title: Acceleration

paragraphs: Acceleration is a measure of how fast velocity changes. Acceleration is the change of velocity divided by the change of time. Acceleration is a vector, and therefore includes both a size and a direction. Acceleration is also a change in speed and direction, there is:

paragraphs: Speed (a scalar quantity) (uses no direction)

paragraphs: Velocity (a vector quantity) (uses a direction)

paragraphs: Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object. Acceleration formula_1 can be found by using:

paragraphs: Sometimes the change in velocity formula_6 is written as Δformula_7. Sometimes the change in time formula_8 is written as Δt.

paragraphs: In difficult situations, the acceleration can be calculated using mathematics: in calculus, acceleration is the derivative of the velocity (with respect to time), formula_9.

paragraphs: Acceleration has its own units of measurement. For example, if velocity is measured in meters per second, and if time is measured in seconds, then acceleration is measured in meters per second squared (m/s).

paragraphs: Acceleration can be positive or negative. When the acceleration is negative (but the velocity does not change direction), it is sometimes called deceleration. For example, when a car brakes it decelerates. Physicists usually only use the word "acceleration".

paragraphs: Newton's laws of motion are rules for how things move. These rules are called "laws of motion". Isaac Newton is the scientist who first wrote down the main laws of motion.

paragraphs: According to Newton's Second Law of Motion, the force something needs to accelerate an object depends on the object's mass (the amount of "stuff" the object is made from or how "heavy" it is).

paragraphs: The formula of Newton's Second Law of Motion is formula_10,

paragraphs: where formula_11 is the acceleration, formula_12 is the force, and formula_13 the mass.

paragraphs: This formula is very well-known, and it is very important in physics. Newton's Second Law of Motion, in short "Newton's Second Law", is often one of the first things that physics students learn.

paragraphs: Deceleration is the opposite of acceleration. This means that something slows down instead of speeding up. For example, when a car brakes, it is decelerating.


title: Black pudding

paragraphs: Black pudding is an English name for zwarte pudding. It is food made by cooking down the blood of any mammal (usually pigs or cattle) with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal (become firm or solid) when cooled.

paragraphs: In Great Britain, blood sausage is called "Black Pudding". The ingredients include pig's blood, suet, bread, barley and oatmeal. The most common kind of German "blutwurst" is made from fatty pork meat, beef blood and filler such as barley. Though already cooked and "ready to eat" it is usually served warm.

paragraphs: Other kinds of blood sausage include "boudin noir" (France), "boudin rouge" (Creole and Cajun) and "morcilla" (Spain).

paragraphs: A legend says that blood sausage was invented in a bet between two Bavarian butchers drunk on the alcoholic drink absinthe during the 14th century. Homer's "Odyssey" from Ancient Greece says that "As when a man besides a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted...".


title: Boot device

paragraphs: A boot device is used to start a computer. It is named after a boot which fits on the foot. The word bootstrap is also closely related, and means, to use something simpler to get something more complex to make itself work better. It comes from the English phrase "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps."

paragraphs: Before a computer can operate normally, it must have operating system instructions that tell it how to perform basic functions. A boot device loads the operating system into the memory of the computer.

paragraphs: Devices that can boot a computer are usually boot disks or boot drives (normally a hard drive, but can be a floppy disk or a CD). Some network computers use "boot chips" that get the operating system over a network. Web phones also use such chips to identify the user to the mobile phone network. Boot card standards may let many users boot kiosk computers with full privacy and access to all application software they own. There are also boot boards or boot "add-in" cards that are more permanent than boot cards.

paragraphs: Some people refer to the boot device as just a boot and non-boot devices as data devices, although it is not the computer but the operating system that cares about the difference between these.

paragraphs: The boot in boot device is the same as booting (or starting up). This is short for bootstrapping, or to start with simple stuff and make complex stuff out of it.


title: Boot

paragraphs: A boot is a type of footwear that protects the foot and ankle. Boots are higher and larger than shoes and sandals. Some boots are high enough to protect the calves (lower part of the leg) as well. Some boots are held on with "bootstraps" or "bootlaces". Some also have spats or "gaiters" to keep water out. Most have a very strong "boot sole", the bottom part of a boot.


title: Bankruptcy

paragraphs: Bankruptcy is a legal process which happens when a person or an organisation does not have enough money to pay all of its debts. Legally they are insolvent.

paragraphs: Where it is a person who cannot pay their debts, the person's creditors may ask the court to appoint a "trustee in bankruptcy". This is a professional accountant who is appointed by the court, to take control of the bankrupt person's assets. Some assets are protected by law, but the trustee in bankruptcy will sell off all of the other assets and use the money to pay as much of that person's debts as possible. After the process is complete the person is "discharged from bankruptcy", and the person is free from any further liability to pay those claims, but normally that person will be limited in their ability to borrow money again because their credit rating will be damaged.

paragraphs: Where it is an organisation which cannot pay its debts, the creditors may ask the court to appoint a "liquidator". The liquidator does a very similar job to the trustee in bankruptcy except that there are no assets which are protected so the liquidator can sell everything. Once all of the assets of the organisation have been sold, the organisation is then "dissolved" and no longer exists. Organisations do not get discharged from bankruptcy in the same way that a living person does.

paragraphs: People often confuse the terms bankruptcy and insolvency, and sometimes they use one word when they really mean the other. Insolvency usually just means that a someone does not have enough money to pay their debts or (sometimes) that the total amount of their debts is worth more than the total amount of their assets. Bankruptcy is a formal legal process in front of the courts. Although the two terms are connected, just because a person is insolvent does not necessarily mean that they will go into bankruptcy.

paragraphs: Many countries have alternatives to bankruptcy to try and allow people and businesses to try and avoid the bankruptcy process.

paragraphs: In various countries, individual people can try and reach "individual voluntary arrangements" (or IVAs) with their creditors. This means that the creditors agree to take less money to discharge their debts. There are similar processes for companies and other organisations, and they go by various different names in different countries, but in many countries they are called "schemes of arrangement".

paragraphs: In many countries a company or business can ask the courts for "bankruptcy protection" to try and protect the business so that the creditors cannot destroy all of the physical capital and goodwill by breaking it apart and moving it away. The aim of this is provide is more time for the business to reorganise itself and to work out a new deal between the owners and the people the business owes money. In many countries this is called "going into administration".

paragraphs: However, not all countries have bankruptcy protection laws for businesses.

paragraphs: Often a creditor threatens a debtor with debt slavery in many parts of the world. In some cases the debtor does not know that they have a right to go bankrupt. This is a human rights problem in some countries. Also, some creditors continue to harass a debtor even though bankruptcy laws say they should not, hoping that the debtor will pay them money that they do not deserve.

paragraphs: Bankruptcy in the United States falls mostly under federal law, Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code). The types of bankruptcy available in the United States are named after the primary divisions, or "chapters", of that law. The person or business that files a bankruptcy case is known as the "debtor".

paragraphs: When a bankruptcy case is filed, a trustee is chosen by the court. The trustee has authority over the property of the bankrupt person or business and may use some of the debtor's assets to pay the creditors. After a bankruptcy is filed, creditors are notified that they are to stop trying to collect money directly from the debtor and are to make claims for payment to the bankruptcy court.

paragraphs: The most common form of bankruptcy is the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which can be filed by businesses or individuals. It is also called liquidation bankruptcy because some of a debtor's property may be sold (liquidated) to satisfy creditors. When a business is in debt which it cannot pay, it may ask or be forced to file bankruptcy in court under Chapter 7. This usually makes a company stop doing business. Employees often lose their jobs when company files for chapter 7.

paragraphs: Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a complicated type of bankruptcy that reorganizes the debtor's finances, usually reducing the amount of debt owed and changing debt repayment terms. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy case allows a business to keep running while it finds ways to reduce and arrange payment of its debts.

paragraphs: Almost all Chapter 11 bankruptcies are filed by businesses. Ordinary people do not usually file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, because a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will almost always be cheaper and easier for them.

paragraphs: Chapter 13 is the most popular form of bankruptcy in the United States for ordinary people. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy some of your debts may be forgiven (discharged), but you will have to pay back a portion of your debt. The debt repayment plan is supervised by the bankruptcy court and usually lasts for three to five years. Businesses cannot file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

paragraphs: Less common forms of bankruptcy may be filed under Chapter 9 and Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code.


title: Breakfast sausage

paragraphs: Breakfast sausage is a type of fresh pork sausage made from seasoned ground meat mixed with bread crumbs. Breakfast sausage has a blander flavor than many other types of sausage, such as British or Italian-style sausages.

paragraphs: Breakfast sausages are not cured or smoked like other types of sausages, which means that they have to be cooked soon after they are purchased (unless they are frozen). Uncooked sausages should be stored in the refrigerator or the freezer. Individuals handling them should wash their hands in hot soapy water, because uncooked pork is unhealthy for humans. Pork sausages have to be heated until all of the meat inside is cooked.

paragraphs: They are usually fried or grilled in a pan until they are browned and served at breakfast, often with cooked eggs, pancakes, and toasted bread. Breakfast sausages are also used in other dishes, such as "toad in the hole" a cooked batter dish.

paragraphs: Different types made from pork and beef mixtures as well as poultry can now be found. There are also vegetarian types that use textured vegetable protein in place of meat. Breakfast sausages are available in patties or slices from a large roll, or in weiner-like links of different lengths and thickness.


title: Browser

paragraphs: A browser is an animal, usually a herbivorous mammal, which eats leaves and shrubs rather than grass. It is contrasted with grazers, which eat grass.


title: Beekeeping

paragraphs: Beekeeping or apiculture is the farming of honeybees.

paragraphs: The keeping of bees is usually, and has been in the past, for honey. That is becoming less true. Instead, it is more used for crop pollination and other products. These are wax and propolis.

paragraphs: There is only one queen bee in each hive and she is bigger than the rest. She lays all the eggs, which makes all the other bees in the hive her daughters and sons. However, they do not control the hive.

paragraphs: The largest beekeeping operations are agricultural businesses that are operated for profit. Some people also have small beekeeping operations that they do as a hobby. Urban beekeeping is a growing trend, and some have found that "city bees" are actually healthier than "rural bees" because there are fewer pesticides and greater biodiversity.

paragraphs: Colony Collapse Disorder is a growing problem, along with mites.


title: British English

paragraphs: British English is the kind of English language which is used in the United Kingdom and in most countries which previously were in the British Empire.

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, many different people say words in different ways. For example, a man from a place near London may not pronounce his "r"s the same as a man from Scotland or a man from Northern Ireland. Across the country, the accent is different. For instance, in Liverpool, people may speak with a "scouse" accent, in Birmingham with a "brummie" accent, and in London with a "cockney" accent. Different variations on all of British English exist from the manner in which words are pronounced to the manner in which they are spelt. One place people speak English in a different way is Cornwall, where the Cornish dialect is spoken.

paragraphs: Britain, like other countries, has languages other than English. In Wales many speak Welsh; in Scotland some people speak Gaelic, and in Ireland a few people speak Irish. However, that is not the subject of this particular article.

paragraphs: British English often keeps more traditional ways of spelling words than American English.

paragraphs: In British English, "dock" refers to the water in the space between two "piers" or "wharfs". In American English, the "pier" or "wharf" could be called a "dock", and the water between would be a "slip".

paragraphs: American English is only an official language in the United States. In Canada, the accent sounds extremely similar to American English but with few exceptions (see Canadian English). The American spelling in Canada is sometimes used, but traditionally, the British Spelling (with the exceptions of some words like programme, -isation/-ise/-isable, chilli, etc.) is used. Although Commonwealth English is the most spoken, American English is seen more often on the internet. American English vocabulary dominates the visual media: "movies" (British: "films") and television.

paragraphs: All Commonwealth nations and Africa learn Commonwealth English, while American English is often learnt in the Americas and China. Z pronounced 'Zee' is only seen in the U.S.A and less commonly in Canada, while Z pronounced 'Zed' is spoken almost everywhere else. The United Kingdom and Ireland use British layout keyboards, while Australia, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A use American layout keyboards. In continental Europe English as a second language is nowadays sometimes even taught in American English, except perhaps in Scandinavia and the Netherlands.


title: Being

paragraphs: The word being means a living person or animal. ‘Human being’ means the same as ’person’. Men, women, and children are human beings.

paragraphs: Some people write stories or make movies about beings from other planets. Most religions talk about supernatural beings, for example spirits, angels, devils, gods, or God.


title: Beijing

paragraphs: Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. The city used to be known as Peking. It is in the northern and eastern parts of the country. It is the world's most populous capital city.

paragraphs: The city of Beijing has played a very important role in the development of China. Many people from different cities and countries come to Beijing to look for better chances to find work. Nearly 15 million people live there. In 2008 Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games, and will host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It will be the only city to host both.

paragraphs: Beijing is well known for its ancient history. Since the Jin Dynasty, Beijing has been the capital of several dynasties (especially the later ones), including the Yuan, Ming, and Qing. There are many places of historic interest in Beijing.

paragraphs: The Mandarin Chinese name of the city is "Běijīng", which means "The Northern Capital". It got this name when the Yongle Emperor of the Ming family of rulers moved most of his government from Nanjing ("The Southern Capital") in the early 1400s. In Chinese, Beijing's name is written Today, people spell it "Beijing" because they use the pinyin way of spelling, which shows what the name should sound like in Mandarin. People used to spell it "Peking" because that was the spelling used by some of the first people from Europe to visit the Ming and write home about it; the Jesuits' work was made popular by their French brother Du Halde. It then became the official Chinese Postal Map spelling around 1900 and continued to be used until pinyin became more popular.

paragraphs: Beijing was also known as Beiping ("City of Northern Peace") between 1928 and 1949, when the Nationalists moved the Chinese capital to Nanjing and Chongqing.

paragraphs: The center of Beijing was settled in the 1st millennium BC. In those days, the Kingdom of Yan (燕, Yān) set up their capital where Beijing is today. They called it Ji (蓟, Jì). After the Kingdom of Yan was destroyed, the city became smaller, although it was still an important place.

paragraphs: Beijing became more important again in the 10th century, when the Jin dynasty set its capital there. This city was destroyed by Mongol forces in 1215. Then in 1267, Mongols built a new city on the north side of the Jin capital, and called it "Great Capital" (大都, Dàdū), which was the beginning of modern Beijing. When Kublai Khan the Mongolian monarch, set up the Yuan dynasty, this city became his capital.

paragraphs: The Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasty all made Beijing their capital. When the Qing dynasty lost power and the Republic of China was set up, the new Republic moved its capital from Beijing to Nanjing. When the People's Republic of China seized power, Beijing became the capital of China again.

paragraphs: In 1989, there were protests in Tian'anmen Square because some people wanted democracy.

paragraphs: Beijing is the education center of People's Republic of China. More than 500 famous universities of China are in Beijing. They also include 5 of the top universities: Peking University, Tsinghua University, China People University, Beijing Normal University, and Beihang University. Beijing is also education center of China for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The standard Chinese pronunciation is based on Beijing dialect, so over 70% foreigners who want to study Chinese go to Beijing for their studies.


title: Bottle

paragraphs: A bottle is a container used to carry liquids. Bottles can have many different sizes. Bottles are usually made of glass or plastic. Usually, Beer bottles are made of glass, and soft drinks are made of plastic.

paragraphs: Milk, wine, lemonade, and water are often put into bottles.


title: Berry

paragraphs: The word berry is used for many different kinds of small fruits that have many seeds and can be used as food. Some examples are raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry and blueberry.

paragraphs: When botanists talk about "berries", they mean a simple fruit produced from a single ovary. They sometimes call this "true berry", to distinguish it from "false berries". By that statement of how words are used, grapes or tomatoes are true berries.

paragraphs: The berry is the most common type of soft fruit in which the entire ovary wall gets to the right stage of development of the pericarp which can be taken as food. The flowers of these plants have an upper ovary with one or more carpels. The seeds are inside the soft body of the ovary.

paragraphs: Berries are small, sweet, bright colored fruits. Due to this, they are able to bring more animals towards them and spread their seeds.

paragraphs: Some fruits that are called "berries" in English are not "true berries" by the use of words above. These include raspberries, strawberry, blackberries, cranberries, and boysenberries. Some true berries do not have "berry" in their name. These include tomatoes, bananas, eggplants, guavas, pomegranates and chillies. Pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, oranges and lemons are also berries that have slightly different structure and may be called by different names (pepo for pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons, or hesperidium for oranges and lemons).


title: Beard

paragraphs: A beard is the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face.

paragraphs: The hair that grows on the upper lip of some men is a mustache. When a man has hair only below the lower lip and above the chin, it is called a soul patch. Some men have a lot of hair and a big beard, and some have very little. In the modern world, many men shave part or all of their beards, or cut their beard so it does not get very long. Women can also have beards, but it is less common.

paragraphs: Some animals also have hair like this, and people sometimes also call this hair a beard.


title: Black

paragraphs: In light, black is lack of all color. In painting, however, the black pigment is the combination of all colors. In heraldry, black is called "sable". It is the opposite of white.

paragraphs: The word black comes from Old English blæc ("black, dark", also, "ink"), from Proto-Germanic *blakkaz ("burned"), and from Proto-Indo-European *bhleg-. Black is the darkest color/tone on a scale.

paragraphs: In science, an object that is black absorbs the light that hits it. Because these objects do not reflect any light, the human eye can't see any color coming from that object. The brain then sees these objects as black.

paragraphs: A way to create black objects is to mix pigments. A pigment works by reflecting only the color of the pigment. For example, a blue pigment absorbs all colors except blue. By mixing pigments in the right quantities, black can be made.

paragraphs: In sunlight, black objects become quickly warm because they absorb much light.

paragraphs: Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, safety, birth, male, and mystery. Black is a dark color, the darkest color there is. Black, along with gray and white, is a "neutral" color. This means that it is not a "hot" color or a "cool" color.

paragraphs: Black is a color seen with fear and the unknown (black holes). It can have a bad meaning (blackbird, black bunny) or a good meaning ('in the black', 'black is beautiful'). Black can stand for strength and power. It can be a formal, elegant, and high-class color (black tie, black Mercedes, black man). Black clothing is dark in emo and goth subculture.


title: Bubonic plague

paragraphs: Bubonic plague is the best-known form of the disease plague, which is caused by the bacterium "Yersinia pestis". The name "bubonic plague" is specific for this form of the disease, which enters through the skin, and travels through the lymphatic system.

paragraphs: If the disease is left untreated, it kills about half its victims, in between three and seven days. The bubonic plague was the disease that caused the Black Death, which killed tens of millions of people in Europe, in the Middle Ages.

paragraphs: Symptoms of this disease include coughing, fever, and black spots on the skin.

paragraphs: There are different kinds of Bubonic plague. The most common form of the disease is spread by a certain kind of flea, that lives on rats. Then there is an incubation period which can last from a few hours to about seven days.

paragraphs: Sepsis happens when the bacterium enters the blood and makes it form tiny clots.

paragraphs: This happens when the bacterium can enter the lungs. About 95% of all people with this form will die. Incubation period is only one to two days.

paragraphs: This is the most harmless form. It will result in a little fever. After that, there are antibodies that protect against all forms for a long time.

paragraphs: The first recorded epidemic was in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), It was called the Plague of Justinian after emperor Justinian I, who was infected but survived through extensive treatment. The pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (6th century outbreak) to 50 million people (two centuries of recurrence).

paragraphs: During the 1300s, this epidemic struck parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Almost a third of the people in Europe died of it. Unlike catastrophes that pull communities together, this epidemic was so terrifying that it broke people's trust in one another. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer of the time, described it: ""This scourge had implanted so great a terror in the hearts of men and women that brothers abandoned brothers, uncles their nephews, sisters their brothers, and in many cases wives deserted their husbands. But even worse... fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own children"."

paragraphs: Local outbreaks of the plague are grouped into three plague pandemics, whereby the respective start and end dates and the assignment of some outbreaks to either pandemic are still subject to discussion. The pandemics were:

paragraphs: Globally about 600 cases of plague are reported a year. In 2017 the countries with the most cases include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.

paragraphs: The transmission of "Y. pestis" by fleas is well known. Fleas are the vector. The flea gets the bacteria as they feed on an infected animal, usually a rodent. Several proteins then work to keep the bacteria in the flea digestive tract. This is important for the survival of "Y. pestis" in fleas.

paragraphs: In the 20th century, some countries did research on the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. They did research to use it for biological warfare.

paragraphs: Samples of this bacteria are carefully controlled. There is much paranoia (fear) about it. Dr. Thomas C. Butler, a US expert in this organism was charged in October 2003 by the FBI with various crimes. This happened after he said he lost samples of "Yersinia pestis". This is the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. The FBI did not find the samples. They do not know what happened to them.


title: Biology

paragraphs: Biology is the science that studies life, and living things, and the evolution of life. Living things include animals, plants, fungi (such as mushrooms), and microorganisms such as bacteria and archaea.

paragraphs: The term 'biology' is relatively modern. It was introduced in 1799 by a physician, Thomas Beddoes.

paragraphs: People who study biology are called biologists. Biology looks at how animals and other living things behave and work, and what they are like. Biology also studies how organisms react with each other and the environment. It has existed as a science for about 200 years, and was preceded by natural history. Biology has many research fields and branches. Like all sciences, biology uses the scientific method. This means that biologists must be able to show evidence for their ideas and that other biologists must be able to test the ideas for themselves.

paragraphs: Biology attempts to answer questions such as:

paragraphs: Modern biology is influenced by evolution, which answers the question: "How has the living world come to be as it is?"

paragraphs: The word "biology" comes from the Greek word "βίος" ("bios"), "life", and the suffix "-λογία" ("logia"), "study of".


title: Botany

paragraphs: Botany is the study of plants. It is a science. It is a branch of biology, and is also called plant biology. It is sometimes called phytology. Scientists who study botany are called botanists. They study how plants work.


title: Belgium

paragraphs: Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. Belgium has an area of . Around 11 million people live in Belgium. It is a founding member of the European Union and is home to its headquarters. The capital city of Belgium is Brussels, where the European Union, NATO and other famous organisations are based.

paragraphs: The population is about 60% Dutch-speaking, 39% French-speaking, and 1% German-speaking (the so-called "Deutschbelgier"). To look after all these groups, Belgium has a complicated system of government.

paragraphs: The name 'Belgium' comes from "Gallia Belgica". This was a Roman province in the northernmost part of Gaul. Before Roman invasion in 100 BC, the "Belgae", a mix of Celtic and Germanic peoples, lived there. The Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings. A slow shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to change into the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the region into Middle and West Francia. They were vassals either of the King of France or of the Holy Roman Emperor.

paragraphs: Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries.

paragraphs: The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. Southern Netherlands were ruled by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs. This made up most of modern Belgium.

paragraphs: After the , the Low Countries were added into the French First Republic. This ended Austrian rule in the area. Adding back the Low Countries formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. This happened at the end of the First French Empire in 1815.

paragraphs: The Belgian Revolution was in 1830. Leopold I became king on 1831. This is now celebrated as Belgium's National Day.

paragraphs: The Berlin Conference of 1885 gave control of the Congo Free State to King Leopold II. This was for him personally and not for the country of Belgium. Starting in about 1900 many people did not like how he treated the Congolese people. In 1908 the Belgian state took control of the colony. It was then called the Belgian Congo.

paragraphs: Germany invaded Belgium in 1914. This was part of World War I. The opening months of the war were very bad in Belgium. During the war Belgium took over the of Ruanda-Urundi (modern day Rwanda and Burundi). After the First World War, the Prussian districts of Eupen and Malmedy were added into Belgium in 1925. The country was again invaded by Germany in 1940 and under German control until 1944. After World War II, the people made king Leopold III leave his throne in 1951. This is because they thought he helped the Germans.

paragraphs: In 1960 the Belgian Congo stopped being under Belgian rule. Two years later Ruanda-Urundi also became free. Belgium joined NATO as a founding member.

paragraphs: Since 1993, Belgium is a federal state, divided into three regions and three communities.

paragraphs: It has a system of government known as a constitutional monarchy, meaning that it has a monarch, but that the monarch does not rule the country, and that a government is elected democratically.

paragraphs: Belgium has had its own monarchy since 1831. King Albert II left the throne on July 21, 2013 and the current king is Philippe.

paragraphs: In Belgium, the government is elected. Between mid-2010 and late 2011, after no clear result in the election, Belgium had no official government, until Elio Di Rupo became Prime Minister. Flanders and Wallonia both also have their own regional governments, and there is a notable independence movement in Flanders. Charles Michel is currently the Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Belgium is next to France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Its total area is 33,990 square kilometers. The land area alone is 30,528 km². Belgium has three main geographical regions. The coastal plain is in the north-west. The central plateau are part of the Anglo-Belgian Basin. The Ardennes uplands are in the south-east. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.

paragraphs: The coastal plain is mostly sand dunes and polders. Further inland is a smooth, slowly rising landscape. There are fertile valleys. The hills have many forests. The plateaus of the Ardennes are more rough and rocky. They have caves and small, narrow valleys. Signal de Botrange is the country's highest point at 694 metres (2,277 ft).

paragraphs: Belgium is divided into three Regions. Flanders and Wallonia are divided into provinces. The third Region, Brussels is not part of any province.

paragraphs: The Belgian Armed Forces have about 46,000 active troops. In 2009 the yearly defence budget was $6 billion. There are four parts: Belgian Land Component, or the Army; Belgian Air Component, or the Air Force; Belgian Naval Component, or the Navy; Belgian Medical Component.

paragraphs: Adding to science and technology has happened throughout the country's history. cartographer Gerardus Mercator, anatomist Andreas Vesalius, herbalist Rembert Dodoens and mathematician Simon Stevin are among the most influential scientists.

paragraphs: Chemist Ernest Solvay and engineer Zenobe Gramme gave their names to the Solvay process and the Gramme dynamo in the 1860s. Bakelite was formed in 1907–1909 by Leo Baekeland. A major addition to science was also due to a Belgian, Georges Lemaître. He is the one who made the Big Bang theory of the start of the universe in 1927.

paragraphs: Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Belgians: Jules Bordet in 1919, Corneille Heymans in 1938 and Albert Claude together with Christian De Duve in 1974. Ilya Prigogine was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977. Two Belgian mathematicians have been awarded the Fields Medal: Pierre Deligne in 1978 and Jean Bourgain in 1994.

paragraphs: In February 2014, Belgium became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia without any age limits.

paragraphs: There have been many additions to painting and architecture. Several examples of major architectural places in Belgium belong to UNESCO's World Heritage List. In the 15th century the religious paintings of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden were important. The 16th century had more styles such as Peter Breughel's landscape paintings and Lambert Lombard's showing of the antique. The style of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck was strong in the early 17th century in the Southern Netherlands.

paragraphs: During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Belgian painters started. These include James Ensor and other artists in the Les XX group, Constant Permeke, Paul Delvaux and René Magritte. The sculptor Panamarenko is still a remarkable figure in contemporary art. The artist Jan Fabre and the painter Luc Tuymans are other internationally known figures in contemporary art.

paragraphs: Belgian contributions to architecture were also in the 19th and 20th centuries. Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde were major starters of the Art Nouveau style.

paragraphs: In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux. Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822. Newer music in Belgium is also famous. Jazz musician Toots Thielemans and singer Jacques Brel have made global fame. In rock/pop music, Telex, Front 242, K's Choice, Hooverphonic, Zap Mama, Soulwax and dEUS are well known. In the heavy metal scene, bands like Machiavel, Channel Zero and Enthroned have a worldwide fan-base.

paragraphs: Belgium has several well-known authors, including the poet Emile Verhaeren and novelists Hendrik Conscience, Georges Simenon, Suzanne Lilar and Amélie Nothomb. The poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1911. "The Adventures of Tintin" by Hergé is the best known of Franco-Belgian comics. Many other major authors, including Peyo, André Franquin, Edgar P. Jacobs and Willy Vandersteen brought the Belgian cartoon strip industry a worldwide fame.

paragraphs: Belgian cinema has brought a number of mainly Flemish novels to life on-screen. Belgian directors include André Delvaux, Stijn Coninx, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Well-known actors include Jan Decleir and Marie Gillain. Successful films include "Man Bites Dog" and "The Alzheimer Affair".

paragraphs: Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries. French fries were first made in Belgium. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".

paragraphs: Other local fast food dishes include a Mitraillette. Brands of Belgian chocolate and pralines, like Côte d'Or, Guylian, Neuhaus, Leonidas, Corné and Galler are famous. Belgium makes over 1100 varieties of beer. The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer. The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven.

paragraphs: Since the 1970s, sports clubs are organised separately by each language community. Association football is one of the most popular sports in both parts of Belgium, together with cycling, tennis, swimming and judo. With five victories in the Tour de France and many other cycling records, Belgian Eddy Merckx is said to be one of the greatest cyclists of all time. Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is said to be one of the greatest in the history of football (soccer). Belgium and The Netherlands hosted the UEFA European Football Championship in 2000. Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships.

paragraphs: Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin both were Player of the Year in the Women's Tennis Association. The Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit hosts the Formula One World Championship Belgian Grand Prix. The Belgian driver, Jacky Ickx, won eight Grands Prix and six 24 Hours of Le Mans. Belgium also has a strong reputation in motocross. Sporting events held each year in Belgium include the Memorial Van Damme athletics competition, the Belgian Grand Prix Formula One, and a number of classic cycle races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp.


title: Brazil

paragraphs: Brazil (officially called Federative Republic of Brazil; how to say: ) is a country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country. The country has about 209 million people. The capital of Brazil is Brasília. Brazil was named after brazilwood, which is a tree that once grew very well along the Brazilian coast.

paragraphs: The first people to come to Brazil came around 9,000 B.C. That group of people is often called the South American Indians and probably came from North America. Some of them were hunters and gatherers, but others were farmers.

paragraphs: Pedro Álvares Cabral was the first European to see Brazil. He saw it in 1500. He was from Portugal and the Portuguese government claimed Brazil. Soon, explorers explored the whole coastline of Brazil and colonies were set up. In the late 1500s and early 1600s, the Dutch and the French tried to take land in Brazil. Brazilians started moving inland further than the Treaty of Tordesillas said they could. This caused some fights with the Spaniards (people from Spain) and native people in the area.

paragraphs: In 1822, Brazil claimed to be its own country and not a part of Portugal anymore. Soon there was civil war. But the emperor Pedro II improved the economy, and in 1888, he freed the slaves. In 1889, there was a military coup, and Pedro II had to leave the country.

paragraphs: In 1889, Brazil became a republic. It was not very democratic, because the only people who could vote were people who owned land. There were some uprisings in the 1920s because some people thought the government was unfairly helping coffee growers. Brazil joined the Allies during World War II.

paragraphs: During the 1960s, the leader Castelo Branco made the government like a dictatorship. Since then, the country has become more democratic, but some people feel that there are still big problems in health, education, crime, poverty and social inequality.

paragraphs: In August 2016, then-president Dilma Rousseff was removed from office because of impeachment.

paragraphs: Most people in Brazil speak Portuguese. Brazil is the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese.

paragraphs: Some people in Brazil speak German dialects. That came from German immigrants. 2% of Brazilians speak German as their first language. Yiddish is spoken by the elders of the Jewish community.

paragraphs: Other people in Brazil speak their ancestors' languages like Italian, Japanese, Polish, Ukrainian, French, Russian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Dutch and Korean. Spanish or "Portunhol", a mix of Portuguese and Castilian (Spanish) is spoken at some of the borders. Indigenous languages as Guarani and Aymará are the first languages of a small number of Brazilians.

paragraphs: Brazil has the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest. It makes up 40% of the country's land area. Brazil also has other types of land, including a type of savanna called "cerrado", and a dry plant region named "caatinga".

paragraphs: The most important cities are Brasília (the capital), Belém, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo (the biggest city) and Vitória. Other cities are at List of largest cities in Brazil.

paragraphs: Brazil is divided into 26 states plus the Federal District in five regions (north, south, northeast, southeast and centre-west):

paragraphs: The country is the fifth largest in the world by area. It is known for its many rainforests and jungles. It is next to every country in South America except Chile and Ecuador.

paragraphs: The name Brazil comes from a tree named brazilwood.

paragraphs: Brazil is the largest country in South America and fifth largest in the world. Its people are called Brazilians or Brasileiros (In Portuguese). The people include citizens of Portuguese or other European descent who mainly live in the South and Southeast, Africans, Native Americans, Arabs, Gypsies and people of Mixed ancestry. Brazil also has the largest Japanese community outside Japan. Other East Asians follow the Japanese group.The Amazon River flows through Brazil, it is the 2nd longest river in the world (after the Nile).The current President of Brazil is Jair Messias Bolsonaro, also known as Bolsonaro..

paragraphs: Two major sporting events were held in Brazil recently: the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.


title: Chemistry

paragraphs: Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with chemical elements and compounds, and how these things work together and change.

paragraphs: Before 1600, people studied substances to figure out how to do things such as turn lead into gold, but no one managed to do that. This was called alchemy. After 1600, using the scientific method alchemists became chemists. Chemists separated the air into many parts and isolated the noble gases from it. They also processed special minerals from a mine in Sweden to get rare earth metals. Radioactivity was also discovered. Today chemists have discovered 118 different elements. Some are very common, like oxygen. Many are very rare and expensive, like platinum. Some cannot be found on earth and can only be made in labs, like rutherfordium.

paragraphs: Since the 1920s, the increased understanding of physics has changed chemists' theories about chemical reactions. With smaller and faster computers, chemists have built better tools for analyzing substances. These tools have been sent to study chemicals on Mars. Police also use those tools to study evidence from crime scenes.

paragraphs: There are several types of chemistry. Analytical chemistry looks at which chemicals are in things. For example, looking at how much arsenic is in food. Organic chemistry looks at things that have carbon in them. For example, making acetylene. Inorganic chemistry looks at things that do not have carbon in them. One example is making an integrated circuit. Theoretical chemistry tries to explain chemical data with mathematics and computers.

paragraphs: A large area of chemistry is polymer chemistry. This looks at plastics. One example is making nylon. Because plastics are made of carbon, polymer chemistry is part of organic chemistry. Another area is biochemistry. This looks at the chemistry of living things. An example would be seeing how arsenic poisons people. Biochemistry is also part of organic chemistry. There are many other small branches of chemistry.

paragraphs: The basic unit of an element is called an atom. An atom is the smallest building block that you can cut an element into without the element breaking down (turning into a lighter element, for example through nuclear fission or radioactive decay). A chemical compound is a substance made up of two or more elements. In a compound, two or more atoms are joined together to form a molecule. The tiniest speck of dust or drop of liquid, that one can see is made up of many millions or billions of these molecules. Mixtures are substances where chemicals are mixed but not reacted. An example would be mixing sand and salt. This can be undone again to produce salt and sand separately. Chemical compounds are changed by a chemical reaction. An example would be heating sodium bicarbonate, common baking soda. It will make water, carbon dioxide, and sodium carbonate. This reaction cannot be undone.

paragraphs: One very important concept in chemistry is that different atoms interact with one another in very specific proportions. For example, two hydrogen atoms interacting with one oxygen atom lead to the water molecule, HO. This relationship is known as the "Law of constant proportions" and leads to the idea of "stoichiometry", a term that refers to the ratios of different atoms in chemical compounds. For example, in water, there are always exactly 2 hydrogen atoms to 1 oxygen atom. In carbon dioxide, there are exactly 2 oxygen atoms for 1 carbon atom. These relationships are described using chemical formulas such as HO (two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom) and CO (one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms).

paragraphs: Because atoms of different elements react with one another in very specific proportions but atoms of different elements have different weights, chemists often describe the amount of different elements and compounds in terms of the number of "moles". A "mole" of any element contains the same number of atoms: 602,214,150,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. The atomic mass of an element can be used to see how much of the element makes a mole. For example, the atomic mass of copper is about 63.55. That means about 63.55 grams of copper metal has a mole of atoms. The atomic mass of chlorine is about 35.45. That means 35.45 grams of chlorine has a mole of atoms in it.

paragraphs: Moles can be used to see how many molecules are in chemical compounds, too. Copper(II) chloride is an example. CuCl is its chemical formula. There is one copper atom (63.55) and two chlorine atoms (35.45 · 2 = 70.90). Add all the molar masses of the elements together to get the molar mass of the chemical compound (63.55 + 70.90 = 134.45). That means in 134.45 grams of copper(II) chloride, there is one mole of copper(II) chloride molecules. This concept is used to calculate how much chemicals are needed in a chemical reaction if no reactants (chemicals that are reacted) should be left. If too much reactant is used, there will be some reactants left in the chemical reaction.

paragraphs: Acids and bases are common chemicals. Acids release H ions when in water, and bases release OH ions when in water. Acids can react with bases. The H ion is taken from the acid by the base. This makes water, HO. A salt is also made when an acid and a base react together. An example would be reacting hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Hydrochloric acid releases H and Cl ions in water. The base releases Na and OH ions. The H and the OH react to make water. There is a solution of sodium chloride (NaCl) left. Sodium chloride is a salt.

paragraphs: Chemistry is very useful in everyday life and makes up the foundation of many branches of science. Most objects are made by chemists (people who do chemistry). Chemists are constantly working to find new and useful substances. Chemists make new drugs and materials like paints that we use every day.

paragraphs: Many chemicals are harmless, but there are some chemicals that are dangerous. For example, mercury(II) chloride is very toxic. Chromates can cause cancer. Tin(II) chloride pollutes water easily. Hydrochloric acid can cause bad burns. Some chemicals like hydrogen can explode or catch fire. To stay safe, chemists experiment with chemicals in a chemical lab. They use special equipment and clothing to do reactions and keep the chemicals contained. The chemicals used in drugs and in things like bleach have been tested to make sure they are safe if used correctly.


title: Computer science

paragraphs: Computer science is the study of manipulating, managing, transforming and encoding information.

paragraphs: There are many different areas in computer science. Some areas consider problems in an abstract manner, while some need special machines, called computers.

paragraphs: A person who works with computers will often need mathematics, science, and logic in order to design and work with computers.

paragraphs: This is so that they can find new and easier ways to do things, and the way to approach problems with this information.

paragraphs: Computers can do some things easily (for example: simple math, or sorting out a list of names from A-to-Z). But computers cannot answer questions when there is not enough information, or when there is no real answer. Also, computers may take too much time to finish long tasks. For example, it may take too long to find the shortest way through all of the towns in the USA - so instead a computer will try to make a close guess. A computer will answer these simpler questions much faster.

paragraphs: Algorithms are a specific set of instructions or steps on how to complete a task. For example, a computer scientist wants to sort playing cards. There are many ways to sort them - by suits (diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades) or by numbers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace). By deciding on a set of steps to sort the cards, the scientist has created an algorithm. The scientist then needs to test whether this algorithm works. This shows how well and how fast the algorithm sorts cards.

paragraphs: A simple but slow algorithm is: drop the cards, pick them up, and check whether they are sorted. If they are not, do it again. This method will work, but it will take a very long time.

paragraphs: A better algorithm is: find the first card with the smallest suit and smallest number (2 of diamonds), and place it at the start. After this, look for the second card, and so on. This algorithm is much faster, and does not need much space. This sorting algorithm is called selection sort.

paragraphs: Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm in 1843, for a computer that was never finished. Computers began during World War II. Computer science separated from the other sciences during the 1960s and 1970s. Now, computer science has its own methods, and has its own technical terms. It is related to electrical engineering, mathematics, and language science.

paragraphs: Computer science looks at the theoretical parts of computers. Computer engineering looks at the physical parts of computers (hardware). Software engineering looks at the use of computer programs and how to make them.


title: Computer

paragraphs: A computer is a machine that accepts data as input, processes that data using programs, and outputs the processed data as information. Many computers can store and retrieve information using hard drives. Computers can be connected together to form networks, allowing connected computers to communicate with each other.

paragraphs: The two principal characteristics of a computer are: It responds to a specific instruction set in a well-defined manner and it can execute a prerecorded list of instructions call a program. There are four main processing steps in a computer: inputting, storage, outputting and processing.

paragraphs: Modern computers can do billions of calculations in a second. Being able to calculate many times per second allows modern computers to multi-task, which means they can do many different tasks at the same time. Computers do many different jobs where automation is useful. Some examples are controlling traffic lights, vehicle , security systems, washing machines and digital televisions.

paragraphs: Computers can be designed to do almost anything with information. Computers are used to control large and small machines which in the past were controlled by humans. Most people have used a personal computer in their home or at work. They are used for things such as calculation, listening to music, reading an article, writing etc.

paragraphs: Modern computers are electronic computer hardware. They do mathematical arithmetic very quickly but computers do not really "think". They only follow the instructions in their software programs. The software uses the hardware when the user gives it instructions, and gives useful output.

paragraphs: Humans control computers with user interfaces. Input devices include keyboards, computer mice, buttons, and touch screens. Some computers can also be controlled with voice commands, hand gestures or even brain signals through electrodes implanted in the brain or along nerves.

paragraphs: Computer programs are designed or written by computer programmers. A few programmers write programs in the computer's own language called machine code. Most programs are written using a programming language like C, C++, Java. These programming languages are more like the language with which one talks and writes every day. The compiler translates the user's instructions into binary code (machine code) that the computer will understand and do what is needed.

paragraphs: Most humans have a problem with math. To show this, try doing 584 × 3,220 in your head. It is hard to remember all the steps! People made tools to help them remember where they were in a math problem. The other problem people have is that they have to do the same problem over and over and over again. A cashier had to make change every day in her head or with a piece of paper. That took a lot of time and made mistakes. So, people made calculators that did those same things over and over. This part of computer history is called the "history of automated calculation," which is a fancy phrase for "the history of machines that make it easy for me to do this same math problem over and over without making mistakes."

paragraphs: The abacus, the slide rule, the astrolabe and the Antikythera mechanism (which dates from about 150-100 BC) are examples of automated calculation machines.

paragraphs: People do not want a machine that would do the same thing over and over again. For example, a music box is a machine that plays the same music over and over again. Some people wanted to be able to tell their machine to do different things. For example, they wanted to tell the music box to play different music every time. They wanted to be able to program the music box- to order the music box to play different music. This part of computer history is called the "history of programmable machines" which is a fancy phrase for "The history of machines that I can order to do different things if I know how to speak their language."

paragraphs: One of the first examples of this was built by Hero of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD). He built a mechanical theater which performed a play lasting 10 minutes and was operated by a complex system of ropes and drums. These ropes and drums were the language of the machine- they told what the machine did and when. Some people argue that this is the first programmable machine.

paragraphs: Historians disagree on which early machines are "computers". Many say the "castle clock", an astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari in 1206, is the first known programmable analog computer. The length of day and night could be adjusted every day in order to account for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year. Some count this daily adjustment as computer programming.

paragraphs: Others say the first computer was made by Charles Babbage. Ada Lovelace is considered to be the first programmer.

paragraphs: At the end of the Middle Ages, people started thinking math and engineering were more important. In 1623, Wilhelm Schickard made a mechanical calculator. Other Europeans made more calculators after him. They were not modern computers because they could only add, subtract, and multiply- you could not change what they did to make them do something like play Tetris. Because of this, we say they were not programmable. Now engineers use computers to design and plan.

paragraphs: In 1801, Joseph Marie Jacquard used punched paper cards to tell his textile loom what kind of pattern to weave. He could use punch cards to tell the loom what to do, and he could change the punch cards, which means he could program the loom to weave the pattern he wanted. This means the loom was programmable.

paragraphs: Charles Babbage wanted to make a similar machine that could calculate. He called it "The Analytical Engine". Because Babbage did not have enough money and always changed his design when he had a better idea, he never built his Analytical Engine.

paragraphs: As time went on, computers were used more. People get bored easily doing the same thing over and over. Imagine spending your life writing things down on index cards, storing them, and then having to go find them again. The U.S. Census Bureau in 1890 had hundreds of people doing just that. It was expensive, and reports took a long time. Then an engineer worked out how to make machines do a lot of the work. Herman Hollerith invented a tabulating machine that would automatically add up information that the Census bureau collected. The Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (which later became IBM) made his machines. They leased the machines instead of selling them. Makers of machines had long helped their users understand and repair them, and CTR's tech support was especially good.

paragraphs: Because of machines like this, new ways of talking to these machines were invented, and new types of machines were invented, and eventually the computer as we know it was born.

paragraphs: In the first half of the 20th century, scientists started using computers, mostly because scientists had a lot of math to figure out and wanted to spend more of their time thinking about science questions instead of spending hours adding numbers together. For example, if they had to launch a rocket ship, they needed to do a lot of math to make sure the rocket worked right. So they put together computers. These analog computers used analog circuits, which made them very hard to program. In the 1930s, they invented digital computers, and soon made them easier to program. However this is not the case as many consecutive attempts have been made to bring arithmetic logic to l3.Analog computers are mechanical or electronic devices which solve problems.Some are used to control machines as well.

paragraphs: Scientists figured out how to make and use digital computers in the 1930s to 1940s. Scientists made a lot of digital computers, and as they did, they figured out how to ask them the right sorts of questions to get the most out of them. Here are a few of the computers they built:

paragraphs: Several developers of ENIAC saw its problems. They invented a way to for a computer to remember what they had told it, and a way to change what it remembered. This is known as "stored program architecture" or von Neumann architecture. John von Neumann talked about this design in the paper "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC", distributed in 1945. A number of projects to develop computers based on the stored-program architecture started around this time. The first of these was completed in Great Britain. The first to be demonstrated working was the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM or "Baby"), while the EDSAC, completed a year after SSEM, was the first really useful computer that used the stored program design. Shortly afterwards, the machine originally described by von Neumann's paper—EDVAC—was completed but was not ready for two years.

paragraphs: Nearly all modern computers use the stored-program architecture. It has become the main concept which defines a modern computer. The technologies used to build computers have changed since the 1940s, but many current computers still use the von-Neumann architecture.

paragraphs: In the 1950s computers were built out of mostly vacuum tubes. Transistors replaced vacuum tubes in the 1960s because they were smaller and cheaper. They also need less power and do not break down as much as vacuum tubes. In the 1970s, technologies were based on integrated circuits. Microprocessors, such as the Intel 4004 made computers smaller, cheaper, faster and more reliable. By the 1980s, microcontrollers became small and cheap enough to replace mechanical controls in things like washing machines. The 1980s also saw home computers and personal computers. With the evolution of the Internet, personal computers are becoming as common as the television and the telephone in the household.

paragraphs: In 2005 Nokia started to call some of its mobile phones (the N-series) "multimedia computers" and after the launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007, many are now starting to add the smartphone category among "real" computers. In 2008, if smartphones are included in the numbers of computers in the world, the biggest computer maker by units sold, was no longer Hewlett-Packard, but rather Nokia.

paragraphs: There are many types of computers. Some include:

paragraphs: A "desktop computer" is a small machine that has a screen (which is not part of the computer). Most people keep them on top of a desk, which is why they are called "desktop computers." "Laptop computers" are computers small enough to fit on your lap. This makes them easy to carry around. Both laptops and desktops are called personal computers, because one person at a time uses them for things like playing music, surfing the web, or playing video games.

paragraphs: There are bigger computers that many people at a time can use. These are called "Mainframes," and these computers do all the things that make things like the internet work. You can think of a personal computer like this: the personal computer is like your skin: you can see it, other people can see it, and through your skin you feel wind, water, air, and the rest of the world. A mainframe is more like your internal organs: you never see them, and you barely even think about them, but if they suddenly went missing, you would have some very big problems.

paragraphs: An embedded computer, also called embedded system is a computer that does one thing and one thing only, and usually does it very well. For example, an alarm clock is an embedded computer: it tells the time. Unlike your personal computer, you cannot use your clock to play Tetris. Because of this, we say that embedded computers cannot be programmed, because you cannot install more programs on your clock. Some mobile phones, automatic teller machines, microwave ovens, CD players and cars are operated by embedded computers.

paragraphs: All-in-one computers are desktop computers that have all of the computer's inner mechanisms in the same case as the monitor. Apple has made several popular examples of all-in-one computers, such as the original Macintosh of the mid-1980s and the iMac of the late 1990s and 2000s.

paragraphs: Computers store data and the instructions as numbers, because computers can do things with numbers very quickly. These data are stored as binary symbols (1s and 0s). A 1 or a 0 symbol stored by a computer is called a bit, which comes from the words binary digit. Computers can use many bits together to represent instructions and the data that these instructions use. A list of instructions is called a program and is stored on the computer's hard disk. Computers work through the program by using a central processing unit, and they use fast memory called RAM also known as (Random Access Memory) as a space to store the instructions and data while they are doing this. When the computer wants to store the results of the program for later, it uses the hard disk because things stored on a hard disk can still be remembered after the computer is turned off.

paragraphs: An operating system tells the computer how to understand what jobs it has to do, how to do these jobs, and how to tell people the results. Millions of computers may be using the same operating system, while each computer can have its own application programs to do what its user needs. Using the same operating systems makes it easy to learn how to use computers for new things. A user who needs to use a computer for something different, can learn how to use a new application program. Some operating systems can have simple command lines or a fully user-friendly GUI.

paragraphs: One of the most important jobs that computers do for people is helping with communication. Communication is how people share information. Computers have helped people move forward in science, medicine, business, and learning, because they let experts from anywhere in the world work with each other and share information. They also let other people communicate with each other, do their jobs almost anywhere, learn about almost anything, or share their opinions with each other. The Internet is the thing that lets people communicate between their computers.

paragraphs: A computer is now almost always an electronic device. It usually contains materials that will become electronic waste when discarded. When a new computer is bought in some places, laws require that the cost of its waste management must also be paid for. This is called product stewardship.

paragraphs: Computers can become obsolete quickly, depending on what programs the user runs. Very often, they are thrown away within two or three years, because some newer programs require a more powerful computer. This makes the problem worse, so computer recycling happens a lot. Many projects try to send working computers to developing nations so they can be re-used and will not become waste as quickly, as most people do not need to run new programs. Some computer parts, such as hard drives, can break easily. When these parts end up in the landfill, they can put poisonous chemicals like lead into the ground-water. Hard drives can also contain secret information like credit card numbers. If the hard drive is not erased before being thrown away, an identity thief can get the information from the hard drive, even if the drive doesn't work, and use it to steal money from the previous owner's bank account.

paragraphs: Computers come in different forms, but most of them have a common design.

paragraphs: A computer has several main parts. When comparing a computer to a human body, the CPU is like a brain. It does most of the thinking and tells the rest of the computer how to work. The CPU is on the Motherboard, which is like the skeleton. It provides the basis for where the other parts go, and carries the nerves that connect them to each other and the CPU. The motherboard is connected to a power supply, which provides electricity to the entire computer. The various drives (CD drive, floppy drive, and on many newer computers, USB flash drive) act like eyes, ears, and fingers, and allow the computer to read different types of storage, in the same way that a human can read different types of books. The hard drive is like a human's memory, and keeps track of all the data stored on the computer. Most computers have a sound card or another method of making sound, which is like vocal cords, or a voice box. Connected to the sound card are speakers, which are like a mouth, and are where the sound comes out. Computers might also have a graphics card, which helps the computer to create visual effects, such as 3D environments, or more realistic colors, and more powerful graphics cards can make more realistic or more advanced images, in the same way a well trained artist can.


title: Continent

paragraphs: A continent is a large area of the land on Earth that is joined together. In general it is agreed there are seven continents in the world: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Australia or Oceania, and South America.

paragraphs: The most populous continent by population is Asia followed by Africa. The third most populous continent is the Americas. The fourth most populous is Europe and then Oceania. In sub-Saharan Africa, the largest age group are denarians (in their teens). In north Africa the largest age group are vicenarian (in their twenties). In Europe, most people are tricenarian (in their thirties) or quadragenarian (in their forties).

paragraphs: Some sources say that Australia is one of the seven continents. Others say that Australia is part of Oceania. Oceania is a region which includes Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The third alternative is the term Australasia, which includes at least all countries on the Australian continental plate. This includes the islands of New Guinea, Tasmania, New Zealand and a number of smaller islands. It is on the south-eastern side of the Wallace Line, with distinct differences in its biology from the Asian side of the line.

paragraphs: North America and South America are often described as "the Americas". This has the advantage of including Central America and the Caribbean islands. Otherwise, Central America is counted as part of North America.

paragraphs: Eurasia is not really an alternative, it is a recognition that the landmass of Europe and Asia are continuous, and some of its largest countries are in both continents. Russia extends from eastern Europe to the far east of Asia without a break. The Ural Mountains, which run roughly north/south, are the traditional dividing-line between Europe and Asia. For many purposes it is convenient to consider the great landmass as a single continent, Eurasia.

paragraphs: When British people talk about "the Continent" (or "Continental" things) they mean the European mainland. This meaning is not used as much as it used to be, but is still seen in phrases like "Continental breakfast" (rolls with cheese, jam etc. as distinct from an "English breakfast" which is a cooked breakfast).

paragraphs: Continents not only move but also sometimes move against each other. The Indian subcontinent has been colliding with the Eurasian continent for a while now. As these continents push against each other, they buckle and bend. Because of this, the Himalaya Mountains, where Mount Everest is, are still being made today.

paragraphs: Zealandia is an almost entirely submerged land mass, and 93% of it still remains under water. Zealandia may have broken off the Australian plate between 85 and 130 million years ago.


title: Classical element

paragraphs: The Greek classical elements are fire, air, water, and earth. In Greek philosophy, science and medicine, these make up a whole.

paragraphs: The image below has two squares on top of each other. The corners of one are the classical elements. The corners of the other are the properties.

paragraphs: Galen said these elements were used by Hippocrates to describe the human body. The elements are linked to the four humours: phlegm (water), yellow bile (fire), black bile (earth), and blood (air).

paragraphs: In Chinese Taoism the elements are metal, wood, water, fire, earth ().


title: China

paragraphs: China ( Pinyin: Zhōngguó) is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and a nation in East Asia.

paragraphs: The last Chinese Civil War (19271949) resulted in two different political powers today:

paragraphs: China is one of the world's oldest civilizations: it has the oldest continuous civilization. There is archaeological evidence over 5,000 years old. China also has one of the world's oldest writing systems (and the oldest in use today). China has been the source of many major inventions.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of the word "China" is dated 1555. It is derived from "chīnī", a Persian adjective meaning 'Chinese' which was popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.

paragraphs: Ancient China was one of the first civilizations and was active since the 2nd millennium BC as a feudal society. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing, with the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley civilization, the Maya civilization, the Minoan civilization of ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt. It reached its golden age during the Tang Dynasty (c. A.D. 10th century). Home of Confucianism and Daoism, it had great influence on nearby countries including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in the areas of political system, philosophy, religion, art, writing and literature. China is home to some of the oldest artwork in the world. Statues and pottery, as well as decorations made of jade, are some classic examples.

paragraphs: Before the Qin Dynasty united China, there were hundreds of small states that fought each other for hundreds of years in a war to control China. This is known as the Warring States Period. Although the continuing wars made people suffer, it was at this time when many great philosophies were born, including Confucianism and Daoism. Confucianism and Daoism alone have been the foundation of many social values seen in modern eastern-Asian cultures today.

paragraphs: Its geography mostly looked like that of modern China, except with northern and western edges that varied. It was often attacked by northern nomadic people such as the Turkic peoples and the Mongols led by Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. During the history of ancient China, the northern nomadic people and the Chinese people had been fighting each other and taking turns to rule the land and the people of China. However, when the northern people beat the Chinese people and came to rule the kingdom, they also Incorporated the Chinese way of living and became like the Chinese. Many of the strongest dynasties of China were ruled by the northern people, including the Qin, Tang, Yuan (Mongolian), and Qing. Each time, they also brought new elements into the Chinese culture.

paragraphs: While China achieved many things in the First millennium and early 2nd millennium, it became an isolationist country in the 15th century C.E. This was because Spain found enormous silver in the new continent, which was the main currency (money) in China and Europe at the time, and China did not want to be bought by the foreigners.

paragraphs: By the time of the Renaissance, European powers started to take over other countries in Asia. While China was never actually taken over, many European countries, such as Britain and France built spheres of influence in China. Since China had cut itself off from the world over the previous few centuries, by the Qing Dynasty, it had fallen behind other countries in technology, and was helpless to stop this from happening. This had become clear when it lost the Opium Wars to Britain in the 19th century.

paragraphs: Still influenced by Western sources, China faced internal strife. The Taiping Rebellion or Taiping War occurred in China from 1851 through 1864. The Taiping Rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan from Guangdon. Hong Xiuquan was influenced by Christian missionaries and declared himself the brother of Jesus. Hong made his mission to bring down the Qing Dynasty. Gaining influence on the southern Chinese population, the Taiping Rebellion attracted tens of thousands of supporters. The Taiping regime successfully created a state within the Qing Empire with the capital at Nanjing. Hong called his new state the Taiping Tianguo or "The Heavenly State of Great Peace". Local armies eventually suppressed the rebellion at the final battle of Nanjing.

paragraphs: In 1911, the Republic of China was founded by Sun Yat-sen, but its government was very weak. Warlords controlled many areas. Chiang Kai-shek led wars against them, and he became President and dictator.

paragraphs: In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, a place in the northeastern part of China. On July 7, 1937, the Japanese attacked the rest of the country, starting what was called the Second Sino-Japanese War. The war later became part of World War II. The war was fought for eight years and millions of Chinese people were killed.

paragraphs: However, the Chinese Civil War later started between the Kuomintang (Nationalists) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Communists of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Communists wanted to make China like the Soviet Union, whereas the other side wanted to keep China in its current state at the time. The Communists were led by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and others. Later Liu lost influence with Mao and his death to this day remains unresolved. The Communists eventually won the war. The Nationalists (led by Chiang Kai-shek) fled to the island of Taiwan and set up their new capital city in Taipei. After the Chinese Civil War, the Communist leader Mao Zedong declared a new country, the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

paragraphs: Under Mao the country stayed poor while Taiwan became richer. His attempt at industrialization and collectivization with the Great Leap Forward led to the deaths of many people from famine. The Cultural Revolution caused great social upheaval. After 1976, China underwent market economy reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and experienced rapid economic growth. China is now one of the largest economies in the world, relying mainly on exports.

paragraphs: In recent history, China has had problems with protests, blocking of information on the Internet, and censorship of news. 1989 was notable for the controversial Tian An Men Massacre.

paragraphs: China's landscape is vast and diverse. It ranges from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the north to subtropical forests in the south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern coast. The Yangtze River is the third-longest river in the world while the Yellow River is the sixth-longest. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi) long. It is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe. The Eurasian Steppe has been an artery of communication between East and West since the Neolithic through the Steppe route. The Steppe Route is the ancestor of the terrestrial Silk Road(s).

paragraphs: China's constitution states that The People's Republic of China "is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants". It also states the state organs "apply the principle of democratic centralism." The PRC is one of the world's only socialist states openly being communist.

paragraphs: With 2.3 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing military force in the world. The PLA is commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC). China has the second-biggest military reserve force, only behind North Korea. The PLA consists of the Ground Force (PLAGF), the Navy (PLAN), the Air Force (PLAAF), and the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF). According to the Chinese government, China's military budget for 2017 was US$151,5 billion. China has the world's second-largest military budget.

paragraphs: China was once a world leader in science and technology up until the Ming dynasty. There are many Ancient Chinese discoveries and inventions. For example, papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder are known as the Four Great Inventions. They became widespread across East Asia, the Middle East and later to Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use negative numbers. By the 17th century, Europe and the Western world became better than China in science and technology.

paragraphs: The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China to be about 1,370,536,875. About 16.60% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 70.14% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% were over 60 years old. The population growth rate for 2013 is estimated to be 0.46%.

paragraphs: China is the origin of Eastern martial arts, called Kung Fu or its first name Wushu. China is also the home of the well-respected Spa Monastery and Wudang Mountains. Martial art started more for the purpose of survival, defense, and warfare than art. Over time some art forms have branched off, while others have retained their distinct Chinese flavor.

paragraphs: China has had renowned artists including Wong Fei Hung (Huang Fei Hung or Hwang Fei Hung) and many others. Art has also co-existed with a variety of paints including the more standard 18 colors. Legendary and controversial moves like Big Mak are also praised and talked about within the culture.

paragraphs: China has many traditional festivals, such as Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival and so on. The most important is Chinese New Year. People in China will have holidays to celebrate these festivals.

paragraphs: Spring Festival is the Chinese New Year.

paragraphs: Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He persuaded his emperor not to accept Qin's diplomats' offers several times but his emperor did not listen to him. He was very sad and ended up jumping into the river to end his life. The people loved him so much that they did not want the fish to eat his corpse. They made and threw rice dumplings into the river. They hope the fish eat these dumplings instead of the poet's corpse. They also rowed dragon boats in the river to get rid of the fish. Such practices, eating rice dumplings and holding dragon boat races, become what Chinese do in this festival nowadays.

paragraphs: Held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival for families. Now when the festival sets in, people would sit together to eat moon cakes, appreciate the bright full moon cakes, appreciate the bright full moon, celebrate the bumper harvest and enjoy the family love and happiness. To the Chinese people, the full moon symbolizes family reunion, as does the "moon cakes." Hence the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the Family Reunion Festival.


title: Country

paragraphs: As defined by Montevideo Convention, a country is a territory with distinct political boundaries that claims sovereignty over a specific geographic area with a permanent population, controlled by its own government that enters relations with other states. There is no universally accepted answer as to how many countries in the world there actually are, however the minimum answer is 193 for the 193 United Nations members.

paragraphs: This number can become bigger in other ways. For example, there are two United Nations observer states. The Vatican City State and the State of Palestine. This would add two to the list of United Nations member states, there for the number of countries the would be 195.

paragraphs: Taiwan is also sometimes classified as a country. However, there is an ongoing disputes over Taiwan's sovereignty with the People's Republic of China.

paragraphs: This can be developed on even further by adding the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Denmark which could add anywhere from three to eleven countries to the prior number.

paragraphs: There are a number of disputed areas that have declared independence from their parent state and receive limited recognition. For example, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Abkhazia. These are just some of the many examples of terrirories with limited to no recognition that are sometimes classed as countries.

paragraphs: There is a lot of controversy surrounding the above examples and quite often any one of these territories may be counted as countries purely based on opinion. If all of the above were added the list of U.N members there could be anything up to 211 countries based on the previous examples given.

paragraphs: There are however many more territories with unique political circumstances that could also be counted.

paragraphs: Depending on how loosely the dictionary definition for the word country is used there could be anything from 193 countries in the world or more. The matter is purely subjective depending on varying opinions and there has never been any consideration as to what the maximum number of countries in the world could be.

paragraphs: There are multiple organisations that have their own lists of countries, one example being the Travellers Century Club which recognises 327 countries as of 01/01/18.

paragraphs: Constituent country is a term sometimes used, usually by official institutions, in contexts in which a number of countries compose a long entity or grouping. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has used the term referring to the former Yugoslavia, and the European institutions like the Council of Europe often use it in reference to the European Union.

paragraphs: A disputed territory is that territory whose sovereignty is jealously desired by two or more countries. Usually the administration of the territory is carried out by one of the countries that claims sovereignty, while the other country does not recognize the sovereignty over the territory of the other country. This does not usually happen in land or sea areas on which none possesses effective control, such as Antarctica, or only partially. It can also be considered as a disputed territory to those areas that are given by two different governments, and therefore are divided. One example is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Cyprus.


title: Colchester

paragraphs: Colchester is a town in the northern part of the English county of Essex. It has a population of 104,000 people. People believe that Colchester is the oldest Roman town in England.

paragraphs: Before Roman times, Colchester was "Camulodunon". This is a Celtic name that came from Camulos. Camulos was the Celtic god of war. The Romans called Colchester "Camulodunum" (written "CAMVLODVNVM") and made it the capital of Roman Britain. Colchester was attacked and burnt by Boudicca in 61 AD. The Romans moved their capital of Britannia to Londinium (now London), but Camulodunum remained an important city until the fifth century, when the Saxons conquered the region.

paragraphs: The Roman town of "Camulodunum", officially known as "Colonia Victricensis", reached its peak in the Second and Third centuries AD. It may have reached a population of 30,000 in those centuries, but when the Romans withdrew from Britannia in 410 AD it probably had fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.

paragraphs: The church at the Benedictine abbey of Saint John the Baptist was destroyed in 1539. This action was part of the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII. Only a gate remains, that people still go to visit.

paragraphs: King Cunobelinus (or "Cunobelin") was from Colchester.

paragraphs: Colchester is twinned with the following cities:


title: Cartography

paragraphs: Cartography is making maps. It is part of geography. How people make maps is always changing. In the past, maps were drawn by hand, but today most printed maps are made using computers and people usually see maps on computer screens. Someone who makes maps is called a cartographer.

paragraphs: Making a map can be as simple as drawing a direction on a napkin, or as complicated as showing a whole country or world. Anyone can make a map, but cartographers spend their lives learning how to make better maps.

paragraphs: For many centuries maps were usually carefully drawn onto paper or parchment. Now they are made on a computer which makes them look neater with accurate images.

paragraphs: General maps are produced in a series. Governments produce them in larger-scale and smaller-scale maps of great detail.

paragraphs: Thematic maps are now very common. They are necessary to show spatial, cultural and social data.


title: Creator

paragraphs: A creator is a person who creates something.

paragraphs: In some religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) God (or Allah meaning the God in Arabic) is the most important and original creator of the whole universe - including Man who is made "in his image" (see Genesis) to observe it and control it like God. The idea that anything that a person is creating, like an idea, can be owned as property comes from the ethical traditions and legal codes that came from these religions.

paragraphs: In other traditions (Buddhism, Native American mythology) anyone has this potential for creating, and can become part of the greater creating of the universe. Stewardship of home, land and all of Earth is a test for participating in this, or just good sense.


Contact network


title: Chorizo

paragraphs: Chorizo is a pork (pig-meat) sausage which people first made in the Iberian Peninsula. It is made with large pieces of fatty pork, chili pepper and paprika. The special taste of this sausage comes from the mild Spanish paprika in it.

paragraphs: In the western hemisphere, the Mexican and Caribbean types are better known. These types of chorizo are made with smaller pieces of pork and different seasonings and peppers are used.

paragraphs: Cured smoked chorizo is edible and can be eaten without cooking. Fresh chorizo must be cooked before eating. It can be eaten by its self, or as part of meal. It can also be used in place of ground beef or pork.


title: Creativity

paragraphs: Creativity is the ability of a person or group to make something new and useful or valuable, or the process of making something new and useful or valuable. It happens in all areas of life - science, art, literature and music. As a personal ability it is very difficult to measure. The reason is that we don't understand the mental processes that help some people be more creative than others. Judging what is creative is also controversial. Some people say only things which are historically new are creative, while other people say that if it is new for the creator and the people around them, then it is also creativity.

paragraphs: Some think that creativity is an important thing that makes humans different from apes. Others recognize that even apes, other primates, other mammals and some birds adapt to survive by being creative (for example - primates using tools). Liane Gabora believes that all culture comes from creativity, not imitation. Therefore, these people say, human science should focus on it (pay special attention to it): Ethics for example would focus on finding creative solutions to ethical dilemmas. Politics would focus on the political virtues that need some creativity. Imitation would not be the focus of education. Linguistics might be more interested in how new words are created by culture, rather than in how existing ones are used in grammar.

paragraphs: Intellectual interests (recognized as intellectual rights or intellectual property in the law) are a way to reward creativity in law, but they do not always work very well. A good example is copyright which is supposed to pay authors and artists, but may only pay lawyers to make (imitative) arguments in court.

paragraphs: Creativity is a central question in economics, where it is known as ingenuity (the ability to come up with new ideas) or individual capital - capacities that individuals have, that do not arise from simple imitation of what is known already. This is separate from the instructional capital that might try to capture some of that in a patent or training system that helps others do what the individual leader or founder of the system can do. In urban economics there are various ways to measure creativity - the Bohemian Index and Gay Index are two attempts to do this accurately and predict the economic growth of cities based on creativity.


title: Catharism

paragraphs: The Cathar faith was a version of Christianity. They were usually considered Gnostics. The word 'Cathar' comes the Greek word "katharos" meaning 'unpolluted' (from Tobias Churton, "The Gnostics") or "the pure ones".

paragraphs: The Cathars believed that the world had been made by a bad god. They believed that this bad god had taken them from the good god and put them in the world, but inside their bodies there was a spirit, and that spirit needed to return to the good god. They were famous for a belief in a form of reincarnation and believed that when someone died the bad god would put that person's spirit in a new body. They believed this cycle of coming back to life could be escaped by a ritual cleansing. They were opposed to the doctrine of sin.

paragraphs: Women were prominent in the faith. They were pacifists. They didn't eat anything that was made from other animals, including meat and cows milk. The only exception to this was fish. Fish was OK to eat because they believed fishes were not alive but just things that were sometimes produced from dirt and water.

paragraphs: They preached tolerance of other faiths. They rejected the usual Christian rules of marriage and only believed in the New Testament. An earlier 10th-century Bulgarian heresy, Bogomilism and also Manichaeism started some of these trends.

paragraphs: They used a bible in the language people spoke. Many other Christians used a Bible in Latin. Latin was spoken only by the priests.

paragraphs: In 1145, open challenge to Catholic dominance began. In about 1165, the first Cathars said that the Church was "full of ravening (starving) wolves and hypocrites" and "worshipping the wrong God", right in front of the most powerful Catholics. In 1166, the Council of Oxford in England wiped out the English Cathars. It was also suppressed in Northern France. In 1167, Cathar bishops met to discuss organizing a counter Church - in the South of France, the Languedoc nobles protected it, and many noble women became "Perfects". Parish clergy had low morale, or confidence.

paragraphs: The Catholic Church was against Catharism, seeing it as a heresy.

paragraphs: In the South of France there was tremendous religious fervor, and an economy that was starting to grow, and a social class of merchants and peasants was starting to grow. Peasants owned their own land. Meanwhile, in other parts of Europe, peasants were forced to give up their land to nobles and become serfs or slaves - the system of feudalism. There was a strong central absolute monarchy that did not exist in the South of France. The burghers and bankers had more power in this looser system. R. I. Moore is a historian who believes that it was desire to crush this system and take over the land that drove the attack.

paragraphs: However, there was real cultural and religious difference to cause problems: Troubadors, who combined some of the traditions of the Bards of the Celts, and Jews, were both part of the multicultural society in the South of France. Their influences were not appreciated by local or Roman Church figures. The 12th century Roman Catholic Monks were founding their monasteries outside the towns, drawing the best people there.

paragraphs: The Cathars thus had little competition. The Cathar "Perfects", the so-called Good Men or Good Women, lived restrained lives and spread their faith in towns - where the Catholics in general did not have their best agents. Also, Cathars preached that only these Good leaders had to follow the regimens their whole lives - lay people could repent only on their deathbeds. Many 20th century Christian sects have similar beliefs.

paragraphs: The Pope ordered a crusade against the Cathars in southern France. He said any crusader who answered the call would be given the same rewards as a crusader who went to the Holy Land. This was an absolution of all sin.

paragraphs: In the Launguedoc, on the 22nd of July 1209, a force of about 30,000 Crusaders arrived at the walls of Beziers bearing the cross pattee to mislead and create ease among the Cathars, thinking they were friend, not foe, and demanded that about 200 Cathars be surrendered. The people of the town who were mostly Catholic, said that rather than turn over their friends and family, "we would rather be flayed alive."

paragraphs: A mistake by the defenders of Beziers let thousands of attackers in. Arnauld Amaury made the famous quote "Kill them all, god knows his own" on being asked how to tell who were Cathars during the assault. Everyone in the town was killed, some while taking refuge in the church. It is guessed that 20,000 were killed, many of whom were Catholics and not Cathars at all. The crusade became known as the Albigensian crusade after the town of Albi. It was to wipe out the Cathars almost entirely over forty or so years. The Crusaders wanted to go home, but were ordered by the Pope to continue until the whole South of France was controlled and all Cathars were dead. In 1210, they attacked the fortress at Minerv and built "the first great bonfire of heretics" - beginning the practice of burning at the stake that would continue in the Inquisition of the Counter-Reformation. It is interesting to note that at the siege of Montsegur when the fires were lit the Cathars ran down the hill and threw themselves on, as their beliefs were very strong.

paragraphs: Catharism disappeared from the northern Italian cities after the 1260s, pressured by the Inquisition. The last known Cathar perfectus in the Languedoc, Guillaume Bélibaste, was killed in 1321.