistrates which decided about giving licences to sell alcohol.
In American English there is no difference in spelling between the verb "to license" meaning to give permission, and the noun "a license" meaning the permission to do something.
A degree in medicine is a qualification showing a person has successfully studied medicine. It is awarded for life. A licence to practice medicine is a legal permission to do so within the territory covered by the licensing authority. The licence may be taken away under certain situations.
A link, also hyperlink in computing, is a part of a chain. A chain is made of many pieces of metal; each piece is a link.
Today, people also use the word link in a new way. The World Wide Web on the Internet is made of many different Web pages. The computer software that people use to make these pages (HTML) lets us go to other pages in a very fast and easy way.
The person who makes the web page can tell the computer to show a word or a picture on the Web page as a link. This means that when we click on the link with our computer mouse, the computer will show us the new page we want to see. Most links are blue, but they can be any color.
The color of the link will change to dark blue when clicked as the web browser recognises it in the browser's cache. Unless the cache is cleared, the link will always stay dark blue.
There are many ways in making a link on a web page. The process is different for different internet software.
In .htm and .html files, a link can be created using this code:
<nowiki>Text of link</nowiki>
WikiSyntax like MediaWiki uses a simpler way of making links. To create a link to another page of the same website:
<nowiki>Link text</nowiki> or just <nowiki>Page name</nowiki>.
To link to an external website:
<nowiki>Link text</nowiki>, <nowiki></nowiki>, or just <nowiki>http://www.example.com</nowiki>.
BB code is used in forum software. To create a link:
<nowiki>[url]http://www.example.com[/url]</nowiki>, or <nowiki>[url=http://www.example.com]Link text[/url]</nowiki>
A library is a place where many books are kept. Most libraries are public and let people take the books to use in their home. Most libraries let people borrow books for several weeks. Some belong to institutions, for example, companies, churches, schools, and universities. Also a person's bookshelves at home can have many books and be a library. The people who work in libraries are librarians. Librarians are people who take care of the library.
Other libraries keep famous or rare books. There are a few "Copyright libraries" which have a copy of every book which has been written in that country. Some libraries also have other things that people might like, such as magazines, music on CDs, or computers where people can use the Internet. In school they offer software to learn the alphabet and other details.With the spread of literacy, libraries have become essential tools for learning. Libraries are very important for the progress and development of a society.Libraries are collections of books and other informational materials. People come to libraries for reading, study or reference. Libraries contain a variety of materials. They contain printed materials, films, sound and video recordings, maps, photographs, computer software, online databases, and other media.
A library is not a bookstore (a store that sells books).
The prime purpose of a library is to provide access to knowledge and information. To fulfil this mission, libraries preserve a valuable record of culture. Then they pass down this to the coming generations. Therefore, they are an essential link between the past, present and future.
People use libraries to work. They also use library resources to learn about personal interests. Sometimes, they get recreational media such as films and music. Students use libraries to study.
Libraries help the students to develop good reading and study habits. Public officials use libraries for research and public issues. The libraries provide information and services that are essential for learning and progress.
Many places have a public library, where anybody can join if they live in the area. With a library card, people can borrow books and take them home for several weeks. It does not cost money to get a library card at most public libraries.
Books are kept on shelves in a special order so they are easy to find. Public libraries have lot of books on various topics including story books and many others. Many public libraries have books and CDs about learning English. Stories are kept in alphabetical order by the last name of the person who wrote them, the author. Books about other things are often given a special number, that refers to what they are about. They are then put on the shelf in number order. One number system used by many libraries is the Dewey decimal system.
Many colleges and universities have large academic libraries. These libraries are for the use of college students, professors, and researchers. Academic libraries are used mainly for doing research like studying the solar system or how earthquakes happen. These libraries do not have the same types of books you would find in a public library. They usually do not have fiction books or books for children (unless they are being studied). Academic libraries can have many books, sometimes more than a million.
Special libraries are those libraries that are not public libraries or academic libraries. They are usually small. Many times a special library holds books on a particular subject or even a special kind of book. Some special libraries keep just old books or books by Shakespeare. A special library can be owned by a business for use only by that business. For example, Disney World in Orlando has its own library that is not open to the public but for the use of the people who work for the company.
A librarian is a person who works in a library. Librarians help people find books and information. They can teach people how to find books and use the library. A professional librarian is a person who went to school to study library science. They can earn a degree called a Masters in Library Science.
The earliest known library was discovered in Iraq and belonged to the ancient civilization in Sumer. They didn't use paper books but instead wrote everything on clay tablets using a style of writing called cuneiform. These tablets are over 5,000 years old. The Library of Alexandria, in Egypt, was the largest and most important library of the ancient world. It was destroyed when the Romans conquered Egypt in 30 BC. Rome’s first public library was established by Asinius Pollio who was a lieutenant of Julius Caesar. Eventually Rome would build 28 public libraries within the city. When the Roman Empire fell in 330 AD, many books went east to the city of Byzantium where a large library was built. Other libraries were built in monasteries and public homes.
Libraries began to appear in many Islamic cities, where science and philosophy survived after the fall of the Roman Empire. Christian monks and Islamic libraries exchanged books to copy.
List of mathematics topics
There are a number of topics in mathematics. Some of them include:
Like can mean some different things:
1. We can use to like to say that we find a thing is good:
2. We can use like for "the same as" or "nearly the same as":
3. We can also use like for "the same way as":
4. In a question, we can use like to ask people to talk about a thing, or to say if they find it good or not:
5. We can also use like as "for example":
6. In British and American English young people, when talking, have recently started using like as an extra word in the middle of sentences. Sometimes they use it to report what someone said, especially when mimicking the way they said it. This should never be used in writing:
As works in the same way as example 2 - comparing two things using either the word "like" or the word "as" is called making a simile ("As big as an elephant"). It may be better to use the word "as" for this to stop confusion with example 1.
Political divisions of China
There are twenty-three provinces, four municipalities, five autonomous regions and two special administrative regions in the People's Republic of China. The island of Taiwan is claimed as a province by the People's Republic of China (PRC), but it is not under their control. Taiwan is an island known as Republic of China (Taiwan).
There are 23 provinces in the People's Republic of China.
<nowiki>*</nowiki> The island of Taiwan is claimed as a province by the People's Republic of China (PRC), but it is not under their control. Taiwan is an island known as Republic of China (Taiwan).
There are 4 municipalities in the People's Republic of China. "Municipality" is the common English name for the Chinese "zhíxiáshì", meaning a city directly controlled by the national government.
There are 5 autonomous regions in the People's Republic of China. "Autonomous region" is the common English name for the Chinese "zìzhìqū", meaning an area with greater levels of self-government to accommodate minority groups.
There are 2 special administrative regions in the People's Republic of China. "Special administrative region" is the common English name for the Chinese "tèbié xíngzhèng qū", meaning an area under special administration as a result of treaties that returned former European colonies to Chinese control.
List of fruits
Fruits on this list are defined as the word is used in everyday speech. It does not include vegetables, whatever their origin.
The following items are fruits, according to the scientific definition, but are sometimes considered to be vegetables:
Legislature
Legislature is a word that comes from the Latin language, meaning "those who write the laws." A legislature is therefore a group of people who vote for new laws, for example in a state or country.
Each person in the legislature is usually either elected or appointed. The constitution of that state or country usually tells how a legislature is supposed to work.
In many countries, the legislature is called a Parliament, Congress, or National Assembly. Sometimes there are two groups of members in the legislature. This is called a ""bicameral"" legislature. A unicameral legislature has only one group of members.
A country, district, city, or other small area may also have something like a legislature. These are often called councils, and they make smaller laws for their areas.
Linear algebra is a branch of mathematics. It came from mathematicians trying to solve systems of linear equations. Vectors and matrices are used to solve these systems. The main objects of study currently are vector spaces and linear mappings between vector spaces. Linear algebra is useful in other branches of mathematics (e.g. differential equations and analytic geometry). It can also be applied to the real world in areas such as engineering, physics and economics.
Linear algebra describes ways to solve and manipulate (rearrange) systems of linear equations.
For example, consider the following equations:
These two equations form a system of linear equations.
It is linear because none of the variables are raised to a power.
The graph of a linear equation in two variables is a straight line.
The solution to this system is:
This is because it makes all of the original equations valid, that is, the value on the left side of the equals sign is exactly the same as the value on the right side for both equations.
Linear algebra uses a system of notation for describing system behavior, called a matrix. For the previous example, the coefficients of the equations can be stored in a coefficient matrix.
London is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. London is the city region with the highest population in the United Kingdom. With it being located along River Thames, London has been a central city since it was founded by the Romans two millennia ago under the name Londinium. London's original city center, the City of London, which in 2011 had 7,375 inhabitants on an area of ​​2.9 km², is England's smallest city. Since the end of the 19th century, London has also been used for the urban region that has developed around this city center. This area forms the region of London, as well as the Greater London administrative unit, led by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. In modern times, London is one of the world's most important political, economic and cultural centers. This is not least due to the fact that London was the capital of the British Empire and thus for almost three centuries the center of power for large parts of the globe.
The city itself has around 9.1 million inhabitants (2018), but if you count the entire metropolitan area of ​​London (London Metropolitan Area), you reach around 15 million. The city was considered the largest in the EU by population.
London has a temperate climate with regular, light rain throughout the year. July is the warmest month, with an average temperature at Greenwich of 13.6 ° C to 22.8 ° C. The coldest month is January, with an average of 2.4 ° C to 7.9 ° C. The average annual rainfall is 583.6 mm, and February is normally the driest month. Snow is uncommon in London itself, although there is regular snow in the surrounding area; this is because the extra heat the big city generates makes the city about 5 ° C warmer than surrounding areas in winter.
The Romans built the city of "Londinium" along the River Thames in the year AD 43. The name "Londinium" (and later 'London') came from the Celtic language of the Ancient Britons. In the year AD 61, the city was attacked and destroyed. Then the Romans rebuilt the city, and London became an important trading hub.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, few people remained in London. This was partly because the Anglo-Saxon people of Sub-Roman Britain were primarily agricultural. Once the Romans had gone, trade with Continental Europe dwindled. In the 9th century, more people started living in London again. It became the largest city in England. However, it did not become the capital city of England until the 12th century.
After the railways were built, London grew very big. Greater London has 33 boroughs (neighbourhoods) and a mayor. The old City of London is only a square mile in size but has its own Lord Mayor.
Another famous old part of Greater London is Westminster, which was always a different city from the City of London. In Westminster is Westminster Abbey (a cathedral), The Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament, with Big Ben), and 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives).
London has an oceanic, or temperate climate. It is not usually very hot or cold. It is often cloudy.
London has many celebrations, festivals and events.
London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark.
The London Stock Exchange is the most international stock exchange and the largest in Europe.
London's largest industry is finance. This includes banks, stock exchanges, investment companies and insurance companies The Bank of England is located in London and is the second oldest bank in the world.
London has many professional services such as law and accounting firms.
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which has many radio and TV stations, is in London.
Tourism is one of London's biggest industries. London is the most visited city in the world by international tourists with 18.8 million international visitors per year. Within the UK, London is home to the ten most-visited tourist attractions. Tourism employed about 350,000 full-time workers in London in 2003. Tourists spend about £15 billion per year.
A growing number of technology companies are based in London.
London is a major retail centre, and in 2010 had the highest non-food retail sales of any city in the world, with a total spend of around £64.2 billion. The UK's fashion industry, centred on London, contributes tens of billions to the economy.
For the 19th and much of the 20th centuries London was a major manufacturing centre (see Manufacturing in London), with over 1.5 million industrial workers in 1960. Many products were made in London including ships, electronics and cars. Nowadays, most of these manufacturing companies are closed but some drug companies still make medicine in London.
London has twin and sister city agreements with these cities:
London also has a "partnership" agreement with Tokyo, Japan.
The city has a huge network of transport systems including trains, metros (underground) and five main airports.
The Victorians built many train systems in the mid-19th century (1850s). Their main stations are in London, and the lines go to every part of Great Britain. There were originally five major companies but the five companies became a national rail network in modern times.
There are five airports, though only one is actually in London (London City Airport). There is the London end of the LondonBirmingham canal, which was important to the industrial 19th century. The most used airport is Heathrow International Airport although it is actually outside the city.
The metro or London Underground is a system of electric trains which are in London. It is the oldest underground railway in the world. It started running in 1863 as the "Metropolitan Railway". After the opening the system was copied in many other cities, for example New York and Madrid. Even though it is called "the Underground" about half of it is above the ground. The "Tube" is a slang name for the London Underground, because the tunnels for some of the lines are round tubes running through the ground. The Underground has got 274 stations and over 408 km of track. From 2006–2007 over 1 billion passengers used the underground.
Litre
A litre (international spelling) or liter (American spelling) is one of the metric units of volume. It is not a basic SI unit, but it is a supplementary unit.
One litre is the volume of 1000 cubic centimetres, that is a cube of 10 × 10 × 10 centimetres (1000 cm). One litre of water at has the mass of exactly one kilogram. This results from the definition given in 1795, where the gram was defined as the weight of one cubic centimetre of melting ice.
The symbol for litre is l or ℓ.
For smaller volumes, the decilitre is used: 10 dl = one litre.
For smaller volumes, the centilitre is used: 100 cl = one litre.
For smaller volumes, the millilitre is used: 1000 ml = one litre.
The capital letter "L" is preferred by some people as the small "l" can look like the number one "1".
The metric system was first introduced in France in 1791. That system did not have its own unit of capacity or volume because volume can be measured in cubic metres. In 1793 work to make the metric system compulsory in France was started by the Temporary Commission of Republican Weights and Measures. Due to public demand, the commission said that the cubic metre was too big for everyday use. They said that a new unit based on the old cadil should be used instead. One cadil was to be 0.001 cubic metres. This was equivalent to a cube with sides 10 cm. The "cadil" was also known as the "pinte" or the "litron". The "pinte" had been an old French unit of measure of capacity. In 1795 the definition was revised. The "cadil" was given the name "litre".
In 1795 the kilogram was defined to be exactly one litre of water at 4 °C. In 1799 the kilogram was redefined. The new definition said that the kilogram was the mass of the "kilogram des archives". In 1901 scientists measured the volume of one litre of water at 4 °C very carefully. They found that it occupied about  dm. The BIPM redefined the litre as being "exactly" the volume of one kilogram of water at 4 °C.
In 1960 the SI was introduced. The BIPM changed the definition of the litre back to "one dm". The litre is not part of SI. The BIPM defined the litre as a "Non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI". This was because it is used in many countries. The BIPM said that the litre should not be used for very accurate work.
According to SI rules, the symbol for the litre should be "l". This is because the litre was not named after somebody whose name was "Litre". However the symbol "l" and the number "1" are easily confused. In 1979 the BIPM made an exception for the symbol for the litre. They said that people could use either "L" or "l" as its symbol.
In Europe, milk is sold in one litre cartons. One litre bottle is also a popular package for soft drinks. Most alcoholic drinks are sold as 1/3 litre (0.33 l), ½ litre (0.5 l) or 3/4 litre (0.75 l) bottles.
Lime is a green fruit, and the tree fruit itself. They are citrus fruits similar to lemons. Limes are rich in vitamin C. Sailors from Britain were given lemon or lime juice to stop them falling ill with scurvy. This is how they got the nickname "Limey". There are several citrus trees whose fruits are called limes. They include the key lime "Citrus aurantiifolia", the Persian lime, the kaffir lime, and the desert lime "Citrus glauca".
Limes are small, round and bright green. If they stay on the tree for a long time they turn yellow. Then they look like small round lemons.
Lime juice is used in cooking and in drinks. Lime oils are often used in perfumes, used for cleaning, and used for aromatherapy.
Lime tastes acidic and bitter. Lime juice is also made from limes.
Mathematics is the study of numbers, shapes and patterns. The word comes from the Greek word "μάθημα" (máthema), meaning "science, knowledge, or learning", and is sometimes shortened to maths (in England, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand) or math (in the United States and Canada). The short words are often used for arithmetic, geometry or simple algebra by students and their schools.
Mathematics includes the study of:
Mathematics is useful for solving problems that occur in the real world, so many people besides mathematicians study and use mathematics. Today, some mathematics is needed in many jobs. People working in business, science, engineering, and construction need some knowledge of mathematics.
Mathematics solves problems by using logic. One of the main tools of logic used by mathematicians is deduction. Deduction is a special way of thinking to discover and prove new truths using old truths. To a mathematician, the reason something is true (called a proof) is just as important as the fact that it is true, and this reason is often found using deduction. Using deduction is what makes mathematics thinking different from other kinds of scientific thinking, which might rely on experiments or on interviews.
Logic and reasoning are used by mathematicians to create general rules, which are an important part of mathematics. These rules leave out information that is not important so that a single rule can cover many situations. By finding general rules, mathematics solves many problems at the same time as these rules can be used on other problems. These rules can be called theorems (if they have been proved) or conjectures (if it is not known if they are true yet). Most mathematicians use non-logical and creative reasoning in order to find a logical proof.
Sometimes, mathematics finds and studies rules or ideas that we don't understand yet. Often in mathematics, ideas and rules are chosen because they are considered simple or neat. On the other hand, sometimes these ideas and rules are found in the real world after they are studied in mathematics; this has happened many times in the past. In general, studying the rules and ideas of mathematics can help us understand the world better. Some examples of math problems are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, calculus, fractions and decimals. Algebra problems are solved by evaluating certain variables. A calculator answers every math problem in the four basic arithmetic operations.
These theorems have interested mathematicians and people who are not mathematicians.
These are theorems and conjectures that have greatly changed mathematics.
Progress in understanding the nature of mathematics also influences the way mathematicians study their subject.
Mathematics in history, and the history of mathematics.
There is no Nobel prize in mathematics. Mathematicians can receive the Abel prize and the Fields Medal for important works.
The Clay Mathematics Institute has said it will give one million dollars to anyone who solves one of the Millennium Prize Problems.
There are many tools that are used to do mathematics or to find answers to mathematics problems.
March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between February and April. It has 31 days. March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war.
March always begins on the same day of the week as November, and additionally, February in common years. March always ends on the same day of the week as June.
In ancient Rome, March was called Martius. It was named after the war god (Mars) and the Romans thought that it was a lucky time to begin a war. Before Julius Caesar's calendar reform, March was the first month of the year in the Roman calendar, as the winter was considered to be a monthless period.
March is one of seven months to have 31 days. March begins on the same day of the week as February in common years and November every year, as each other's first days are exactly 4 weeks (28 days) and 35 weeks (245 days) apart respectively. March ends on the same day of the week as June every year, as each other's last days are exactly 13 weeks (91 days) apart.
In common years, March starts on the same day of the week as June of the previous year, and in leap years, September and December of the previous year. In common years, March finishes on the same day of the week as September of the previous year, and in leap years, April and December of the previous year.
In years immediately before common years, March starts on the same day of the week as August of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, May of the following year. In years immediately before common years, March finishes on the same day of the week as August and November of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, May of the following year.
In leap years, the day before March 1 is February 29. This determines the position of each day of the year from there on. As an example, March 1 is usually the 60th day of the year, but in a leap year is the 61st day.
In terms of seasons, March is one of two months to have an equinox (the other is September, its seasonal equivalent in both hemispheres), with daylight and darkness of roughly the same number of hours, halfway between the December and June solstices. In the Northern Hemisphere, spring starts in this month, while it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
The official start of either season is March 1, though the equinox can fall on March 20 or 21, occasionally on March 19. The northern spring equinox marks the start of the Iranian New Year and Baha'i New Year. It is from the March 21 date that Easter's date is calculated, on the Sunday after the first full moon in spring, meaning it can fall between March 22 and April 25 in Western Christianity.
May is the fifth month of the year, coming between April and June. It has 31 days. The month of May might have been named for the Roman goddess Maia, or more likely the Roman goddess of fertility Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May.
May never begins or ends on the same day of the week as any other month.
May's flower is the Lily of the Valley. Its birthstone is the emerald. The meaning of the emerald is success in love.
May comes between April and June and is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It is one of seven months to have 31 days. In the older Roman calendar, May was the third month of the year. It is a spring month in the Northern Hemisphere and an autumn month in the Southern Hemisphere. In each hemisphere, it is the seasonal equivalent of November in the other. May is likely to have been named after the Roman goddess Maia, though there is a theory that May might have its name from the Latin "Maiores", meaning "Seniors". The same theory suggests that June would then be named from "Iuniores", meaning "Juniors".
No other month of any year, common or leap year, begins nor ends on the same day of the week as May: this month is the only one that has both of these properties.
In common years, May starts on the same day of the week as August of the previous year, and in leap years, March and November of the previous year. In common years, May finishes on the same day of the week as August and November of the previous year, and in leap years, March and June of the previous year. In leap years and years immediately after that, May starts on the same day of the week as February of the previous year.
Every year, May both starts and finishes on the same day of the week as January of the following year, as each other's first and last days are exactly 35 weeks (245 days) apart. In years immediately before common years, May starts on the same day of the week as October of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, April and July of the following year. In years immediately before common years, May finishes on the same day of the week as February and October of the following year, and in years immediately before leap years, July of the following year.
In the Northern Hemisphere, May is in late Spring, and May Day on May 1 and Walpurgis Night, during the night of April 30 to May 1, are symbolic of the transition from winter to summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is in autumn, and comes just before the Antarctic winter, when emperor penguins breed there.
Special devotions to the Virgin Mary take place in May.
Music is a form of art that uses sound organised in time. Music is also a form of entertainment that puts sounds together in a way that people like, find interesting or dance to. Most music includes people singing with their voices or playing musical instruments, such as the piano, guitar, drums or violin.
The word "music" comes from the Greek word ("mousike"), which means "(art) of the Muses". In Ancient Greece the Muses included the goddesses of music, poetry, art, and dance. Someone who makes music is known as a musician.
Music is sound that has been organized by using rhythm, melody or harmony. If someone bangs saucepans while cooking, it makes noise. If a person bangs saucepans or pots in a rhythmic way, they are making a simple type of music.
There are four things which music has most of the time:
There is no simple definition of music which covers all cases. It is an art form, and opinions come into play. Music is whatever people think is music. A different approach is to list the qualities music must have, such as, sound which has rhythm, melody, pitch, timbre, etc.
These and other attempts, do not capture all aspects of music, or leave out examples which definitely are music. According to Thomas Clifton, music is "a certain reciprocal relation established between a person, his behavior, and a sounding object". Musical experience and the music, together, are called phenomena, and the activity of describing phenomena is called phenomenology.
Even in the stone age people made music. The first music was probably made trying to imitate sounds and rhythms that occurred naturally. Human music may echo these phenomena using patterns, repetition and tonality. This kind of music is still here today. Shamans sometimes imitate sounds that are heard in nature. It may also serve as entertainment (games), or have practical uses, like attracting animals when hunting.
Some animals also can use music. Songbirds use song to protect their territory, or to attract a mate. Monkeys have been seen beating hollow logs. This may, of course, also serve to defend the territory.
The first musical instrument used by humans was probably the voice. The human voice can make many different kinds of sounds. The larynx (voice box) is like a wind instrument.
The oldest known Neanderthal hyoid bone with the modern human form was found in 1983, indicating that the Neanderthals had language, because the hyoid supports the voice box in the human throat.
Most likely the first rhythm instruments or percussion instruments involved the clapping of hands, stones hit together, or other things that are useful to keep a beat. There are finds of this type that date back to the paleolithic. Some of these are ambiguous, as they can be used either as a tool or a musical instrument.
The oldest flute ever discovered may be the so-called Divje Babe flute, found in the Slovenian cave Divje Babe I in 1995. It is not certain that the object is really a flute. The item in question is a fragment of the femur of a young cave bear, and has been dated to about 43,000 years ago. However, whether it is truly a musical instrument or simply a carnivore-chewed bone is a matter of ongoing debate.
In 2008, archaeologists discovered a bone flute in the Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, Germany. The five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the discovery officially published their findings in the journal "Nature", in June 2009. The discovery is also the oldest confirmed find of any musical instrument in history. Other flutes were also found in the cave. This flute was found next to the Venus of Hohle Fels and a short distance from the oldest known human carving. When they announced their discovery, the scientists suggested that the "finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe".
The oldest known wooden pipes were discovered near Greystones, Ireland, in 2004. A wood-lined pit contained a group of six flutes made from yew wood, between 30 and 50 cm long, tapered at one end, but without any finger holes. They may once have been strapped together.
In 1986 several bone flutes were found in Jiahu in Henan Province, China. They date to about 6,000 BC. They have between 5 and 8 holes each and were made from the hollow bones of a bird, the Red-crowned Crane. At the time of the discovery, one was found to be still playable. The bone flute plays both the five- or seven-note scale of Xia Zhi and six-note scale of Qing Shang of the ancient Chinese musical system.
It is not known what the earliest music of the cave people was like. Some architecture, even some paintings, are thousands of years old, but old music could not survive until people learned to write it down. The only way we can guess about early music is by looking at very old paintings that show people playing musical instruments, or by finding them in archaeological digs (digging underground to find old things). The earliest piece of music that was ever written down and that has not been lost was discovered on a tablet written in Hurrian, a language spoken in and around northern Mesopotamia (where Iraq is today), from about 1500 BC. The Oxfords Companion to Music, ed. Percy Scholes, London 1970
Another early piece of written music that has survived was a round called "Sumer Is Icumen In". It was written down by a monk around the year 1250. Much of the music in the Middle Ages (roughly 450-1420) was folk music played by working people who wanted to sing or dance. When people played instruments, they were usually playing for dancers. However, most of the music that was written down was for the Catholic church. This music was written for monks to sing in church. It is called Chant (or Gregorian chant).
In the Renaissance (roughly 1400–1550) there was a lot of music, and many composers wrote music that has survived so that it can be performed, played or sung today. The name for this period (Renaissance) is a French word which means "rebirth". This period was called the "rebirth" because many new types of art and music were reborn during this time.
Some very beautiful music was written for use in church services (sacred music) by the Italian composer Giovanni da Palestrina (1525–1594). In Palestrina's music, many singers sing together (this is called a choir). There was also plenty of music not written for the church, such as happy dance music and romantic love songs. Popular instruments during the Renaissance included the viols (a string instrument played with a bow), lutes (a plucked stringed instrument that is a little like a guitar), and the virginal, a small, quiet keyboard instrument.
In the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural era, which began near the turn of the 17th century in Rome. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music. In music, the term 'Baroque' applies to the final period of dominance of imitative counterpoint, where different voices and instruments echo each other but at different pitches, sometimes inverting the echo, and even reversing thematic material.
The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. The upper class also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. In similar profusions of detail, art, music, architecture, and literature inspired each other in the Baroque cultural movement as artists explored what they could create from repeated and varied patterns. Some traits and aspects of Baroque paintings that differentiate this style from others are the abundant amount of details, often bright polychromy, less realistic faces of subjects, and an overall sense of awe, which was one of the goals in Baroque art.
The word baroque probably derives from the ancient Portuguese noun "barroco" which is a pearl that is not round but of unpredictable and elaborate shape. Hence, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is "elaborate", with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In western music, the classical period means music from about 1750 to 1825. It was the time of composers like Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Orchestras became bigger, and composers often wrote longer pieces of music called symphonies that had several sections (called movements). Some movements of a symphony were loud and fast; other movements were quiet and sad. The form of a piece of music was very important at this time. Music had to have a nice 'shape'. They often used a structure which was called sonata form.
Another important type of music was the string quartet, which is a piece of music written for two violins, a viola, and a violoncello. Like symphonies, string quartet music had several sections. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven each wrote many famous string quartets.
The piano was invented during this time. Composers liked the piano, because it could be used to play dynamics (getting louder or getting softer). Other popular instruments included the violin, the violoncello, the flute, the clarinet, and the oboe.
The 19th century is called the Romantic period. Composers were particularly interested in conveying their emotions through music. An important instrument from the Romantic period was the piano. Some composers, such as Frederic Chopin wrote subdued, expressive, quietly emotional piano pieces. Often music described a feeling or told a story using sounds. Other composers, such as Franz Schubert wrote songs for a singer and a piano player called Lied (the German word for "song"). These Lieder (plural of Lied) told stories by using the lyrics (words) of the song and by the imaginative piano accompaniments. Other composers, like Richard Strauss, and Franz Liszt created narratives and told stories using only music, which is called a tone poem. Composers, such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms used the piano to play loud, dramatic, strongly emotional music.
Many composers began writing music for bigger orchestras, with as many as 100 instruments. It was the period of "Nationalism" (the feeling of being proud of one's country) when many composers made music using folksong or melodies from their country. Lots of famous composers lived at this time such as Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Richard Wagner.
From about 1900 onwards is called the "modern period". Many 20th century composers wanted to compose music that sounded different from the Classical and Romantic music. Modern composers searched for new ideas, such as using new instruments, different forms, different sounds, or different harmonies.
The composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) wrote pieces which were atonal (meaning that they did not sound as if they were in any clear musical key). Later, Schoenberg invented a new system for writing music called twelve-tone system. Music written with the twelve-tone system sounds strange to some, but is mathematical in nature, often making sense only after careful study. Pure twelve-tone music was popular among academics in the fifties and sixties, but some composers such as Benjamin Britten use it today, when it is necessary to get a certain feel.
One of the most important 20th-century composers, Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), wrote music with very complicated (difficult) chords (groups of notes that are played together) and rhythms. Some composers thought music was getting too complicated and so they wrote Minimalist pieces which use very simple ideas. In the 1950s and 1960s, composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen experimented with electronic music, using electronic circuits, amplifiers and loudspeakers. In the 1970s, composers began using electronic synthesizers and musical instruments from rock and roll music, such as the electric guitar. They used these new instruments to make new sounds.
Composers writing in the 1990s and the 2000s, such as John Adams (born 1947) and James MacMillan (born 1959) often use a mixture of all these ideas, but they like to write tonal music with easy tunes as well.
Music can be produced electronically. This is most commonly done by computers, keyboards, electric guitars and disk tables. They can mimic traditional instruments, and also produce very different sounds. 21st-century electronic music is commonly made with computer programs and hardware mixers.
Jazz is a type of music that was invented around 1900 in New Orleans in the south of the USA. There were many black musicians living there who played a style of music called blues music. Blues music was influenced by African music (because the black people in the United States had come to the United States as slaves. They were taken from Africa by force). Blues music was a music that was played by singing, using the harmonica, or the acoustic guitar. Many blues songs had sad lyrics about sad emotions (feelings) or sad experiences, such as losing a job, a family member dying, or having to go to jail (prison).
Jazz music mixed together blues music with European music. Some black composers such as Scott Joplin were writing music called ragtime, which had a very different rhythm from standard European music, but used notes that were similar to some European music. Ragtime was a big influence on early jazz, called Dixieland jazz. Jazz musicians used instruments such as the trumpet, saxophone, and clarinet were used for the tunes (melodies), drums for percussion and plucked double bass, piano, banjo and guitar for the background rhythm (rhythmic section). Jazz is usually improvised: the players make up (invent) the music as they play. Even though jazz musicians are making up the music, jazz music still has rules; the musicians play a series of chords (groups of notes) in order.
Jazz music has a swinging rhythm. The word "swing" is hard to explain. For a rhythm to be a "swinging rhythm" it has to feel natural and relaxed. Swing rhythm is not even like a march. There is a long-short feel instead of a same-same feel. A "swinging rhythm" also gets the people who are listening excited, because they like the sound of it. Some people say that a "swinging rhythm" happens when all the jazz musicians start to feel the same pulse and energy from the song. If a jazz band plays very well together, people will say "that is a swinging jazz band" or "that band really swings well."
Jazz influenced other types of music like the Western art music from the 1920s and 1930s. Art music composers such as George Gershwin wrote music that was influenced by jazz. Jazz music influenced pop music songs. In the 1930s and 1940s, many pop music songs began using chords or melodies from jazz songs. One of the best known jazz musicians was Louis Armstrong (1900–1971).