title: The Cunning Little Vixen

paragraphs: The Cunning Little Vixen (original title: "Příhody lišky bystroušky", literally translates to "The Adventures of Vixen Sharp-Ears") is an opera by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. Janáček loved animals, and in this opera some of the characters are humans but some are animals. Some of the little animals, (like the grasshopper, frog and cricket) are usually sung by children.

paragraphs: Janáček got the idea of this opera from a cartoon strip called “Sharp-ears” (in Czech: "Bystrouška"). The cartoon was published in a popular daily newspaper Lidové noviny. It was about a vixen (a female fox) and her adventures in the forest. He thought that the story would make a good opera. He made a few changes to the story: he left out a some characters, changed the order of the story a little, and made the humans and the animals behave in a similar way. It was first performed in Brno on 6 November 1924.

paragraphs: When Janáček died in 1928 the last part of the opera was played at his funeral.

paragraphs: A forester is sleeping under a tree. Nearby a young vixen (here, vixen means baby fox) is playing. She nearly catches a frog, but the frog jumps away and lands on the forester’s nose. He wakes up and sees the little vixen playing. He catches the vixen and take her home with him. He gave her a name: “Sharp-ears”.

paragraphs: Sharp-ears is unhappy at the forester’s cottage. She is tied up with a rope in the yard. The hens keep teasing her and the dog is boring. One day she tells the hens that they are silly to stay in the farmyard being bossed about by the rooster. She tells them they ought to fly away to freedom. She pretends to die, then jumps up and starts to catch them. When the forester’s wife comes out Sharp-ears bites through the rope and disappears into the forest.

paragraphs: She finds a nice sett (badger's hole) where a badger lives. She wants to live there herself so she chases the badger out of his home. One winter’s night the forester is drinking in the inn. He teases the priest and the schoolmaster for not having found someone to love. They in turn tease the forester for having let the vixen go. The schoolmaster starts to go home. He is drunk. He sees the vixen who reminds him of his former lover, but he is too drunk to catch hold of her.

paragraphs: Sharp-ears meets a handsome young male fox called Goldskin. The two fall in love. When she realizes she is pregnant the fox and vixen get married. The woodpecker is the priest who marries them. The cubs (baby foxes) are born in the spring.

paragraphs: The forester is still searching the forest for Sharp-ears. One day he finds a dead hare. The poacher persuades the forester to make a trap, because he thinks that Sharp-ears will come back to eat the hare. The cubs arrive and play near the trap. Sharp-ears realizes the poacher is trying to catch her. She teases him cruelly and dares him to kill her. He shoots her with his rifle, then he is very sad.

paragraphs: Some time later the forester is sleeping under a tree. He wakes up when a frog lands on his hand. He sees a young vixen playing in front of him. He tells the young cub that she looks just like her mother. He reaches out for her but catches a frog instead. He lets it go. He realizes that life must go on.

paragraphs: Janáček made some changes to the story in the cartoon. This made it more suitable for an opera. He did not have all the characters that are in the cartoon, and he changed the order of the story to make it more dramatic. He compares the human beings with the animals. For example: we see vixen Sharp-ears falling in love and having a family. But the forester’s friends: the school master and the priest, have not been so lucky with their love-life. The priest looks like the badger, the woodpecker is like the priest. When the opera is performed the same singer sometimes sings both parts. The end of the opera is like the beginning. This shows that life carries on and one generation follows another.

paragraphs: The music matches the story beautifully. There are a lot of tunes with very exciting harmonies. Sometimes he uses modes and whole-tone scales. Janáček often makes his music sound like folk music of his country.


title: Guaraní alphabet

paragraphs: The Guaraní alphabet is a system used to write the Guaraní language. The Guaraní language is used in Paraguay and some countries near it. The alphabet has 33 letters. These are:

paragraphs: "A", "E", "I", "O", "U", "Y" are vowels, just like English. Those letters with tildes on top make the same sound, except more nasal sounding. The apostrophe sounds like a glottal stop. The other letters are consonants.


title: Lake Victoria

paragraphs: Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nnalubaale) is a lake in Africa. It is bordered and governed by the countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The lake is in the western part of Africa's Great Rift Valley.

paragraphs: Lake Victoria is 68,800 square kilometres (26,560 mi²) in size. It is Africa's largest lake, and the second largest fresh water lake in the world. It was named for Queen Victoria. The White Nile flows out of the lake.


title: Tonsillitis

paragraphs: Tonsillitis is a disease. It is also known as pharyngitis, laryngitis and Tonsillar infection. Tonsillitis is caused by either a virus or bacteria. It is the inflammation and infection of the tonsils. The tonsils are in the back of the throat. The tonsils get inflamed and red. Other symptoms include headaches, fevers, back and neck aches, chills, bad breath, weak voice, fatigue, having trouble swallowing, and more. There are treatments for tonsillitis. One treatment is antibiotics. Medicines to relieve pain like Tylenol and Advil are also suggested. The tonsils may be removed surgically if it is medically necessary. This operation is called a "tonsillectomy". It is the most effective way to get rid of the infection. All kinds of tonsillitis are contagious. Tonsillitis is spread by human contact.


title: Encephalitis

paragraphs: Encephalitis is sudden inflammation (swelling) in the brain. It is usually caused by viruses, bacteria, or other pathogens. As the brain swells, it can get damaged when it gets crushed against the skull. Encephalitis can cause serious symptoms, like seizures and strokes, and can be fatal. In 2013, encephalitis killed about 77,000 people in the world.

paragraphs: Usually, adults with encephalitis have a fever that starts suddenly, a headache, confusion, and sometimes seizures. Younger children or infants may be irritable (easily upset), not want to eat, and have a fever. Usually, patients are either very tired or confused.

paragraphs: A stiff neck is a sign that the person has either meningitis (inflammation of the meninges, which cover the brain) or meningoencephalitis (swelling of both the meninges and the brain).

paragraphs: Viral encephalitis can happen when a virus infects the brain. The most common causes are the rabies virus, Herpes Simplex Virus(HSV), the polio virus, and the measles virus. Viral encephalitis can also be caused by a "latent" virus - a virus that hides from the body's immune system the brain's nerve cells. Two examples of viruses that cause latent infection are the varicella-zoster viruses, which can hide in the brain after causing chicken pox, and the herpes simplex virus.

paragraphs: About 100 different viruses can infect the brain. Other examples include West Nile virus, Chikungunya virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus.

paragraphs: Encephalitis can happen when a person gets a bacterial infection, like bacterial meningitis. It can also be a complication of an infectious disease that a person already has, like syphilis. This is called "secondary encephalitis."

paragraphs: Examples of other bacteria which can cause encephalitis are "Staphylococcus aureus", which causes toxic shock syndrome; "Bordetella pertussis", which causes pertussis (whooping cough); and types of "Borellia" bacteria, which cause Lyme disease.

paragraphs: Some parasites can infect the brain, especially in people who have weak immune systems. Examples include "Toxoplasma gondii", which causes toxoplasmosis; two parasites from the species "Trypanosoma" "brucei", which cause African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness); and "Plasmodium" parasites, which cause malaria.

paragraphs: Autoimmune diseases can cause encephalitis if the body's immune system attacks the brain, the spinal cord, and their nerves. Two examples are autoimmune encephalitis and acute disseminated encephalitis.

paragraphs: Encephalitis can be diagnosed in a few different ways:

paragraphs: Some treatments for encephalitis depend on the cause:

paragraphs: Other treatments are "supportive" - they treat the symptoms of encephalitis. For example:

paragraphs: Vaccines have made encephalitis from some diseases much less common. These diseases include measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), polio, varicella (chicken pox), and pertussis (whooping cough). There are also vaccines for rabies, bacterial meningitis, Japanese encephalitis, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and some other diseases that can cause encephalitis.

paragraphs: People can protect themselves from diseases that are spread by insects, like Lyme disease and malaria, by avoiding insect bites. For example, they can use bug spray; wear long sleeves and long pants; sleep under a mosquito net; and make sure they have good window and door screens.


title: Mitosis

paragraphs: Mitosis is part of the cycle of cell division. The chromosomes of a cell are copied to make two identical sets of chromosomes, and the cell nucleus divides into two identical nuclei.

paragraphs: Before mitosis, the cell creates an identical set of its own genetic information – this is called replication. The genetic information is in the DNA of the chromosomes. At the beginning of mitosis the chromosomes wind up and become visible with a light microscope. The chromosomes are now two chromatids joined at the centromere. Since the two chromatids are identical to each other, they are called "sister" chromatids.

paragraphs: Mitosis happens in all types of dividing cells in the human body except with sperm and ova. The sperm and ova are gametes or sex cells. The gametes are produced by a different division method called meiosis.

paragraphs: There are five phases of mitosis. Each phase is used to describe what kind of change the cell is going through. The phases are prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase.

paragraphs: During prophase, chromatin (tangled-up dna) in the nucleus condense into chromosomes (bunched-up dna). Pairs of centrioles move to opposite sides of the nucleus. Spindle fibers begin to form a bridge between the ends of the cell.

paragraphs: During prometaphase, the nuclear envelope around the chromosomes breaks down. Now there is no nucleus and the sister chromatids are free. A protein called a kinetochore forms at each centromere. Long thin proteins reach across from opposite poles of the cell and attach to each kinetochore.

paragraphs: During metaphase, the pair of chromatids are aligned by the pushing and pulling of the attached kinetochore microtubules, similar to a game of "tug of war". Both sister chromatids stay attached to each other at the centromere. The chromosomes line up on the cell's equator, or center line, and are prepared for division. This is the longest phase of mitosis.

paragraphs: During anaphase, the sister chromatids split apart and move from the cell's equator (metaphase plate) to the poles of the cell. The kinetochore is attached to the centromere. The microtubules hold on to kinetochore and shorten in length. Another group of microtubules, the non-kinetochore microtubules, do the opposite. They become longer. The cell begins to stretch out as the opposite ends are pushed apart.

paragraphs: Telophase is the final stage in mitosis: the cell itself is ready to divide. One set of chromosomes is now at each pole of the cell. Each set is identical. The spindle fibers begin to disappear, and a nuclear membrane forms around each set of chromosomes. Also a nucleolus appears within each new nucleus and single stranded chromosomes uncoil into invisible strands of chromatin.

paragraphs: Cytokinesis, even though it is very important to cell division, is not considered a stage of mitosis. During cytokinesis, the cell physically splits. This occurs just after anaphase and during telophase. The cleavage furrow, which is the pinch caused by the ring of proteins, pinches off completely, closing off the cell.

paragraphs: The cell now has reproduced itself successfully. After cytokinesis, the cell goes back into interphase, where the cycle is repeated. If cytokinesis were to occur to a cell that had not gone through mitosis, then the daughter cells would be different or not function properly. One would still have the nucleus and the other would lack a nucleus. Cytokinesis is different in both animals and plant cells. In plant cells, instead of splitting into two halves, it forms a cell plate. This is a cell wall that forms between the two nuclei after they have split apart. This must happen because the cells have a rigid shape, and must be completely covered in the cell wall to function.


title: Inflammation

paragraphs: Inflammation is the first reaction of the immune system to an infection or irritation. First the organ involved gets red, then it will get hot, then it will swell, and then it will hurt. Finally it will stop working. The first four of these reactions have been known for a long time, since Antiquity. Finding them is attributed to Celsus. The last one was added by Rudolf Virchow in 1858.

paragraphs: Inflammation can also be present/responsible for skin disorders such as psoriasis/dandruff, joint pains, arthritis etc.


title: Car rental

paragraphs: Car rental is when you rent a car. The company providing you the car becomes the car rental service provider, whereas you become the car hirer, as you hire the car for a fee.

paragraphs: A car rental agency or a rent-a-car (car hire in British English) is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time (ranging from a few hours to a few weeks) for a fee.

paragraphs: They can be found primarily located near airports or busy city areas. The internet is changing the car rental industry with companies that are now called online car rental companies. Travelers can pre-book their rental car online anywhere across the globe directly from the service providers like Hertz, Budget, Alamo, , Thrifty, Travelauto.com, Dollar, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Europcar.

paragraphs: Car rental agencies are mainly for people who need a car for a short period of time, for example travellers who are out of town, people whose cars were damaged or destroyed. Car rental agencies may also rent trucks for self-moving industry

paragraphs: Car rentals are subject to many conditions which vary from one brand to another. The vehicle must be returned in a good condition and must not exceed a maximum driven distance, otherwise extra fees may be incurred. Additionally, some companies set up a minimum age for the vehicle driver, which in some cases is as high as 25, even in countries where the minimum legal age to hold a driver's license is much lower. Recent conditions have used GPS technology to limit maximum speeds or driving to specific regions.

paragraphs: North America and Europe are leading the car rental market, followed by Asia-Pacific. North America is dominating the car rental market, owing to the high usage rate of car rental services by daily commuters, office-goers, and tourists in the country. Also, the growing trend of car sharing also boosts the usage of car rental in this region.


title: Mechanical engineering

paragraphs: Mechanical engineering is a branch of engineering that applies the principles of Mechanics and Materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the design, production, and operation of machines and tools. They can range from building a rocket ship down to things as small as an integrated circuit. It is one of the oldest and broadest engineering disciplines.


title: Paul Newman

paragraphs: Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor. He was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His mother was a Slovak; his father was a Jew who had one parent from Hungary and the other from Poland. Although Paul Newman was not a Jew by Orthodox Jewish standards he considered himself Jewish and would have been accepted as one by other Jewish movements.

paragraphs: He was known especially for the 1969 movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". He played Butch Cassidy in the movie. He was married to actress Joanne Woodward. He died of lung cancer in 2008.

paragraphs: Newman retired from acting in May 2007. He said "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."

paragraphs: He came out of retirement to narrate the 2007 documentary movie "Dale", about the life of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt. He also narrated the 2008 BBC documentary "Meerkats: The Movie". It was recorded at a studio near his home shortly before his death. "The Meerkats" was the last movie credit of Newman's long career.


title: Piccadilly line

paragraphs: The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground. It is coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1. However, there are a number of surface sections mostly in its westernmost parts. Out of the 53 stations served, 25 are underground. It is the second longest line on the system, after the Central Line.

paragraphs: Like most Underground lines, the Piccadilly line is operated by a single type of rolling stock. In this case it is the 1973 tube stock. The trains are painted in the standard London Underground livery of blue, white and red. Seventy-six trains out of a fleet of 88 are needed to run the line's peak service. One unit (166-566-366) was severely damaged by the terrorist attack of 7 July 2005. The stock was recently refurbished, and was due for replacement by 2014, but the order for new trains was cancelled in July 2010.

paragraphs: The line was previously worked by 1959 stock, 1956 stock, 1938 stock, standard tube stock and 1906 gate stock.

paragraphs: The line has two depots, at Northfields and Cockfosters. There are sidings at Oakwood, South Harrow, Arnos Grove, Rayners Lane, Down Street, Wood Green, Acton Town, Ruislip and Uxbridge.

paragraphs: The line is controlled from the control centre at Earl's Court, which it used to share with the District line. It is in need of resignalling, and this work is planned to be carried out by 2014.

paragraphs: The current off-peak service pattern is:

paragraphs: Often late evening services terminate at instead of Cockfosters.

paragraphs: Trains will also make an additional stop at during early mornings and late evenings but will not stop at the station during the main part of the day.

paragraphs: Other services operate at times, especially at the start and towards the end of the traffic day.

paragraphs: Easier Versions can be found http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.gif

paragraphs: The Piccadilly line was to be upgraded in 2014–15 and would have had new trains as well as new signalling. This would have increased the line's capacity by some 24%. Bids for the rolling-stock order were submitted in 2008. However, after the acquisition of Tube Lines by Transport for London in June 2010, this order was cancelled.


title: Olympiastadion Berlin

paragraphs: The Berlin Olympiastadion is a sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was built for the 1936 Olympic Games.


title: Olympic Stadium (Athens)

paragraphs: The Athens Olympic Stadium () is a sports stadium in Athens, Greece.


title: 2000 Summer Olympics

paragraphs: The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, took place in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from September 15 2000 until October 1 2000.

paragraphs: 199 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were in the Sydney Games. Four were in the Olympics for the first time. These were Timor-Leste, Eritrea, Micronesia and Palau.

paragraphs: Marion Jones, winner of three gold and two bronze medals for the United States, gave back her medals in October 2007. She said she took tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), a drug that could make her run faster, from September 2000 through July 2001.

paragraphs: On 2 August 2008, the International Olympic Committee took the gold medal from the U.S. men's 4x400-meter relay team. Antonio Pettigrew said he used a banned substance. Besides Pettigrew other athletes used performance-enhancing drugs. These are twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison, and Jerome Young.

paragraphs: On 28 April 2010, the IOC took China's bronze medal from Gymnastics. This was for using an underage gymnast.


title: 2002 Winter Olympics

paragraphs: The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from February 8 2002 to February 24 2002. There were about 2,400 athletes from 77 nations. They were in 78 events. Utah was the fifth state in the United States to host the Olympic Games.

paragraphs: 78 National Olympic Committees sent athletes to the Salt Lake City games. Cameroon, Hong Kong (China), Nepal, Tajikistan, and Thailand were in their first Winter Olympic games.


title: Stradivarius

paragraphs: A Stradivarius is a string instrument (such as a violin) built by the 17th century Italian luthier Stradivari family (especially by Antonio Stradivari) that was famous for making them. Stradivarii are known for their high quality sound and ability to last a long time without tuning. Most of these instruments survive to this day, though few have been stolen. They are some of the best and most expensive instruments, and even each string instrument created has a name. So many people have wanted Stradivarii, and some have sold for more than a million dollars. Famous violinists, such as Midori Goto or Joshua Bell have Stradivarii.


title: Gadolinium

paragraphs: Gadolinium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Gd. It has the atomic number 64. It is part of a group of chemical elements in the periodic table named the Lanthanides. It is a rare earth element. It is silvery white, malleable and ductile.

paragraphs: Its main uses are as chemical compounds in color televisions and nuclear magnetic resonance radio contrast agents. In color cathode ray tube televisions (the type first produced, not flat televisions) some of the pixels are dots gadolinium compounds. When the electrons from the cathode ray tube hit the pixels and transfer energy to the gadolinium compounds they give out light as energy. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging is used in medicine where it is named MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging). It is used to take picture of inside the body. How the pictures look is changed by the gadolinium compounds and how much water is around. It makes the images clearer because it makes the difference in the concentration of water in different parts of the body look more clear (more contrast) in the picture that is made.


title: Grand coalition

paragraphs: The "Grand coalition" refers to if the two biggest political parties in Germany (the SPD and the CDU) join forces together ("form a coalition").


title: Persephone

paragraphs: Persephone (, "Persephonē") is the goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld in ancient Greek religion and myth. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter and is married to the god Hades, with whom she rules over the souls of the dead. As a vegetation goddess, she presided over the bounty of the harvest as it emerged during the season of spring.

paragraphs: Persephone and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised initiates a reward in the afterlife. The tale of her being abducted by Hades, during which she was tricked into eating seeds from a pomegranate (the food of the dead), served to explain the cause of the seasons, and is one prominently featured in ancient Greek literature. Her symbols included the pomegranate, flowers and seeds of grain. The goddess Proserpina is her Roman counterpart.


title: German Bundestag

paragraphs: The German Bundestag (commonly referred to as "Bundestag") is the legislature of Germany. It meets in Berlin, in the Reichstag building, which was specially rebuilt ready for the Bundestag to move from Bonn.

paragraphs: The Bundestag has at least 598 members. Every 4 years the German people vote. At the moment there are 709 members. Next elections are in 2021.

paragraphs: A party gets seats when it gets at least 5% of the votes. Every voter has two votes, one for a person and one for a party. 299 members each represent a constituency, just as in the British House of Commons or the US House of Representatives. The other half are elected from a party list in each Land. The total number of seats a party gets depends on the number of the second "party votes" it gets.

paragraphs: But if a party wins more constituency seats than its share of the party votes, then it keeps those extra seats. These extra seats, or "extra mandates", are the reason the Bundestag sometimes has more than 598 members. If a party gets extra mandates, the other parties get some extra seats too to make sure every party gets exactly its share of party seats. This system of giving extra mandates was changed in 2013. Before 2013, if a party won extra mandates, then it got to put more members in the Bundestag, which gave the party more influence over the Bundestag than it won in the elections.

paragraphs: The Bundestag president is named Wolfgang Schäuble. He oversees the sessions of the body.


title: 1. FC Nuremberg

paragraphs: The 1..F.C Nürnberg is a football club from Nuremberg, Germany. It was founded on May 4, 1900.

paragraphs: The manager are Andreas Bornemann (Sports) and Michael Meeske (Finance). The coach is Michael Köllner.


title: History of the world

paragraphs: The history of the world is about the study of the cultural achievements of the entire human race. This includes the time from prehistory to the end of the 20th century and excludes natural history before the development of human beings.

paragraphs: Modern human beings, called "Homo sapiens" ('wise man') have lived for about 250,000 years. The first "Homo sapiens" lived at the same time as other "species" of human. These included "Homo erectus" ('standing man') and "Homo neanderthalensis" ('man from Neanderthal'). They were a little bit different from modern humans. The theory of human evolution says that modern humans, Neanderthals, and "Homo erectus" slowly developed from other earlier species of human-like creatures. Biologists believe that "Homo sapiens" evolved in Africa and spread from there to all other parts of the world, replacing "Homo neanderthalensis" in Europe and "Homo erectus" in Asia.

paragraphs: "Homo neanderthalensis", generally called Neanderthal Man, was discovered when the cranium of a skull was found in the Neanderthal Valley in 1856. It was different from a modern human skull so scientists believed it was from a new species. Entire Neanderthal skeletons have been found in other places since then. Neanderthals existed before modern humans, and knew how to use tools and fire. When ancient stone tools are found, their style often shows whether they were made by "Homo sapiens" or Neanderthals (see Palaeolithic). By the end of the Stone Age, it is believed that "Homo sapiens" were the only type of humans left.

paragraphs: Climate is different from one part of the world to another. Some areas are hot all year, and some are cold. Some areas are dry all year, and others are wet. Most areas have climates that are warm or hot in the summer and cool or cold in the winter. Most parts of the world get rain at some times of the year and not others. Some parts of the world have oceanic climates and others have alpine climates. These differences cause people to live differently.

paragraphs: Climate affects what food can grow in a certain place. This affects what food people eat. If one food is easier to grow, it often becomes a staple food. Staples foods are foods that people eat more of than other foods. Staple foods are usually grains or vegetables because they are easy to grow. Wheat, maize, millet, rice, oats, rye, potatoes, yams, breadfruit and beans are examples of different staple foods from around the world. Climate also affects the types of animals that can live in any area, which affect the types of meats that are available to eat.

paragraphs: Climate also affects the buildings that people make, the clothes that they wear and the way that they travel.

paragraphs: The climate on earth has not stayed the same through human history. There are long periods of time when it is generally warmer, and there are long periods of time when it is generally colder. When it is generally colder, there is more ice on the poles of the planet. A cold period is called an ice age. There have been many ice ages in the history of the earth. Two have affected humans.

paragraphs: From 70,000 to around 10,000 years ago there was a big ice age which affected humans and the way that they lived. Between 1600 AD and 1900 AD there was a period called the Little Ice Age when the climate was a little bit colder than usual.

paragraphs: The word "Prehistory" means "before history". It is used for the long period of time before writing was invented and humans began to write down information about their lives. This time is divided into two main ages: the Paleolithic Age (or Early Stone Age) and the Neolithic Age (or late Stone Age). The two ages did not start and end at the same time everywhere. A place moved from one age to another depending on how people lived in that place.

paragraphs: The end of prehistory also varies from one place to another. It depends on the date when written documents of a civilization can be found. In Egypt the first written documents date from around 3200 BC. In Australia the first written records date from 1788 and in New Guinea from about 1900.

paragraphs: In the Paleolithic era, there were many different human species. According to current research, only the modern human "Homo sapiens" reached the Neolithic era.

paragraphs: The Paleolithic Era is by far the longest age of humanity's time, about 99% of human history. The Paleolithic Age started about 2.6 million years ago and ended around 10,000 BC. The age began when hominids (early humans) started to use stones as tools for bashing, cutting and scraping. The age ended when humans began to plant crops and have other types of agriculture. In some areas, such as Western Europe, the way that people lived was affected by the Ice age. In these places, people moved towards agriculture quicker than in warmer places where there was always lots of food to gather. Their culture is sometimes called the Mesolithic Era (Middle Stone Age).

paragraphs: During the Paleolithic Era humans grouped together in small bands. They lived by gathering plants and hunting wild animals. This way of living is called a "hunter-gatherer society". People hunted small burrowing animals like rabbits, as well as birds and herds of animals like deer and cattle. They also gathered plants to eat, including grains. Grain often grows on grasslands where herds of grass-eating animals are found. People also gathered root vegetables, green vegetables, beans, fruit, seeds, berries, nuts, eggs, insects and small reptiles.

paragraphs: Many Paleolithic bands were nomadic. They moved from place to place as the weather changed. They followed herds of animals that they hunted from their winter feeding places to their summer feeding places. If there was a drought,flood, or some other disaster, the herds and the people might haved moved a long distance, looking for food. During the "Ice Age" a lot of the water on Earth turned to ice. This made sea much lower than it is now. People were able to walk through Beringia from Siberia to Alaska. Bands of "Homo sapiens" ( another word for people) travelled to that area from Asia. At that time there were rich grasslands with many large animals that are now extinct. It is believed that many groups of people travelled there over a long time and later spread to other parts of America, as the weather changed.

paragraphs: Paleolithic people used stone tools. Sometimes a stone tool was just a rock. It might have been useful for smashing a shell or an animal's skull, or for grinding grain on another rock. Other tools were made by breaking rocks to make a sharp edge. The next development in stone tool making was to chip all the edges of a rock so that it made a pointed shape, useful for a spearhead, or arrow tip. Some stone tools are carefully "flaked" at the edges to make them sharp, and symmetrically shaped. Paleolithic people also used tools of wood and bone. They probably also used leather and vegetable fibers but these have not lasted from that time. Paleolithic people also knew how to make fire which they used for warmth and cooking.

paragraphs: The Neolithic era was marked by changes in society. During the Neolithic era, people started to settle down. They developed agriculture and domesticated animals, both of which took a very long time. Because of these two things, people did not have to migrate as much any more. Villages could grow to much larger sizes than before. Over time, villages fought and spread their control over larger areas and some became civilisations. During this time, humankind also developed further intellectually, militarily and spiritually.

paragraphs: When humans started to grow crops and domesticate certain animals such as dogs, goats, sheep, and cattle; their societies changed. Because people now grew crops and raised livestock, they started to stay in the same place and build permanent settlements. In most places, this happened between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. Their diet also changed. People ate more cereals and vegetables. They started to keep extra foods and seeds for later. In some years there were surpluses (extras) that could be traded for other goods.

paragraphs: These changes happened independently in many parts of the world. They did not happen in the same order though. For example, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. No one is sure if Britain had agriculture, or if permanent villages existed there at all. Early Japanese societies used pottery "before" developing agriculture.

paragraphs: In the "Paleolithic Era" there were many different human species. According to current research, only the modern human reached the "Neolithic Era".

paragraphs: Vere Gordon Childe gave the name "Neolithic Revolution" to this process in the 1920s. He thought that it was as important as the Industrial Revolution (which happened in the 18th and 19th century).

paragraphs: Ancient history was the time from the development of writing to the fall of the Roman Empire. The fall of the Roman Empire caused chaos in Europe, leading to the Middle Ages (also called the Dark Ages or the Age of Faith).

paragraphs: Sumer was the world's first known ancient civilization. The Sumerians took over the fertile crescent region of Mesopotamia around 3300 BCE. By 3000 BCE, many cities had been built in parts of Sumerian Mesopotamia. They formed independently and each had their own government. They were called city-states and often fought with each other.

paragraphs: Sumer grew crops on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A surplus in food led to a Division of labour. This means that some people were able to stop growing crops and do other jobs, since enough crops were already grown. This brought a split in society. Today, such a split is called "social pyramid". In a social pyramid, people are grouped into social classes based on their wealth and power. In Sumer, the king, priests, and government officials were at the top of the social pyramid. Below them were the artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers. At the bottom of the pyramid were slaves. Slaves were often prisoners of war, criminals, or people working to pay off debt.

paragraphs: In Sumer, only the sons of the rich and powerful learned how to read and write. They went to a school called "edubba". Only the boys who went to "edubba" could become scribes.

paragraphs: The Sumerians created the world's first system of writing; it was called cuneiform. The oldest versions of one of the world's first literary works, the "Epic of Gilgamesh", go back to this time. They also invented sun-dried bricks, the wheel, the ox plow, and were skilled at making pottery. They are also thought to have invented the sailboat.

paragraphs: Other civilizations around this time were also built along major river systems. These civilizations are called river valley civilizations. River valley civilizations were the most powerful civilizations in this time period because water was needed to have an agricultural society.

paragraphs: These civilizations were similar to Sumer in that:

paragraphs: In the river system of Mesopotamia, after the Sumers, two other great civilizations rose to power: the Babylonians with their king Hammurabi (famous for the Codex Hammurabi) and the Assyrians. Just to the east was the long-lasting civilization of Elam.

paragraphs: Ancient Egypt grew along the Nile river and was its most powerful in the second millennium BC. When it was its biggest, it went all the way from the Nile delta to a mountain called Jebel Barkal in Sudan.

paragraphs: It was created around 3500 BC and probably ended at about 30 BC when the country was invaded by the Roman Empire.

paragraphs: The society of ancient Egypt depended on a balance of natural and human resources, especially the irrigation of the Nile Valley so that Egyptians could grow crops. They are also known for writing in hieroglyphs, building the famous pyramids, other sorts of tombs and big temples and for their military.

paragraphs: There was a great difference between classes in this society. Most of the people were farmers but they did not own the agricultural products they produced. These were property of the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. There was slavery, but it is not clear how it was practiced.

paragraphs: The rulers of ancient Egypt tried to keep their people happy by religion that made them respect the rulers and their past.

paragraphs: The religion of Judaism formed about 1500 BCE in context with the Egyptian and Babylonian civilization.

paragraphs: The first dynasty of Ancient China, the Shang Dynasty (商朝), has been carbon dated through Turtle shells with writing on them to back to about 1500 BC. They say China began as city-states in the Yellow River valley. At the end of the Zhou Dynasty lived the greatest Chinese philosophers: "Kong Fuzi", founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, founder of Daoism. The Qin (秦) emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC created the first centralized state in China based on his political philosophy of legalism and made everyone write the same way. He fought against "Confucianism". He also started a precursor of the Great Wall. In 202 BC the Han Dynasty took over and developed an empire of similar strength as the Roman Empire and towards the end of its rule influenced by India introduced Buddhism in China.

paragraphs: The Indus Valley Civilization started from about 2600 BC to 1900 BC. It marked the beginning of the urban civilization on the subcontinent. It was centered on the Indus River and its tributaries. The civilization is famous for its cities that were built of brick, had a road-side drainage system and multi-storied houses.

paragraphs: During the Maurya dynasty started in 321 BCE, most of the Indian subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. Ashoka the Great who in the beginning sought to expand his kingdom, then followed a policy of ahimsa (non-violence) after converting to Buddhism. The Edicts of Ashoka are the oldest preserved historical documents of India, and under Ashoka Buddhist ideals spread across the whole of East Asia and South-East Asia.

paragraphs: The Gupta dynasty ruled from around 320 to 550 AD. The Gupta Empire included only Central India, and the area east of current day Bangladesh, however this empire never included present-day Pakistan to the west. Gupta society was ordered in {accordance with Hindu beliefs. Historians place the Gupta dynasty alongside with the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Roman Empire as a model of a classical civilization.

paragraphs: The Maya civilization is a civilization that started in Central America. They lived mostly on the Yucatán Peninsula in what is now known as Mexico, but also Honduras, Belize and Guatemala. They were the only known civilization of pre-Columbian America to have a fully developed written language. They also made great achievements in art and architecture and had a very advanced system of mathematics and astronomy.

paragraphs: The area where the Maya civilization developed was inhabited from around the 10th millennium BC. The first Maya settlements were built there in about 1800 BC, in the Soconusco region. This is in the modern-day state of Chiapas in Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. Today, this is called the "Early Preclassic period". At the time, humans began to settle down permanently. They started to grow livestock. Pottery and small clay figures were made. They constructed simple burial mounds. Later they developed these mounds into step pyramids. There were other civilizations around, especially in the north, such as the Olmec, the Mixe-Zoque, and Zapotec civilizations. These people mostly lived in the area of the modern-day state Oaxaca. The exact borders of the Maya empire in the north are unclear. There were probably areas where Maya culture overlapped with other cultures. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone. These cultures and the Maya probably influenced one another.

paragraphs: There has been a long history of contact between Papuan peoples of the Papua New Guinea and the Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people seem to have lived a long time in the same environment as the now extinct Australian megafauna. Stories about that are told in the oral culture of many Aboriginal groups.

paragraphs: The Hallstatt era is named after the city Hallstatt in Austria, where the first artifacts were found. It lasted from about 1200 BC to about 275 BC. There were different periods, which today are mainly told apart by the kinds of brooches used at the time. These brooches changed rather rapidly, and can therefore give us good guesses at to what time they came from. Hallstatt culture sites have been found in the east of France, in Switzerland, in the south of Germany, in Austria, in Slovenia and Croatia, northwestern Hungary, southwestern Slovakia and southern Moravia. The culture can be divided into an eastern and a western one quite easily; the dividing line runs through the Czech Republic, and Austria, between longitudes 14 and 15 degrees east.

paragraphs: In this time, the social structure developed into a hierarchy. This can be documented by various things that were added to graves. In the Bronze Age, people used to live in big settlements. As iron became available, trade routes changed. A new richer class evolved. Unlike before, these richer class people liked to live in big houses in the countryside, as a demonstration of their wealth. Funerals also changed, from cremation burials, to burials with stone coffins. The new upper class used their wealth for import goods, mostly from the Mediterranean.

paragraphs: The La Tène culture is a culture that lasted from about 500 BC to about 100 AD. It is named after the city of "La Tène" (today, Marin-Epagnier, next to Neuchâtel). It was influenced a lot by the Roman and Greek cultures. There are two sources for this:

paragraphs: The Celts basically lived in clans. Each clan was headed by a leader, which came from the Druids or the Bards. Women were much better off than with the Romans, they were almost equal to men. There was polygamy and polyandry (A man could have several women, a woman could have several men).

paragraphs: Illyria is the part of west-south Balkan Peninsula populated by Illyrians whose descendants are Albanians.

paragraphs: Illyrians lived in tribunes such as Epirus, Dardania, Taulantia etc.

paragraphs: They had their own language, the Illyrian language that was different from the Greek language and Latin.

paragraphs: At the year 1000 BC the population of Illyria is estimated to be around 500,000.

paragraphs: What is known today as "Ancient Greece" is a very important period in history. Most people agree that it came after the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. It ended when the Romans invaded Greece, in 146 BC. Greek culture had a very powerful influence on later civilizations, especially the Romans. The Greeks developed what is now called a city-state, or a polis. There were many polises. Some of the more important ones were Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Thebes. The word "politics" comes from there. It literally means: things that are about the polis. Greek cities did not have much contact with each other, because of the mountains and many islands Greece is made up of. When a city no longer had enough food to care for all its citizens, some people were sent out to set up a new city. This was called a "colony". Each city was independent, and ruled by someone within that city. Colonies also looked to the city where they originally came from for guidance.

paragraphs: When Greece went to war (for example against the Persian Empire), there was an alliance of such city states, against the Persians. There were also many wars between different city states.

paragraphs: There were many artists and philosophers who lived in that period. Most of them are still important for philosophy today. A well-known artist was Homer. He wrote epics about the war against the Trojans, and the early history of Greece. Other well-known artists were Aristophanes and Sappho. Well-known philosophers include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. A well known mathematician of the time was Euclid. Statesmen of the time were Pericles and Alexander the Great.

paragraphs: Ancient Rome was a civilization that started in modern-day Italy, in the 8th Century before Christ. The civilization lasted for 12 centuries. It ended, when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, on May 29, 1453. According to legend, the Roman civilization was founded by Romulus and Remus, in the year 753 BC. The Roman Empire developed in wars against Carthage and the Seleucid Empire. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, modern France, and Augustus ended the Roman republic by becoming emperor. At its biggest extent, the empire covered all of the Mediterranean. Rome became so big, because it led war against other nations and then assimilated their culture.

paragraphs: In 293, Diocletian organized a separate administration of the western and the eastern part of the empire. The capital of the western part was Rome, the capital of the eastern part was Constantinople. Constantine I was the first to stop discrimination against Christians (313). Christianity became state religion under the reign of Theodosius I.

paragraphs: The western part of the empire had many problems with barbarians. In the 5th century, the Huns migrated westwards. This meant that the Visigoths moved into the empire, to seek protection. Rome was sacked by barbarians multiple times. On September 4, 476, the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the west, Romulus Augustus, to quit. After about 1200 years, the rule of Rome in the West came to an end.

paragraphs: The eastern part had similar problems. Justinian I managed to conquer parts of North Africa and Italy. Shortly after he died, all that was left were parts of Southern Italy, and Sicily. In the east, the empire was threatened by the Sassanid Empire.

paragraphs: After the fall of Western Rome, the Germanic tribes that took over tried to learn from Roman civilization, but much was forgotten and up to the Renaissance not many achievements happened in Europe. But with the rise of Islam, many changes happened during the Islamic Golden Age. The Greek and Roman traditions were kept and further development took place. The Chinese civilization had a Golden Age during the Tang period, when their capital was the biggest in the world. During the Renaissance, Europe developed and made great advancements in many areas as well.

paragraphs: In Arabia, Muhammad founded Islam in 632. His followers rapidly conquered territories in Syria and Egypt. They soon were a direct threat to the Byzantine Empire. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the Byzantine Empire managed to stop Islamic expansion. They even reconquered some of the territories lost earlier. In 1000 A.D. the eastern Empire was at its height: Basileios II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia. Culture and trade flourished. Soon afterward in 1071 the expansion suddenly stopped. The Battle of Manzikert led the empire into a dramatic decline. For the Byzantine Empire this meant several centuries of civil wars and Turkic invasions. The Muslim caliphate had an Golden Age under the Abbasid.

paragraphs: Their power forced Emperor Alexius I Comnenus of the Byzantine Empire to send a call for help to the West in 1095. The West sent the Crusades. These eventually led to the "Sack of Constantinople" in the Fourth Crusade in 1204. Because of this, what was left of the Empire broke into successor states. The winner of these disputes was that of Nicaea. After Constantinople was again conquered by imperial forces, the empire was little more than a Greek state on the Aegean coast. The Eastern Empire came to an end when Mehmed II conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453. The Ottoman Empire took its place and from 1400 to 1600 was the most powerful empire in the Middle East and ruled at the southern and eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

paragraphs: The Tang Dynasty (618–907), with its capital at Chang'an (today Xi'an), was the biggest city in the world at the time and is considered by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. The Ming Dynasty ruled from 1368 to 1644. The Ming built a vast army and navy.

paragraphs: From around the 6th–7th century. In South India, Chola kings ruled Tamil Nadu, and Chera kings ruled Kerala. They had trading relationships with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. In north India, Rajputs ruled in many kingdoms.

paragraphs: In 1336, two brothers named Harihara I and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in an area which is now in the Karnataka state of India. The most famous king of this empire was Krishnadevaraya. In 1565, rulers of this empire were defeated in a battle. But the empire continued for about the next one hundred years.

paragraphs: Northern India was ruled by Islamic sultans.

paragraphs: The Heian Period in Japan is famous for its art, poetry and literature. The writing system, Kana, was developed. It was followed by the feudal period (1185–1853) during which samurai and daimyos were the leading figures and the shogun the real monarch whereas the tennō had only a role as religious head. Between the years 1272 and 1281 the Mongols tried to invade but were driven out by the Japanese.

paragraphs: In 1542, a Portuguese ship reached Japan. Japanese learned about guns and firearms from them.

paragraphs: Genghis Khan in 1209 brought together the Mongol tribes and founded the Mongol Empire, one of the largest land empires in history. Later Kublai Khan would go on to expand the empire and found the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty of China. The empire later broke into several empires, all of which were later destroyed.

paragraphs: The Middle Ages was the time from the fall of the Roman empire until the middle of the 15th century. From 500 to about 800 there was some decline compared with the Roman civilization. European villages were often destroyed and looted by barbarians such as the Vikings. During the High Middle Ages magnificent castles and large churches called cathedrals were built and important works of literature were written. In the later Middle Ages, there was a plague called the Black Death. The Black Death killed one-third to one-half of Europe's population.

paragraphs: A system called feudalism was a very important part of the Middle Ages. In this system, the king was at the top of the social pyramid. The king gave land to the lord in exchange for loyalty. The lords were the next in the pyramid. The lords gave land (called a fief) to knights in exchange for loyalty and protection. The knights came next in the pyramid. Peasants were not part of the feudal system because they did not give or receive land. They worked on a lord's manor in exchange for protection.

paragraphs: The Crusades were also fought during the Middle Ages. There is a theory that says the Crusades helped end the Middle Ages along with the Black Death, increased trade and better farming technology.

paragraphs: The Renaissance started in Italy. "Renaissance" is a French word meaning "rebirth". The Renaissance meant that people learned from the ancient Greek and Roman or "classical" cultures that had been forgotten for some time. Artists learned from classical paintings and sculptures. So they reinvented perspective and the art of free standing realistic sculptures that had been characteristic in Greek and Roman art. Some famous Renaissance artists are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The Gutenberg printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg, was also developed during this time.

paragraphs: The Renaissance was also a time of great achievements in science (Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon), philosophy (Thomas More) and literature (Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare).

paragraphs: What is known as the classical period lasted from about 250 to about 900. During this time, many monuments were constructed. There are also many big inscriptions from then. In this period, the Maya moved to building large cities. This is known as urbanism. Many important intellectual and artistic developments happened in an area that is known as the "southern lowlands".

paragraphs: Like the Ancient Greek, the Maya civilization was made of many independent city-states. Agriculture was important around these city states like Tikal and Copán.

paragraphs: The most important monuments are the pyramids they built in their religious centers and the palaces of their rulers. The palace at Cancuén is the largest in the Maya area. There are no pyramids in the area of the palace. Other important things the archaeologists found include the carved stone slabs usually called "stelae" (the Maya called them "tetun", or "tree-stones"). These slabs show rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their genealogy, military victories, and other accomplishments. In North America, they made Mississipian culture with the largest land field from around 800 CE to 1600.

paragraphs: The Maya also had trade routes that ran over long distances. They traded with many of the other Mesoamerican cultures, such as Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, and other groups in central and gulf-coast Mexico. They also traded with non-Mesoamerican groups, that were farther away. Archaeologists have found gold from Panama in the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza.

paragraphs: Important trade goods were cacao, salt, sea shells, jade and obsidian.

paragraphs: In the 8th and 9th century, the cities in the southern lowlands had problems, and declined. At the same time, the Maya stopped making big monuments and inscriptions. Shortly afterwards, these cities were abandoned. Currently, archaeologists are not sure why this happened. There are different theories. Either ecological factors played a role in this, or the cause of this abandonment was not related to the environment.

paragraphs: In the north, development went on, form the 10th to about the 16th century. The influences from the outside left more traces in the Maya culture at that time. Some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Coba. At some point, the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal declined. Afterwards, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until a revolt in 1450. The area then degenerated into competing city-states until the Yucatán was conquered by the Spanish.

paragraphs: By 1250, there developed other city-states. The Itza maintained their capital at Tayasal. It ruled over an area extending across the Peten Lakes region, including the community of Ekckixil on Lake Quexil. Postclassic Maya states also survived in the southern highlands. One of the Maya kingdoms in this area is responsible for the best-known Maya work of historiography and mythology, the Popol Vuh.

paragraphs: The Spanish started to conquer Maya lands. This took them much longer than with the Inca or Aztecs, because there was no capital city. This meant that when they had conquered one city, this had little influence on the whole empire. The last Maya states were finally subdued in 1697.

paragraphs: The Maya people did not disappear though. There are still about 6 million of them. Some are well-integrated, others continue speak one of the Maya languages and uphold their cultural heritage.

paragraphs: The Aztecs built an empire in Central America, mainly in Mexico. The empire lasted from the 14th to the 16th century. They spoke the Nahuatl language. Their capital was Tenochtitlan. It was built on islands in a lake. Tenochtitlan was one of the greatest cities of the world in that time.

paragraphs: The Aztecs believed in polytheism. Quetzalcoatl (feathered snake), Huitzilopochtli (hummingbird of the south) and Tezcatlipoca (smoking mirror) were the most important Gods. Sometimes the Aztecs killed humans to please their gods. Between 1519 and 1521 the Spanish leader Hernán Cortés defeated the Aztecs and took their empire. Some Aztecs did not want to fight against the soldiers of Cortés, because they thought they were Gods.

paragraphs: Today many Mexicans have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. On the Mexican flag there is a picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. This was an Aztec symbol. Also the name "Mexico" is an Aztec word.

paragraphs: The Aztecs ate a lot of plants and vegetables that could be grown easily in the Mexico area. The main food that they ate was corn, which they called maize. Another food that they ate was squash.

paragraphs: Aztecs also had a lot of harsh punishments for certain crimes. For the following crimes the punishment was death: adultery, wearing cotton clothes (cotton clothes were only for the nobles), cutting down a living tree, moving a field boundary making your land bigger, making someone else's smaller, major theft and treason.

paragraphs: The Incas were a civilized empire in western South America. The Incas are called a "pre-Columbian" empire. This means that their country was here before Christopher Columbus. They ruled parts of South America around what is now Peru for a little over 100 years, until the Spanish invasion in the 16th century.

paragraphs: The Incan empire or , meaning "four regions" in Quechua, only lasted for about 100 years as the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 conquered them. Their main language was Quechua, but as the Incas were basically made up of many different groups there were probably many other different languages.

paragraphs: Their capital was in the city of Cusco, or Qosqo, in what is now southern Peru.

paragraphs: Manco Capac founded the first Inca state around 1200. It covered the area around Cusco. In the 1400s, Pachacuti began to absorb other people in the Andes. The expansion of the Inca Empire had started. The Inca Empire would become the biggest empire in the Americas before Columbus.

paragraphs: In 1532, the civil war ended. The brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, fought for who would succeed their father. During this time, the Spanish conquerors took possession of the Inca territory. They were led by Francisco Pizarro. In the following years the conquistadors managed to extend their power over the whole Andean region. They suppressed successive Inca rebellions until the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Perú in 1542 and the fall of the resistance of the last Incas of Vilcabamba in 1572. The Inca civilization ends at that time, but many cultural traditions remain in some ethnic groups as Quechuas and Aymara people.

paragraphs: Ancient Egypt and Carthage are well known civilizations of ancient Africa. But because there are not many written sources in large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the history of Africa is not easy to write about. But with new techniques such as the recording of oral history, historical linguistics and archeology knowledge has improved, not only for the empires and kingdoms of Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nubia, Kush and Kerma.

paragraphs: Colonization happened after Christopher Columbus came to the Americas. European countries such as England, France, and Spain built colonies in the Americas. These settlers fought the Native Americans to take over their land. The colonisation of the Americas was the beginning of modern times.

paragraphs: An important part about contact with the Americas was the Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange brought new foods, ideas, and diseases to the Old World and New World, changing the way people lived. Historians believe that almost everyone as far as Asia was affected in some way by the Columbian Exchange.

paragraphs: Protestant Reformation started with Martin Luther and the posting of the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. At first he protested against corruption such as simony or the sale of indulgences. But then it became clear that he had different ideas about the church doctrine. He thought that Christians should only read the Bible to find out what God wants from them. That meant that they did not need priests (see: Five solas). The three most important traditions that came directly from the Protestant Reformation were the Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist, Presbyterian, etc.), and Anglican traditions.

paragraphs: The Counter-Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, was the Catholic Church fighting the Protestant Reformation. New religious orders, such as the Jesuits were founded and missionaries sent around the world. Decisions were taken at the Council of Trent (1545–1563).

paragraphs: The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain. It brought many advances in the way goods were produced. These advances allowed people to produce much more than they needed for living. The early British Empire split as its colonies in America revolted to establish a representative government.

paragraphs: The French Revolution lead to massive political change in continental Europe, as people following the ideas of Enlightenment asked for human rights with the slogan "liberté, egalité, fraternité" (liberty, equality, fraternity). That led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, but also to terror and the execution of King Louis XVI. The French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, conquered and changed Europe through war up to 1815. As more and more small property holders were granted the vote, in France and the UK, socialist and trade union activity developed and revolution gripped Europe in 1848. The last vestiges of serfdom were abolished in Austria-Hungary in 1848. Russian serfdom was abolished in 1861. The Balkan nations began to regain their independence from the Ottoman Empire. After the Franco-Prussian War, Italy and Germany became unified in 1870 and 1871. Conflict spread across the globe, in a chase for empires. The search for a "place in the sun" ended with the outbreak of World War I. In the desperation of war, the Russian Revolution promised the people "peace, bread and land". The defeat of Germany came at the price of economic destruction, which was written down in the Treaty of Versailles.

paragraphs: From 1644 to 1912 the Qing or "Manchu Dynasty" ruled China. The dynasty was founded by the Manchu clan in northeast China (Manchuria). It expanded into China proper and its surrounding territories, establishing the "Empire of the Great Qing".

paragraphs: Its military power weakened during the 1800s, and faced with international pressure, massive rebellions and defeats in wars, the Qing Dynasty declined after the mid-19th century. It was overthrown in 1912.

paragraphs: During the Edo period, Japan had many small rulers. There were about 200 of them, called the daimyo. Out of them, the Tokugawa clan was most powerful. They ruled from a place called Edo. This place was around the present day’s Tokyo. For fifteen generations they were the most powerful clan in Japan.

paragraphs: Beginning from the early 17th century, the rulers (known as shogunate) started a policy of seclusion (stopping some people coming in), known as sakoku in Japanese language. They suspected that traders, merchants and missionaries wanted to bring Japan under the control of European powers. Except the Dutch and the Chinese, all foreigners, traders and merchants from other countries, missionaries were no longer allowed into Japan.

paragraphs: Still even during the period of seclusion, Japanese continued to gain information and knowledge about other parts of the world.

paragraphs: This policy of seclusion lasted for about 200 years. It ended 1868 with Meiji Restoration, when the emperor took over again and started a lot of reforms.

paragraphs: The Mughal Empire existed from 1526 to 1857. When it was biggest it ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, and parts of what is now Afghanistan. It was founded by Babur in 1526 and ruled until 1530. Its most important ruler was Akbar (1556–1605). After the death of Aurangjeb (1658–1707), the Mughal Empire became weak. It continued until 1857. By that time, India came under the British Raj.

paragraphs: Settlement by the Spanish started the European colonization of the Americas, it meant genocide of the native Indians. The Spanish gained control of most of the Caribbean and conquered the Aztecs. So they founded the Spanish Empire in the New World.

paragraphs: The first successful English settlements were in North America at Jamestown (Virginia), 1607 (along with its satellite, Bermuda in 1609) and Plymouth (Massachusetts), 1620. The first French settlements were Port Royal (1604) and Quebec City (1608). The Fur Trade soon became the primary business on the continent and as a result transformed the Native Americans lifestyle. Plantation slavery of the West Indies lead to the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade.

paragraphs: Rivalry between the European powers created a series of wars on the North American landmass. The American Revolution led to the creation of the United States of America. Spain's hold on its colonies weakened till it had to give them independence.

paragraphs: The United States expanded quickly to the west. At the same time, British built more in Canada.

paragraphs: During the 15th century the Portuguese began exploring Africa. At the Guinea coast they built their first fort in 1482. They started slave trade after the first European contact with America in 1492 to supply settlers from there with workers. Soon English, Spanish, Dutch, French and Danish merchants also built forts. But their influence on the inland was minor (except from decimation of population by slave trade) till during the 19th century larger colonies were founded.

paragraphs: The 20th century was a very important time in history. New technology and different ideas led to many worldwide changes in the time of just 100 years.

paragraphs: World War I was a war fought from 1914 to 1918. During the time of the war, it was called "The Great War", or "The War to End All Wars". Chemical poisons, tanks, aeroplanes, and bombs were used for the first time.

paragraphs: These were causes that made it likely that a war would start in Europe. The "spark" that started the war was the assassination of the heir to the throne in Austria-Hungary: Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a group of young Serbians. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and each country's allies then joined the war. This created a bigger conflict which turned into World War I.

paragraphs: Europe divided into two groups of allies: the Central Powers and the Allied Powers (the "Allies"). The Central Powers were made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. The Allies were made up of Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States.

paragraphs: World War I was fought on two fronts; the Eastern Front and the Western Front. Trench warfare was commonly used on the Eastern Front.

paragraphs: Because of a British blockade, Germany began using U-boats, or submarines, to sink British ships. After the sinking of two ships with Americans on board, and the public release of the Zimmermann Note, The U.S. declared war on Germany, joining the Allies.

paragraphs: On November 11, 1918, Germany signed the armistice, meaning "the laying down of arms", to end the war. After the war ended, the Treaty of Versailles was written and Germany was made to sign it. They had to pay $33 million in reparations (payment for damage). The influenza pandemic of 1918 spread around the world, killing millions.

paragraphs: After the war the German Empire, the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Austrian Empire ended and France and Britain got weaker.

paragraphs: The 1920s and 1930s had military-related fascist dictators take control of Italy, Germany, Japan and Spain. They were helped by the Great Depression starting in 1929. When Hitler in 1933 had gained power in Germany he prepared World War II.

paragraphs: Of all the wars ever fought, World War II involved the most countries and killed the most people. More than 60 million people died, making it the worst disaster of all time. It lasted six years in Europe, from 1939 to 1945.

paragraphs: It was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) and the Allied Powers. At first the Axis Powers were successful, but that ended in Europe with the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 and the invasion in Normandy in 1944. But Hitler was able to pursue his plan to annihilate Jews nearly all over Europe. Today, this plan is called the Holocaust.

paragraphs: In the Pacific it ended with the battles of Midway and Guadalcanal. Germany surrendered on May 8. The atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led Japan to surrender on August 15, 1945.

paragraphs: After World War II the United Nations was founded in the hope that it could solve arguments among nations and keep wars from happening. Communism spread to Central and Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, North Vietnam and North Korea. In 1949, China became communist. During the 1950s and 1960s, many third world countries became communist.

paragraphs: This led to the Cold War, a forty-year argument between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their allies (mainly countries that were members of NATO or the Warsaw Pact). Each country wanted to promote their type of government. The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism, and the United States wanted to spread democracy. People across the world feared a nuclear war because of the tension.

paragraphs: Communism became less popular when it became clear that it could not promote economic growth as well as Western states and that it was not suited for a reform that allowed freedom of speech for everybody. Therefore, the Soviet Union forced Hungary to give up its reform in 1956, it favored the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and it stopped reform in Czechoslovakia in 1968. When in 1988/89 Gorbachev made clear that he would not force the countries of the East block to stick to Communism the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed (1991). Then the United States was the only superpower left.

paragraphs: After Mao Zedong's death China's communist party proved that economic reform was possible without political freedom and paved the way for enormous economic growth.

paragraphs: As the 20th century ended, the European Union began to rise and included former satellite states and even parts of the Soviet Union. States in Asia, Africa and South America tried to copy the European Union.

paragraphs: The twentieth century was a time of great progress in terms of technology. People began to live longer because of better medicine and medical technology. New communications and transportation technologies connected the world. But these advances also helped cause problems with the environment.

paragraphs: The last half of the century had smaller wars. Improved information technology and globalization increased trade and cultural exchange. Space exploration expanded through the solar system. The structure of DNA was discovered.

paragraphs: The same period also raised questions about the end of human history because of global dangers: nuclear weapons, greenhouse effect and other problems in the environment.

paragraphs: As the 20th century ended, globalization continued. The September 11 attacks in 2001 in the U.S. led to new wars. Urbanization also continued in countries like India and China. Some scientists referred to this as a "Planetary Phase of Civilization". This period has been growing of mobile phones and the internet. which changed social and natural resources in the world. The Arab Spring occured in the Middle East and North Africa leading to Occupy movement in the U.S. and reaction to the world between 2010-2012. A new Great Recession affected the world, and the COVID-19 pandemic spread in 2020, causing further economic and political disruption.


title: Ur

paragraphs: Ur was the one of the world's first cities, in Mesopotamia. It was a Sumerian city-state, founded around 3,800 BC. There are written records dating from the 26th century. Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the River Euphrates on the Persian Gulf. It is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, from Nasiriyah, Iraq.

paragraphs: In the Sumerian city, the Ziggurat of Ur stood a skyscraper over the city. It was about 20 metres (66 feet) tall. Later the ziggurat became more than a place for gods. There were workshops for craftworkers. For the priests, they were temples to do worship. There were big staricases to get up and down. The only level that remains today is the bottom. They tell a lot about the people who built them. Sumerians had no tools and machinery like us. They were careful brick builders. Brickmakers formed mud bricks there were perfect. After drying they take them to the site and set them in place with bitumen. Bitumen is a thick sticky black stuff. It's like asphalt, the stuff they use to pave roads. They braided reeds so they would be stronger, and hooked them up like steel cables.

paragraphs: Ur had three social classes. The richer, like government officials, priests, and soldiers, were at the top. The second level was for merchants, teachers, laborers, farmers and craftmakers. The bottom were for slaves captured in battle. Burials at Ur give insight into people's social standing. Kings and queens were buried with treasure. Rich people were buried with less. Since irrigation gave Ur abundant crops, not everybody needed to work on farms. People learned other skills. Sir Leonard Woolley found a tablet that listed Ur's special workers. The chisel workers made sculptures, the gem cutters made gems, and the fullers stomped on woven wools to make them soft. The metal workers made weapons. Cities have different groups. Some of the richer people are more powerful.


title: Odenwald

paragraphs: The Odenwald is a mountain chain in the south of Hesse, in the north of Bavaria and the north of Baden-Württemberg.

paragraphs: In the south of the Odenwald there is the Neckar River. In the east there is the Main River . In the west there is the valley of the Rhine River. The highest mountain is the Katzenbuckel (literally "cat's hump", 626 m).

paragraphs: The big cities Mannheim and Frankfurt am Main are near to the Odenwald. People of these cities like to go there at holidays. It is known for its clean thin air. There are many marked hiking paths. You can find wild blueberries, strawberries and mushrooms in the forests.

paragraphs: Several small towns are very beautiful like Weinheim on the Bergstraße and Michelstadt. The mild climate of the area is well known.


title: Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kiev

paragraphs: Sviatoslav I was an early ruler of the Kievan Rus', a nation that evolved into modern Ukraine. He was the son of Igor I of Kiev and Olga of Kiev. He ruled from 962 until 972. During his reign he destroyed the Khazar Empire and for a short time conquered what is now Bulgaria.


title: Daylight Saving Time

paragraphs: Daylight Saving Time (DST) or Summer Time (ST) is a time to timekeep during summer. During the summer months, the sun stays visible for a longer time, and sunset happens late in the day. For this reason, certain countries advance the time by one hour near the start of summer, and put it back one hour during autumn.

paragraphs: DST helps stores that sell to people after they get off work, but it hurts farmers and others whose hours are set by the sun. It cuts traffic accident rates. Sometimes it can reduce energy costs, but it can also increase them.

paragraphs: Most of the world's countries do not use DST, but it is common in Europe and North America.

paragraphs: The United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and many other countries have DST. These countries also have regions that do not have DST:

paragraphs: Iceland, Russia, some parts of Ukraine and Belarus are countries in Europe without DST.

paragraphs: Since 1996 all clocks in the European Union, of which the UK is a member state, have changed on same dates and at the same time, 01:00 GMT.

paragraphs: Permanent Summer Time has support in some northerly countries such as the UK. It was tried in the British Standard Time experiment, with Britain remaining on GMT+1 throughout the year. This took place between 27 October 1968 and 31 October 1971.

paragraphs: There are proposals for GST+1 in the winter, and double summer time (GST+2) in the winter. In favour are most city dwellers: children do not have to come home after school in the dark, and late afternoon and early evening activities benefit. In favour also were those concerned with accidents, because both accidents and fuel consumption go down.

paragraphs: Against are many farmers in northerly latitudes, because sunrise would occur in winter at about 10:00 in the morning. However, in March 2010 the National Farmers Union said that it was not against Single/Double Summer Time, and is in fact relatively neutral, with many farmers expressing a preference for the change.

paragraphs: Most computers, mobile phones and other devices connected to the Internet will automatically adjust their clocks for DST. Some older computers will not adjust or will adjust the time incorrectly or on the wrong date. Also, computers with more than one operating system may be incorrectly adjusted twice or more when each operating system boots.


title: Lanthanum

paragraphs: Lanthanum is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol La. It has the atomic number 57. It is part of a group of chemical elements in the periodic table named the Lanthanides. It is a rare earth element. It is silvery white, malleable and ductile. It is soft and can be cut with a knife.


title: Rowing

paragraphs: Rowing is about moving a boat on water using human muscle power. It can be a sport. The goal in rowing is to move as fast as possible on top of the water. The athletes use a boat. They move the boat forward by using two sculls or one oar. There are different types of rowing. The types depend on how many people are in the boat and if they have a coxswain or not. Rowing is a very popular sport in England, the Commonwealth, and the Northeastern United States. The old universities of the United States and England have yearly rowing matches.


title: Inkjet printer

paragraphs: An Inkjet printer is a printer for computers. It uses special ink to print on the paper. Another type of printing technology is the Laser printer. Inkjet printers are preferred for printing photos and graphics due to their high-quality color output, whereas laser printers are preferred for printing text due to their high contrast and speed.

paragraphs: Usually, inkjet printers are used by people who print very little. The ink comes in special ink cartridges, which can be very expensive and uneconomical. Also, the ink in the cartridge may dry up. This means that a new cartridge is needed. Three colors of cartridges, which combine magenta, yellow and cyan inks are used to create color tones. A black cartridge is also used for crisp monochrome output. Some professional printers have one or more additional colors for better photo quality, such as light cyan, light magenta, blue, red, green, orange, and grey.

paragraphs: Inkjet printers may use either dye or pigment inks. Pigment inks are less likely to fade, whereas dye inks create more-realistic photos and are less likely to clog the printhead.

paragraphs: Many professionals use inkjet printers to print on very large surfaces (up to 5m width). These printers usually do not use cartridges, but have a continuous supply of ink that could last for a long time. Standard-size (A4 or US Letter) printers with a continuous ink supply are also available.

paragraphs: Inkjet printers need special paper. This paper has been treated so that the ink does not smear.

paragraphs: Less expensive inkjet printers, which cost a little more than 100 US dollars, are a bargain for users who want to be able to print pages in color. Inkjet printers can be very cheap but the ink can also be rather expensive. Some professional inkjet printers can print on surfaces other than paper, such as CDs/DVDs or plastic cards.

paragraphs: An inkjet printer can print between 300 and 720 DPI (Dots Per Inch). Some newer printers can print at higher resolutions, although the benefit of resolutions beyond 720 DPI may not be noticed by the human eye.

paragraphs: A common problem with inkjet printers is that if the printhead is clogged, banding (stripes) will appear in the printed image. To fix this, the printhead needs to be cleaned using the software included with the printer. This problem occurs most often when the printer has not been used for a long time. To prevent this from happening on rarely-used printers, a cron job can be scheduled to print a purge sheet (an image containing all colors used by the printer) once per day. A small, barely noticeable (usually only noticeable by magnification) amount of banding will occur even with a perfectly clean printhead due to the way the printer works.


title: Laser printer

paragraphs: A laser printer is a printer for computers. It uses laser or LED-technology to get small particles of toner from a cartridge onto paper. Very often, this costs less to use than the ink of inkjet printers. Laser printers often print text more neatly than inkjet printers, but print photos less clearly. Printing on photo paper or coated paper designed for inkjet printers can damage the laser printer's drum and fuser unit.

paragraphs: The laser printer was first invented by a team at Xerox in 1969. The first laser printer was called the Xerox 2000.

paragraphs: Laser printing is a process which typically involves seven steps:


title: Lawrencium

paragraphs: Lawrencium is a chemical element. It is also named eka-lutetium by some people. It has the symbol Lr. It has the atomic number 103. It is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. It has to be made. Lawrencium is made from californium. The isotope that has the longest half-life (Lr) has a half life of about 3.6 hours.

paragraphs: No uses for lawrencium are known. What lawrencium looks like is not known because not enough has been made to see it with human eyesight.

paragraphs: Is a Block-D Group3 Period 7 element. Discovered by Albert Ghiorso and co-workers in 1961, in California. Named after Ernest O. Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, a research instrument with which several new elements have been found/made.


title: Darmstadtium

paragraphs: Darmstadtium is a chemical element. It has been named ununnilium (Uun) or eka-platinum but is now named darmstadtium. It has the symbol Ds. It has the atomic number 110. It is a transuranium element.

paragraphs: The element is named in honor of German city Darmstadt.

paragraphs: Darmstadtium is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. It has to be made. The isotopes with an atomic mass from 267 to 273 have very short half-lifes. The half life of these isotopes is measured in milliseconds. Isotopes of darmstadtium with an atomic mass of 279 and 281 were synthesised after the other isotopes. Ds-279 and Ds-281 decay more slowly. The isotope with an atomic mass of 279 has a half life of 180 milliseconds and Ds-281 has a half life of 11.1 seconds.

paragraphs: No uses for darmstadtium are known. What darmstadtium looks like is not known because not enough has been made to see it with human eyesight.

paragraphs: Darmstadtium was first made on November 9, 1994. It was made at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. Only a few atoms of it were made. It was made by bombarding a lead target with nickel. A nuclear fusion reaction happened and made the element.

paragraphs: This is shown by the equation below that is the reaction that happened. Pb is the symbol for lead, Ni is the symbol for nickel and n is the symbol for a neutron.

paragraphs: The element was named for Darmstadt which was the place of its discovery. The GSI is in Wixhausen, a part of the north of the city of Darmstadt. The new name (darmstadtium) was given to the chemical element by the IUPAC in August 2003.


title: Wampanoag

paragraphs: The Wampanoag were a Native American tribe. They lived in what is now the American region of New England. The Wampanoag tribe helped the English settlers to survive, after they arrived in the "Mayflower".

paragraphs: They caught a bacterial infection called leptospirosis or Weil's syndrome in the early 17th century. It caused a many deaths and damaged their society greatly, though their descendents still survive today.


title: Mandir

paragraphs: Hindu temple or Mandir is referred to a place where Hindus go to worship gods in the form of various deities. Many Hindu temples are filled with wooden and stone arts like pashupatinath temple. A mandir is a spiritual place for Hindus. It is the landmarks around which ancient arts, community celebrations and economy were developed. as well as this the mandir has been recognised for

paragraphs: It is believed that the Murtis are stone or wooden images of idols ceremonially infused with the divine presence of God. They worship with arts and other ceremonies.

paragraphs: Hindus believe that gods and goddesses will answer the prayers of the faithful and inspire spiritually. For them, the temple also acts as a contact between the gods and goddesses and the worshipers. They also believe that the gods and goddesses will grant their wishes and protect them from danger.

paragraphs: In Hinduism gods are represented in various forms. Sometimes gods or goddesses are represented in a human form like Shiva, Vishnu, Saraswati or Kali. Sometimes there are gods goddesses in human and animal fused form like Ganesh. Sometimes they are also represented in plants and non-living form like Tulsi and Shaligrams. Murtis are made according to the prescriptios of the Silpasastra, and then installed by priests through the prana pratishtha ceremony. Afterward the divine personality is believed to be present in the Murtis.

paragraphs: To show respect, Hindus give gifts and food to the murtis. They are treated with respect and worshipped everyday. If a temple is a family temple it is treated as part of the family. Some Hindus also offer a part of their daily food to the god or goddess. They are given clothes and are changed at certain times. When people see a murti, they stop to pray.They also worship different forms of natural resources


title: Kitchener, Ontario

paragraphs: Kitchener is a city in Ontario, Canada. Kitchener is in Southwestern Ontario and is near Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga and London. It is in Waterloo Region. Other cities in Waterloo Region include Waterloo and Cambridge. Sometimes Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge are known as the "technology triangle". It is on the Grand River, which leads to Lake Erie.

paragraphs: At first, Kitchener was called Berlin. When World War I started it seemed like a bad idea to have a city named after the capital of Germany. The city was renamed Kitchener, after a British general, Herbert Kitchener. Kitchener then slowly became a prosperous city as it is today.

paragraphs: A rapid transit system is planned to be added in the Waterloo Region.


title: Spring (water)

paragraphs: A spring is a place where groundwater flows out of the ground. A spring may flow the whole year or only sometimes. This depends on the water getting into the ground all of the time (rain) or only once in a while (snow melting).

paragraphs: Water from a spring often flows downhill, along the land. This is how rivers start.

paragraphs: Some springs produce water that is good for health reasons. Sometimes towns grow by these springs because many people who are ill come there to get better. Such towns are called spa towns.


title: Thorium

paragraphs: Thorium is a chemical element in actinide group. It is a weakly radioactive metal. It has a shiny, silvery white color. It has the chemical symbol Th and the atomic number 90. Thorium is named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in nature, especially in India, the United States, and Australia. Many scientists believe that thorium would make a good nuclear fuel because it makes much less waste and is four times as common as uranium. It makes 3,200,000 times as much energy as coal and 200 times as much energy as uranium, because natural uranium is mostly non-fissile isotopes. Scientists believe that there is enough of it to power the world for thousands of years. Natural thorium has an atomic weight of 232.


title: River source

paragraphs: The source of a river or stream is the original point from which the river flows. It may be a lake, a marsh, a spring or a glacier. This is where the stream starts.

paragraphs: The source is the farthest point of the river stream from its estuary or its confluence with another river or stream. Rivers are usually fed by many tributaries. The farthest stream is called the head-stream or head water. There is sometimes disagreement on which source is the head water, hence on which is the true source.

paragraphs: A lake fed by many rivers is sometimes called the source of the bigger river flowing out of it. For example, Lake Victoria is often called the source of the Nile, as the rivers that flow into it have names of their own.

paragraphs: Headwaters are usually in mountains. Glacial headwaters are made by melting of glaciers.

paragraphs: The source is where a river begins, and the river mouth is where it joins the sea. The mouth may be in the form of a river delta.


title: Laserdisc

paragraphs: A Laserdisc, like a DVD, can play video of a higher quality than VHS. A Laserdisc is much larger than a DVD. To play Laserdisc movies, a LaserDisc player is needed. LaserDisc was also known by the names DiscoVision and LaserVision.

paragraphs: Laserdisc was first produced by MCA in 1978, and became well known in the 1980s. Movie companies stopped making Laserdisc movies when DVDs became well known in the late 1990s. Today some of the better Laserdisc players still sell for $1,000 USD or more.

paragraphs: Laser Discs work like a regular CD-ROM or DVD. The surface of the disc is covered with small holes that are read by a laser. This sequence of holes and no holes is turned into pictures and sound by the Laserdisc player. Most Laserdiscs can hold about 30 minutes to an hour of video per side for a total of 1 to 2 hours per disc.

paragraphs: The early Laserdisc players used a Helium-Neon laser to read the disc, but the later models used infrared lasers. The first units that were made with the infrared laser had some problems such as skipping, strange colors spots, and fuzziness. These problems were fixed in later models.

paragraphs: Some of the later Laserdisc players made were ones that could play Audio CDs as well as Laserdiscs. In Japan, one of the last models to be produced even had the ability to play DVDs as well as CDs and Laserdiscs.


title: Californium

paragraphs: Californium is a chemical element. It is a radioactive metal. It has the chemical symbol Cf. It has the atomic number 98. Californium is a transuranium element. Californium does not have many uses. It was discovered by bombarding a curium target with alpha particles (helium ions). Californium is named after the US State of California, where it was discovered, in the University of Berkeley.

paragraphs: Californium is produced in nuclear reactors and particle accelerators.

paragraphs: There are 20 known isotopes. The most stable is californium-251, which has a half-life of 898 years. This short half-life means the element is not found in the Earth's crust. Californium-252, whose half-life is 2.645 years, is the most common isotope used.

paragraphs: Compounds of californium are mostly of californium(III), which can take part in three chemical bonds. Californium can be used to help start up nuclear reactors, and is used as a source of neutrons. It can be used in making higher mass elements. Ununoctium was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions.

paragraphs: When californium is used, workers must be protected from the element's ability to disrupt the formation of red blood cells.


title: Torgau

paragraphs: Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. The town is well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces met with forces of the Soviet Union during the invasion of Germany on April 25, 1945.

paragraphs: This marked the beginning of the line of contact between Soviet and American forces, but not the occcupation zones. In fact the area surrounding Torgau at first occupied by U.S. forces was later, in July 1945, given over to Soviet forces.


title: Chemical bond

paragraphs: Chemical bonds are what joins atoms together. Atoms bonded stay together unless the needed amount of energy is transferred to the bond.

paragraphs: In general, strong chemical bonding comes with the sharing or transfer of electrons between the participating atoms. The atoms in molecules, crystals, metals and diatomic gases are held together by chemical bonds.

paragraphs: There are two types of bonds; covalent and ionic. Covalent bonds form when atoms share electrons. Ionic bonding is the attraction between oppositely charged ions. Chemical bonds are negatively charged electrons that are pulling protons into each other.

paragraphs: Because atoms and molecules are three-dimensional, it is difficult to use a single method to indicate orbitals and bonds. In molecular formulas the chemical bonds between atoms are indicated in different ways depending on the type of discussion.

paragraphs: A common way chemists describe chemical bonds is through the number of electrons each atom has on itself. Each atom is drawn with the number of electrons as dots or lines to form a maximum of eight. If the electrons form a chemical bond then a line is drawn between the two electrons. The number of bonds developed increases the number of lines.

paragraphs: Bonds can be double bonds or triple bonds


title: Physical property

paragraphs: A physical property is a property, quality or way that an object is. A physical property can always be measured without changing or making the object chemically different or different in a way that would effect its chemical or atomic structure. There are two types of physical properties: "intensive" and "extensive".


title: Concept

paragraphs: A concept is an idea that is applied to all objects in a group. It is the way people see and understand something. The name used to identify a concept (the concept's label) is a "term". For example, the word "Dog" is the term to identify the concept of what a dog is. Everything that a person knows about a dog is the concept of the term dog.

paragraphs: Different terms can be used to identify the same concept. Car and Automobile are synonyms for the same concept. Different languages have different terms for the same concept. This is what makes translation possible. The terms may be different in each language, but the concept is the same. The concept of jumping is the same to a person from England and a person from Italy, but one person uses the term "Jump" to mean the concept and the other person uses "Salto".


title: Kenpo

paragraphs: Kenpo or kempo is the descriptive name of various Japanese martial arts with Chinese origins, and also of hybrid martial arts: the Japanese ones and the Chinese ones. Kenpo is similar to karate and includes more punches and kicks than holds or joint locks of wrestling.

paragraphs: Kempo is a Japanese Martial Arts form. However, unlike Karate, its origins are linked back to China and still have very strong influences from Chinese systems.

paragraphs: It is not uncommon for a Kempo artist to both use traditional Japanese and Chinese style techniques. The difference lies in that because of the Chinese influence, the Japanese moves tend to emphasize more fluidity than most of the other Japanese styles. And because of the Japanese influence, there is a stronger focus for shorter stances and movements than other Chinese styles.

paragraphs: For the same reason that many other styles are sometimes simply listed as "karate", Kempo has long been strongly linked under the general banner of "karate". Kempo is known for its near explosive, short-ranged attacks that often move faster than the opponent can see.

paragraphs: Kempo has a very strong presence in Hawaii, the home base for many of the systems under Kempo that exist today in the United States. Throughout each of the histories of the different groups there are strong signs of the continued merging of both Chinese and Japanese influences.