AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Nationalism had an important role in ending the colonial rule. Nationalism spread to colonies and made their people desire independence. Nationalism also made the people in metropolitan states (countries that colonized others) accept more the desire of other people to rule themselves. However nationalists think that the end of colonization of Africa was not done well. They think that there would not be so many conflicts in Africa if African nations had built in a nationalist way (so that every ethnic group is its own nation).
After the imperialists left their African colonies, the new nations were built with borders that were not the same as the ethnic borders. New nations became nations with many ethnic groups, which do not want to or cannot live peacefully in the same society with the others.
Drought is a continuous period of dry weather, when an area gets less than its normal amount of rain, over months or even years. Crops and other plants need water to grow, and animals need it to live. Droughts can become dangerous to people and other land animals; causing famine and even creating deserts.
A drought is a natural event, caused by other weather events like El Niño and high-pressure systems. Drought can also be triggered by deforestation (people cutting down forests), by global warming, and by diverting rivers or emptying lakes.
Drought is a natural disaster which usually takes place slowly. It is often difficult to decide when a drought started and sometimes when it ends too. Its effects often build up slowly over a long period of time and may last from months to years after rain resumes.
Many people die every year in famines due to drought in subsistence farming areas. Conflicts can result from drought conditions.
Deafness is when someone cannot hear at all, or cannot hear well. Deafness is also known as 'hearing loss'. There were many famous people who were deaf, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Helen Keller.
A person is considered to be deaf if they cannot hear the same range of sounds as a person with normal hearing ability. People that cannot hear any sounds are also deaf. People who are partially deaf may hear some sounds and may hear words.
People who cannot hear and understand words well are 'hard of hearing'.
There are different causes of deafness:
Generally, there are two views of deafness:
These categories may overlap.
Liver bird
The Liver birds are two large and famous bronze metal birds on top of a building - the Liver Building - in the city of Liverpool, England. The building has the offices of an insurance organization. The birds are symbol of the city, although no birds really look like this.
The sound of the end of the word "liver" in the name of the bird is like "driver" not "river". The start of the word Liverpool ("liver") sounds like the word "river". This is a funny play on words.
There is also a British television sitcom with the same name that is about two young women who share a flat in Liverpool. The play on words is increased by a second British slang meaning of the word "bird" to mean young woman.
Many people in Liverpool (known as "Liverpudlians") are proud of their city and of the Liver birds. There is a story that the birds will come alive if a truly pure woman walks between them. This will never happen! This is an example of the humor of the local people.
A demonstration can mean an event where people do something to let others know what they think and to try to change their point of view. It is one kind of protest. Examples of demonstrations include marches, where people walk together, and rallies, where people gather in one place. During a demonstration, the people who are part of it, called "demonstrators", may display placards or other symbols that are easy to see, especially when the protests are being shown on mass media such as news, television, or social networks.
Demonstrations are often made against a government if they do something the people do not want. Because they are meant for many people to be a part of, they are usually considered more successful if more people take part. Demonstration is permitted by international human rights law as the freedom of assembly if done peacefully (meaning there is no violence). However, demonstrations can get out of control and even turn into a riot.
A demonstration can also mean when someone shows how to do something, or in what ways a thing can be used. Salespeople often demonstrate things like computers, cars, and televisions to customers so they can make sure the customer sees all the features of the item. ""Demo"" is short for demonstration, and people often use it to describe this meaning of the word.
The Chartists were people who wanted to get more rights for working class people in the mid-19th century. They were called Chartists because they wrote their main aims down in the People's Charter of 1838.
Movie theater
A movie theater or movie theatre, is a place where movies are shown on a big screen. People or "patrons" (the audience) watch movies, usually in chairs inside an auditorium. The movie is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium while the dialogue, sounds and music are played through a number of wall-mounted speakers. A movie theatre is sometimes called a cinema. A theatre with multiple screens commonly is called a "multi-plex" or "mega-plex" (if more than 10 screens). Movie theatres have comfortable chairs. There are different types of formats of a movie theatre.
The first movie theatre was opened to the public on April 23, 1896, in Koster and Bial's Music Hall on 34th Street in New York City. The oldest movie theatre in the world, which is still in action today is the "Kino Pionier" (opened 1907) in Szczecin, Poland. Movie theatres make money from not only movie tickets but from concessions which sell food and drinks (popcorn, candy, soft drinks, etc.). In recent years with the increase of movie rental costs, theatres have become more and more creative about how they make money. New theatres being built include restaurants, party rooms, conference rooms, arcades and more.
The KLF were a band from England. They made music from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A lot of the music they made was pop music or dance music. The band members were two men, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Bill Drummond is a musician, singer, and writer from Scotland. Jimmy Cauty is a musician and artist from England. Sometimes they used the names The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The JAMs and The Timelords as their band name, instead.
Monounsaturated fat
A monounsaturated fat is a kind of fat found in foods such as nuts and avocados. They are the main component in olive oil (oleic acid). The group contrasts with, on the one hand, unsaturated fats. and on the other hand, polyunsaturated fats.
In general, these fats are considered to be healthier than others. They have the same amount of energy, but they reduce blood cholesterol levels. This reduces the risk to the heart.
Some sources include olives, avocados, and some nuts.
Polyunsaturated fat
Polyunsaturated fats are fats that are usually found in items like fatty fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Such items are typically found to be liquid at room temperature.
Polyunsaturated fats are long-chain organic compounds. Their molecules has more than one double bonds. The structure reduces the strength of the forces between molecules. This causes the items to have a lower melting point. This is why the items are usually liquid at room temperature.
The North Avenue Irregulars is a 1979 movie starring Edward Hermann, Ruth Buzzi, Steven Franken, and Cliff Osmond.
The movie is about a newly installed minister, who entrusts, despite objections by the founding pastors daughter, the churches "sinking fund" money into the hands of a congregate whom he does not even know, with instructions to increase the amount in the fund.
The money is bet on a horse race, and upon hearing this, the Pastor gives the shortest sermon in history and begins a pursuit of the money and the organized crime syndicate, amid the hijinx of assorted feminine members of the congregation in a pursuit of the "money trail".
Candleshoe is a 1977 Walt Disney Productions live action movie. It stars Jodie Foster as Casey Brown, Helen Hayes as Lady St. Edmund (in her last screen appearance), David Niven as Priory (as well as Colonel Dennis and Mr. Gipping), and Leo McKern as Harry Bundage. Candleshoe is loosely based on the Michael Innes novel "Christmas at Candleshoe".
Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル "Utada Hikaru", born January 19, 1983 in New York City), is a Japanese and American singer and songwriter. Because she was born in the United States, she can speak English perfectly. She is the only child of the 1970s Enka singer Keiko Fuji. Her first Japanese album, "First Love", was very popular. It sold more copies than any other Japanese singer ever. She is also known in the west for singing the theme songs for "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts II": "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary".
When Hikaru was little, she did not want to become a singer. She saw how busy her parents' lives were, and did not want that for herself. When she was 10 years-old, her parents asked her if she wanted to write songs. She did not want to, but tried doing it. She wrote a song called "I'll Be Stronger". During this time, Hikaru went to school in New York. Her classmates were not able to say her name right (Hee-ka-roo) so they shortened it to 'Hikki'. 'Hikki' became Hikaru's nickname. Her fans in Japan call her that. The name is not promoted very much in the United States because it sounds too much like 'hickey'.
In 1996, Hikaru started to record an album, when she was only 13 years old. It was in English. The album was in the R&B style. It was written all by herself. The album was going to be released on the EMI's record company, but since the company fell apart, it was never sold in the United States. A man called Akira Miyake from Japan heard the album, and wanted to release it there. Hikaru agreed, and the album was released in Japan in 1998.
The album sold okay, but it was not until later when Hikaru started to sing Japanese songs that she became famous. Her music still sounded very R&B, but at this point, it sounded more like pop. Her first single, "Automatic / Time Will Tell", reached #2 on the single charts in Japan. A while later, after another single, she released her first Japanese album, "First Love". This sold a very large amount (over 9 million copies) and became the most sold album by a Japanese singer.
Hikaru went on to release two more albums: "Distance" (2001), and "Deep River" (2002). In each album, her style changed slightly. Each album was less R&B, and more pop. In 2004, she released an album made up of all her old single songs. She then released an album in English called "Exodus". "Exodus" was released under the record label Island Def-Jam. It was sold in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She sang, wrote, and made the music for the whole album herself (except for when she got hip-hop producer Timbaland to help her). The album sold many copies in Japan, but it did not sell that well in the United States. However, many famous people and music critics thought that the album was good (for example, Elton John thought it was interesting).
Hikaru has started to make new Japanese music again, but continued on making all the music herself. Usually, a singer/songwriter will only write the music and the lyrics, but Hikaru decided she wanted to arrange her songs all by herself as well. She released her new album, "Ultra Blue", in mid-2006. Soon after, she went on a tour all across Japan. This is the second time she has ever done this (despite her singing for eight years).
The Scramble for Africa (or the Race for Africa), from the 1880s until the start of World War I, was a time of much colonial expansion in Africa. Many European countries started colonies in Africa during this time. This is an example of New Imperialism. Liberia, Ethiopia and Darwiish State were not conquered at this time.
The last half of the 19th century saw a change in the way countries controlled their colonies. They changed from economic control through mass settlement, to political and military control of the colony's resources, especially in the 1870s. This was seen in the fight for the areas that were controlled by European nations.
Some famous people who helped European countries find more land in Africa included the explorers David Livingston, Henry Morton Stanley, and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, and the French politician Jules Ferry.
The Berlin Conference (1884 - 1885) tried to end disputes between the United Kingdom, France's Third Republic, the German Empire, and other European countries. They agreed that "effective occupation" would be the rule for colonial claims. Laws were made for using direct rule on a colony, backed up by military power.
1160s
Seaweed is a term used for several kinds of algae that live in the ocean. Red algae, Green algae and Brown algae are commonly considered to be seaweed. Seaweed gets its energy from photosynthesis just as plants do.
Two specific environmental requirements are important in seaweed ecology. These are the presence of seawater (or at least brackish water) and the presence of enough light for photosynthesis.
Another common requirement is a place to attach to. As a result, seaweeds are commonly found near the shore. Within that area, they are found more often on rocky shores than on sand or shingle. Seaweeds occupy a wide range of ecological niches. The highest elevation is only wetted by the tops of sea spray, the lowest is several meters deep. In some areas, seaweeds near the shore can extend several miles out to sea. The limit to how much they grow in such cases is based on how much sunlight there is. The deepest living seaweeds are the various kelps.
A number of species such as "Sargassum" have adapted to a fully planktonic niche and are free-floating, depending on gas-filled sacs to stay afloat.
Others have adapted to live in tidal rock pools. In this niche seaweeds must withstand rapidly changing temperature and salinity (amount of salt) and even occasional drying.
Seaweed has different uses. Sometimes it is farmed or foraged from the wild.
People living on the coast often eat seaweed, especially those in East Asia, such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is also used in Belize, Peru, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, Ireland, Wales, Philippines, and Scotland.
Tiwi, Albay residents discovered a new pancit or noodles made from seaweed. These have health benefits. Seaweed is rich in calcium and magnesium and seaweed noodles can be cooked into pancit canton, pancit luglug, spaghetti or carbonara.
In Asia, Zicai (紫菜) (in China), gim (in Korea) and nori (in Japan) are sheets of dried "Porphyra" used in soups or to wrap sushi. "Chondrus crispus" (commonly known as Irish moss or carrageenan moss) is another red alga used in producing various food additives, along with Kappaphycus and various gigartinoid seaweeds. "Porphyra" is a red alga used in Wales to make laver. Laverbread, made from oats and the laver, is a popular dish there. Affectionately called "Dulce" in northern Belize, seaweeds are mixed with milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla to make a common beverage.
Seaweeds are also harvested or cultivated for the extraction of alginate, agar and carrageenan, gelatinous substances collectively known as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids. Hydrocolloids have attained commercial significance as food additives. The food industry exploits their gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties. Agar is used in foods such as confectionery, meat and poultry products, desserts and beverages and moulded foods. Carrageenan is used in salad dressings and sauces, dietetic foods, and as a preservative in meat and fish products, dairy items and baked goods.
Seaweed is a source of iodine, necessary for thyroid function and to prevent goitre.
Seaweed extract is used in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills exploit the same effect as gastric banding, expanding in the stomach to make the body feel more full.
Seaweed is currently under consideration as a potential source of bioethanol. Seaweed is an ingredient in some toothpaste, cosmetics and paints.
A fairy tale is an English language expression for a kind of short story. It has the same meaning as the French expression ' or ', the German word ', the Italian ', the Polish ', the Russian ' or the Swedish "". These stories are not all directly about fairies, but they are different from legends and traditions (which usually say that the stories are true) and directly moral stories. There are usually fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants or gnomes in fairy tales, and usually magic.
Fairy tales can also mean unusual happiness (for example, the expression "fairy tale ending", meaning a happy ending, even though not all fairy tales have a happy ending). Also, "fairy tale" can simply mean any unbelievable story.
Where demons and witches are seen as real, fairy tales can sometimes be similar to legends, where the story is claimed to be historically true. However, differently from legends and epics, they usually do not specifically mention religion and actual places, people, and events. They also do not say exactly when it happened. Instead, they say that the story happened "once upon a time".
Fairy tales are found in oral form (passed on from mouth to mouth) and in literary form (written down). Fairy tales' histories are hard to find. This is because only written fairy tales can be passed on for a long time. Still, literary works show that there have been fairy tales for thousands of years. Many fairy tales today have are based on very old stories that have appeared, though in different ways, in many different cultures around the world. Fairy tales, and works based on from fairy tales, are still written today.
At first, fairy tales were for both adults and children, but now children are mostly connected with fairy tales. Examples of traditional old fairy tales are "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Three Little Pigs". There can also be new fairy tales written by an author, like "The Little Mermaid" or "Pinocchio". New fairy tales were for example written by Hans Christian Andersen, James Thurber and Oscar Wilde.
People do not agree what a fairy tale exactly is. Some argue that a story with fairies or other magical beings in the story would make it a fairy tale. However, others have suggested that the expression began when the French expression "conte de fées" was being translated (it was first used by Madame D'Aulnoy in 1697). Vladimir Propp criticized the difference between "fairy tales" and "animal tales" in his book "Morphology of the Folktale". He said that many stories had both fantastic qualities and animals. He suggested that fairy tales could be recognized by their story, but this has been criticized, because the same stories can be found in stories that are not fairy tales.
In fact, people such as Stith Thompson point out that there are often more talking animals and magic in fairy tales than fairies. However, just because there is a talking animal in a story does not mean that the story is a fairy tale.
Steven Swann Jones said that fairy tales were different from other sorts of folktales because of magic. Davidson and Chaudri say that "transformation (changing)" is the most important part of a fairy tale.
Some like to use the German expression "Märchen" or "wonder tale" instead of "fairy tale". For example, in his 1977 edition of "The Folktale", Thompson said that fairy tales were "a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries (enemies), succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses." The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple: princesses and girls taking care of geese; youngest sons and brave princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magic helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; rules, and people breaking rules.
Fairy tales were passed down by speaking of it from person to person before writing was developed. Stories were told or acted out dramatically. Because of this, the history of fairy tales is not very clear. The oldest written fairy tales we know are from ancient Egypt, around 1300 BC. There are sometimes fairy tales in written literature in different cultures, such as "The Golden Ass", which includes "Cupid and Psyche" (Roman, 100–200 AD). They show that fairy tales were told from very long ago.
Game show
A game show is a reality television program where people play a game for points, with the goal of winning money or prizes. Different game shows use different games. Most test the players' knowledge, skill, or cleverness. Many game shows incorporate some element of chance; for example, in "Wheel of Fortune", contestants spin a wheel to determine how much prize money they will get for a correct letter.
Some game shows have the contestants compete against other individual contestants; other game shows group contestants into teams. Some game shows have regular people as the contestants. Other game shows have celebrities such as movie actors or musicians as the contestants.
Many game shows air on the Game Show Network.
The first game shows were on radio.
Game shows often reward people with money, holidays, or cars. These prizes are often given by the people or group of people that give the game show money to run. The people who give the game show money to run are called sponsors.
Examples of game shows include:
"For the game genre, check" "List of video game genres."
A genre (from ) is a style or type of music, literature, movies, or other media.
Some genres (styles) are used in more than one form of art or communication. For example, the genres fantasy and science fiction are used in literature, movies, and television.
A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre. Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in subgenre. For example, if a fantasy story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the subgenre of dark fantasy; whereas another fantasy story that features magic swords and wizards would belong to the subgenre of sword and sorcery.
Kristy Swanson
Octopus is a genus of cephalopod mollusc in the order Octopoda. The genus is quite typical of most octopods. They have two, large eyes and eight limbs with suckers. They have a hard beak, with the mouth at the center point of the arms.
Octopods have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Many stay in cracks between rocks or corals when they are not hunting. They are intelligent predators with a taste for crabs.
Octopods inhabit many regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use colour-changing camouflage. They live rather short lives.
An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopods are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopus is known to be deadly to humans.
There are about 300 octopod species, of which more than 100 are in the genus "Octopus". Octopods make up over one-third of the total number of living cephalopods. The term 'octopus' may be used to refer to those in the genus "Octopus". The term 'octopod' is correct for members of the order Octopoda in general.
Unlike most other cephalopods, most octopods have only soft body with no internal skeleton. They have no protective outer shell like the nautilus, which is another type of cephalopod.
A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is their only hard part.
Because of this, it is very easy for an octopus to squeeze through very narrow openings between rocks, for example squeezing through a hole as big as its eye.
Octopod eyes are complex. In fact, they do not have a blind spot. A "blind spot" is a special place in the eyes that is not able to sense light. So, when we look somewhere, part of what is there is not actually perceived (the brain 'fills in' so we do not notice). However, an octopus does not have this problem.
The lens in octopod are movable. It moves back and forth to focus. This is the way a camera focuses. When a camera focuses on an object to take a picture, the lens moves back and forth until the image that the camera sees is in the right focus.
Some octopuses can use their chromatophores for more than camouflage. If they are not blending in with their surroundings, they can signal their feelings using colour. When they are relaxed, for example, they are a dull, grayish brown or orange-tinged colour. When they become angry, they can become red. If they feel scared, they may turn white.
Octopods are highly intelligent, probably more so than any other invertebrate. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can learn.
Some octopods, such as the mimic octopus, can move their arms in ways which copy the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been seen in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquaria and sometimes into others in search of food.
The largest of the 300+ species of octopods, the giant octopus "Enteroctopus", is large indeed. Mature males average about 50 pounds and females about 33 pounds. Their arm spans are about eight feet. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to get in and eat crabs.
In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as "honorary vertebrates" under the "Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986". This gives them protection not normally given to invertebrates.
Octopods are the only invertebrate which have been definitely shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the veined octopus ("Amphioctopus marginatus") have been seen picking up discarded coconut shells, and then reassembling them to use as shelter.
Octopods are active and intelligent predators, with good eyesight and brains. They eat mostly crabs and some fish.
Octopods have a variety of defences. They use active camouflage and mimicry, controlled by their nervous system. Most can eject black ink clouds to help escape, and some can shed an arm in extreme danger. It wriggles, and attracts the attacker.
When octopods reproduce, males use a specialized arm to put packets of sperm into the female's mantle cavity. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature.
After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between species). The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blows currents of water over them so they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs, and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance.
At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats.
All octopods for which we have data have a relatively short life expectancy. Some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific giant octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances.
"Reproduction is a cause of death": males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one-month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but apparently they do not die of starvation. A biological explanation of these short lifespans (or rapid ageing) is not agreed at present.
Off the coast of California, marine biologists have watched the same female octopod guarding her eggs for over four years. Their development took a long time because the water 1.4 kilometres down was very cold. They knew it was the same octopod because it had a characteristic scar. The research was done using a remote diving vehicle with cameras, lights and robotic arms.
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) was the name of the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire which survived into the Middle Ages. Its capital was Constantinople, which today is called Istanbul. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, the most important language was Greek, not Latin, and Greek culture and identity dominated.
The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as:
In 324, the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of "Byzantium", and he renamed the city Constantinople. 150 years later, after the city of Rome was slowly taken over by Germanic people during the Migration period, Constantinople was the only remaining capital of the Empire. This Eastern empire had a smaller territory than the original Roman Empire.
The Byzantine Empire tried to take back Rome and Italy from the Germans. Between 530–555 AD, the Byzantines won many battles and took back Rome.
These gains did not last however. More Germans came and eventually Italy and Rome was lost again. Worse was to come when Avar and Slavic peoples came to take modern Bulgaria and Greece from the Byzantines. Gradually, after the 560s the invaders won much of the Balkans. These invaders were later followed by the Bulgarians. The Avars and Bulgarians were both Turkic peoples at first. They ruled over Slavic people called "Sklavinai" and slowly absorbed Slavic language and customs.
After western Rome was captured by Germanic people, the Empire continued to control modern Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. However, another Empire, known as the Persian or Sassanid Empire, tried to take these lands for itself. Between 224–628 AD, the Romans and the Persians fought many battles, with many men killed in the fighting. Eventually, the Persians were defeated in modern-day Iraq, near the ancient city of Nineveh in 627 AD, allowing the Byzantines to keep their lands.
After this, another enemy appeared: the Arabs. The Byzantines were economically damaged by the battles with the Persians. They could not withstand the Arabs. Palestine, Syria and Egypt were lost between 635 and 645. However, the Byzantines defended Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the Arab advance stopped.
In 718 AD, the Arabs were defeated outside Constantinople, ending the Arab threat in the east, but leaving the Byzantine Empire severely weakened. In the west, the Byzantines launched a number of attacks against the Bulgarians. Some of these were successful, others were not and led to the deaths of many emperors. Over time, the Byzantine Empire would became weaker as it loss land to outside invaders.
Between 1007–1014, the ambitious Byzantine Emperor Basil II attacked Bulgaria many times and eventually won a great victory. Later, he fully recaptured Greece, adding it back to the Byzantine Empire. He then went on to conquer Bulgaria, which was completed in 1018.
In the east, the Arabs once again became a threat to the Empire. However, Basil II's attacks won many more victories. Much of Syria was restored to the Empire and Turkey and Armenia were secured. After 1025, the Arabs were no longer a threat to the Byzantine Empire.
After the Byzantine Emperor Basil II died, many unskilled Emperors came to the throne. They wasted the money of the Empire and reduced its army. This meant that it could not defend itself well against enemies if they would attack. Later, the Byzantines relied on mercenaries, soldiers who fought for money and not for their country, so they were less loyal and reliable and more expensive. Because they had mercenaries, military generals were able to rise to power and grab it from the elaborate bureaucracy, a system of administration where tasks are divided by departments.
A large number of people known as the Turks rode on horseback from central Asia and attacked the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Empire took all of Turkey from the Byzantines by 1091. However, the Byzantines received help from people in Europe. This help is known as the First Crusade. Many knights and soldiers left to help the Byzantines but also to secure Jerusalem for Christians, which at the time was in Muslim hands.
The Byzantine Empire survived and with the help of the Europeans took back half of Turkey from the Turks, with the other half remaining under the Turks. The Byzantines survived because three good Emperors ruled one after the other, allowing the Byzantines to grow strong again.
After the three good Emperors, the remaining Emperors ruled badly and again wasted a lot of money and soldiers.
In the west, the Europeans betrayed the Byzantines and attacked their capital, Constantinople. The Byzantines lost their capital in 1204 and they did not take it back until 1261. The Byzantines were then divided into many smaller Greek states that were fighting with each other for the throne of the Empire.
After the Byzantines took back Constantinople, they were too busy fighting the Europeans who had betrayed them and could not find enough soldiers or money to fight the new Ottoman Empire of the Turks. All of Anatolia was lost by 1331. In 1369, the Turks crossed over from Turkey and into Greece, taking over much of Greece between 1354–1450.
The Byzantines lost so much land, money and soldiers that they became very weak and begged for help from the Europeans. Some soldiers and ships came from Italy and the Pope to assist the Byzantines when the Turks attacked Constantinople in April 1453. They were very outnumbered though, and the walls of Constantinople were badly damaged by cannons used by the Turks. At the end of May 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople by entering through one of the gates along the walls and the Empire came to an end. The city was plundered for three days. At the end, the population which had not been able to escape, was deported to Edirne, Bursa and other Ottoman cities, leaving the city deserted except for the Jews of Balat and the Genoese of Pera. After that, Constantinople became Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which it would be until the 1900s, when the capital was moved to Ankara, a city in the Asian part of Turkey.
The Byzantine Empire had many achievements:
The (; ; Wade–Giles: ku-ch'in; literally "ancient stringed-instrument") is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favored by educated people as an instrument of great beauty and refinement. It is uncommonly spelt as Gu Qin (and sometimes GuQin or Gu-qin) in English.
Traditionally the instrument was called simply qin 「琴」, but by the 20th century the term had come to be used on many other musical instruments as well (for example, the "yangqin" 「揚琴」 hammered dulcimer, the "huqin" 「胡琴」 family of bowed string instruments, and the Western piano (; literally "steel stringed-instrument")), so the prefix "gu-" 「古」 (meaning "ancient") was added for clarification. It can also be called qixianqin 「七絃琴」 ("seven-stringed instrument"). The guqin is not to be confused with the "guzheng", another Chinese long zither also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string. Because Robert Hans van Gulik's famous book about the qin is called "The Lore of the Chinese Lute", the qin is sometimes inaccurately called a lute. Other incorrect classifications (mainly from music CDs) include "harp" or "table-harp". Other Western nicknames for the guqin include "Chinese guitar" and "Chinaman's harp".
The qin is a very quiet instrument, with a range of about four octaves, and its open strings are tuned in the bass register (its lowest pitch is about two octaves below middle C, or the lowest note on the cello). Sounds are produced by plucking open strings, stopped strings, and harmonics. Stopped sounds are special for the variety of slides and ornaments used, and the use of glissando (sliding tones) gives it a sound similar to a pizzicato cello or fretless bass guitar. Extended sections in music scores consisting entirely of harmonics are common, this made possible because the 91 indicated harmonic positions allow great flexibility; early tablature shows that even more harmonic positions were used in the past. By tradition the qin originally had five strings, but ancient qin-like instruments with 10 or more strings have been found. The modern form has been standardized from about two thousand years.
Legend has it that the qin, has a history of about 5,000 years; that the legendary people of China's pre-history; Fuxi, Shennong and Huang Di (the Yellow Emperor), was involved in its creation. It is mentioned in Chinese writings dating back nearly 3,000 years, and related instruments have been found in tombs from about 2,500 years ago. Chinese tradition says the qin originally had five strings, but then two were added about 1,000 BCE, making seven.
Based on the detailed description in the poetic essay "Qin Fu" 【琴賦】 by Xi Kang / Ji Kang (223–262), the form of the qin that is recognizable today was most likely set around the late Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). The earliest surviving qin in this modern form, preserved in both Japan and China, have been dated to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Many are still playable, the most famous perhaps being the one named "Jiuxiao Huanpei" 《九霄環佩》, said to have been made by the famous late Tang dynasty qin maker Lei Wei (雷威). It is kept in the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing.
According to Robert Temple, the qin played an important part in the gaining the first understanding of music timbre for the Chinese. He said that "the Chinese understanding of the nature of sound as vibration was much increased by studying the production of timbre on the strings of the "ch'in"." This understanding of timbre, overtones and higher harmonics eventually led the Chinese to discover equal temperament in music.
In 1977, a recording of "Liu Shui" (Flowing Water, as performed by Guan Pinghu, one of the best qin players of the 20th century) was chosen to be included in the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world, which was sent into outer space by NASA on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts. It is the longest music track included on the disc. In 2003, guqin music was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Because of the difference in geography in China, many qin schools known as "qin pai" (琴派) developed over the centuries. Such schools generally formed around areas where qin activity was greatest.
The main schools are:
Most qin schools and groups are based in China. During the 20th century some societies began in other countries. Qin study was initially confined to China in ancient times. Today countries like Japan also have their own qin small traditions. The Tokyo Qin Society was recently founded. Japan has published a "qinpu" (qin tablature collection) in the past, known as "Toukou Kinpu" or "Donggao Qinpu" 【東臯琴譜】.
There have been many players throughout the ages. The instrument was a favourite of the scholars, so many artists played it. Some famous players are also associated with some melodies, like Confucius and Qu Yuan.
Historical:
Classical books such as "Qin Shi", "Qinshi Bu" and "Qinshi Xu" have biographies of hundreds of more players.
The beauty of qin melodies comes not only from the melodies themselves, but from the variation a player can apply to the individual tones and their combinations. The rich tones of the qin can be categorised as three distinctively different "sounds." The first is "san yin" 〔散音〕, which means "scattered sounds." This meant simply pluck the required string to sound an open note. The second is "fan yin" 〔泛音〕, or "floating sounds." These are harmonics, and the player simply lightly touches the string with one or more fingers of the left hand at a position indicated by the white "hui" dots, pluck and then lift, creating a crisp and clear sound ringing sound. The third is "an yin" 〔按音 / 案音 / 實音 / 走音〕, or "stopped sounds." This forms the majority of most qin pieces and requires the player to press on a string with a finger or thumb of the left hand until it touches with the surface board, then pluck. Afterwards, the hand can slide up and down, thereby changing the pitch.
When plucking the strings, it is not required to attach fake-nails on one's fingers. One will often leave their fingernails long, and cut them into an rounded shape. The length is subjective and will depend on the player's preference, but it is usually around 3-4mm from the finger tip. If it is too short, then the finger tip will deaden the sound as it touches the string after the nail has plucked it. If it is too long then the fingers can make playing difficult. Generally, the nails of the right hand are kept long, whilst the nails of the left are cut short, so as to be able to press on the strings without difficulty.
There are eight basic right hand finger techniques: "pi" 〈劈〉 (thumb pluck outwards), "tuo" 〈托〉 (thumb pluck inwards), "mo" 〈抹〉 (index in), "tiao" 〈挑〉 (index out), "gou" 〈勾〉 (middle in), "ti" 〈剔〉 (middle out), "da" 〈打〉 (ring in), and "zhai" 〈摘〉 (ring out); the little finger is not used. Out of these basic eight, their combinations create many more. "Cuo" 〈撮〉 is to pluck two strings at the same time, "lun" 〈輪〉 is to pluck a string with the ring, middle and index finger out in quick succession, the "suo" 〈鎖〉 technique involves plucking a string several times in a fixed rhythm, "bo" 〈撥〉 cups the fingers and strums two strings at the same time, and "gun fu" 〈滾拂〉 is to create a sequence of sounds by running up and down the strings continuously with the index and middle fingers. These are just a few.
Left hand techniques start from the simple pressing down on the string (mostly with the thumb between the flesh and nail, and the ring finger), sliding up or down to the next note ("shang" 〈上〉 and "xia" 〈下〉), to vibrati by swaying the hand ("yin" 〈吟〉 and "nao" 〈猱〉, there are as many as 15 plus different forms of vibrato), plucking the string with the thumb whilst the ring finger stops the string at the lower position ("qiaqi" 〈掐起 / 搯起〉), hammering on a string using the thumb ("yan" 〈掩 / 罨〉), to more difficult techniques such as pressing on several strings at the same time.
Techniques executed by both hands together are more difficult to achieve, for example, "qia cuo san sheng" 〈掐撮三聲〉 (a combination of hammering on and off then plucking two strings, then repeating), to more exciting forms, like pressing of all seven strings with the left, then strumming all the strings with the right, then the left hand quickly moves up the qin, creating a rolling sound like a bucket of water being thrown in a deep pool of water (this technique is used in the Shu style of "Liu Shui" to copy the sound of water).
In order to master the qin, there are in excess of 50 different techniques that must be mastered. Even the most commonly used (such as "tiao") are difficult to get right without proper instruction from a teacher.
Written qin music did not directly tell what notes were played like many outer musical instruments; instead, it was written in a tablature detailing tuning, finger positions, and plucking technique, thus made up of a step by step method and description of how to play a piece. Some tablatures do indicate notes using the "gongche" notation system, or indicate rhythm using dots.
The earliest example of the modern shorthand tablature survives from around the 12th century CE. An earlier form of music notation from the Tang era survives in just one manuscript, dated to the 7th century CE, called "Jieshi Diao: You Lan" 《碣石調幽蘭》 (Solitary Orchid, in Stone Tablet Mode). It is written in a longhand form called "wenzi pu" 〔文字譜〕 (literally "written notation"), which gives all the details using ordinary written Chinese characters. Later in the Tang dynasty, Cao Rou (曹柔) and others simplified the notation, using only the important elements of the characters (like string number, plucking technique, "hui" number and which finger to stop the string) and combined them into one character notation. This meant that instead of having two lines of written text to describe a few notes, a single character could represent one note, or sometimes as many as nine. This notation form was called "jianzi pu" 〔減字譜〕 (literally "reduced notation") and it was a great step forward for recording qin scores. It was so successful that from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) onwards, a lot of qinpu 〔琴譜〕 (qin tablature collections) appeared, the most famous and useful being "Shenqi Mipu" (The Mysterious and Marvellous Tablature) compiled by Zhu Quan (朱勸), the 17th son of the founder of the Ming dynasty. In the 1960s, Zha Fuxi discovered more than 130 qinpu that contain well over 3360 pieces of written music. Many qinpu compiled before the Ming dynasty are now lost, and many pieces have remained unplayed for hundreds of years.
Existing qinpu generally come from private collections or in public libraries throughout China, etc. Those that are available for public purchase are photographic copies printed and bound in the traditional Chinese bookbinding process. More modern qinpu tend to be bound in the normal Western way on modern paper. The format uses qin notation with staff notation and/or "jianpu" notation.
Qin pieces are usually around three to eight minutes in length, with the longest being "Guangling San" 《廣陵散》, which is 22 minutes long. Other famous pieces include "Liu Shui" 《流水》 (Flowing Water), "Yangguan San Die" 《陽關三疊》 (Three Refrains on the Yang Pass Theme), "Meihua San Nong" 《梅花三弄》 (Three Variations on the Plum Blossom Theme), "Xiao Xiang Shui Yun" 《瀟湘水雲》 (Mist and Clouds over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers), and "Pingsha Luo Yan" 《平沙落雁》 (Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank). The average player can generally play around ten pieces from memory which they will aim to play very well, learning new pieces as and when they feel like it. Players mainly learn popular well studied versions, often using a recording as a reference. In addition to learning to play established or ancient pieces very well, highly skilled qin players may also compose or improvise, although the player must be very good and extremely familiar with the instrument to be successful at it.
Dapu 〔打譜〕 is the conversion of old tablature into a playable form. This can be used to create new music as well as to reconstruct the ancient melodies. Since qin tablature does not indicate note value, tempo or rhythm, the player must work it out for him/herself. Normally, qin players will learn the rhythm of a piece through a teacher. They sit facing one another, with the student copying the master. The tablature will only be looked at if the teacher is not sure of how to play a certain part. Because of this, traditional qinpu do not indicate them. If one did not have a teacher, then one had to work out the rhythm by themselves. But it would be a mistake to say that qin music has no rhythm or melody. By the 20th century, there had been attempts to try to replace the shorthand notation, but so far, it has been unsuccessful; since the 20th century, qin music is generally printed with staff notation above the qin tablature. Because qin tablature is so useful, logical, easy, and the fastest way (once the performer knows how to read the notation) of learning a piece, it is invaluable to the qin player and cannot totally be replaced. There are two views of how to best use dapu: one is to use it to create new music, and the other is to use it to reconstruct the way the original music was played.