Àwọn Ìdíje Òlímpíkì Ìgbà Oru 2004, lonibise bi Awon Idije Olimpiadi 28k, je idije pataki akariaye oniere-idaraya pupo to waye ni Athens, Greece lati August 13 de August 29, 2004 pelu motto Welcome Home. Awon elere-idaraya 10,625 ni won kopa nibe, eyi fi 600 ju iye ti won reti lo, awonn wonyi je titele leyin pelu awon osise egbe 5,501 lati orile-ede 201. Idije 301 fun eso waye ninu awon ere-idaraya 28. Athens odun 2004 ni igba akoko lati igba Awon Idije Olimpiki Igba Oru 1996 ti gbogbo awo orile-ede ti won ni Igbimo Olorile-ede Olimpiki kopa. Bakanna o tun je igba akoko lati odun 1896 (leyin Idije 1906 to ti je riresile latigba na) ti awon Idije Olimpiki waye ni Girisi.

Ìdù

Athens je yiyan gegebi ilu agbalejo ninu Ipade 106k IOC to waye ni Lausanne ni September 5, 1997.  Athens ti kuna idu re lodun meje seyin ni September 18, 1990 ninu Ipade 96k IOC ni Tokyo lati gbalejo Awon Idije Igba Oru 1996 eyi to sele ni Atlanta. abe idari Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens mura fun idu miran, nigba yi fun eto lati gbalejo Awon Idije Igba Oru 2004. Iyorisirere ilu Athens lati gba awon Idije 2004 da lori ibebe Athens si itan Olimpiki ati itenu re mo ipa pataki ti orile-ede Girisi ati ilu Athens le ko nipa pipolongo iwa Olimpiki ati Isunkankan Olimpiki. Bakanna, ko ri bi idu won fun awon Idije 1996 to je fifi abuku kan fun ailojutu ati iyaju re - nibi ti idu na ko ni unkankan pato, to kan je pe o gbokan le itara ati ero okan pe eto ilu Athens ni lati gbalejo awon Idije ti ogorun odun; idu fun awon Idije 2004 je yiyin fun inirewesi ati ooto re, iranse re to lojutu, ati ekunrere eto idu re. Idu ti 2004 yanju awon isoro ti ti 1996 ko le yanju - pataki imura ilu Athens, idibaje afefeayika re, isuna re, ati ifoselu se ipalemo awon Idije. Iyorisirere Athens nigba to gbalejo Idije-eye Agbaye Ere Ori Papa 1997 losu kan ki idiboyan ilu agbalejo o to waye na tun se pataki nipa imura re lati gbalejo ere-idaraya akariaye. Eyi to tun fa ti won fi yyan ilu Athens ni itara larin awon omo egbe IOC lati da ogo Olimpiki pada si awon Idije, eyi ni won ro pe o sonu nigba Awon Idije Atlanta 1996 ti won fi abuku kan pe o ti je siseju lokowo. Nitorie, iyan Athens je bi ero pe yio yato si awon Idije 1996.

Leyin to ti lewaju ninu gbogbo awon iyipo idibo, Athens segun Rome laini inira nini ibo 5k to dopin. Cape Town, Stockholm, ati Buenos Aires, awon ilu meta miran ti won bo sinu iwe-kukuru IOC, je lile kuro ninu awon iyipo idibo seyin. Awon ilu mefa miran na tun se itoro, sugbon idu won je fifisile latowo IOC ni 1996. Awon ilu na ni Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, ati Saint Petersburg.

Ìmúra
Ni November 13, 2004, ile-ise isoju Greek sediye iye owo ti igbalejo Olimpiki yio na pe o je  egbegberunkeji €8.954 (to to egbegberunkeji $11.2 ni 2004) lai ni iye owo ikole ti won ba se nitori awon Idije, sugbon to ni egbegberunkeji 1.08 Euros ($1.35 billion) fun eto abo. NBC Universal san egbegberun $793 fun IOC fun awon eto igbehansode ni Amerika, iye topojulo ti enikan san fun eto igbehansode orile-ede.

Leyin isele adaniloro Osu kesan 2001 ideru waye nipa [terrorism|isdaniloro]]. Girisi safikun si iye ti wo na lori abo Olimpiki de egbegberun €970 (US$1.2 billion). Bii awon olopa to to 70,000 ni won so ilu Athens ati awon ibi idije nigba Olimpiki. NATO ati Isokan ara Europe na tun se itoleyin die, leyin igba ti Athens ti toro ifowosowopo lodo won.

Nigba ti Igbimo Olimpiki Akariaye fi expressed its concern over the progress of construction work of the new Olympic venues, a new Organizing Committee was formed in 2000 under President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki. In the years leading up to the Games, Athens was transformed into a city that used state-of-the-art technology in transportation and urban development. Some of the most modern sporting venues in the world at the time were built to host the 2004 Olympic Games.

The general cost of the games was estimated to be 7.2 billion euros.

Ìkọ́lé

By late March 2004, some Olympic projects were still behind schedule, and Greek authorities announced that a roof it had initially proposed as an optional, non-vital addition to the Aquatics Center would no longer be built. The main Olympic Stadium, the designated facility for the opening and closing ceremonies, was completed only two months before the games opened.  This stadium was completed with a retractable glass roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The same architect also designed the Velodrome and other facilities.

Infrastructure, such as the tram line linking venues in southern Athens with the city proper, and numerous venues were considerably behind schedule just two months before the games. The subsequent pace of preparation, however, made the rush to finish the Athens venues one of the tightest in Olympics history. The Greeks, unperturbed, maintained that they would make it all along. By July/August 2004, all venues were delivered: in August, the Olympic Stadium was officially completed and opened, joined or preceded by the official completion and openings of other venues within the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA), and the sports complexes in Faliro and Helliniko.

Late July and early August witnessed the Athens Tram and Light Rail become operational, and these two systems provided additional connections to those already existing between Athens and its waterfront communities along the Saronic Gulf.  These communities included the port city of Piraeus, Agios Kosmas (site of the sailing venue), Helliniko (the site of the old international airport which now contained the fencing venue, the canoe/kayak slalom course, the 15,000-seat Helliniko Olympic Basketball Arena, and the softball and baseball stadia), and the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex (site of the taekwondo, handball, indoor volleyball, and beach volleyball venues, as well as the newly-reconstructed Karaiskaki Stadium for football). The upgrades to the Athens Ring Road were also delivered just in time, as were the expressway upgrades connecting Athens proper with peripheral areas such as Markopoulo (site of the shooting and equestrian venues), the newly constructed Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Schinias (site of the rowing venue), Maroussi (site of the OAKA), Parnitha (site of the Olympic Village), Galatsi (site of the rhythmic gymnastics and table tennis venue), and Vouliagmeni (site of the triathlon venue). The upgrades to the Athens Metro were also completed, and the new lines became operational by mid-summer.

EMI released Unity, the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, in the leadup to the Olympics. It features contributions from Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Moby, Destiny's Child, and Avril Lavigne. EMI has pledged to donate US$180,000 from the album to UNICEF's HIV/AIDS program in Sub-Saharan Africa.

At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece.

Before the games, Greek hotel staff staged a series of one-day strikes over wage disputes. They had been asking for a significant raise for the period covering the event being staged. Paramedics and ambulance drivers also protested.  They claimed to have the right to the same Olympic bonuses promised to their security force counterparts.

Igbe Ogunso

The lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame took place on March 25 in Ancient Olympia. For the first time ever, the flame travelled around the world in a relay to former Olympic cities and other large cities, before returning to Greece.

Awon Maskoti

Mascots have been a tradition at the Olympic Games since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France.  The Athens games had two official mascots: Athiná and Phévos (pronounced in Greek, Athina and Fivos).  The sister and brother were named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war, and Phoebus, the god of light and music, respectively. They were inspired by the ancient daidala, which were dolls that had religious connotations as well as being toys.

Teknoloji

As with any enterprise, the Organizing Committee and everyone involved with it relied heavily on technology in order to deliver a successful event. ATHOC maintained two separate data networks, one for the preparation of the Games (known as the Administrative network) and one for the Games themselves (Games Network). The technical infrastructure involved more than 11,000 computers, over 600 servers, 2,000 printers, 23,000 fixed-line telephone devices, 9,000 mobile phones, 12,000 TETRA devices, 16,000 TV and video devices and 17 Video Walls interconnected by more than 6,000 kilometers of cabling (both optical fiber and twisted pair).

This infrastructure was created and maintained to serve directly more than 150,000 ATHOC Staff, Volunteers, Olympic family members (IOC, NOCs, Federations), Partners & Sponsors and Media. It also kept the information flowing for all spectators, TV viewers, Website visitors and news readers around the world, prior and during the Games. The Media Center was located inside the Zappeion which is a Greek national exhibition center.

Between June and August 2004, the technology staff worked in the Technology Operations Center (TOC) from where it could centrally monitor and manage all the devices and flow of information, as well as handle any problems that occurred during the Games. The TOC was organized in teams (e.g. Systems, Telecommunications, Information Security, Data Network, Staffing, etc.) under a TOC Director and corresponding team leaders (Shift Managers). The TOC operated on a 24x7 basis with personnel organized into 12-hour shifts.

Awon Idije

Ajoyo Ibere

The widely praised Opening Ceremony by avant garde choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou held on August 13, 2004 began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat. As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead. After a drum corps and bouzouki players joined in an opening march, the video screen showed images of flight, crossing southwest from Athens over the Greek countryside to ancient Olympia. Then, a single drummer in the ancient stadium joined in a drum duet with a single drummer in the main stadium in Athens, joining the original ancient Olympic games with the modern ones in symbolism. At the end of the drum duet, a single flaming arrow was launched from the video screen (symbolically from ancient Olympia) and into the reflecting pool, which resulted in fire erupting in the middle of the stadium creating a burning image of the Olympic rings rising from the pool. The Opening Ceremony was a pageant of traditional Greek culture and history hearkening back to its mythological beginnings. The program began as a young Greek boy sailed into the stadium on a 'paper-ship' waving the host nation's flag to aethereal music by Hadjidakis and then a centaur appeared, followed by a gigantic head of a cycladic figurine which eventually broke into many pieces symbolising the Greek islands. Underneath the cycladic head was a Hellenistic representation of the human body, reflecting the concept and belief in perfection reflected in Greek art. A man was seen balancing on a hovering cube symbolising man's eternal 'split' between passion and reason followed by a couple of young lovers playfully chasing each other while the god Eros was hovering above them. There followed a very colourful float parade chronicling Greek history from the ancient Minoan civilization to modern times.

Although NBC in the United States presented the entire opening ceremony from start to finish, a topless Minoan priestess was shown only briefly, the breasts having been pixelated digitally in order to avoid controversy (as the "Nipplegate" incident was still fresh in viewer's minds at the time) and potential fines by the Federal Communications Commission. Also, lower frontal nudity of men dressed as ancient Greek statues was shown in such a way that the area below the waist was cut off by the bottom of the screen. In most other countries presenting the broadcast, there was no censorship of the ceremony.

Following the artistic performances, a parade of nations (staged by 5 time Olympic Choreographer Doug Jack) entered the stadium with over 10,500 athletes walking under the banners of 201 nations. The nations were arranged according to Greek alphabet making Finland, Fiji, Chile, and Hong Kong the last four to enter the stadium before the Greek delegation. On this occasion, in observance of the tradition that the delegation of Greece opens the parade and the host nation closes it, the Greek flag bearer opened the parade and all the Greek delegation closed it. Based on audience reaction, the emotional high point of the parade was the entrance of the delegation from Afghanistan which had been absent from the Olympics and had female competitors for the first time. The Iraqi delegation also stirred emotions. Also recognized was the symbolic unified march of athletes from North Korea and South Korea under the Korean Unification Flag. The country of Kiribati made a debut at these games and East Timor made a debut under its own flag. After the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic singer Björk performed the song Oceania, written specially for the event by her and the poet Sjón.

The Opening Ceremony culminated in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by 1996 Gold Medalist Windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis. Many key moments in the ceremony, including the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, featured music composed and arranged by John Psathas from New Zealand. The gigantic cauldron, which was styled after the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch, pivoted down to be lit by the 35 year-old, before slowly swinging up and lifting the flame high above the stadium. Kaklamanakis would later win his silver medal in the men's mistral behind Israeli windsurfer Gal Fridman. Following this, the stadium found itself at the centre of a rousing fireworks spectacular.

Awon orile-ede to kopa

All National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Athens Games, as was the case in 1996. Two new NOCs had been created since 1996, and made their debut at these Games (Kiribati, and Timor-Leste), therefore along with the re-appearance of Afghanistan (missing the 2000 Summer Olympics) the total number of participating nations increased from 199 to 202. Also since 2000, Yugoslavia had changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro and its code from YUG to SCG. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that NOC contributed.

  (alágbàṣe)

Awon ere-idaraya
The sports featured at the 2004 Summer Olympics are listed below. Officially there were 28 sports as swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo are classified by the IOC as disciplines within the sport of aquatics, and wheelchair racing was a demonstration sport. For the first time, the wrestling category featured women's wrestling and in the fencing competition women competed in the sabre. American Kristin Heaston, who led off the qualifying round of women's shotput became the first woman to compete at the ancient site of Olympia but Cuban Yumileidi Cumba became the first woman to win a gold medal there.

The demonstration sport of wheelchair racing was a joint Olympic/Paralympic event, allowing a Paralympic event to occur within the Olympics, and for the future, opening up the wheelchair race to the able-bodied. The 2004 Summer Paralympics were also held in Athens, from September 20 to 28.

  Archery (4)
  Athletics (46)
  Badminton (5)
  Baseball (1)
  Basketball (2)
  Boxing (11)
  Canoeing (16)
  Cycling (18)

  Diving (8)
  Equestrian (6)
  Fencing (10)
  Field Hockey (2)
  Football (2)
  Gymnastics (18)
  Handball (2)
  Judo (14)

  Modern pentathlon (2)
  Rowing (14)
  Sailing (11)
  Shooting (17)
  Softball (1)
  Swimming (32)
  Synchronized swimming (2)
  Table tennis (4)

  Taekwondo (8)
  Tennis (4)
  Triathlon (2)
  Volleyball (4)
  Water polo (2)
  Weightlifting (15)
  Wrestling (18)

Kalenda

Isele pataki
 Greek sprinters Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou withdraw from the games after allegedly staging a motorcycle accident in order to avoid a drug test.
 World record holder and strong favourite Paula Radcliffe crashes out of the women's marathon in spectacular fashion, leaving Mizuki Noguchi to win the gold.
 While leading in the men's marathon with less than 10 kilometres to go, Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima is attacked by Irish priest Cornelius Horan and dragged into the crowd. De Lima recovered to take bronze, and was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
 British athlete Kelly Holmes wins gold in the 800 m and 1500 m.
 Liu Xiang wins gold in the 110 m hurdles, equalling Colin Jackson's 1993 world record time of 12.91 seconds. This was China's first ever gold in men's track and field.
 The Olympics saw Afghanistan's first return to the Games since 1999 (it was banned due to the Taliban's extremist attitudes towards women, but was reinstated in 2002).
 Hicham El Guerrouj wins gold in the 1500 m and 5000 m. He is the first person to accomplish this feat at the Olympics since Paavo Nurmi in 1924.
 Greek athlete Fani Halkia comes out of retirement to win the 400 m hurdles.
 The US women's 4x200m swimming team of Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno win gold, smashing the long standing world record set by the German Democratic Republic in 1987.
 The United States lost for the first time in Olympic men's basketball since NBA players were permitted to play in the Games. This defeat came at the hands of Puerto Rico 92-73.
 Argentina wins a shocking victory over the United States in the semi-finals of men's basketball. They go on to beat Italy 84-69 in the final.
 Windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first-ever gold medal.
 Dominican athlete Félix Sánchez won the first ever gold medal for the Dominican Republic in the 400 m hurdles event.
 German kayaker Birgit Fischer wins gold in the K-4 500 m and silver in the K-2 500 m. In so doing, she became the first woman in any sport to win gold medals at 6 different Olympics, the first woman to win gold 24 years apart and the first person in Olympic history to win two or more medals in five different Games.
 Swimmer Michael Phelps wins 8 medals (6 gold and 2 bronze), becoming the first athlete to win 8 medals in non boycotted Olympics.
 United States' gymnast Carly Patterson becomes only the second American woman to win the all-around gold medal.
 Chilean Tennis players Nicolás Massu and Fernando Gonzalez won the gold medal in the Doubles Competition, while Massu won the gold and Gonzalez the bronze on the Singles competition. This were Chile's first-ever gold medals.
 Anchored by Brazil, South America had its best Olympics, with nine Gold Medals.

Ajoyo ipari

The Games were concluded on August 29, 2004. The closing ceremony was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, where the Games had been opened 16 days earlier. Around 70,000 people gathered in the stadium to watch the ceremony.

The initial part of the ceremony interspersed the performances of various Greek singers, and featured traditional Greek dance performances from various regions of Greece (Crete, Pontos, Thessaly, etc.). The event was meant to highlight the pride of the Greeks in their culture and country for the world to see.

A significant part of the closing ceremony was the exchange of the Olympic flag of the Antwerp games between the mayor of Athens and the mayor of Beijing, host city of the next Olympic games. After the flag exchange a presentation from the Beijing delegation presented a glimpse into Chinese culture for the world to see. Beijing University students (who were at first incorrectly cited as the Twelve Girls Band) sang Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) and the medal ceremony for the last event of the Olympics, the men's marathon, was conducted, with Stefano Baldini from Italy as the winner.

A flag-bearer from each nation's delegation then entered along the stage, followed by the competitors en masse on the floor.

Short speeches were presented by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, President of the Organising Committee, and by President Dr. Jacques Rogge of the IOC, in which he described the Athens Olympics as "unforgettable, dream Games".

Dr. Rogge had previously declared he would be breaking with tradition in his closing speech as President of the IOC and that he would never use the words of his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch, who used to always say 'these were the best ever games'. Dr. Rogge had described Salt Lake City 2002 as "superb games" and in turn would continue after Athens 2004 and describe Turin 2006 as "truly magnificent games."

The national anthems of Greece and China were played in a handover ceremony as both nations' flags were raised. The Mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyianni, passed the Olympic Flag to the Mayor of Beijing, Wang Qishan. After a short cultural performance by Chinese actors, dancers, and musicians directed by eminent Chinese director Zhang Yimou, Rogge declared the 2004 Olympic Games closed. The Olympic flag was next raised again on February 10, 2006 during the opening ceremony of next Winter Olympic games in Torino.

A young Greek girl, Fotini Papaleonidopoulou, lit a symbolic lantern with the Olympic Flame and passed it on to other children before "extinguishing" the flame in the cauldron by blowing a puff of air. The ceremony ended with a variety of musical performances by Greek singers, including George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, Anna Vissi, Sakis Rouvas, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Alkistis Protopsalti, Antonis Remos, Mixalis Xatzigiannis, Marinella and Dimitra Galani, as thousands of athletes carried out symbolic displays on the stadium floor.

Onka Eso

Itokasi

Àwọn Ìdíje Òlímpíkì Ìgbà Oru 2004


In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for stubborn, compare English obstinate) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel's Boléro and the Carol of the Bells, and popular songs such as Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), Henry Mancini's theme from Peter Gunn (1959), The Who's "Baba O'Riley" (1971), and The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997).

Both ostinatos and ostinati are accepted English plural forms, the latter reflecting the word's Italian etymology.

The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in itself. Strictly speaking, ostinati should have exact repetition, but in common usage, the term covers repetition with variation and development, such as the alteration of an ostinato line to fit changing harmonies or keys.

Within the context of film music, Claudia Gorbman defines an ostinato as a repeated melodic or rhythmic figure that propels scenes that lack dynamic visual action.

Ostinati play an important part in improvised music (rock and jazz), in which they are often referred to as riffs or vamps. A "favorite technique of contemporary jazz writers", ostinati are often used in modal and Latin jazz and traditional African music including Gnawa music.

The term ostinato essentially has the same meaning as the medieval Latin word pes, the word ground as applied to classical music, and the word riff in contemporary popular music.

Classical music
Ostinati are used in 20th-century music to stabilize groups of pitches, as in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring Introduction and Augurs of Spring. A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo, owes its name to a crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza. This style was emulated by other bel canto composers, especially Vincenzo Bellini; and later by Wagner (in pure instrumental terms, discarding the closing vocal cadenza).

Applicable in homophonic and contrapuntal textures, they are "repetitive rhythmic-harmonic schemes", more familiar as accompanimental melodies, or purely rhythmic. The technique's appeal to composers from Debussy to avant-garde composers until at least the 1970s "... lies in part in the need for unity created by the virtual abandonment of functional chord progressions to shape phrases and define tonality". Similarly, in modal music, "... relentless, repetitive character help to establish and confirm the modal center". Their popularity may also be justified by their ease as well as range of use, though, "... ostinato must be employed judiciously, as its overuse can quickly lead to monotony".

Medieval
Ostinato patterns have been present in European music from the Middle Ages onwards. In the famous English canon "Sumer Is Icumen In", the main vocal lines are underpinned by an ostinato pattern, known as a pes:

Later in the medieval era, Guillaume Dufay's 15th-century chanson Resvelons Nous features a similarly constructed ostinato pattern, but this time 5 bars long. Over this, the main melodic line moves freely, varying the phrase-lengths, while being "to some extent predetermined by the repeating pattern of the canon in the lower two voices."

Ground bass: Late Renaissance and Baroque

Ground bass or basso ostinato (obstinate bass) is a type of variation form in which a bass line, or harmonic pattern (see Chaconne; also common in Elizabethan England as Grounde) is repeated as the basis of a piece underneath variations. Aaron Copland describes basso ostinato as "... the easiest to recognize" of the variation forms wherein, "... a long phrase—either an accompanimental figure or an actual melody—is repeated over and over again in the bass part, while the upper parts proceed normally [with variation]". However, he cautions, "it might more properly be termed a musical device than a musical form."

One striking ostinato instrumental piece of the late Renaissance period is "The Bells", a piece for virginals by William Byrd. Here the ostinato (or 'ground') consists of just two notes:

In Italy, during the seventeenth century, Claudio Monteverdi composed many pieces using ostinato patterns in his operas and sacred works. One of these was his 1650 version of "Laetatus sum", an imposing setting of Psalm 122 that pits a four-note "ostinato of unquenchable energy." against both voices and instruments:

Later in the same century, Henry Purcell became famous for his skilful deployment of ground bass patterns.  His most famous ostinato is the descending chromatic ground bass that underpins the aria "When I am laid in earth" ("Dido's Lament") at the end of his opera Dido and Aeneas: While the use of a descending chromatic scale to express pathos was fairly common at the end of the seventeenth century, Richard Taruskin pointed out that Purcell shows a fresh approach to this musical trope: "Altogether unconventional and characteristic, however, is the interpolation of an additional cadential measure into the stereotyped ground, increasing its length from a routine four to a haunting five bars, against which the vocal line, with its despondent refrain ("Remember me!"), is deployed with marked asymmetry. That, in addition to Purcell's distinctively dissonant, suspension-saturated harmony, enhanced by additional chromatic descents during the final ritornello and by many deceptive cadences, makes this little aria an unforgettably poignant embodiment of heartache." See also: Lament bass.

However, this is not the only ostinato pattern that Purcell uses in the opera. Dido's opening aria "Ah, Belinda" is a further demonstration of Purcell's technical mastery: the phrases of the vocal line do not always coincide with the four-bar ground:

"Purcell's compositions over a ground vary in their working out, and the repetition never becomes a restriction." Purcell's instrumental music also featured ground patterns. A particularly fine and complex example is his Fantasia upon a Ground for three violins and continuo:

The intervals in the above pattern are found in many works of the Baroque Period. Pachelbel's Canon also uses a similar sequence of notes in the bass part:

Two pieces by J.S.Bach are particularly striking for their use of an ostinato bass: the Crucifixus from his Mass in B minor and the Passacaglia in C minor for organ, which has a ground rich in melodic intervals: The first variation that Bach builds over this ostinato consists of a gently syncopated motif in the upper voices: This characteristic rhythmic pattern continues in the second variation, but with some engaging harmonic subtleties, especially in the second bar, where an unexpected chord creates a passing implication of a related key:  In common with other Passacaglias of the era, the ostinato is not simply confined to the bass, but rises to the uppermost part later in the piece: A performance of the entire piece can be heard here.

Late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Ostinatos feature in many works of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mozart uses an ostinato phrase throughout the big scene that ends Act 2 of the Marriage of Figaro, to convey a sense of suspense as the jealous Count Almaviva tries in vain to incriminate the Countess, his wife, and Figaro, his butler, for plotting behind his back. A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo, owes its name to a crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza.

In the energetic Scherzo of Beethoven's late C sharp minor Quartet, Op. 131, there is a harmonically static passage, with "the repetitiveness of a nursery rhyme" that consists of an ostinato shared between viola and cello supporting a melody in octaves in the first and second violins: Beethoven reverses this relationship a few bars later with the melody in the viola and cello and the ostinato shared between the violins:

Both the first and third acts of Wagner's final opera Parsifal feature a passage accompanying a scene where a band of Knights solemnly processes from the depths of forest to the hall of the Grail.  The "Transformation music" that supports this change of scene is dominated by the iterated tolling of four bells: Brahms used ostinato patterns in both the finale of his Fourth Symphony and in the closing section of his Variations on a Theme by Haydn:

Twentieth century
Debussy featured an ostinato pattern throughout his Piano Prelude "Des pas sur la neige". Here, the ostinato pattern stays in the middle register of the piano – it is never used as a bass. "Remark that the footfall ostinato remains nearly throughout on the same notes, at the same pitch level... this piece is an appeal to the basic loneliness of all human beings, oft-forgotten perhaps, but, like the ostinato, forming a basic undercurrent of our history."  Of all the major classical composers of the 20th century, Stravinsky is possibly the one most associated with the practice of ostinato. In conversation with the composer, his friend and colleague Robert Craft remarked "Your music always has an element of repetition, of ostinato. What is the function of ostinato?"  Stravinsky replied; "It is static – that is, anti-development; and sometimes we need a contradiction to development." Stravinsky was particularly skilled at using ostinatos to confound rather than confirm rhythmic expectations. In the first of his Three Pieces for String Quartet, Stravinsky sets up three repeated patterns, which overlap one another and never coincide. "Here a rigid pattern of (3+2+2/4) bars is laid over a strictly recurring 23-beat tune (the bars being marked by a cello ostinato), so that their changing relationship is governed primarily by the pre-compositional scheme." "The rhythmical current running through the music is what binds together these curious mosaic-like pieces."

A subtler metrical conflict can be found in the final section of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. The choir sing a melody in triple time, while the bass instruments in the orchestra play a 4-beat ostinato against this. "This is built up over an ostinato bass (harp, two pianos and timpani) moving in fourths like a pendulum."

Sub-Saharan African music

Counter-metric structure
Many instruments south of the Sahara Desert play ostinato melodies. These include lamellophones such as the mbira, as well as xylophones like the balafon, the bikutsi, and the gyil. Ostinato figures are also played on string instruments such as the kora, gankoqui bell ensembles, and pitched drums ensembles. Often, African ostinatos contain offbeats or cross-beats, that contradict the metric structure. Other African ostinatos generate complete cross-rhythms by sounding both the main beats and cross-beats. In the following example, a gyil sounds the three-against-two cross-rhythm (hemiola). The left hand (lower notes) sounds the two main beats, while the right hand (upper notes) sounds the three cross-beats.

African harmonic progressions
Popular dance bands in West Africa and the Congo region feature ostinato-playing guitars. The African guitar parts are drawn from a variety of sources, including the indigenous mbira, as well as foreign influences such as James Brown-type funk riffs. However, the foreign influences are interpreted through a distinctly African ostinato sensibility. African guitar styles began with Congolese bands doing Cuban cover songs. The Cuban guajeo had a both familiar and exotic quality to the African musicians. Gradually, various regional guitar styles emerged, as indigenous influences became increasingly dominant within these Africanized guajeos.

As Moore states, "One could say that I – IV – V – IV [chord progressions] is to African music what the 12-bar blues is to North American music." Such progressions seem superficially to follow the conventions of Western music theory. However, performers of African popular music do not perceive these progressions in the same way. Harmonic progressions which move from the tonic to the subdominant (as they are known in European music) have been used in Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony for hundreds of years. Their elaborations follow all the conventions of traditional African harmonic principles. Gehard Kubik concludes:

The harmonic cycle of C–F–G–F [I–IV–V–IV] prominent in Congo/Zaire popular music simply cannot be defined as a progression from tonic to subdominant to dominant and back to subdominant (on which it ends) because in the performer's appreciation they are of equal status, and not in any hierarchical order as in Western music—(Kubik 1999).

Afro-Cuban guajeo
A guajeo is a typical Cuban ostinato melody, most often consisting of arpeggiated chords in syncopated patterns. The guajeo is a hybrid of the African and European ostinato. The guajeo was first played as accompaniment on the tres in the folkloric changüí and son. The term guajeo is often used to mean specific ostinato patterns played by a tres, piano, an instrument of the violin family, or saxophones. The guajeo is a fundamental component of modern-day salsa, and Latin jazz. The following example shows a basic guajeo pattern.

The guajeo is a seamless Afro-Euro ostinato hybrid, which has had a major influence upon jazz, R&B, rock 'n' roll and popular music in general. The Beatles' "I Feel Fine" guitar riff is guajeo-like.

Riff

In various popular music styles, riff refers to a brief, relaxed phrase repeated over changing melodies. It may serve as a refrain or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instruments that form the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though they are most often found in rock music, heavy metal music, Latin, funk and jazz, classical music is also sometimes based on a simple riff, such as Ravel's Boléro. Riffs can be as simple as a tenor saxophone honking a simple, catchy rhythmic figure, or as complex as the riff-based variations in the head arrangements played by the Count Basie Orchestra.

David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song."

In jazz and R&B, riffs are often used as the starting point for longer compositions. The riff from Charlie Parker's bebop number "Now's the Time" (1945) re-emerged four years later as the R&B dance hit "The Hucklebuck". The verse of "The Hucklebuck"—another riff—was "borrowed" from the Artie Matthews composition "Weary Blues". Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" had an earlier life as Wingy Manone's "Tar Paper Stomp". All these songs use twelve bar blues riffs, and most of these riffs probably precede the examples given.

Neither of the terms 'riff' or 'lick' are used in classical music. Instead, individual musical phrases used as the basis of classical music pieces are called ostinatos or simply phrases. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal music. Latin jazz often uses guajeo-based riffs.

Vamp

In music, a vamp is a repeating musical figure, section, or accompaniment used in blues, jazz, gospel, soul, and musical theater. Vamps are also found in rock, funk, reggae, R&B, pop, and country. Vamps are usually harmonically sparse: A vamp may consist of a single chord or a sequence of chords played in a repeated rhythm. The term frequently appeared in the instruction 'Vamp till ready' on sheet music for popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s, indicating the accompanist should repeat the musical phrase until the vocalist was ready. Vamps are generally symmetrical, self-contained, and open to variation. The equivalent in classical music is an ostinato, in hip hop and electronic music the loop, and in rock music the riff.

The slang term vamp comes from the Middle English word vampe (sock), from Old French avanpie, equivalent to Modern French avant-pied, literally before-foot.

Many vamp-oriented songwriters begin the creative process by attempting to evoke a mood or feeling while riffing freely on an instrument or scat singing. Many well known artists primarily build songs with a vamp/riff/ostinato based approach—including John Lee Hooker ("Boogie Chillen", "House Rent Boogie"), Bo Diddley ("Hey Bo Diddley", "Who Do You Love?"), Jimmy Page ("Ramble On", "Bron Yr Aur"), Nine Inch Nails ("Closer"), and Beck ("Loser").

Classic examples of vamps in jazz include "A Night in Tunisia", "Take Five", "A Love Supreme", "Maiden Voyage", and "Cantaloupe Island". Rock examples include the long jam at the ends of "Loose Change" by Neil Young and Crazy Horse and "Sooner or Later" by King's X.

Jazz, fusion, and Latin jazz
In jazz, fusion, and related genres, a background vamp provides a performer with a harmonic framework supporting improvisation. In Latin jazz guajeos fulfill the role of piano vamp. A vamp at the beginning of a jazz tune may act as a springboard to the main tune; a vamp at the end of a song is often called a tag.

Examples
"Take Five" begins with a repeated, syncopated figure in  time, which pianist Dave Brubeck plays throughout the song (except for Joe Morello's drum solo and a variation on the chords in the middle section).

The music from Miles Davis's modal period (1958–1963) was based on improvising songs with a small number of chords. The jazz standard "So What" uses a vamp in the two-note "Sooooo what?" figure, regularly played by the piano and the trumpet throughout. Jazz scholar Barry Kernfeld calls this music vamp music.

Examples include the outros to George Benson's "Body Talk" and "Plum", and the solo changes to "Breezin'". The following songs are dominated by vamps: John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, and Grant Green's versions of "My Favorite Things", Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon", Wes Montgomery's "Bumpin' on Sunset", and Larry Carlton's "Room 335".

The Afro-Cuban vamp style known as guajeo is used in the bebop/Latin jazz standard "A Night in Tunisia". Depending upon the musician, a repeating figure in "A Night in Tunisia" could be called an ostinato, guajeo, riff, or vamp. The Cuban-jazz hybrid spans the disciplines that encompass all these terms.

Gospel, soul, and funk
In gospel and soul music, the band often vamps on a simple ostinato groove at the end of a song, usually over a single chord. In soul music, the end of recorded songs often contains a display of vocal effects—such as rapid scales, arpeggios, and improvised passages. For recordings, sound engineers gradually fade out the vamp section at the end of a song, to transition to the next track on the album. Salsoul singers such as Loleatta Holloway have become notable for their vocal improvisations at the end of songs, and they are sampled and used in other songs. Andrae Crouch extended the use of vamps in gospel, introducing chain vamps (one vamp after the other, each successive vamp drawn from the first).

1970s-era funk music often takes a short one or two bar musical figure based on a single chord one would consider an introduction vamp in jazz or soul music, and then uses this vamp as the basis of the entire song ("Funky Drummer" by James Brown, for example). Jazz, blues, and rock are almost always based on chord progressions (a sequence of changing chords), and they use the changing harmony to build tension and sustain listener interest. Unlike these music genres, funk is based on the rhythmic groove of the percussion, rhythm section instruments, and a deep electric bass line, usually all over a single chord. "In funk, harmony is often second to the 'lock,' the linking of contrapuntal parts that are played on guitar, bass, and drums in the repeating vamp."

Examples include Stevie Wonder's vamp-based "Superstition" and Little Johnny Taylor's "Part Time Love", which features an extended improvisation over a two-chord vamp.

Musical theater
In musical theater, a vamp, or intro, is the few bars, one to eight, of music without lyrics that begin a printed copy of a song. The orchestra may repeat the vamp or other accompaniment during dialogue or stage business, as accompaniment for onstage transitions of indeterminate length. The score provides a one or two bar vamp figure, and indicates, "Vamp till cue", by the conductor. The vamp gives the onstage singers time to prepare for the song or the next verse, without requiring the music to pause. Once the vamp section is over, the music continues to the next section.

The vamp may be written by the composer of the song, a copyist employed by the publisher, or the arranger for the vocalist. The vamp serves three main purposes: it provides the key, establishes the tempo, and provides emotional context. The vamp may be as short as a bell tone, sting (a harmonized bell tone with stress on the starting note), or measures long. The rideout is the transitional music that begins on the downbeat of the last word of the song and is usually two to four bars long, though it may be as short as a sting or as long as a Roxy Rideout.

Indian classical music

In Indian classical music, during Tabla or Pakhawaj solo performances and Kathak dance accompaniments, a conceptually similar melodic pattern known as the Lehara (sometimes spelled Lehra) or Nagma is played repeatedly throughout the performance. This melodic pattern is set to the number of beats in a rhythmic cycle (Tala or Taal) being performed and may be based on one or a blend of multiple Ragas.

The basic idea of the lehara is to provide a steady melodious framework and keep the time-cycle for rhythmic improvisations. It serves as an auditory workbench not only for the soloist but also for the audience to appreciate the ingenuity of the improvisations and thus the merits of the overall performance. In Indian Classical Music, the concept of 'sam' (pronounced as 'sum') carries paramount importance. The sam is the target unison beat (and almost always the first beat) of any rhythmic cycle. The second most important beat is the Khali, which is a complement of the sam. Besides these two prominent beats, there are other beats of emphasis in any given taal, which signify 'khand's (divisions) of the taal. E.g. 'Roopak' or 'Rupak' taal, a 7-beat rhythmic cycle, is divided 3–2–2, further implying that the 1st, 4th, and 6th beats are the prominent beats in that taal. Therefore, it is customary, but not essential, to align the lehara according to the divisions of the Taal. It is done with a view to emphasize those beats that mark the divisions of the Taal.

The lehara can be played on a variety of instruments, including the sarangi, harmonium, sitar, sarod, flute and others. The playing of the lehara is relatively free from the numerous rules and constraints of Raga Sangeet, which are upheld and honoured in the tradition of Indian Classical Music. The lehara may be interspersed with short and occasional improvisations built around the basic melody. It is also permissible to switch between two or more disparate melodies during the course of the performance. It is essential that the lehara be played with the highest precision in Laya (Tempo) and Swara control, which requires years of specialist training (Taalim) and practice (Riyaaz). It is considered a hallmark of excellence to play lehara alongside a recognised Tabla or Pakhawaj virtuoso as it is a difficult task to keep a steady pulse while the percussionist is improvising or playing difficult compositions in counterpoint. While there may be scores of individually talented instrumentalists, there are very few who are capable of playing the lehra for a Tabla / Pakhawaj solo performance.

See also

 Canto Ostinato
 Chaconne
 Chanking
 Fill (music)
 Folia
 Glossary of musical terminology
 Hook (music)
 Imitation (music)
 Leitmotif
 Music sequencer
 O Fortuna
 Passacaglia
 Pedal point
 Sequence (music)
 Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony

References

Further reading

External links

 Jazz Guitar Riffs
 Explanation with musical examples.

Accompaniment
Italian words and phrases
Bass (sound)
Musical analysis
Musical terminology
Repetition (music)
Rhythm and meter
Riffs
Tonality

Ostinato


In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture  of two or more substances.  The substances that are dissolved are called solutes. The substance the solutes are dissolved in is called the solvent. An example from everyday experience is a solid like salt or sugar (which are crystalline solids), dissolved in a liquid (like water).  Gases can dissolve in liquids.  An example is carbon dioxide or oxygen in water. Liquids may dissolve in other liquids and gases in other gases.

The amount of solute added to the solvent determines the concentration of the solution. The solution with the large amount of solute is called a concentrated solution; the solution with less solute is called a dilute solution.

Examples of solid solutions are alloys and some minerals. For example, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

Related pages
Hypertonic
Hypotonic

References

Chemistry

Solution (chemistry)


Whisky (or whiskey) is an alcoholic drink distillt frae grain, aften includin maut, that haes than been aged in widden baurrels.

Spellin
The spellin whisky (plural whiskies) is for ordinar uised for thaim that's distillt in Scotland, Canadae, an Japan, while whiskey (wi an e; plural whiskeys) is uised for the speirits distillt in Ireland an the Unitit States; houaniver, the'r exceptions. Internaitional law resers the term "Scotch whisky" for thae whiskies that's produced in Scotland; whiskies produced in ither kintras in the Scotch wey maun uise anither name. Seimilar conventions exists for "Irish whiskey,"  "Canadian whisky," an "Bourbon whiskey".

The Welsh version is wysgi. The name is derived frae Gaelic uisge beatha (watter o life).  (Ither kintras haes thair ain "watter o life" forbye: for exemplar Scandinavie Akvavit, that's name comes frae the Laitin aqua vitae.)

Irish whiskey is for ordinar distillt three times frae melderin. Scots whisky, richt cryed Scotch, is for normal distilt twice, aither frae baurley maut its lane (see single maut whisky), or frae baurley mauts an ither grain mauts that's than mixt thegither. Kentucky whiskey, cryed Bourbon, is for ordinar juist distillt the aince, lik maist ither American an Canadian whiskies.

Chairacteristics

Whisky is drunken straucht, wi watter or ice, or mixt wi ither speirits or drinks (lik "Scotch & Coke", "Scotch & Ginger" or "Scotch & Irn Bru").

Whisky is selt in monie styles. Maut whisky conseists o whisky made frae 100 percent mautit grain, an maut whisky frae ae distillery, raither nor blendit, is cryed single maut. The grains uised tae mak maut whisky includes baurley in Ireland, Scotland, Canadae, an the Unitit States, an rye in Canadae an the Unitit States. Pure pot still whiskey is made in Ireland frae a mixtur o mautit an wanmautit baurley. Sindry types o straucht whiskey, sic as rye whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, an Bourbon whiskey is produced in the US that's aged in new, charred, aik baurels. Blendit whisky is made frae a mixtur o monie o the abuin whiskies wi the seimilar grain whisky or neutral grain speirits, that's faur less expensive tae produce nor the ither kinds o whisky.  Blends will aamaist aye identifee the kin o base whisky uised, i.e. blendit Scotch, blendit Canadian, or blendit Bourbon.  Licht whiskey is a kin o American whiskey made up aamaist hailie o neutral grain speirits, wi smaa amoonts (for ordinar nae mair nor 5–10 percent o the hail volume) o straucht whiskey an sherry eikit for flavor an colourin.

In time syne, maist o the whiskey produced in the US wis "Bottelt-in-Bond" accordin tae the dictates o an 1898 Act o Congress; this practice haes been maistlins discontinued, acause ane o the requirements o the Act wis that sicna whiskey shuid be produced at 100 US alcoholic pruif (50% alcohol bi volume).  Nae muckle whiskey this potent is produced in the US oniemair, partially acause o chyngin public gusts but forbye acause an alcoholic content that heich is illegal in monie kintras, leimitin the export mercat for it.

See forby
 Bourbon whiskey
 Canadian whisky
 Corn whiskey
 Irish whiskey
 Moonshine
 Rye whisky
 Scotch whisky
 Tennessee whiskey
 Whisky glass

Whisky-based drinks
 Leet o cocktails

Fremmit airtins

 The Whisky Guide
 Whisky Magazine
 DrinkSwap.Com
 Scotch Whisky and distilleries

Whisky

Whisky


Old age is when a person is near or beyond the usual life expectancy, usually from the age of 65 onwards.  Old people are usually retired from work and spend their time in other ways like helping take care of small children who are kin to them in some way. Often people of old age have wrinkly skin. They will move slower, and become constantly cold.

Old people have more health problems than young adults, and many of them take medicine.  The reason for this is that their bodies are slowly deteriorating, so they have more problems, especially with moving. Osteoporosis weakens the bones, and is one of the problems that become more common with age. Others include blindness and deafness. Gerontology is the part of medicine that deals with these things.

Old people are also called "senior citizens" or "elders". Elders are considered to be wise because they have had much experience in their long lives. Many cultures view elders with respect and kindness, and depend upon them to pass down knowledge to the younger generations of people.

Related pages
 Gerontology

Old age

Old age


Éropa nyaéta salasahiiji tina tujuh buana tradisional di Marcapada. Sacara fisik jeung géologis, Éropa mangrupa semenanjung pangkulonna tina Érasia, di kuloneun Asia.  Éropa diwatesan ku Samudra Arktik di belah kaléreuna, Samudra Atlantik di kuloneuna, Laut Méditerania di kiduleuna, sarta di wétan kidulna ku jalan cai nu ngahubungkeun Méditerania kana jeung kaasup Laut Hideung jeung PAgunungan Kaukasus. DI belah wétanna, Éropa kapisahkeun ti Asia ku babagian cai Pagunungan Ural jeung Laut Kaspia.

Numutkeun legana, Éropa téh minangka buana pangleutikna kadua sanggeus Australia, ngawengku 10.400.000 kilométer pasagi atawa 2,0% tina ambul Bumi. Numutkeun populasina, ieu buana téh katilu pangbadagna (sanggeus Asia jeung Afrika) kalawan populasi 710 juta atawa kira 11% ti populasi sadunya.
However, the term continent can refer to a cultural and political distinction or a physiographic one, léading to various perspectives about Europe's precise borders, aréa, and population.

The European Union – comprising 27 member states, and 3 candidates in accession negotiations (Republic of Macedonia,Turkey and Croatia) – is the largest political and economic entity covering the Européan continent, while Russia (excluding portions in Asia) is the second largest entity and Europe's largest state in aréa and population. The Européan Union also féatured the world's largest economy with an estimated nominal GDP of 13.4 trillion USD.

Étimologi

In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europe (Greek:  ; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a géographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its méaning had been extended to lands to the north.

In etymology one théory suggests the name Europe is derived from the Greek words méaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) – broad having been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is réally based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu méaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from a Semitic word such as the Akkadian asu, méaning "sunrise", and is the land to the éast from a Middle éastern perspective.

The majority of major world languages use words derived from "Europa" to refer to the continent – e.g. Chinese uses the word  (歐洲), which is an abbreviation of the transliterated name  (歐羅巴洲).

Sajarah

The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spréad of concepts such as egalitarianism and universality of law.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. Isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously.

During this time, the western part of the Roman Empire was "reborn" as the Holy Roman Empire, later called Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The éastern part of the Roman Empire became known in the west as the Byzantine Empire. The 'Byzantines' themselves still called themselves  Basileia tōn Romaiōn - the Empire of the Romans. In 1453, when the Ottoman Empire conquered the Byzantine capital Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire céased to exist, with a small hold out state of Trebizond which lasted until 1461.

The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and incréase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century, Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia.

After the age of discovery, the idéas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast uphéaval in Europe as these revolutionary idéas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to incréased tension within Europe on top of the tension alréady existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts happened when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French Empire, which soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were alréady beginning to crumble.

The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain in the late 18th century, léading to a move away from agriculture, much gréater general prosperity and a corresponding incréase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe  and Capitalist countries in Southern Europe, Northern Europe and Western Europe. About 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the wider Iron Curtain, and the Soviet Union the Eastern Block disintegrated.

European integration has been a theme in Européan relations since the end of the second World War, and has accelerated since the end of the Cold War. The European Union, the successor to the European Community, has enlarged from 6 original founding members to 27 today.  The potential admission of Turkey is contentious, as it involves a transcontinental country with a predominantly Muslim population.  Turkey is also in dispute with an existing member, Greece, over the future of Cyprus.  Negotiations are therefore expected to be lengthy.  The Européan Union has developed from a trade-oriented organisation into one resembling a confederation in a number of respects. Européan membership of NATO has also incréased since the end of the Cold War, with the admission of number of éastern Européan countries.

Géografi jeung legana

Physiographically, Europe is the northwestern constituent of the larger landmass known as Eurasia, or Africa-Eurasia: Asia occupies the éastern bulk of this continuous landmass (save the Suez Canal separating Asia and Africa) and all share a common continental shelf.  Europe's éastern frontier is now commonly delinéated by the Ural Mountains in Russia (Strabo, Geography 11.1, took the Tanais River to be the boundary, as did éarly Judaic sources).  The south-éast boundary with Asia is not universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba River serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains or, alternatively, the Kura River in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. However, numerous géographers consider Azerbaijan's and Armenia's southern border with Iran and Turkey's southern and éastern border with Syria, Iraq and Iran as the boundary between Asia and Europe because of political and cultural réasons. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland, though néarer to Greenland (North America) than mainland Europe, is generally included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. For detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe see here.

Due to sociopolitical and cultural differences, there are various descriptions of Europe's boundary; in some sources, some territories are not included in Europe, while other sources include them.  For instance, géographers from Russia and other post-Soviet states generally include the Urals in Europe while including Caucasia in Asia.

In another usage, Europe is incréasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 27 member states and the candidate countries negotiating for membership, and several other countries expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union). This definition, however, excludes non-members such as Switzerland, Norway and Russia.

Géografi fisis

Land relief in Europe shows gréat variation within relatively small aréas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the éast. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its héart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the north-western séaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex féatures, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many platéaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern océan which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland aréas that were once joined to the mainland until rising séa levels cut them off.

Biodiversitas

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural péoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few aréas of untouched wilderness are currently found in Europe, except for various national parks.

The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented éast-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the océan in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards séa, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems.

Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranéan Séa to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappéared through the centuries of deforestation, Europe still has over one quarter of its land aréa as forest, such as the taiga of Scandinavia and Russia, mixed rainforests of the Caucasus and the Cork oak forests in the western Mediterranéan. During recent times, deforestation has been slowed and many trees have been planted. However, in many cases monoculture plantations of conifers have replaced the original mixed natural forest, because these grow quicker. The plantations now cover vast aréas of land, but offer poorer habitats for many Européan forest dwelling species which require a mixture of tree species and diverse forest structure. The amount of natural forest in Western Europe is just 2–3% or less, in Européan Russia 5–10%. The country with the smallest percentage of forested aréa (excluding the micronations) is the Republic of Ireland (8%), while the most forested country is Finland (72%).

In temperate Europe, mixed forest with both broadleaf and coniferous trees dominate. The most important species in central and western Europe are beech and oak. In the north, the taiga is a mixed spruce-pine-birch forest; further north within Russia and extreme northern Scandinavia, the taiga gives way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. In the Mediterranéan, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate; Mediterranean Cypress is also widely planted in southern Europe. The semi-arid Mediterranéan region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow éast-west tongue of Eurasian grassland (the steppe) extends éastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.

Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of Européan fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth and aurochs were extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the béars' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown béar lives primarily in the Balkan peninsula, Scandinavia, and Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these aréas brown béar populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In addition, polar bears may be found on Svalbard, an autonomous Norwegian island region far north of Scandinavia. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown béar, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, with a handful of packs in Spain and Scandinavia.

Other important Européan carnivores are Eurasian lynx, Européan wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey).

Important Européan herbivores are snails, amphibian larvae, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deer and roe deer, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamois among others.

Séa créatures are also an important part of Européan flora and fauna. The séa flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in Européan séas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crustaceans, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales.

Démografis

Since the Renaissance, Europe has had a dominating influence in culture, economics and social movements in the world. Européan demographics are important not only historically, but also in understanding current international relations and population issues.

Some current and past issues in Européan demographics have included religious emigration, race relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population. In some countries, such as the Republic of Ireland and Poland, access to abortion is currently limited; in the past, such restrictions and also restrictions on artificial birth control were commonplace throughout Europe. Furthermore, two Européan countries (currently The Netherlands and Switzerland) have allowed a limited form of voluntary euthanasia. It remains to be seen how much demographic impact this may have.

In 2005, the population of Europe was estimated to be 728 million according to the United Nations, which is slightly more than one-ninth of the world's population. A century ago, Europe had néarly a quarter of the world's population. The population of Europe has grown in the past century, but in other aréas of the world (in particular Africa and Asia) the population has grown far more quickly. According to UN population projection (medium variant), Europe's share will fall to 7% in 2050, numbering 653 million.

Géografi pulitis

Lega

Téritori jeung wewengkon

The countries in this table are categorised according to the scheme for geographic subregions used by the United Nations, and data included are per sources in cross-referenced articles. Where they differ, provisos are cléarly indicated.

According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of Central Europe, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations.

Basa jeung budaya

 Tempo ogé: Eurolinguistik

There are several linguistic groups widely recognised in Europe. These sometimes (but not always) coincide with cultural and historical connections between the various nations, though in other cases religion is considered a more significant distinguishing factor.

Basa Romawi

Romance languages are spoken more or less in south-western Europe, as well as Romania and Moldova which are situated in Eastern Europe. This aréa consists of: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Moldova, French-spéaking Belgium (Wallonia, partly Brussels), French-spéaking Switzerland (Romandy), Romansh-spéaking Switzerland, and Italian-spéaking Switzerland.  All Romance languages are derived from the Roman language, Latin.

Basa Jermanik

Germanic languages are spoken more or less in north-western Europe and some parts of central Europe. This region consists of:  Norway, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Liechtenstein, most of Switzerland,   Iceland,  Flanders and the German-spéaking aréas of Wallonia, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg,  the Swedish-speaking municipalities of Finland, and South Tyrol in Italy.

Basa Slavik

Slavic languages are spoken in Central, éastern, and Southéastern Europe. This aréa consists of: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Saxony   and Brandenburg in Germany, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Basa Uralik

The Uralic languages are divided into three main groups, two of which have representatives in Europe. The Finno-Permic languages are spoken in Finland, Estonia, and parts of Sweden, Norway, Latvia, and Européan Russia while the Ugric languages are spoken in Hungary and parts of Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Siberian Russia. These two groups comprise the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family.

Basa Altaik

Turkic languages are spoken in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey), parts of Bulgaria, parts of Greece, parts of Romania, parts of Macedonia, parts of Moldova, parts of Russia, parts of Ukraine, parts of the Caucasus and in Turkish diaspora communities in several other Européan countries (most notably Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands).

The Mongolic branch of the Altaic phylum is represented in Europe by the Kalmyk language, which is spoken by the Kalmyk people in Kalmykia, a constituent republic of the Russian Federation.

Basa Baltik

Baltic languages are spoken in Lithuania and Latvia. (Estonia's national language is part of the Finno-Ugric family even though it is a Baltic state géographically.)

Basa Céltik

"Celtic language" was originally used only to describe the Gaelic language in Ireland; however, the term now extends to the other Gaelic and Brythonic languages. Celtic Europe is comprised of those countries and regions where Celtic languages are spoken. The Celtic nations are: Ireland, Scotland (UK), Wales (UK), Cornwall (UK), the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency) and Brittany (within France). These are all nations where a Celtic language is spoken and share in Celtic organisations (see Pan Celticism).

Sometimes considered Celtic nations are Galicia and Asturias (both autonomous communities of Spain), as well as northwest Portugal. Ireland and Some regions of England (in addition to Cornwall) have retained a degree of Celtic influence in their regional dialects (see Cumbric and Hiberno-English), although England's Celtic languages died out as recently as the 18th century in Devon and Cornwall.

Basa séjénna

Outside of these seven main linguistic groups one can find:

 The Greek language, an Indo-European language spoken in Greece, Cyprus, and parts of Turkey, Albania, and Italy, and in Greek diaspora communities in several other Européan countries (most notably Germany).
 The Albanian language, which, like the Greek language, forms its own independent branch of the Indo-Européan language family with no close living relatives. Major Albanian-spéaking communities outside Albania live in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece, and Turkey.
 The North Caucasian, a group that includes ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus region (both North and South). North Caucasian languages are divided into two main branches: Northeast Caucasian and Northwest Caucasian. This group includes Abkhaz, Chechens, Ingush, Bats, and a number of other smaller ethnic groups that reside in the Caucasus.
 The South Caucasian, or Kartvelian languages, a group that includes Georgian language.
 The Maltese language, a héavily Romanticized Semitic language, is spoken in Malta. Unlike other Semitic languages, Maltese is written in the Roman alphabet.
 The Basque language is spoken in parts of southern France and northern Spain, i.e. the Basque Country.

Ageman

The most popular religions of Europe are the following:

 Christianity
 Roman Catholicism: Countries or aréas with significant Catholic populations are Andorra, Austria, west Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, south and west Germany, Hungary, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Latgale region in Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, south Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, central and south Switzerland, and Vatican City. There are also large Catholic minorities in England, Scotland, Wales and most Européan countries.
 Eastern-Rite Catholicism: including west Ukraine.
 Orthodox Christianity: The countries with significant Orthodox populations are Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland (Karelia), Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
 Protestantism: Countries with significant Protestant populations include Denmark, Estonia, Finland, north and éast Germany, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, éast, north and west Switzerland and the United Kingdom. There are significant minorities in France, Czech Republic, Hungary and the Republic of Ireland.
 Islam: Countries with significant Muslim population are Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Montenegro, several republics of Russia, Serbia (especially in Kosovo), Turkey, Crimea in Ukraine. Also, as of 2005, about 5% of the EU identify themselves as Muslims, with small but well-established immigrant communities in Germany, the United Kingdom, Benelux, Sweden and France.

Other religions are practised by smaller groups in Europe, including:

 Judaism, mainly in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Russia and Turkey.
 Hinduism, mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom.
 Buddhism, thinly spréad throughout western Europe, and in Kalmykia, Russia
 Indigenous Européan pagan traditions and beliefs, many countries.
 Rastafari, communities in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere.
 Sikhism and Jainism, both mainly among Indian immigrants in the United Kingdom.
 Voodoo, mainly among black Caribbean and West African immigrants in the United Kingdom and France.
 Traditional African Religions (including Muti), mainly in the United Kingdom and France.

Millions of Européans profess no religion or are atheist or agnostic. The largest non-confessional populations (as a percentage) are found in Sweden, the Czech Republic, and France, although most former communist countries have significant non-confessional populations. Attendance at church is a minority activity in most Western Européan countries - as an example, the Church of England attracts around 1 million worshippers on a Sunday  , which corresponds to about 2% of the population of England.

Ageman resmi

A number of countries in Europe have official religions, including Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Vatican City (Catholic), Greece (éastern Orthodox); Denmark, Iceland, and Norway (Lutheran). In Switzerland, some cantons are officially Catholic, others Reformed Protestant. Some Swiss villages even have their religion as well as the village name written on the signs at their entrances.

Georgia has no established church, but the Georgian Orthodox Church enjoys "de facto" privileged status. In Finland, both Finnish Orthodox Church and Lutheran church are official. England, a part of the UK, has Anglicanism as its official religion. Scotland, another part of the UK, has Presbyterianism as the 'National' church, but is no longer "official", and in Sweden, the 'National' church is Lutheran, but no longer "official". Azerbaijan, France, Portugal, Romania,  and Turkey are officially "secular".

Tempo ogé

 Buana
 Érasia
 Budaya Éropa
 Ékonomi Éropa
 Eurolinguistik
 Sato punah di Éropa
 Géografi Éropa
 Prasajarah Éropa
 Sajarah Éropa
 Déwan Éropa
 OSCE
 UNECE
 Kaahéngan Éropa
 Pulitik Éropa
 Transportasi di Éropa
 Eurozone
 Uni Éropa
 Visegrad Group
 Europe as a potential superpower
 Wewengkon Éropa
 Éropa Amérika

Daptar jeung tabel

Umum
 Bandéra Éropa
 Table of European territories and regions

Déografis
 Area and population of European countries
 European Union Statistics
 The most populous metropolitan areas in Europe
 The most populous urban areas of the European Union
 Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits

Ékonomi

 Economy of the European Union
 Financial and social rankings of European countries
 GDP of European Countries

Pulitik
 Alternative names of European cities
 Date of independence of European countries
 International Organisations in Europe (table of membership)

Géografi
 List of European countries in order of geographical area

Séjénna
 List of Europe-related topics

Catetan

Tumbu luar

 "Europe". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online. 2005.  New York: Columbia University Press.
 Essays on European Borders, Identity, Culture and Society Hidden Europe Magazine. pub. Berlin: Germany (in English)
 Europe at Night  at NASA Earth Observatory
 Need to know about Visiting Europe
 Regions of Europe
 EUFPC European Foreign Policy Council
 Parks in Europe - National parks, nature parks, reserves and other protected aréas.
 Eastern European Photos @ ee-photo.com
 500+ Photos of Europe
 Genetic distribution for the world and specifically for Europe (PDF)
 Europe2U Maps Photos and information about Europe.
 Panoramic photos of Central Europe
 History and institutions of the united Europe (videos, photos, maps,...)  : Européan Navigator
  International Newspaper Political, business and economic news for EU, Balkans, Russia and Eurasia. Includes news analysis, editorial and Kassandra's Notebook.   : New Europe Newspaper

Buana
Éropa

Éropa