Rikunarita-ORG/Wikinium huggingface dataset:
# Near East

Modern countries whose lands English-speaking people named the "Near East" in the 19th and 20th centuries
The **Near East** is a large area of land in the eastern hemisphere. Countries of the eastern Mediterranean are part of the Near East. The name of the Near East comes from its position to the east of Europe and to the west of the Middle East and the Far East.

The Levant, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Iran, and Egypt are all regions that are part of the Near East. In the past, the Balkan Peninsula, south-west Asia, and northern Africa were part of the Near East as well. The Near East is also a name for Middle East which archaeologists, geographers and historians use.

## Background

The term *Near East* came into use in the 1890s, when European powers had to deal with two critical situations in the "east". The Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 in the Far East, and the Armenian Genocide in the Near East.

British archaeologist D.G. Hogarth published *The Nearer East* in 1902, which helped to define the term and its extent, including Albania, Montenegro, southern Serbia and Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, all the Ottoman lands, the entire Arabian peninsula, and western parts of Iran.
# Anna Pavlova

| Anna Pavlova |
| --- |
| Anna Pavlova, ca. 1905. |
| Born | Анна Павловна (Матвеевна) Павлова (1881-02-12)February 12, 1881 Ligovo, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Died | January 23, 1931(1931-01-23) (aged 49) The Hague, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Occupation | Ballerina |
| Years active | 1899–1931 |
| Parent(s) | Lyubov Feodorovna Lazar Polyakov or Matvey Pavlov |

Anna Pavlova in *The Dying Swan*. St Petersburg 1905
Anna Pavlova as Lise in *La Fille Mal Gardée*. St Petersburg 1912
**Anna Pavlova** (St Petersburg, 12 February 1881 – The Hague, Netherlands, 23 January 1931) was a Russian, and later English, ballerina of the early 20th century.

She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev.

Pavlova is most recognised for dancing the rôle of *The Dying Swan*. She danced this short ballet (only four minutes) about 4000 times. The choreography was by Mikhail Fokine. Her interpretation influenced the way others danced Odette in Tchaikovsky's *Swan Lake*.

In the early 20th century, with her own company, Pavlova became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

## Training and style

The young Pavlova's years of training were difficult, as classical ballet did not come easily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small, compact body favoured for ballerinas at the time. Her fellow students taunted her with such nicknames as *The broom* and *La petite sauvage* (The little savage). Undeterred, Pavlova trained to improve her technique. She took extra lessons from the noted teachers of the day. She was never a perfect technician, but had delicacy, lightness and grace. Anna did not know that she would become a great dancer one day

## Career

She became *prima ballerina* of the Imperial Ballet in 1906. She worked briefly for Diaghilev, but would not dance in the new avant-garde ballets which were being created, such as *The Firebird*. The role was given to the equally good Tamara Karsavina, who became their regular *prima ballerina*.

### England

Pavlova lived in London for many years, from 1912 until her death in 1931. After leaving Russia, Pavlova settled in *Ivy House* on North End Road, near Hampstead, where she lived for the rest of her life. While in London Pavlova taught ballet at her home. She was influential in the development of British ballet, and inspired the career of Alicia Markova.

The house had an ornamental lake where she would feed her pet swans, and where there is a statue of the ballerina by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. It is now the London Jewish Cultural Centre but a Blue Plaque marks it as Pavlova's previous home and a site of significant historical interest.

In 1956 a film *The Immortal Swan* included footage of her dancing in the 1920s.

She toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. This was probably how the sticky Australian cake became known as the 'Pavlova'.
# Malcolm X (1992 movie)

Malcolm X is a 1992 American biographical movie directed by Spike Lee. Its stars Denzel Washington as Malcolm X. It also stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy. Al Sharpton and Nelson Mandela also appear in this movie.

It received positive reviews. It was released on November 18, 1992. In 2010, the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

## Other websites

* *Malcolm X* at Letterboxd
# Interstellar cloud

A small part of the emission nebula NGC 6357. It glows with the characteristic red of an H II region.
An **interstellar cloud** is a denser-than-average part of the interstellar medium, (ISM). It is matter and radiation in the space between the star systems in a galaxy.

An interstellar cloud is formed by the gas and dust particles from a red giant in its later life.

The cloud is made of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies.

Its hydrogen can be:

* neutral, making it an H I region;
* ionized, or plasma making it an H II region; or
* molecular (molecular clouds).

Neutral and ionized clouds are sometimes also called *diffuse clouds*.