# LocalizedText

Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_NUKES_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_2
Text:
Nuclear contamination can be "cleaned" from affected tiles by Builder and Military Engineer units. Cleaning a contaminated tile takes 1 build charge. Builder, Military Engineer, and Roman Legion units that are able to clean contaminated hexes will take less damage if they end their turn in such a hex. Any city tiles not directly affected by the nuclear blast will still function normally and contribute to the city’s yield.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_1_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
[ICON_Tourism] Tourism is needed in order to win a Culture Victory. You can generate [ICON_Tourism] Tourism through Great Works, wonders, Holy Cities, [ICON_GreatWork_Relic] Relics, [ICON_GreatWork_Artifact] Artifacts, Seaside Resorts and National Parks. You can boost your [ICON_Tourism] Tourism through [ICON_TradeRoute] Trade Routes, Open Borders, Great People, policies, and shared (or conflicting) late game governments.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a wonder will probably be one of the first ways you start earning [ICON_Tourism] Tourism. Each Wonder provides 2 [ICON_Tourism] Tourism per turn, plus 1 for each era you have advanced past the era in which that wonder was first available. So an ancient wonder like Stonehenge can earn you 9 [ICON_Tourism] Tourism per turn by the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tourism is divided into Religious Tourism (from creating a Holy City and from Relics) and Non-Religious Tourism. Some Civics (Enlightenment) and Wonders (Cristo Redentor) specifically affect the impact of your Religious Tourism.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_2_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Great Works come in five different types. [ICON_GreatWork_Writing] Writing, [ICON_GreatWork_Landscape] Art, and [ICON_GreatWork_Music] Music which can be generated through [ICON_GreatPerson] Great People, [ICON_GreatWork_Artifact] Artifacts, which are retrieved from Antiquity Sites by Archaeologists, and [ICON_GreatWork_Relic] Relics, which are created by Apostles with the Martyr ability when they die in Theological Combat. (Relics can be obtained from other sources such as Tribal Villages, the city-state Kandy, or Jeanne D'Arc when she retires.) Once earned, a Great Work can be housed in a Great Work slot in the appropriate building or Wonder.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Seaside Resorts are a special improvement that can be built after researching the Radio technology. These generate [ICON_Tourism] Tourism based on the tile's Appeal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Designating National Parks can greatly enhance [ICON_Tourism] Tourism and [ICON_Amenities] Amenities. National Parks are designated by Naturalist units, which may be purchased in your city with [ICON_Faith] Faith after researching the Conservation civic.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_3
Text:
1. The tiles must be natural wonders, mountains, or a tile with an Appeal of Charming or better.[NEWLINE]2. All four of the tiles must be owned by the same city.[NEWLINE]3. The tiles must be contiguous and form a vertical diamond shape.[NEWLINE]4. No tile can have an improvement or district.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_4
Text:
You can select a Naturalist to reveal any valid locations on the map. Sending the Naturalist to any highlighted tile will reveal the Designate National Park action button. Clicking on this button designates the National Park and consumes the Naturalist.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_5
Text:
A National Park's [ICON_Tourism] Tourism output is equal to the total Appeal of all the tiles included in the park. Additionally, the city that owns the park receives 2 [ICON_Amenities] Amenities, and the four closest cities in your civilization receive 1 [ICON_Amenities] Amenity.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_6_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
If your civilization attracts more visiting tourists from another civilization than they have domestic tourists, you are culturally dominant over that civilization. A Culture Victory is awarded to the first player to become culturally dominant over all other civilizations.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TOURISM_5_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Some buildings (such as the Art Museum or Archeological Museum) allow you to theme Great Works for a significant boost to [ICON_Culture] Culture and [ICON_Tourism] Tourism. To receive a theming bonus, display [ICON_GreatWork_Landscape] Art of the same type by different artists or [ICON_GreatWork_Artifact] Artifacts of the same era from different civilizations.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_1_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
There are multiple ways to win and lose a game in Civilization VI. It's important to keep an eye on your opponents' progress toward victory as you advance your own civilization. There's nothing quite as annoying as to be on the verge of capturing your last surviving enemy's final city, only to watch helplessly as he or she completes her Mars colony and wins an upset Science Victory.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_2_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_2
Text:
If you've lost your original [ICON_Capital] Capital, but still possess other cities, you can still win another type of victory: Culture, Science, Score, or Religious. However, you cannot win a Domination Victory until and unless you recapture your own original [ICON_Capital] Capital.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_2_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_4
Text:
To win a team domination victory, all team members must control their own original [ICON_Capital] capitals while all other players do not.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
The Science Victory is achieved by the first player to establish a colony on the planet Mars. Once the Space Race is underway, and someone has launched their first satellite, all players will know who is attempting this victory. Players receive bonuses for reaching each milestone along the way to victory. The following steps must be completed in order:


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_3
Text:
Reminiscent of Sputnik in 1957, you may build a satellite to launch into space after researching Rocketry and building a Spaceport. After completing the Earth Satellite project, your satellite will be launched and you will be awarded visibility of the entire map.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_5
Text:
Just like the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, you will send a human to the moon. This is unlocked after researching the technology Satellites, and can be built in any city with a Spaceport. Choose to produce the Moon Landing project to begin this mission. After the rocket has been launched, you will immediately be rewarded a lump sum of [ICON_Culture] Culture.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_7
Text:
Science fiction for now, perhaps – but now you can be the first to send your people to Mars. After researching Robotics, Nuclear Fission, and Nanotechnology, you may build the Reactor, Habitation, and Hydroponics module projects in any city with a Spaceport. Note that more than one Spaceport means parallel production!


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_10
Text:
To win a Team Science Victory, an individual team member needs to complete the standard Science Victory requirements.  Requirement completion is not shared.  Teammates are encouraged to cooperate towards a Team Science Victory using Team Shared Research.  See the Teams page.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
If you aim to be the cultural epicenter of the world, this is the victory for you. The first civilization to possess a total number of [ICON_Tourism] Visiting Tourists that exceeds the [ICON_Tourism] Domestic Tourists of each other civilization in the game wins the Culture Victory.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_2
Text:
[ICON_Tourism] Tourism is generated by [ICON_TradeRoute] Trade Routes, shared (or conflicting) late game Governments, open borders, Great Works housed in your civilization, [ICON_GreatWork_Relic] Relics housed in your civilization, Holy Sites, National Parks, [ICON_GreatWork_Artifact] Artifacts, and wonders.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_4
Text:
To win a Team Culture Victory, an individual team member's [ICON_Tourism] Visiting Tourists must exceed the [ICON_Tourism] Domestic Tourists of all non-team member civilizations.  [ICON_Tourism] Visiting Tourists are not shared between team members.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_5_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
In order to obtain a Religious Victory, you must make your Religion the predominant Religion for every other major civilization in the game. This means not every one of a civilization's cities must follow your Religion, just the majority.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_5_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_2
Text:
While your Religion will spread passively simply by settling near other players, it is your Missionaries and Apostles who offer the best chance at victory.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_5_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_4
Text:
To win a Team Religious Victory, Religions founded by the team must be the predominant Religion in every other civilization.  The dominate Religions can be of any combination as long as the Religions were all founded by team members.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_6_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
In many games, one of the players will win the game by achieving one of the possible victories. However, if no one achieves one of these victories by the year 2050 (or a player-set turn), the winner is determined by the surviving civilization's "score." Points for your score are earned from number of civics, number of population, number of cities, number of technologies, number of "future technologies", number of wonders, military accomplishments, number of [ICON_GreatPerson] Great People, and number of Beliefs.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_VICTORY_6_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_3
Text:
When playing as a team, score is calculated as a summation of the team members' individual civilization scores.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TEAMS_1_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Prior to starting a game, individual civilizations can be placed on teams for a more cooperative experience.  When playing as a team, team members share a variety of gameplay benefits and can win the game collectively.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TEAMS_2_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Team members share a permanent diplomatic alliance.  All the standard alliance rules and benefits apply.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TEAMS_3_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Team members share war status.  If a team member declares war, the declared Casus Belli conditions apply to all team members.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_CONCEPTS_PAGE_TEAMS_4_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Team members partially share research progress. Team members receive a technology boost for every technology possessed by a team member.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_INTRO_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
In Civilization VI, buildings are no longer trapped in your city center, but may sprawl across your territory as part of districts. The map is more important than ever as you are faced with important strategic placement decisions. Campuses and Holy Site’s alike receive special boosts from placement near Mountains, but only the former also benefits from a nearby source of Rainforest.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_CITY_CENTER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The political, cultural, historical, commercial, and geographic heart of a city … at least, that’s the theory. In different areas of the world, as villages grew into towns and towns into cities, different aspects of these symbiotic qualities of civilization became emphasized, usually without forethought. A lot is revealed about a people by wandering around the city center. Rarely do folk actually live in the city center (until the advent of skyscrapers and condos); instead it is the “downtown” where the personality of the city is on display, with its spectacular monuments, grand parks, towering offices, pretentious government buildings, and the like. Often it encompasses the first settled part (the simple homes now leveled by urban renewal) and so is the most historic district of the now sprawling city.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_HOLY_SITE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In god-driven civilizations, it is not unknown for religious “districts” to evolve in some cities, where all the shrines, temples, monasteries, altars, churches huddle together. Often, these seem to spring up on a holy site, the place of some miracle, vision, or revelation. The holiest site in Islam, centered on the Kaaba, is one such. Jerusalem is an epicenter for holy sites. Then there’s the Roman Catholic Vatican, a whole holy city built in the midst of Rome. And folk still make pilgrimages to such sites, such as the Hajj to Mecca or the Sikhs’ daily prayer to visit the Golden Temple at Amritsar or the fervent wish to see the Temple Mount by the Chosen People.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_CAMPUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The term “campus” is the Latin word for “field,” and was first applied to the grounds of what would become Princeton University founded in 1746 AD; the word has since come to be applied to the usually landscaped setting of any institution of higher learning (and, sometimes, to pretentious corporate office complexes). The tradition of the campus as a special district devoted to learning has its roots in 12th Century European schools where instructors and students lived together in a self-regulating, cloistered settlement. Those early campuses with their collective rights and legal privileges were often guaranteed by charters from princes or prelates, with the land “donated” by the town in which they were located.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_ENCAMPMENT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
When an ancient ruler decided he needed a professional army – rather than a bunch of well-meaning farmers armed with pointed sticks – there needed to be someplace to put it when it wasn’t out dealing death and mayhem. Since it wouldn’t do to have the soldiers mingle with average folk, encampments were established to lodge and train the troops. Often fortified, containing all that was necessary for the well-being of the army – barracks, stables, stores, training grounds, and so forth – these encampments could be quite impressive; at the height of the Roman Empire, a standardized military camp could house and care for an entire legion. Indeed, Roman law and tradition forbade any legion from even entering the city – not a bad idea, until Lucius Sulla marched his legions in and declared himself dictator in 87 BC.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_HARBOR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Safe haven, shelter from storms, place to rest and refit, harbor. As soon as men went sailing, the need for harbors became evident. Early civilizations sought out natural harbors, and history has been often defined by where these maritime settlements sat. In time, breakwaters, jetties, seawalls, lighthouses, and drydocks were added, and the seabed was dredged if necessary to keep the harbor open. The harbors were the centers of trade and naval war, the launch point for exploration and end point for immigration. As technology developed, “artificial” harbors could now be built to handle modern merchant ships – such as Long Beach Harbor, created from salt marshes and tidal flats – using concrete, steel, dredge barges, and pumping stations.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_AERODROME_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
An aerodrome is a place where, well, aeroplanes take off and land. Technically, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, an “aerodrome” is “a defined area on land or water … intended to be used wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft.” The first such district to fit that description wholly was located in Viry-Châtillon, a suburb of Paris. In those early days of flight, any open, relatively flat, grassy field would serve...and did. Which meant, unlike the present, that planes could land and take-off in any direction, adjusting for the wind direction and weather conditions, requiring nothing more than a wind-sock or flag. Then someone had the clever idea of adding paved runways, and all that landing and taking-off got far more complicated.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_COMMERCIAL_HUB_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The “commercial hub” of a city usually refers to the downtown business district, where capitalism and greed enliven the city’s finances. Here are the markets, banks and exchanges that make a few folks rich and fuel city growth. In time, evolving from a simple collection of local financiers and corporate offices, a commercial hub might even grow into a “global financial center.” There is even a system for ranking such global centers; until 2013 London held the top spot on the Global Financial Centers Index, when it was supplanted by New York City, both closely followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. The quest for profit is obviously a universal trait of civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_ENTERTAINMENT_COMPLEX_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The “entertainment” district offers family-friendly distractions from the burden of living in an urban environment. In some cities, the entertainment complex is filled with museums and zoos and other edifying sights; in others it is a district of theaters, pubs, music venues and such; and some are the center of the city’s sport with stadiums and indoor arenas. Whatever the form – be it the Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal, or Te Aro District in Wellington, or even St. Pauli in Hamburg – every civilized city has one to engender happiness and pride in its citizens, imparting a sense of social identity that the countryside can’t.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_THEATER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
As the urban middle-class took on aspects of being “cultured” in the late 19th Century, it demanded more refined entertainments than bear-baiting and bare-knuckle boxing. Theater districts were the answer, usually clustering around existing theaters and museums patronized by the upper-class. Thus New York City’s Broadway district saw a number of new music halls and restaurants open immediately after the Metropolitan Opera House relocated to West 39th and Broadway in 1883. In the earlier 1800s, London’s West End theater district expanded outward from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. In time, all those that feed off theatrical talent were also found in the theater districts: recording studios, radio studios, agents, producers, and so forth.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_INDUSTRIAL_ZONE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
An industrial zone (sometimes euphemistically termed an industrial “park”) is where the “heavyweight” manufacturing and shipping takes place in modern civilization. Long before the Industrial Revolution, it was common to locate the most noisy, odoriferous, and dangerous workshops – the tanners, smelters, slaughterhouses, etc. – outside the city walls. No one wanted to live near those. Inevitably, heavy transport evolved to carry raw materials in and finished products out of these districts; today industrial zones are nexus for highways, railroads, airports, and seaports. The infrastructure grew with the zones: warehouses, power plants, water towers, pipelines, and communications networks. And the industrial zones kept growing as industry grew; Upgrader Alley outside Edmonton, for instance, covers 318 square kilometers (some 123 square miles).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_NEIGHBORHOOD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Mr. Rogers lived in an idealized one, as do Big Bird and Cookie Monster. In truth, neighborhoods are rarely such functional social networks with friendly values, aspirations, and culture. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, for the first time more people lived in cities than the countryside; given that transport was limited and slow, overcrowded and unsanitary tenements grew in places like London, New York, and Berlin so the factory workers and office clerks could be near their place of employment. Then came the telephone and automobile; suddenly those middle-class wage slaves could escape the teeming slums and ghettos and move to the suburbs. By the 1880s, London was surrounded by planned “estates” such as Wembley Park and Kingsbury Garden Village … and soon so were most other industrial cities.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_AQUEDUCT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The remains of aqueducts – man-made watercourses – have been found scattered about ancient settlements around the world … Egypt, India, Persia, Greece, Azteca, and especially across the once-Roman lands. Over 415 kilometers (about 258 miles) of aqueducts brought fresh water to the metropolis of Rome for drinking and bathing. These Roman aqueducts were marvels of engineering (considering the times) and often roofed, so also serving as bridges where they crossed ravines and waterways. Although there were some health issues involved in the design of aqueducts (notably the sometime use of lead to line them), in general a supply of relatively-clean water was a boon to any town hoping to grow into a city.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_SPACEPORT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The image of a spaceport (or cosmodrome) as a gateway to the stars is evocative of adventure and discovery, of the next “great frontier” for civilization. The reality is much more prosaic: a place to launch (and maybe eventually land) rockets, much like a seaport for ships or airport for planes. Like those, a spaceport consists of derricks, cranes, administration buildings, control centers, fuel tanks and the working infrastructure. The world’s first permanent facility for orbital, manned launches was Baikonur – which had started as a Soviet military test range – in 1955 AD. Spurred by that the United States soon converted the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cape Canaveral to launch sub-orbital and then orbital rocket test flights … and the space race was on.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_ACROPOLIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In ancient Greece, acropolis meant, quite literally, “upper city.” And in Athens, Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and elsewhere, that’s exactly what it was – a portion of the town built upon an elevated area, often a hill with steep slopes, that was eminently defensible. Should the outer walls fall to invaders, a final stand could be made in the acropolis. In time, in many places, the old acropolis became the nucleus of a sprawling new city. During the Archaic Period in Greece, as the cities grew and the threat of barbarians lessened, these old upper districts underwent urban renewal, with temples, theaters, forums, palaces, government buildings and the like replacing the humble houses, markets, barracks and squares that once occupied the summit.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_BATH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In old Rome, the thermae were large bath complexes; while many Roman villas and palaces had private, heated baths, the thermae were public, open to all harried, dirty citizens who needed to relax and get clean. Although layout varied greatly from Roman city to Roman city, in general each had an atrium for relaxation and exercise, a caldarium (hot bath), a tepidarium (warm bath), a frigidarium (cool bath), as well as apodyterium (dressing room) and the like. The really nice ones also had a sudatorium (moist steam bath) and laconium (dry steam bath). The women’s baths were almost as elaborate, and more highly decorated with murals and mosaics. After a long day at the Colosseum watching the slaughter, there must have been nothing as luxurious as a visit to the local thermae.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_HANSA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
From the Old French meaning “company of merchants,” the Hanse was a voluntary confederation of merchants and traders organized in a town for the protection and facility of commerce and transport. In the mercantile ports of the Baltic and North Sea these manufacturing and trading guilds became quite powerful and influential in the 13th Century, with their headquarters in complexes also known as the hansa. The largest hansa districts not only housed the administrative offices of competing guilds, but also storerooms, workshops, markets, banks and anything else that could turn a profit. The first such appears to have been built in Lubeck c. 1159 AD to facilitate trade between Western Europe and the resource-rich areas of northern Russia.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_LAVRA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, a lavra (such as found at Mount Athos in Greece or Neamț in Romania) is a cloistered monastery of cells for hermits with a central church and/or rectory. Perhaps the most famous is the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (trust the Russians to name a holy place after a warrior) in St. Petersburg where many eminent but dead Russians are buried – besides Nevsky, there’s Euler, Suvarov, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dostoevsky and others. Believed to have its origins in the early 4th Century AD, the first lavra seems to have been a settlement of some 600 hermits around Nitria in the Egyptian desert. In the strict Eremitic tradition, these hermit-monks lived a secluded life devoted to prayer, often accompanied by vows of silence, chastity, meditation and/or fasting. Further proof of the lengths to which some of the faithful will resort to be saved.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_MBANZA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Mbanza is Kongolese for “city,” or in some cases simply “settlement.” By the time the Portuguese arrived in central Africa, M’banza Kongo was already a large city, rich from trade and craft manufacturing, but most of the population lived in the valleys that surrounded it in residential neighborhoods – perhaps as many as 100 thousand people. While these small towns might have a market and a workshop, the important things – churches, palace, schools, clinics, and tax offices – were located in the hilltop capital. They were linked to M’banza Kongo by several roads up the slopes, and these were quite crowded at times such as feast and tax days. All this in 1648 AD according to the visitor Francesco da Roma. So not only did the Kongolese give civilization suburbia but also “rush hour.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_STREET_CARNIVAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Many cities have street carnivals – especially during the Christian season of Lent – but only Brazilians really know how to cast care to the wind during such festivals. Parades, concerts, performances, masques, and public banquets (along with liberal amounts of alcohol) fuel the celebrations. According to stuffy postmodern sociologists, Carnival as a social institution provides more than just a respite from the seriousness of urban life, it serves as a release for natural impulses that threaten the social order and allows marginalized groups to focus attention on social conflicts by embodying them in “senseless” activities. Whatever the truth of this interpretation, Rio de Janeiro’s is the world’s largest street carnival, hosting upwards of two million participants a day in recent years.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_DISTRICTS_PAGE_DISTRICT_ROYAL_NAVY_DOCKYARD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Officially designated “HM Royal Dockyards” until the late 1960s, the British Navy maintained a string of facilities around the world where its commissioned ships could be based, overhauled, refitted and repaired (if things afloat went wrong). The first, a shipbuilding yard as well as a dockyard, was designated such at Portsmouth in 1496 AD, just in time to bedevil the Spanish and French for the next couple centuries. The first outside the confines of Great Britain: the Royal Dockyard at English Harbor in Antigua in 1728. Through the Dutch Wars, Napoleonic Wars, colonial wars, and two world wars the Royal Dockyards did (not to mix metaphors overly) yeoman service. But with the reduced role of the Royal Navy and the erosion of the empire, in the latter part of the 20th Century those Royal Dockyards that remain open have been largely converted to accommodation and training of naval personnel.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_INTRO_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Features are elements of terrain or vegetation that may appear atop the hex's terrain. (For example, a Grassland hex might have Woods or Marsh on it.) Features modify a hex's productivity and might also alter the amount of "movement points" (MP) a unit expends when entering the hex. Features may also provide defensive combat bonuses or penalties to a unit occupying the hex.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_BARRIER_REEF_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Meandering about off the coast of northeast Australia, the 2300-km (1400-mile) Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure built by living organisms  and can even be seen from orbit. Built by billions of coral polyps over a half-billion years, it now comprises some 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands, and is home to an incredible diversity of fauna – from 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises to 215 species of birds. Unfortunately pollution, overfishing, tourism, and climate change are threatening the future of the reef; coral bleaching is accelerating and scientists estimate that unless drastic steps are taken, by 2030 AD the Great Barrier Reef will have suffered “irreversible damage”.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_CLIFFS_DOVER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The famed White Cliffs of Dover stand guard over the narrowest stretch of the English Channel facing the continent of Europe. Composed of chalk streaked with black flint, the cliffs reach a height of 110 meters (350 feet) in places. On a clear day, the cliffs can be seen from France. This natural wonder owes its fame as much to its symbolic value as its natural beauty, which may not last forever (either one); the cliff face is weathering away at about a centimeter a year, and occasionally large pieces break off … thus, visitors are urged to remain well back from the edge (it just wouldn’t do to have an Englishman fall off the White Cliffs of Dover).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_CRATER_LAKE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Crater Lake, called at times “Deep Blue Lake”, and “Majesty Lake,” is a sacred site to local Klamath groups, who historically attributed the lake to a battle between the sky god Skell and the underworld god Llao. Formed some 7700 years ago when the stratovolcano Mazama in the North American Cascade Range collapsed, Crater Lake is a deep caldera lake. Since no rivers flow into or out of the lake, the fresh waters there are the result of rain and snow; scientists estimate that the water is completely replaced only every 250 years. Not the best spot to refill a canteen when hiking the glorious Cascade trails.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_DEAD_SEA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The Dead Sea – known to the Hebrews of antiquity as the “Sea of Salt” and the Arabs as the “Sea of Death,” both appropriate – is a salt lake in the Levant, and the lowest land elevation (420 meters below sea level) on Earth. With a salinity of 34.2 percent, it is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet … hardly a garden spot. But it was one of history’s first health resorts, much favored by Herod the Great, and was thought to offer putative therapies for the likes of psoriasis, rhinosinusitis, cystic fibrosis, and osteoarthritis. Mining the shore region has supplied all sorts of trade opportunities, from asphalt for mummification to potash for fertilizer. Mankind has a knack for finding the silver lining in anything … even the Dead Sea.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_EVEREST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Mount Everest - called in Tibetan "holy mother," or Qomolangma, is the world’s tallest mountain, standing 8848 meters (29029 feet) above sea level, and part of the Himalaya range. It is one of the “hidden valleys of refuge” designated by the 9th Century Buddhist savant Padmasambhava, and killer of over 250 would-be conquerors since 1922. In 1802 AD, the British launched the Great Trigonometric Survey of India using giant theodolites to determine the highest peaks in the world. A half-century later, in 1858, the Surveyor General of India, Andrew Waugh, announced conclusively that Peak XV (that is, Everest) was the highest. And adventurers have been trying to climb it ever since... “Because it’s there.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_FLOODPLAINS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Floodplains are low-lying areas adjacent to rivers, and prone to flooding each year (or more often) and hence fertile from soil deposits and some of the most productive farmland known. Perhaps the best known are those along the Nile, which helped ancient Egypt become one of history’s greatest civilizations.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_FOREST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The bounty of woods has been crucial in the survival of more than one tribe, providing timber, animals, and plants in such variety as to stagger the imagination. Sadly, civilization has too often chopped them down to make room for farms, roads, and suburbs … and then there are those greedy corporations, looking to grow rich from pelts, logs, and metals.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_GALAPAGOS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Islas Galapagos were first visited by a European when the Spanish Bishop of Panama, Fray Tomás de Berlanga, was blown off course on his way to Peru in 1535 AD. No one paid much attention again to the isolated equatorial archipelago until 1835 when the HMS Beagle, with a young naturalist named Charles Darwin aboard, happened by while charting approaches to Pacific harbors. Darwin wandered about Charles Island and noted that the tortoises there differed from those on other islands in the chain. Once he could cut them up, Darwin also found, despite distinct variations, a single species of finches on the islands. Thus originated the Origin of the Species … and mankind’s understanding of just about everything biological (not to mention spiritual) would never be the same afterward.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_ICE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Ice is impassable to ships (more than a few have come to grief, just ask the crew of the Titanic), and not much fun for other travelers. Except maybe the polar bears.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_JUNGLE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Rainforests are places of extreme biodiversity, making them difficult to pass, but treasure troves of scientific and medical knowledge.  Rainforests in Asia, Africa, and South America have provided all sorts of wealth and food, and now expensive pharmaceuticals to modern civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_KILIMANJARO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In the Maasai language, Kilimanjaro is known as Ngaje Ngai, the “House of God.” Composed of three volcanic cones, the highest reaching 5,900 meters (19,340 feet) – making it the highest point in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world – the Kilimanjaro massif lies in northeastern Tanzania. Considered a stratovolcano, two of its peaks (Mawenzi and Shira) are extinct, while its highest (Kibo) is dormant; its last eruption dates back approximately 150 thousand years. After multiple failed attempts, the top of Kibo was finally reached in 1889 AD by the German Hans Meyer and Austrian Ludwig Purtscheller, who confirmed that Kibo did indeed have a crater. Despite the subsequent traipsing about on it, Kibo wasn’t actually mapped until 1964, based on aerial photography done a few years earlier.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_MARSH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Covered with herbaceous rather than woody plants, these freshwater wetlands are generally found along slow-flowing rivers or on the banks of lakes. Home to an incredible variety of valuable things, plant and animal, in some civilizations, towns in marshes and swamps grew into great cities: St. Petersburg, New Orleans, and the Brazilian ones in the Pantanal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_OASIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The stuff of legends, and vital for those wandering about the desert, oases sit atop a source of clean and plentiful water. Tales have been told of these wonderful outposts in an otherwise barren and lifeless land … and battles fought to control them.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_PANTANAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The Pantanal is considered the world’s largest tropical wetlands, spreading out to as much as 195 thousand square kilometers (about 75 thousand square miles) of water, bog, quagmire, and muck. It is, of course, home to an extremely diverse bio-system of flora and fauna, including some 1000 species of birds and 480 species of reptiles. For centuries, the Bororo lived happily among these, but by the end of the 1800s they were decimated by disease and Brazilian explorers, slave traders, prospectors, and settlers. Now several Brazilian cities are located within the Pantanal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_PIOPIOTAHI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Piopiotahi, known by settlers as Milford Sound, was named by Maori after the now extinct piopio bird - is a magnificent natural fjord on the coast of Te Waipounamu - the South Island of New Zealand. Carved by glaciers, the New Zealand fjord’s cliffs rise vertically from the dark waters while waterfalls fall as much as 1000 meters down the faces. Ignored by early explorers such as Captain James Cook, the fjord was given its English name follwing an obscure spot in Wales by the first to sail into it. In 1888 the MacKinnon Pass was located, giving access to the fjord along the Milford Track, one of the best walking trails in the world. Now as many as three-quarter million visitors a year tramp and sail about the sound, making it the most famous tourist destination in the country.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_TORRES_DEL_PAINE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The sheer vertical spires of the Torres del Paine are named for their color - "paine" meaning "blue" in Tehuelche. The feminist and correspondent Lady Florence Dixie described the three granite towers as “Cleopatra’s Needles” in her 1880 book; she has the dubious distinction of being the “first foreign tourist” to the region. Sadly, she wasn’t the last, for the Torres del Paine Park has suffered three major forest fires since 1985 due to careless backpackers. Fortunately, the three peaks of the Paine Massif, standing 2850 meters above sea level, are surrounded by lakes and glaciers and were relatively untouched by the flames. The park itself encompassing the Torres del Paine peaks was established in 1977 by the Chilean government, and the following year the park was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_TSINGY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Hardly a vacation spot for the kiddies, Tsingy de Bemaraha is a karst topology of jagged limestone formations, undercut with sinkholes and caves, on the island of Madagascar. Together with the adjoining Strict Nature Reserve (a lot of animals make their home among the intermixed spires and forests, including eleven species of lemurs), it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 AD. The labyrinth of vertical rocks – in places 300-foot high and all razor sharp – is hardly easy to reach (a five-day journey from Madagascar’s capital city) and not for the faint-hearted. Naturalists that have ventured into Tsingy de Bemaraha have had to crawl out seeking medical aid. It's only to be expected when tsingy is the Malagasy word meaning “where one cannot walk barefoot.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_FEATURE_YOSEMITE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Densely forested with pine and flanked by the granite summits of El Capitan and Half Dome, 13-kilometer (eight miles) long Yosemite Valley lies in the western Sierra Nevada. Yosemite was originally called Ahwahnee by its original inhabitants, who called themselves the "people of the Ahwahnee valley," the "Ahwahnechee." But in a story that is all too familiar to the American West, the drive for resources (gold, in this case) brought European-American settlers, backed by the might of the army. In 1851, during a larger-scale war between California natives and the United States Army, the Mariposa Battalion attacked the Ahwahnechee inhabitants, led by their chief, a man called Tenaya. While Ahwahnechee remained following their defeat, the newly "empty" (at least, according to the state) region was to become a scenic park, the first of its kind in the United States, owing to its natural beauty and ancient stand of giant sequoia trees, and tourists and artists (including Thomas Ayres) flocked to the site. Ahwahnee's beauty remains, as do the Ahwahnechee, although the history of its founding is often overlooked underneath the land's natural beauty.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_COAST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Coastal waters (unless, of course, it’s a lake) beckoned early civilizations to venture out from land, where they found all sorts of riches and good things to eat. Thus, for millennia men had no need (or feared) to sail out of sight of land.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_DESERT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In general, deserts are remarkably useless, except to those creatures and man who have learned to live there. The true deserts of the world – the Sahara, Gobi, Mojave, Great Victoria, and such – have been swallowing men and civilizations since history began.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_DESERT_HILLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Even less appealing than flat desert, about the only thing desert hills are good for is defending in a battle. This feature has made them the holdouts for groups such as the Bedouins, Tuaregs, Berbers, and other desert-dwellers.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_DESERT_MOUNTAIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
As far as history is concerned, mountains are inhospitable obstacles to movement, and provide little to no benefit to a civilization … other than as barriers against invasion. Thus, they are appealing only to photographers, hermits, and mountain-climber sorts.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_GRASS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Grasslands, blessed with rich and fertile soils, have been the heart of many civilizations, providing the food and open frontiers so necessary for expansion. Unfortunately, every barbarian also realizes this, and so grasslands have been fertilized with blood over the centuries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_GRASS_HILLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
One way to protect all those riches was to put troops on top of hills when attacked, for (until bullets and bombs were invented) holding the high ground was a pretty good strategy. Thus, in time, hills were dotted by civilization’s forts and castles, with fine views over the surrounding countryside.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_OCEAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The deep waters of the oceans scared mankind for much of history, braved only by the likes of the Polynesians and Vikings. It took advanced sailing technology to brave these waters - and today, we fly across oceans in a matter of hours.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_PLAINS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
A plain is simply a large, flat bit of terrain, with soil not as rich as fertile grassland but not as dry as desert. Thus, left alone (before all those tractors show up) plains tend to be perfect for large herds of animals such as bison, antelope, and horses.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_PLAINS_HILLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Hills in plains tend to be landmarks … just think of the highest point in Iowa, Hawkeye Point, at a stunning 1670 feet (510 meters). Given the flatness all about, these do give nice lines of sight for long distances over the endless, boring vistas.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_SNOW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
History offers very few examples of human survival in snow-covered lands in cold climates. With a few exceptions, such as the Inupiat, humans have had a hard time making a living in the far polar regions.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_SNOW_HILLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Very picturesque, very invigorating, beloved of skiers and ski jumpers and other fools. Snow on hills is very nice, and a lot of fun … unless it never melts.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_TUNDRA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Tundra is the semi-frozen land found in the world's colder climates. Nobody builds cities in the tundra unless they’re desperate for resources (tundra tends to overlay extensive mineral and petroleum deposits) … or they've got nowhere else to go.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_FEATURES_PAGE_TERRAIN_TUNDRA_HILLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Hills in tundra lands tend to be barren lumps, for the annual melt carries away the soil and seedlings. However, through history, most towns built in the tundra were put on hills … which helped keep the wolves and bears out of the streets.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_INTRO_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Governments let you customize your civilization to match your play style. They offer different combinations of slots that elect different types of social policies, as well as offering distinct bonuses. Social Policies represent the way you choose to govern your people. Will you be an authoritarian ruler, sacrificing a little freedom for discipline and increased productivity? Will you organize your civilization to have a strong military, or will you concentrate your efforts on expanding [ICON_Culture] Culture and borders? There are multiple types of policies, each of which may be slotted into a corresponding slot in a given government.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_CHIEFDOM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the last century, anthropologist Robert Carneiro defined chiefdoms as “an autonomous political unit comprising a number of villages … under the permanent control of a paramount chief.” Departing from more egalitarian groupings, chiefdoms could range from rule by a council of elders to an individual of a noble lineage to a shifting sort of political organization depending on what the society was doing at the moment (e.g. waging war or remaining peaceful). Because of the sheer variety of small-scale political forms, the term has outlived some of its usefulness, but still might be used to describe groups such as the 19th-century Nuer (in East Africa), who had certain elite lineages of princely chiefs, or the 17th-century Powhatan confederacy (in Virginia).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_CHIEFDOM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
The advantage of chiefdoms was the ability to deal with populations in the abstract. One did not need to personally know each individual if one had a system of hierarchy - you might describe yourself as a noble, warrior or commoner, rather than simply as yourself. This, then, allows for larger-scale organizations to form, like cities or "civilizations." Of course, as James C. Scott notes, early societies were largely unfree, as large-scale agriculture demanded particular kinds of labor - namely, serfdom or, in its worst form, slavery. As populations expanded and this need for increased abstraction did as well, chiefdoms grew along particular lines: princely lineages became monarchies, charismatic personalities became autocrats, and councils of elders became oligarchies.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_AUTOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The Greek historian Herodotus describes a debate between three would-be Persian rulers. One advocates for democracy, another for an oligarchy, but Darius counters each. In a democracy, ill-informed masses may fall under the sway of a charismatic, short-sighted leader (as they continue to do to this day), and in an oligarchy, one oligarch inevitably triumphs over the others. Rule by one person, Darius argues, is ideal, so long as that one person is the best person. "Seeing that using the best judgement he would be the guardian of the multitude without reproach," Darius argues. Further, Darius proposes - perhaps unsurprisingly - that he should be the person for the job: "whence arose the liberty which we possess, and who gave it to us? ... Having been set free by one man, [we] should preserve that form of rule." Convenient for Darius (to be fair, Herodotus is producing a piece of Greek anti-Persian propaganda here, so his account must be taken with a grain of salt).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_AUTOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Rule by the judgement of one means that the palace is able to muster resources – serfs or soldiers – for whatever seems important at the time to the autocrat. Some of the great wonders of civilization – the Sphinx, Great Wall, Taj Mahal, Hermitage, etc – have been the fancy of autocrats. Some of the best armies of civilization have been those of autocrats (useful for keeping an eye on their people as well as invading neighbors). .


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_CLASSICAL_REPUBLIC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Cleisthenes’ Athens, pre-Caesar Rome, Carthage, as well as a host of less-famous civilizations have followed a republican model. In a republic, power rests with selected individuals who represent the citizenry (usually some limited sector of the citizenry) and rule in accordance with some mutually agreed-upon law. A generalized "republic" might refer to governments such as Iceland's "Althing" - a medieval parliament, or to the Tlaxcala Nahua state - a pre-Colombian free state in Mexico that had a representative assembly, including (shockingly, for Classical Greek minds) commoners' representation. But the word "republic" draws most clearly to mind the Mediterranean, and especially the Roman Republic (509 BC-27 BC), with its complex system of assemblies and magistrates, all drawing upon the idea of a "civic" sector - a representative sample of particular populations, as well as some degree of checks against the rise of autocracy. Of course, the latter didn't work out for Rome.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_CLASSICAL_REPUBLIC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
These notions of civic pride and civil society re-emerged during the Renaissance to influence modern European political theory. Here, as Europe incorporated ideas from antiquity and engaged with the Muslim world, new alternatives to the divine right of kings emerged. City-states especially in Italy embraced republican ideas - and writers such as the political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli provided an updated blueprint. But in so doing, the notions of civic virtue and the institutions of the Classical Republic had changed, moving forward towards something new.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_COMMUNISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In theory more of an economic system, rather than a system of government, communist theory rests on the tension between work and value in society. In Karl Marx’s writings, Marx presents a problem: work creates value, but workers ("the proletariat") are paid the minimum wages required to keep them fed and keep them around. All profit goes to those who own the factory (or farm, or company stock, or, for Marx, the "means of production"). For many in the late-19th and early 20th-century, this sounded like theft - the fruits of their labor were being stolen by factory owners ("the bourgeoisie") who did no work themselves. And thus, the idea of communism was born - the "dictatorship of the proletariat", meaning the rule by those who worked, and the free access by workers to the fruits of their own labor. This was not anything like an autocratic "dictatorship:" ideally, "the proletariat" would eventually mean everyone, where workers "gave according to ability and received according to need" and participated democratically in government (though functioning democratic rule in major communist states is hard to find in history). In practice, Communist states struggled with how to implement such a vision. While Marx's model used industrial production as its base - what should agricultural societies do? Communism saw religion as a hoax used to keep the lower classes in their place, but should be done with those workers who felt a deep attachment to their beliefs? Communism saw the struggle as one that transcended national boundaries and ethnicities, but what about people who couldn't accept international unity? In answer to these questions, Marx's ideology became fractured and fragmented. The Soviet Union embraced an idea that a select group - the Communist Party - should lead the charge in implementing these changes (creating the "Marxist-Leninist" tradition, as we see now in places like Vietnam), and, later, Joseph Stalin re-introduced nationalism and an idea of a charismatic leader to a previously anti-nationalist ideology. And as the Soviets progressed, they found themselves having more and more to suppress dissenting voices with harsher and harsher tactics. Elsewhere, Mao suggested that agricultural peasants - not industrial workers - should be at the heart of a movement. Building upon Stalin's legacy, other leaders in places such as North Korea built totalitarian societies that could be indistinguishable from the fascist ideologies that they purported to oppose.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_COMMUNISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Communism became an attractive option for many nations emerging from European colonialism. Whereas capitalist nations promised the "Third World" that membership in an international community dominated by Western companies, communists offered self-reliance and resistance to that order, albiet at the cost of bringing national politics in line with the USSR. But nationalism was important, too, in such emerging bodies politic - it was national sentiment that led to the overthrow of colonial regimes. So the Cold War was born: capitalist versus communist international orders that tore apart any nation that sought to go a middle way, and often fostered authoritarian regimes that bore little resemblance to their democratic ideals - the worst horror carried out under the name of communism might be the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist Cambodian regime that sought to reset society to a utopian level, and ended up carrying out a genocide until (also communist) Vietnamese forces intervened and ended the slaughter. Communist parties still exist, often as minor political parties, in many countries, and many nominally Communist states have embraced some form of capitalism (China and Vietnam, most notably). At least on paper, currently-existing communist states include Cuba, China, Vietnam, and Laos, with North Korea's "Juche" blend of communism and totalitarianism often also included.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_DEMOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Literally "rule by the ordinary people," a democratic government is one in which a large number - ideally all - of the population are involved in making policy decisions, either directly or through elected representatives. What constitutes "the people" is always a fraught issue - while states such as the USA extend voting rights to most, this has not always been the case, as African-Americans, indigenous groups, and women for long were barred from participation in civic life. Democracy is a "liberal" system, if by liberal here we mean the notion of a free individual exercising individual opinions and thus leading to a collective good (and not in its common use as "not conservative"). Ideally, such a system ensures civil liberties, active participation, human rights, and a rule of law. However, as Herodotus reminds us (and dictators ever since have reinforced), the majority may not have its own interest at heart. While freedom of speech, freedom of political expression, freedom of belief, and freedom of the press all sound wonderful, these can bring discord, instability, apathy, paralysis, and violence in the face of challenges. On the other hand, such individual freedoms can lead to bursts of artistic and scientific creativity, economic abundance, and free expression.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_DEMOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Early democracies were generally “direct” democracies, in the sense that the franchised (i.e. those who could vote – generally excluding women, slaves, those without property, etc) voted on each important matter in assembly. But as the population grew, this proved impractical. Thus, most democracies evolved as did the Roman Republic, with the citizens (however determined) electing representatives to voice their collective views and guard their collective interests. Democracies have ranged from large-scale bureaucracies where the collective will of the people (i.e. the government) manages a great deal of society, to systems where enfranchisement is limited almost to the point of an oligarchy, but each shares the idea that the collective expression of individual will leads to a greater good.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_FASCISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Fascism – authoritarian nationalism – evolved in the chaos caused by the First World War and the world-wide Great Depression. While it technically refers to the Fascist Party, a political group in Italy, we use the term to refer to governments such as Imperial Japan, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain, and Nazi Germany. While in its focus upon the figure of the leader, fascism resembles an extreme form of modernity, it is ultimately a futurist ideology, seeking to reshape society anew. In the early 20th century, the nature of war, society and technology underwent such extreme changes that fascist movements sprang up in many countries (including democracies such as Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Germany and others) around the globe. In some, fascist political parties managed to seize power through guile, bloodshed or even elections: Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and Nationalist China, where Chiang Kai-shek considered fascism to be the “practical” solution to rapid modernization. Other nations, notably several across South America and Asia, embraced varieties of fascist ideology.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_FASCISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Marked by militarism, nationalism, modernism, repression, and opposition to Communism, fascist governments embody totalitarianism, in which the state seeks to control the hearts and minds of its citizens via propaganda or outright repression. In terms of economics, fascist systems incorporate elements of both capitalist and socialist systems, in that they mobilize private industry for state (read: military) might. With the defeat of the Axis in World War II, fascism ceased to be a present danger to the world order, but fascist regimes and tendencies continued elsewhere (and continue in places today that emphasize a strong leader and military might), and fascist political movements can be found nearly every place, waving the flag of racist ethno-nationalism, monarchy, or rabid national pride.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_MERCHANT_REPUBLIC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the early Renaissance, a number of small, wealthy, trade-based nations embraced republican ideals, notably across Italy and the Baltic. In these “mercantile republics,” the leaders – usually a council of merchants headed by a doge or mayor – were elected by the citizenry with the primary duty of increasing the city-state's collective wealth. Thus, while military affairs were of importance, these were usually focused on opening or guarding trade routes. And diplomacy was centered on such matters as tariffs, customs duties and financial matters. In short, merchant republics had capital lead the way, and gave a pragmatic approach to governing, although occasionally they were not immune to misguided visions of glory, as when the aged Doge Dandolo joined the Fourth Crusade and helped sack Constantinople.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_MERCHANT_REPUBLIC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
In general, these mercantile republics arose in regions of Europe where feudal control by an absolutist monarchy was minimal or absent completely. In the Holy Roman Empire, 51 “free imperial cities,” many later composing the Hanseatic League, established chartered mercantile republics. To the east, two Russian cities – Novgorod and Pskov – pursued republicanism into the 15th Century until Muscovy put an end to any pretensions of independence. But it was in Italy that mercantile republican aspirations reached their culmination, with powerful city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence and others dominating the landscape until the Napoleonic Wars subsumed their greed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_MONARCHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Monarchy rests on the idea of sovereignty vested in a single individual, from a single (often divinely-attributed) bloodline – a king, queen, prince, etc – ruling until abdication or death (or, in the case of a revolution, often both). The successor to all this power is usually determined by heredity, next in line in the (more-or-less) direct royal lineage. Monarchies come in many flavors - Khmer kings reckoned their origins to the union of a Brahmin king and a naga [water dragon] queen, and Majapahit monarchs claimed descent from the Hindu gods. But there are varieties of monarch. An absolute monarchy is one in which there are no restraints on the wielding of power (think the German Kaiser), whereas in a constitutional monarchy (think the British queen), the ruler’s power is somewhat constrained by law … no “off with his head” without a trial, for instance. In an electoral monarchy, the ruler is elected, usually by some form of special convocation (such as that for the Holy Roman Empire).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_MONARCHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Absolute monarchies work as well as the monarch and the bureaucracy built around him or her, provided the ruler is as gifted as Elizabeth I, Frederick the Great or Qin Shi Huang. Otherwise, the nation tends to slip in stagnation. And for the truly inept, revolution looms: Charles I, Louis XVI, Tsar Nicholas II, and a long list of others. Rather more stable and successful are constitutional monarchies, many of which began as elective monarchies. Most of the world’s current monarchies are constitutional, with the ruler serving in a symbolic, traditional, patriotic and propaganda role. Which is not to say that their role is not influential or important ... just look to the Queen of England or Emperor of Japan. Certain other monarchs (Thailand, Swaziland, Bhutan) excersie a bit more control.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_OLIGARCHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The Greeks coined the term “oligarchy” to mean “rule by the few.” Whether distinguished from the hoi polloi by family ties, religious or military prestige, personal achievements, or other attributes – Aristotle used the term to refer to rule by the rich, and Plato in The Republic argued for rule by an educated elite – the oligarchs determine what issues should be on the political agenda, debate these, and then decide “for the good of the people.” Depending on the qualifications imposed to be an oligarch, oligarchy can be efficient, or it can generate a viper's nest of intrigue.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_OLIGARCHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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The classic examples of oligarchy are found in ancient Greece – Corinth, Sparta, Thebes, in fact all the major city-states… except the democratic Athenians. However, recent works by political scholars such as the German sociologist Robert Michels argue there is an “Iron Law of Oligarchy” whereby all forms of government tend inevitably towards oligarchy. Even in representative democracies, the practical demands of governance results in the concentration of political power in a small group, in a monolithic bureaucracy, and in rigorous means to control dissention. Which may be a good thing, as the historian Spencer Weart claims that oligarchies rarely make war on each other.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_THEOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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“As God Wills” is the mantra for a theocracy, whatever the religion. A theocracy is, simply, a form of government in which some deity is the immediate authority, usually personified by human representative(s) who interprets the “Word” for the common folk. In a pure theocracy, the civil leader has a direct connection to God – Moses for the Israelites, Muhammad for the Arabs, Joseph Smith for Deseret, the Pope for Vatican City, the Ayatollah for the Islamic Republic of Iran, etc. However, most of civilization’s examples of “rule by God” are in fact quasi-theocracies, in which the ruler is a demi-god or can claim a divine commission to rule. In such, the notion of separation of church and state is a heresy. And everyone knows what happens to heretics.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_GOVERNMENT_THEOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was believed a demi-god, as was the emperor of the Aztecs. In other cases, the ruler’s connection to the divine was somewhat more tenuous … but effective in insuring secular obedience nonetheless. Due to their nature, theocracies tend to have a high level of patriotism (hence, answering the call for war is a matter of faith as well as civic duty), to be well organized as a temple, and enjoy higher productivity (again, as a matter of faith). The downside is that they tend to be rigid and slow to react, and hence prone to collapse in the face of crises.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_AESTHETICS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Aesthetics, focused on the nature of art and good taste, was a product of early philosophers concerned with the creation and appreciation of beauty (forget that foolishness about “eye of the beholder”). By the late Middle Ages, aesthetics had evolved to the point where it did not encompass the functionality or utility of a thing, but rather only its beauty of form, color, contrast, and other aspects. Hence, those soaring Gothic cathedrals. Just before the Renaissance got rolling – and all sorts of folks got involved in judging aesthetic appeal – Medieval thinkers were already developing general theories on proportion, perspective, and harmony for all the arts.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_AGOGE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In Attic Greek, “agoge” meant “rearing” – the rigorous education and training mandated for all Spartan males. Besides cultivating loyalty to Sparta, the state schools included instruction in military arts, pain tolerance, hunting, dancing, singing, public speaking, and all manner of things that make for a warrior. There was also a form for Spartan girls, although the curriculum was somewhat different (intended to prepare them to give birth to warriors). The practice of agoge waned in the 3rd Century BC throughout Greece, but was revived in some places after the Roman victory in the Achaean War.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ARSENAL_OF_DEMOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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A year before Pearl Harbor, in October 1940 AD, President Roosevelt used a radio broadcast to the American public to promise military supplies to beleaguered Great Britain … while the United States stayed out of the actual fighting against all-conquering Nazi Germany. During that broadcast Roosevelt used images of America as the “arsenal of democracy” to argue against the isolationist and non-interventionist doctrine the country had followed since the end of the bloody First World War. In effect, rather than take on the Axis directly, Roosevelt pledged American aid as the principle arms supplier for the Allied effort in total war. Although Roosevelt broke a number of international and American laws to do so, it was pledge he kept.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_BASTIONS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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A bastion is an angular bulwark projecting out from a fortified wall, usually with two faces and two flanks; from the flanks missile fire could be directed along the wall against attackers that would otherwise be screened from above. Although more common in the Middle Ages, early examples can be found that were constructed during the Roman Empire. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, and later – when those annoying barbarians started pushing past the borders – added bastions to several of these (such as the Aurelian walls of Rome and Theodosian walls of Constantinople).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CARAVANSARIES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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As caravan routes expanded across the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa, the need for places where pack animals and human handlers could pause for rest, shelter, provisions, and safety – for a fee, of course – grew. Public caravansaries were complexes built outside the walls of towns and cities; private ones usually took the form of walled enclosures in the middle of nowhere with storerooms and sleeping quarters, stables, and kitchens. The largest could accommodate hundreds of camels, mules, or horses. The oldest recorded caravansaries were found along the Persian Empire’s Royal Road, stretching some 1600 km (1000 miles) from Sardis to Susa.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CHARISMATIC_LEADER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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German sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic authority as “resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him.” That pretty well sums it up, for charismatic leaders shape the lives of their people, for good or bad, or sometimes both simultaneously.  “Charisma” comes in two sorts: 1) a compelling charm that inspires obedience, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent for leadership. In ancient days the latter tended to be the case (at least, those barely civilized folk thought so); recently, it’s been all about charming the media.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CHIVALRY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Before it was reshaped by Christianity, our romantic notions of chivalry were introduced to Europe by the Moors of Iberia through their tales of knightly adventure for the sake of glory and love; once 'The One Thousand and One Nights' was translated into French in the 12th Century, there was no putting the genie back in the bottle. More often idealized than practiced, Charlemagne’s chevalerie (“horse soldiery”) believed chivalry to include a code of conduct that elevated loyalty, honor, forbearance, hardihood and largess above all other knightly qualities (like trampling the godless). All those things that nutcase Don Quixote was raving about.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_COLLECTIVE_ACTIVISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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While liberal (in the economic sense) economists proposed the idea that people were strongest when working in their individual interest, sociologists pointed to the power of rallying around a common idea, a common good. In the latter half of the 20th Century, a number of activist leaders (Gandhi, King, Mandela, etc.) called for non-violent collective actions – boycotts, rallies, strikes, sit-ins, marches, petitions, educational programs, and such – to effect social, economic, political, and environmental changes. In industrial nations with semi-democratic governments, these have proven effective (sometimes). Collective activism has now gone viral, with social media and the internet now encouraging public support (financial, if nothing else) for these movements.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_COLLECTIVIZATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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As a result of a looming famine and two million ton shortfall in grain in 1928 AD, Stalin claimed the grain was being hoarded by kulaks. At a plenary session of the Central Committee in November 1929, the Politboro embarked on a program of collectivization of agricultural production in the Soviet Union … by force. Between 1929 and 1940, over 91% of all agricultural production was “converted” into collective farms (kolkhozy); the rural, peasant-owned farmland was subjected to industrialization and mass production to feed the exploding urban population and supply cash exports (since most capitalist countries wouldn’t trade for anything else with Russia). Although more efficient and controllable, collectivization never saw Soviet agriculture reach pre-Revolution production levels.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_COLONIAL_OFFICES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Once national governments began taking a hand in (and taking over) overseas colonies founded by trading companies, military adventurers, and religious fanatics, the ad hoc administrations of such distant outposts needed a firmer hand. Thus, the Spanish formed colonial offices, and were soon emulated by the other colonial powers. In the late-1500s AD the Spanish monarchy formed the Council of the Indies (although it didn’t assume its final form until a century had passed), a hierarchical organization to rule over the colonies since the king couldn’t be bothered. Initially two viceroyalties were established (two others later); Spanish viceroys had judicial and legislative control of their territory, and – more importantly – had direct access to the colonial treasury.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_COLONIAL_TAXES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Mercantilism held that great powers needed colonies to serve as a “cash cow” to maintain a healthy home economy; what better way to squeeze cash out than through taxes on all and sundry, taxes that their citizens at home often didn’t have to pay. Whereas most of the colonial powers – Portugal, Spain, France (to a small extent) and others – levied taxes overseas, it was the British who faced the wrath of their ungrateful colonists over the practice. The Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Revenue Act, and finally the Tea Act contributed to the subsequent revolution … so perhaps colonial taxes weren’t the best policy after all.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_COLONIZATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The urge to procreate is a basic human trait, as true of civilizations as of individuals. In early times, these were usually established by maritime city-states on distant (relatively) shores; the Greeks and Phoenicians scattered them around the Mediterranean coasts in what they considered uninhabited lands. The Romans created colonial cities on the fringes of their empire across Western Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. Early Chinese dynasties pursued a similar policy. Through the troubled Middle Ages, the only people to undertake large-scale settling were the foot-loose Vikings, but once other Europeans began crossing the oceans they all started planting colonies all over the globe … and squabbling over who got what.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CONSCRIPTION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Military conscription is found in most ancient civilizations without professional armies (distinguished from the ilkum and corvee systems, which tended to be devoted to more pacific activities). Rather, levies of more-or-less able-bodied and more-or-less trained “recruits” were necessary in times of unrest. Although armament and ability varied considerably, such levies generally fought as infantry under their king or his designates. However, early wars didn’t last long; it was in everyone’s interest to get the battles over with in time for harvest, as most of the conscripts were farmers. But, at least, they were cheap.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CONTAINMENT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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As the Cold War opened, the United States opted for a policy of “containment” of the Soviet Union, the “evil empire” of communism. George Kennan, a career Foreign Service officer, formulated the policy which became the basis of the Truman administration’s response to threatened communist expansion. It was controversial, to say the least. Eisenhower refused to intervene in the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, but Johnson used it to justify American involvement in Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger rejected it completely in favor of working towards détente with Russia and China through expanded trade and cultural exchanges. Reagan returned to the strategy by sending aid to a variety of anti-communist insurgents, notably in Afghanistan, leading to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CORVEE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Although the term refers to the medieval practice of paying one’s taxes through unpaid labor – typically a certain number of days each year – “corvée” has been around since ancient Egypt. From roughly 2600 BC onward, the Old Kingdom used such “taxes” to build pyramids, temples and monuments. Imperial China had a similar system in place; Qin Shi Huang and subsequent emperors imposed it for public works such as the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. By the Middle Ages, corvée was embedded in the feudal system, with tenants required to perform construction work on the private lands of their lords. Thus, throughout history the gentry had nice homes and tombs while everyone else had hovels.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CRAFTSMEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The craft guilds of the Middle Ages not only protected craftsmen (and their customers from shoddy work), but insured that there would be ever more craftsmen. An aspiring craftsman would pass through various levels of training and responsibility – from apprentice to journeyman – before being tasked with producing a “masterpiece.” If that was acceptable, the candidate would be a master craftsman, capable of producing the finest of works in their craft, be that jewelry or carpentry. As new crafts evolved across medieval Europe, new craftsmen swelled the growing cities: cobblers, barbers, brewers, curriers, farriers, apothecaries … a nigh endless list of the middle class.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_CRYPTOGRAPHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Cryptography prior to the modern age was primarily a matter of encryption, often simple transposition or substitution cyphers, making a message nonsense without a key. Like a game for bright children. By World War II, however, cryptography was mostly a matter of mathematical theory and computer science … hardly child’s play. Cryptographic algorithms were designed around computational assumptions and integer factorization. At England’s Bletchley Park facility during World War II, research culminated in Colossus – civilization’s first electronic, digital, programmable computer – built to decrypt the Lorenz cipher. Now nations, corporations, and hackers devote immense blocks of computing time and analysis to cryptosystems … creating them and breaking them.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_DEFENSE_OF_MOTHERLAND_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Although the term “Motherland” has been adopted by a number of groups to refer to their homeland, it is most closely associated with Soviet Russia and especially the defense of Russia against the Nazi German invasion during World War II. During the course of that struggle, Russia lost some 26.6 million people, 16 million of them civilians – roughly 13.7% of its 1940 population. The spirit of defiance and extreme sacrifice by the common people against foreign invasion is credited with the victory. These days, in Russia 23 February has been set aside as “Defense of the Motherland Day.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_DIPLOMATIC_LEAGUE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The ancient Greeks were enamored of diplomatic leagues – loose and limited alliances between city-states, cobbled together for a variety of purposes. In the Archaic Period, the Amphictyonic League was a religious association of tribes. By the end of the 7th Century BC, Sparta was the most powerful city-state in the Peloponnese; to counter its influence some 150+ cities formed the Delian League in 477 BC under the leadership of Athens. It spent most of its existence fighting off Persian invasions. Around 338 BC, Philip II of Macedonia formed the Hellenic League … and Alexander conquered (briefly) the known world with it. The Achaean League existed between 280 and 146 BC, formed to resist the Romans. Didn’t help.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_DISCIPLINE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In Caesar's Gallic Wars, he describes how the Gauls fought - each man charged at the enemy, desperate to prove his own might and worth. And the Gauls were intimidating fighters: massive, brawny men, some entirely naked. But the Romans, if they were prepared (and not ambushed) slaughtered them, because each soldier saw himself not as a potential hero, but as part of a unit. With the rise of professional armies, military law became codified and more convoluted, although punishment hasn’t changed much – between 1942 and 1961 AD 160 members of the American military were executed under the auspices of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for various crimes, including desertion, mutiny, and murder.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ECOMMERCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In 1979 AD, Michael Aldrich demonstrated the first online shopping system, the beginning of electronic commerce (or e-commerce). From that primitive launch, e-commerce now uses computer networks (notably the internet) for such activities as electronic funds transfers, online marketing and sales, virtual shopping, supply chain management, electronic data exchange, inventory management. E-commerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. In 2012, e-commerce sales topped one billion dollars for the first time, and has expanded significantly since to blur the boundaries between conventional and electronic commerce even more.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ECONOMIC_UNION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Under the impetus of globalization, smaller nations have found themselves unable to compete with the larger states in terms of capital, labor, production, and raw materials. To that end, a number of economic unions – trade blocs composed of a common market and a customs union, often with some sort of unifying currency – began to coalesce in the 1980s. Member nations agree to common product and business laws, free cross-border movement of goods and services, joint external trade regulations, and so forth. A number have been cobbled together over the past few decades: CARICOM, the Eurasian Economic Union, Mercosur, but undoubtedly the biggest and most influential is the European Union created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 AD.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ELITE_FORCES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Since the Hittite and Assyrian kings formed palace guards, every professional army has included elite forces, specialized military units trained to conduct unconventional, high-risk combat missions. And they usually have really spiffy uniforms. Elite units came to prominence in World War II, especially in the totalitarian nations; Germany employed the likes of the Brandenburger Regiment and Skorzeny’s SS Jager Battalion to devastating effect, while Fascist Italy had several specialized naval units. Since the war, units such as the Russian Spetsnaz and American Green Berets have carried on that tradition of ruthless efficiency (and distinctive uniforms).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_EXPROPRIATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Expropriation – as opposed to eminent domain, which usually involves some form of compensation – is the government taking private property for a purpose deemed to be in “the public interest.” Often this is land, but in the 20th Century it became a major element of nationalization, as governments sought to redress perceived wrongs or stabilize their economies or lessen foreign influence (or all three, as in the case of the Mexican expropriation of American oil company holdings in March 1938). Communist policies in the 1920s and across Eastern Europe after World War II saw the expropriation of virtually all foreign holdings in those countries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_FEUDAL_CONTRACT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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For commoners not serfs nor indentured servants, villeins – not to be confused with “villains,” although that may be mere terminology – were the vassals enjoying a feudal contract with a manor lord. They were legally free but subject to the lord’s authority. Under the feudal contract, the lord had the duty to provide a fief for his villein, to protect him, and to provide justice in the king’s court for him. In return, the lord demanded fealty and the right to services attached to the contract (military, labor, taxes, and such). To violate the oath of fealty was a felony, like a breach of contract but with stiffer penalties.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_FINEST_HOUR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
On 18 June 1940, Prime Minister Churchill addressed Parliament on the state of the war against Nazi Germany, given over in large part to praising the Royal Air Force’s battle against the Luftwaffe. Although the phrase “their finest hour” did not refer specifically to the RAF, it has come to be most closely associated with its pilots. Churchill noted, “it is a very great pity that we have not got an Air Force at least equal to that of the most powerful enemy within striking distance of these shores.” While Churchill did not call for increased investment, this speech served as the impetus for the British government to devote most of its production and training resources to planes and pilots for a year.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_FIVE_YEAR_PLAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The five-years plans of Soviet Russia were a series of economic development guidelines devised by a state planning committee appointed by the Communist Party; the first was initiated in 1928 AD, and the last was in operation when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Fulfilling the plan was the primary motivating factor for a Soviet bureaucracy that became unwieldy attempting to do so. However, the initial successes of the early plans motivated other communist nations, such as Mao’s China and Castro’s Cuba, and even some capitalist states to adopt this method of promoting and coordinating economic development. Most have sensibly abandoned such a restrictive and often unrealistic approach.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_FREE_MARKET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In a “free market” system, the prices for goods and services are set by consent between sellers and buyers dependent solely on the forces of supply and demand, rather than a government, monopoly or other controlling authority. There are two pillars to a free market: voluntary exchange and private property. Compelling intellectual arguments in favor of private ownership of all things would not be made until John Locke did so in the 17th Century. A century later Adam Smith would offer the most concise argument (he is considered by normally dour economists as the “father of free market economics”) for a laisse-faire economy, which he proposed benefitted everyone (greed being good) in a civilization equally.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_FRESCOES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The term fresco literally means "fresh" in Italian, and describes a style of painting that boomed during the Italian Renaissance. More than simply a picture painted on top of a wall, frescoes are created by applying water and color to wet plaster, allowing the pigment to absorb and dry into the plaster itself. Though perhaps the most famous fresco is the Sistine Chapel ceiling, created by Michelangelo, this technique can be found throughout history. One of the earliest examples of frescoes can be dated to c. 2000 BCE by the Minoans. Though it has fallen out of common fashion, a style similar to frescoes, known as Mexican Muralism, was rekindled in the 20th century.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_GOD_KING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Not satisfied with being mere kings, some ruling dynasties took on the mantle of divinity to insure obedience, prestige, and infallibility. Egyptian pharaohs were generally believed to be incarnations of the god Horus. In imperial China at times the emperor was considered the “Son of Heaven,” ruling under the “Mandate of Heaven” with his commands believed sacred writ. Some Roman emperors were declared gods by the Senate, but generally after their death, so godhood didn’t interfere with their duties. Although all this godliness was eventually replaced with the divine right of kings to rule, it has echoed throughout the course of civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_GOTHIC_ARCHITECTURE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Distinguished by ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, pointed arches, overlaid tracery … and gargoyles, lots of gargoyles. Gothic architecture dominated construction of monumental European buildings from the mid-12th through the 16th centuries. Arising from Romanesque styles, it was the architecture of choice for cathedrals, abbeys, castles, palaces, guild halls, and all sorts of buildings meant to impress and awe the commoners. With cavernous interiors and soaring rooftops, these were perfect for the pomp and pageantry kings and bishops so loved. Sadly, a slew of Gothic revivals spanned the mid-18th through early 20th centuries, largely for stunningly ugly university structures, replete even with gargoyles.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_GRANDE_ARMEE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
At its peak just prior to the invasion of Russia, Napoleon’s Grande Armée numbered some 680 thousand men, drawn primarily from France but also including contingents from 11 other nations (95 thousand from Poland alone). It has been widely acknowledged by military historians to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, and under the command of Napoleon and his generals, tactically superior to anything it faced. The Grande Armée was originally the force Napoleon had assembled for the invasion of England but renamed in 1805 AD and put to other uses – like conquering most of continental Europe. It would serve as the template when most of the powers decided they too needed a large, national army.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_GRAND_OPERA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
As if opera isn’t enough (and it certainly is for many folks), for a period from the late 1820s through the 1850s “grand opera” was all the rage in France. The genre was marked by four or five acts, large casts and orchestras, lavish costumes and stage effects, with plots based on dramatic historical events. The first of these monumental productions was La Muette de Portici by Daniel Auber; set in 1647 revolutionary Naples, it ends with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the heroine throwing herself into it. There was not a dry eye in the theater after it premiered, and for nearly two generations European audiences flocked to grand operas.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_GUNBOAT_DIPLOMACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Gunboat diplomacy – or, in Teddy’s words, the “Big Stick” policy – is the pursuit of foreign policy objectives through conspicuous demonstrations of overwhelming military force, with the threat of open hostilities underlying the display by the more powerful nation. Roosevelt himself described it as “the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis.” The term came into popular usage during the period of European imperialism, as the colonial powers used the presence of warships to force concessions (e.g. Perry's Black Ship, the Paknam Incident, etc.).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_HERITAGE_TOURISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Heritage tourism, defined by the National Trust as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and peoples of the past.” Well, more-or-less authentic, since it doesn’t include the bad food, dysentery, bugs, lack of sanitation, and other dangers of that past. Think Colonial Williamsburg today, rather than in pre-Revolution America. Heritage tourism is booming, especially in the United States as people seek to find their “roots” and legitimize their present. Rather than museums, these tourists seek operating railways, interactive battlefields, working farms and ranches, native villages … all emulating a period in the past for which they hanker.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ILKUM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Conscription was first instituted during the reign of Hammurabi (around 1750 BC). Under this ilkum system, the Babylonian Empire could call upon anyone to serve in the army during time of war; during the plentiful times of peace, his subjects were instead required to provide unpaid labor for other activities deemed important – building projects, harvesting crops, producing trade goods, and anything else the “good of the state” might require. (In return, the conscripts gained the right to hold land.) Over the following centuries, various other empires instituted similar systems, eventually evolving into the feudal system so popular with the peasants of medieval Europe.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INDUSTRIAL_RELOCATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
During World War II, the largest relocation of industrial plants was undertaken by the Soviet Union following the Nazi invasion; in November 1941 AD alone, 1503 industrial facilities, large and small, were moved eastward. In later stages of the war, both Germany and Japan also undertook relocation of industrial plants, though not on such a scale. Since the war, “industrial relocation” has come to refer to moving industry to countries with lower wages or more lax labor or environmental laws. While there are some benefits to the developing country – tax revenue, technology transfer, increased employment, and such – there are also some distinct, readily imagined disadvantages - as the 2013 disaster at the unregulated textile factory at Rana Plaza attests.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INSPIRATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Some new ideas come from trial and error; others, from inspiration (artistic, imaginative, or perhaps divine). Whatever the source, inspiration has brought about many notable advances in scientific knowledge and technology. Commonly known as the 'Eureka' moment (as any mad scientist knows), the term comes from a story about the Greek polymath Archimedes’ sudden epiphany c. 250 BC concerning how to prove whether a crown was pure gold or not. Inspiration cannot be called upon as desired; in fact, a recent study by Mareike Wieth and Rose Zacks suggests that insight and innovation are greatest when an individual is not at his/her best. So there’s hope for us yet.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INSULAE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Once people came pouring in on all those roads that led to Rome, they had to live someplace in the urban sprawl; thus, the 'insulae,' a kind of apartment building built of stone and concrete (which the Romans invented), evolved as housing for the lower and middle class plebs. Five or six stories high (although some were larger), the ground floor was taken up by shops with residential apartments upstairs … the best being those nearest to the ground. But the insulae were prone to collapse, and fire was an ever present danger. Augustus and later Nero set construction standards; nevertheless, by the 4th Century it is estimated that there were around 42,000 to 46,000 insulae in the city.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INTEGRATED_SPACE_CELL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The 2007 anti-satellite test by China, in which it shot down one of its own aging weather satellites, sent shock waves through the Indian government. Even though both the United States and Russia had the capability to shot down satellites in orbit, India now faced a doomsday scenario, for it depended heavily on its satellite systems for military, commercial, and public services. This led India to proclaim the Integrated Space Cell operational in June 2010 (although it may have been in place long before), the largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites – 11 operational thus far – in a “defense architecture” for a space war.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INTERNATIONAL_SPACE_AGENCY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
An “International Space Agency” doesn’t exist yet … but it’s only a matter of time. Given the creation of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, established to promote peaceful international cooperation in the exploration (and, likely, exploitation) of space, as well as the “utilization of space sciences and technology for sustainable economic and social development” of its member states, it may well be under UN control. Multinational space organizations such as the ESA (European Space Agency, established in 1975) will also likely form a vital element of any such future agency. And, no doubt, one of the first projects will be assumption of managing the International Space Station, currently a joint project of five participating national space agencies and protected by a web of intergovernmental treaties and agreements.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INTERNATIONAL_WATERS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
“International waters” is the term that refers to the notion that certain bodies of water transcend (supposedly) national boundaries and are free to passage by all; while it can be applied to some lakes, rivers, and swamps, in general it is used in relation to oceans and seas. While all nations can claim sovereignty over their territorial waters extended out 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers), they have no jurisdiction past that limit. Although the concept of “freedom of the seas” dates to the 17th Century, it was not codified until several United Nations conventions were passed in the 1960s.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_INVENTION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Since the fall of Rome, things hadn’t changed much in Europe – although to the east, the Arabs had certainly been busy inventing all sorts of things. The old knowledge and technology of the ancients defined the European world. But with the Renaissance, as the Church’s strictures on curiosity loosened, all sorts of tinkerers like Leonardo da Vinci and Johannes Gutenberg began inventing “new” things. Too, many of the Islamic inventions, from the crank-connecting rod to the guitar to the toothbrush to the vertical-axle windmill, seeped into Europe by way of the Moors. All this inventing would lay the foundations for the Scientific Revolution still to come.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LAISSEZ_FAIRE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Laissez-faire economics is the capitalist’s holy grail, for all private transactions are completely free from any sort of government involvement or oversight – including tariffs, subsidies, trade regulations, limits on monopolies, price controls, labor affairs, or any other such nonsense. The debate on laissez-faire economics dates back as far as the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties in China when officials and merchants argued for centuries on how much government involvement was necessary or justified. In the modern age, as multi-national corporations became ever more influential, the debate intensified, with Adam Smith acknowledging deep moral ambiguities and John Maynard Keynes condemning laissez-faire economics outright.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LAND_SURVEYORS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Once the idea of ownership of the land was ingrained in humanity, methods for determining boundaries were necessary. In ancient Egypt, a rope with knots could be used with simple geometry to re-establish boundaries after the annual floods along the Nile. Land surveyors were also at work around those old monuments tourists are now enamored of; Stonehenge was laid out by surveyors using pegs and ropes, as was the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Chinese Liu Hui described methods of surveying in works published c. 263 AD. But it was the Romans who first acknowledged land surveying as a profession; there, surveyors were known as Gromatici, so named after the Groma instrument dating back to ancient Mesopotamia.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LEVEE_EN_MASSE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In response to reverses at the hands of the First Coalition, the revolutionary National Convention of France decreed a "levée en masse” in August 1793 AD, a “requisition” of all able-bodied, unmarried men between the ages of 18 and 25. While there had been conscription in many countries previously, the French approach meant that unprecedentedly large armies could be raised and put into the field … giving French generals the numbers to pound their many enemies into defeat. The levée in times of crisis was a major development in the history of modern warfare, leading to increasingly larger forces with each successive war, culminating in the enormous armies of the First and Second world wars.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LIBERALISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Although liberalism as a political philosophy would come to the fore later in the “Age of Enlightenment,” its roots lie in the Glorious Revolution in England of 1688 AD. As a result John Locke and Algernon Sidney were among several English philosophers who argued for a new worldview founded on the principles of liberty and equality, that government’s primary purpose was to protect its citizens’ liberty, lives and property – even from itself. Thus, spurred by the Renaissance and Reformation, liberalism promoted freedom of speech, the press, religion, markets, and the freedom to enjoy most of the deadly sins. Conservatives have had their knickers in a twist ever since.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LIGHTNING_WARFARE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
“Lightning” warfare, better known by the German term blitzkrieg, is a strategy that concentrates motorized forces to create a high-speed breakthrough of an enemy’s lines. Using combined arms and tactical air power, it seeks to keep an enemy off-balance, penetrating deep into the rear and attacking units flanking the breakthrough. The effects could be devastating, especially to morale (soldiers don’t like to be surrounded). Pioneered by Heinz Guderian and perfected by Erich von Manstein and Erwin Rommel, so effective was the blitzkrieg in Poland, France, and Russia that the Soviet Union and Western Allies adopted it to ultimately defeat Nazi Germany.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LIMES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Limites (the plural of limes) delineated the fortified frontiers of the Roman Empire, signified by fortified cities and military outposts. Hadrian’s Wall was often referred to as the Limes Britannicus; the far eastern edge facing the desert was the Limes Arabicus … the Limes Germanicus, Limes Alutanus, etc., etc. The military bases of the limites were designated as castra (fortresses of the legions) and castella (bases guarded by auxiliaries, usually local native infantry). Although the empire always looked to its defenses, the period between 40 and 280 AD was the highpoint of building limes. Indeed, Roman writers of the time presented the limites as a sort of sacred border beyond which civilized people did not go.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LITERARY_TRADITION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Every linguistic group has developed a literary tradition; in part, it is what distinguishes one civilization from another – the passing down of stories which give meaning to human experience. Early literary traditions were oral (such as the tales of Homer), but once writing progressed beyond daubing pictographs on walls, the various literary forms were immortalized, and no longer had to be memorized to be passed on. In ancient China, its oral poetry was collected in works such as the Shijing and Songs of Chu. And the Western literary traditions were largely set by the early Greek and Roman authors, and by the Bible.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_LOGISTICS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the late 16th Century AD, the size of armies in Europe increased dramatically, and forces of 100 thousand were not unheard of (although these reported numbers may have included the horde of camp followers as well). Given the state of transport and roads in the Renaissance, in general when operating in enemy territory an army would forage (i.e., pillage) to maintain itself. But this didn’t supply much that was now necessary – munitions, siege guns, uniforms, medical supplies, booze, and all the other things that keep soldiers content. Thus, the baggage trains that attended armies grew; during the Thirty Years War for some mercenary armies this amounted to a wagon for every 15 men.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MACHIAVELLIANISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
By definition “Machiavellianism” is “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft” (in psychology it is defined as one of the dark triad personalities, but that’s another thing). In his works The Art of War (1521 AD) and The Prince (1532), Machiavelli advocated that effective rulers routinely employ espionage, deception, and assassination to insure their interests … which were the interests of their state, of course. While a number of kings took his advice to heart, it was Queen Elizabeth’s “spymaster” (actually he was the Secretary of State) who developed the best Renaissance spy network, employing linguists, scholars, authors, engineers, soldiers, and diplomats to seek out and analyze secrets (both internal and external).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MANEUVER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Once warfare moved past the stage of small masses of men just having at it in a club-thumping melee, maneuvers gave the more nimble warriors a distinct advantage in battle. The concept of using rapid movements to keep the enemy at a disadvantage is almost as old as the idea of war itself. Tactical maneuvers are intended to be used on the battlefield, while “maneuver warfare” covers all that leads up to forcing an enemy to fight at a place or time they’d rather not. Both types came to prominence with the advent of chariots and cavalry … and their importance hasn’t diminished since.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MARITIME_INDUSTRIES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In some ancient places, men took to the seas, exploring, fishing, trading, and fighting. And in some of those places, maritime industries – the construction and outfitting of ships – haphazardly arose, making these men somewhat better at this exploring, fishing, trading, and fighting. Although the Egyptians built the first sea-going ships, the Minoans were the first great seafarers of history, trading as far away as Sicily while their King Minos conquered the other Aegean islands. The Phoenicians built a maritime “empire” of loosely-allied city-states. In far India, the Mauryan Empire (4th Century BC) developed the earliest known state organization for shipbuilding, and “invented” the science of navigation.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MARKET_ECONOMY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Whereas for several centuries laissez-faire economics operated, by the mid-19th Century such free-wheeling markets faced – for a variety of reasons – opposition; governments in the industrializing countries intervened on the behalf of workers and the general populace, enacting factory standards and consumer protection laws and breaking up monopolies. Arose “market economies,” in which purchase and production of goods are based on principles of supply and demand. Market economies can range from regulated markets to various forms of state interventionist models. In reality, neither market economies nor free markets exist in “pure” form, since throughout the 20th Century, governments regulated most businesses to varying degrees.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MARTIAL_LAW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Martial law is that legalism by which military law “temporarily” supersedes civil law, declared by a government whereby it doesn’t have to worry about such niceties as civil rights, habeas corpus, civil courts (civilians defying martial law can be tried by military tribunals), and can impose curfews, travel bans, rationing, and such at will. In effect, all power is transferred to the military, and is removed from the previous executive, legislative, and judicial authorities (some of whom may well be imprisoned themselves). There are many potential reasons for imposition of martial law “to restore order”: following a coup (as in Thailand in 2006) or a natural disaster (the San Francisco earthquake), perhaps during labor unrest (the Colorado Coalfields War) or war (as in Hawaii from 1941 to 1944).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MEDINA_QUARTER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
All Arab cities with some history left have their medina – an urban residential quarter typically walled, with narrow and maze-like streets, in some places less than a meter (39 inches) wide. To a follower of Islam, the Prophet decreed that a just and ordered city was obligatory, and so the design of medinas reflected communal values, often containing at their heart fountains, mosques, and markets. Because of their winding, narrow streets, they also served as defense against invaders… and they are also free of auto traffic, and usually of motorbikes, and even bicycles as well.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MERCHANT_CONFEDERATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
More commonly referred to as a commercial league, a merchant confederation was created to protect the economic interests and diplomatic privileges of merchants in cities and kingdoms along trade routes. Although such confederations rarely had official standing, several – such as the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London (founded in 1407 AD) and the even more powerful Hanseatic League (formed c. 1356) – had enormous influence. These, and others, could dominate the trade in a specific commodity or across a specific region for lengthy periods. These merchant confederations would reach their peak during the 15th and 16th centuries, but rapidly decline afterward.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MERITOCRACY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Plato, among others, advocated meritocracy as the most sensible form of public administration … in his case that rulers should be philosopher-kings whose right to rule came from their intellect and insight. Simply put, a meritocracy is a system in which the most talented and worthy gain advancement in the government bureaucracy, rather than, say, those who are close personal friends of the current ruler (or congressman), or those from a certain tribe or caste or religion. Most civilizations swing back and forth between some form of meritocracy and some less sensible method of choosing those who run things. This pattern repeats itself until the sun explodes and all life is wiped off of the face of the planet.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MILITARY_FIRST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
When the United States entered World War II, it was woefully unprepared, and it took months to put America on a war footing. As a result of the Cold War, the administration adopted an amorphous strategy of “Military First” for spending and research, leading to an informal alliance between military and corporate interests in influencing public policy. In his farewell address in January 1961, President Eisenhower first referred to the “military-industrial complex.” Currently, U.S. military expenditures account for about 47% of the world’s total arms production, and in 2011 the United States spent more on its military than the next 13 nations combined. “Military First” indeed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MILITARY_ORGANIZATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
A highly-rigid, hierarchical military organization first came into widespread use with the Roman Army. Until the so-called Age of Reason however, throughout the Middle and Renaissance periods, most military organizations were rather ad hoc affairs. The rise of mostly professional, national armies changed that. And professional armies needed professional officers, not just those appointed to command due to connections or wealth. The first national academies opened to fill the military hierarchy – the oldest the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1720 AD – offering training for aspiring officers. An established military organization provided opportunities for the gifted graduates to rise rapidly through the ranks … and have the chance to be brilliant. Occasionally, that even happened.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_MILITARY_RESEARCH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
While there were some instances of government military research before, the funding of science with military applications has had a transformative effect on research since the opening decade of the 20th Century. World War I was termed the “chemists’ war” as scientists funded by their governments raced to develop more and more lethal chemicals and countermeasures against the newest gases; meanwhile physicists were building bigger and better guns, bombs, and machines. World War II marked an even greater investment in military innovations, culminating in that mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. The sheer scale of military research funding since has had a profound effect on civilization … especially as some (but not all) new discoveries also have civilian applications.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NATIONAL_IDENTITY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
With emergence of a “public sphere” and an integrated national economy in various 18th-Century European civilizations, people began to identify with their country at large rather than the smaller town or province in which they resided. National symbols, anthems, flags, myths, and traditions were elevated in the citizenry’s collective psyche as being somehow important. The convulsions of the American and French revolutions augmented this development with widespread appeals to patriotic nationalism. Prussian-born Johann Herder was the prophet of this new creed and originated the term “nationalism” to describe an inborn pride in one’s origins, language, and culture. Then came the many wars of nationalism, and a new level was added to the chauvinism.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NATIVE_CONQUEST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The first wave of European colonization began in the early 15th Century AD when the Portuguese established trading posts along the coast of Africa on their way to the Far East. But when the Spanish discovered the Americas, soon followed by the Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, Swedes, and anyone else who could sail the oceans, the settlement of “empty” lands took on another tone. For, of course, these lands weren’t empty, but full of natives that had been there for millennia. When the new arrivals clashed with the locals, it turned out poorly for the natives, thanks to Europeans guns, cannons, horses, and diseases.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NATURAL_PHILOSOPHY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
From the days of Aristotle, natural philosophy was the study of the physical world, the first systematic “science.” Every other science – biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and all – has its roots in natural philosophy, and most of Aristotle’s predecessors such as Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus centered their beliefs on the natural order. Aristotle’s conceptions of the laws that govern the real world, set down in the Corpus Aristotelicum (the bits that survived), prevailed into the Middle Ages. Although the empirical study and understanding of everything would separate into various scientific disciplines, it all began with natural philosophy. And now the boundaries between the disciplines are getting blurry again.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NAVAL_INFRASTRUCTURE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
If a civilization was going to have a naval and merchant fleet, it needed a lot of other things – docks, slips, wharves, warehouses, breakwaters, lighthouses, not to mention all those stevedores, shipwrights, harbor pilots, and others – to float ships and keep them afloat. Without this naval infrastructure, navies don’t last long. In the Middle Ages, for the first time, some kingdoms devoted substantial planning and funds to their naval facilities. For instance, the threat of Ottoman expansion brought the Venetian Republic to establish extensive shipyards (including the famous Arsenal), while the Fatimid Caliphate and Byzantine Empire needed efficient naval infrastructures to keep killing each other for two centuries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NAVIGATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Early “navigators” plotted their course by the stars; although hardly an exact science, by the European Medieval Age navigation had been elevated to one of the “seven mechanical arts.”  This was due in part to a few inventions to help mariners keep from going astray (although they tended not to leave sight of land). Since estimating speed and direction by the seaweed going by was rather inaccurate, the Han Chinese devised the mariner’s compass around 206 BC. The next great advance came in the Middle Ages when Arabic sailors improved the kamal, used for celestial navigation, into the astrolabe. Once mariners began keeping detailed records, the first nautical charts – portolan charts – were drawn … and finding home got more assured.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NEW_DEAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The Great Depression devastated the world. In some countries it led to the rise of totalitarian governments (Mussolini’s Italy, for example); in others, it led to political realignment (Britain) or the rise of Communist parties (France). In the United States, the Depression led to the New Deal, a series of domestic programs championed by then-President Franklin Roosevelt. These laws, executive initiatives, and presidential decrees aimed at relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery for American industry, and reforms to economic oversight. Although most of the New Deal programs have faded away, some of the alphabet soup remains in place: FDIC, FCIC, FHA, TVA, SEC along with the most extensive of all, the Social Security System.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NOBEL_PRIZE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Not wanting to go down in history as the “merchant of death” (no matter how justified) that a French newspaper referred to him as, Alfred Nobel in his will left about 94% of his great wealth to the establishment of five prizes to be awarded annually. These prizes – in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace – were to be given to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” On the fifth anniversary of Nobel’s death, in December 1901, the first were presented. Since then, the Prize has become the highest honor a scientist can receive, bringing recognition, academic advancement, and new research opportunities. To date (and increasing each year), some 870 individuals and 23 organizations have won Nobel Prizes.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_NUCLEAR_ESPIONAGE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Nuclear weapons tremendously shift the balance of power in favor of the countries that possess them. Nuclear espionage is the unauthorized trading of any confidential information relating to nuclear weapons – such as design and production methods. Even as the first nuclear weapon was being developed by America, this form of espionage was present. Klaus Fuchs, a theoretical physicist who worked at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, was caught delivering nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. The delivery systems of these weapons advanced and so too did the methods of securing those advancements – and yet the sale of nuclear secrets continues, allowing smaller nations to covertly affect their standing in the balance of power.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_ONLINE_COMMUNITIES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Where “community” was once defined by place, now it is defined by common interests, common concerns, or cat videos. Virtual communities have proliferated with the expansion of the internet, notably via portable devices. Through chat rooms, forums, e-mail lists, and social networking services, many people now have thousands of “invisible friends” … along with, or instead of, the real ones next door. The trend towards belonging to an online community is spreading; as of 2013 AD, there were 20 major virtual communities with over 100 million members each.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PATRIOTIC_WAR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Every war fought by the people is, in a sense, a “patriotic war” (after all, other than religion, it is the most effective way to convince folks to kill each other). But in the 20th Century AD, the term patriotic war has designated those conflicts where, according to Communist doctrine, the proletariat has risen to defend itself against a foreign threat. More generally, it refers to a war to defend the homeland, or in this case, the “Motherland.” First applied to the general resistance by the Russian peasantry to Napoleon's invasion in 1812, it was more generally used to refer to the costly defense of Russia against Germany in the Second World War.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_POLICE_STATE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The traditional police state that arose in various countries during the 18th and 19th centuries was a mixture of autocratic reforms, paternalistic benevolence and compulsion … not necessarily repressive, with its emphasis on national security and progress. But the modern police state arose in the 20th Century and presupposes an authoritarian regime, which in turn grants sweeping powers to its law enforcement agencies. Inhabitants of the latter face restrictions on their freedom to move about, express political or social views, and high levels of surveillance (the primary purpose of the “secret police”).  


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PRESS_GANGS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Impressment was the practice of “recruiting” men into the navy by force (with or usually without notice). Navies of several civilizations used press gangs (armed groups who wandered about and did the “impressing”), but the most well-known was the Royal British Navy, who began using it during wartime in 1664 AD and continued until the Napoleonic Wars. Although the practice fell into disuse after 1814 (impressed sailors did not necessarily make good sailors), it wasn’t outlawed in Great Britain until 1835. Despite lurid tales, press gangs rarely operated outside ports and rarely took anyone but seafarers, longshoremen, and fishermen – anyone not accustomed to the sea tended to die too quickly.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PROFESSIONAL_ARMY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the early medieval period, serfs and villeins formed the bulk of the armies; barely trained and ill-equipped, other than sheer numbers, they were pretty useless in battle. The idea of a state-maintained “professional” army had faded – as so much else did – with the Roman Empire (although China still had one). But as various nations coalesced out of the ruins, kings began to supplement their mobs drawn from feudal lords with paid professionals. These soldiers were usually housed in barracks and segregated from the civilian population to minimize friction, and the king provided their food, weapons, clothes, and training. They were (almost) always more effective than the amateurs.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PROPAGANDA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Social psychologists have studied propaganda, and while it cannot change beliefs or convictions, it can reinforce these or cause doubt about other ones. Propaganda shares some techniques with two other mass-media phenomenon, advertising and public relations … and truly it is tough at times to distinguish between the three. Although there have been instances of propaganda ever since the printing press was invented, the coming of film and broadcast brought propaganda to the forefront during the first two world wars, and the subsequent Cold War. So virulent did the propaganda become that the United Nations added Article 20 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1966 which prohibited any propaganda for war or any advocacy that could lead to violence.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PUBLIC_TRANSPORT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Public transport – in Asia, run as profit-driven, privately-owned enterprises; in the Americas, generally as government operations; in Europe, a mix of state-owned and private companies – provide inexpensive passenger services to the general public … buses, subways, trams, commuter trains, ferries, and such. The first such organized system appears to have been the omnibus service that operated in Paris commencing in 1662, but it didn’t last long. Omnibuses were reintroduced in Nantes in 1826, and in London in 1829. Shortly thereafter, as London became more crowded and unsanitary, good folk began settling in “suburbs” around the city, a development helped by the creation of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s which offered cheap fares into the heart of the capital. Soon, ever industrial city wanted a public transit system too.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_PUBLIC_WORKS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Public works encompass public buildings (schools, hospitals, museums, and so forth), public transport facilities (everything from roads to airports), public spaces (all those parks and squares), public services (sewers, dams, the electrical grids), and anything else (often pork barrel projects) the government might be willing to finance and construct for the “greater” good. In ancient Rome, the Opera publica oversaw construction of projects to benefit the community … all those lovely aqueducts for instance. American politicians took the lead in reviving that idea; in 1791 AD Pennsylvania launched the first comprehensive publicly financed road system, and in 1801 Philadelphia built the first public water system.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RAID_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
To pillage, plunder, and generally demoralize a foe - there’s nothing like a raid. Since the barbarians couldn’t stand up (usually) to open battle with the armies of the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Chinese, and other civilized sorts, their incursions tended to take the form of extended raids. In time, these and other empires also used raids against the barbarians, often dispatching auxiliaries to devastate their lands … driving off their livestock, burning their camps, and worse. So well did this strategy work that some “wars” were nothing more than a series of bloody raids, and the practice became part of the military repertoire that survives even today.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RAJ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
When the British East India Company screwed up royally and the British Royal Army had to step in to put down the Sepoy Mutiny, rule of the sub-continent was transferred to the Crown, in the person of Queen Victoria, who was declared Empress of India in June 1858. The British Raj was divided into two aspects: the regions under direct British control, and those ruled by Indian princes (under British “tutelage” of course) … some 565 princely states in 1947 when British dominion ended. Most of these princely states, while nominally sovereign, were under British control regarding their defense, external affairs, communications, transport, and trade (indeed, most of their exports went to England to pay for all this other stuff).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RATIONALISM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Rationalism is the worldview that looks to reason (rather than, say, blind faith or magic mushrooms) to explain the world. In this philosophy, reason trumps all other ways of knowing things, including any data gathered by one's five senses. Its roots can be traced back to the great Socrates, but it enjoyed something of a resurgence following Christian repression during the 16th and 17th centuries during the Scientific Revolution. Scientist-philosophers such as Réne Descartes, labelled the “father of modern philosophy,” Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant altered the way humans viewed their world in profound ways and made rationalism the new faith.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RELIGIOUS_ORDERS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Although the Buddhists (Zen, Shaolin) and Muslims (the various Sufi tariqa) have religious orders of a sort, it was Catholicism that spawned the most famous. In the Catholic Church, founding a religious order must be consecrated by the Pope … it can’t be done on a whim. The earliest that would be recognizable today was the founding of the Order of St. Augustine c. 1244 AD, cobbled together from several earlier mendicant orders of friars. By the time of the Renaissance, all sorts of holy orders were being created: Benedictines, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, and so forth and so on. And a number of religious orders concerned more with eliminating heathens than saving souls arose during the Crusades, such as the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The “efficient and effective development of an organization’s resources when they are needed” … resource management. As corporations grew larger and evolved into multi-national conglomerates it became vital for those wishing to survive to insure that resources were never over-allocated to projects. Perhaps the best method of doing this is “resources leveling” – financial, inventory, human, production output, and even information – avoiding both excess inventories and sudden shortages. The trick is to invest in resources as “stored capabilities” and then “unleash” these as necessary and practical. The spread of resource management principles have allowed corporations to engage in some immense, both in terms of size and duration, yet profitable projects since the 1950s.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_RETAINERS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the counterfeit feudalism that prevailed in the late Middle Ages, a society organized along lines of personal service being a “retainer” was the best method to obtain favor in the form of offices, land grants, gifts, and honors from those higher up the nobility chain. In return, the gentry helped fight their lord’s wars or put down rebellions. Not only did the gentry have to fight for the king themselves, but they were required to supply an agreed upon number of lesser nobles and knights as well. These personal retainers were known collectively as the “affinity” of the lord, akin to the celebrity “posses” of today … but more reliable.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_REVELATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Religiously speaking, revelation is the revealing of some form of truth or knowledge through direct communication with a deity or other supernatural entity through various means – burning bushes, graven tablets, voices from statues, drug-induced dreams, and the list continues. Virtually every prophet from Moses to Mohammed to Joseph Smith has claimed the revelation to them personally of holy writ. Whether confabulation or fact, there is no denying that divine revelations have shaped civilization throughout the millennia. Recent scientific studies by Stanley Koren have sought to understand the phenomenon through the use of the “God helmet,” a device for stimulating the temporal lobes … perhaps soon everyone can have revelations.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SACK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Since most soldiers weren’t (and aren’t) well-paid, looting was the primary source of income … for those lucky enough to survive the battles, plagues, and punishments. Unlike pillaging the countryside, the chance to sack a built-up place offered much more than mere sustenance. During the Middle Ages, a lord’s encouragement to sack a town, city, or district was the main way to insure loyalty and further willingness to fight. Even the gentry joined in the fun, often claiming the most priceless pieces and best folk to hold for ransom. The bigger and richer the city, the more to go around; thus, some places like Rome were sack-prone (410, 455, 546, 1084, and 1527 AD).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SATELLITE_BROADCASTS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The first satellite to relay communications was “Project SCORE” in 1958 AD, which captured the world’s attention by broadcasting a greeting from President Eisenhower. Then “Project Echo” in 1960 (and again in 1964) put a passive reflector balloon in low orbit to bounce radio communications from one spot on the globe to another. Meanwhile the communications corporation AT&T launched two multinational (American, British, and French) Telstar satellites, able to bounce broadcasts across the Pacific. These all laid the foundations for current satellite networks capable of sending video and audio and computer signals to anyplace in the world – leading to endless hours of distraction.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SCRIPTURE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The oldest religious text found so far dates to ancient Sumer around 2600 BC. It was the first example of scripture, a text that is considered to be sacred or central to a religious tradition. The oldest of a still existing religion is likely the Rigveda of Hinduism, composed between 1700 and 1100 BC. The claim of God’s (whoever it may be) Word “made manifest” is an undeniable selling point to would-be converts; it is not surprising that the five largest existing religions all have a primary scripture: Buddhism (the Tripitaka), Hinduism (Vedas and Upanishads), Islam (Qur’an), Judaism (Tanakh), and Christianity (Bible).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SERFDOM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Although forms of land bondage had been present in civilization before (such as the Roman colonate system), medieval serfdom really began with the collapse of the Carolingian Empire in the 10th century AD. In the period following, local lords needed a ready supply of agricultural labor for their manors, and the peasants needed protection against just about everybody … so the practice of serfdom spontaneously arose in various places across Europe. By the 12th and 13th centuries, serfdom had acquired a strict legal status, for serfs were not slaves and did have rights (however minimal). With the rise of powerful monarchs and central governments, serfdom became less useful, and by 1400 true serfdom was rare … except in Russia.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SIMULTANEUM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, and the mishmash of denominations across Germany, arose the 'simultaneum mixtum' (or Simultankirche), a church in which two or more differing groups (Lutheran, Congregational, Calvinist, and so forth) practice services. Each denomination worshiped at different times and with different clergy, and tolerated the other faiths sharing their space. Although, given its tenets as the “true church” (and all the bloodshed of the religious wars), Roman Catholicism did not generally engage in simultaneum … although a Catholic and Evangelical one operated for some 200 years until 1850 AD in Goldenstedt.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SKYSCRAPERS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Until the Industrial Revolution, any structure over six stories was rare indeed and likely considered a “wonder.” Known as the “grandfather of skyscrapers,” built in 1797 AD, The Flaxmill in Shrewsbury used cast-iron columns and beams to support a five-story brick construction. Sixty years later Elisha Otis invented the “safety” elevator, and architects started to think bigger. In 1885 the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago was christened, incorporating a steel framework, fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring … all considered indispensable in modern skyscrapers. Though they don’t really scrape the sky, some of them get pretty tall, like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 2,722 feet (829.8 meters).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SPORTS_MEDIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Professional and college sports have become the remedy to relieve the sheer boredom of civilization (now that most folk don’t have to worry overly about starvation, disease, and war). To feed that craving for excitement, sports journalism rose to the fore in newspapers; according to Tracy Everbach, “flamboyant sports writing in the era of yellow journalism attracted newspaper readers” by the millions. The 1920s ushered in the daily sports page, turned to first more than any section, other than the obituaries. The Associated Press soon added a sports department. In the 1930s, sports media dominated radio, and then shifted to television – with networks paying ever more enormous sums to broadcast live events. And now, sports coverage is inundating the internet.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_STRATEGIC_AIR_FORCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In order to protect itself and its allies from the “Red Menace,” the United States merged several of the Army air forces in March 1946 AD, forming the Strategic Air Command. Establishing its headquarters on Offutt Air Force Base (near Omaha, about as far from Soviet bombers as could be found), SAC was responsible for the land-based strategic bombers that would rain nuclear destruction down in the much anticipated Armageddon. SAC initially totally 37 thousand military personnel, but continued to grow as its Soviet counterpart – in 1980, the largest air force in the world – did throughout the Cold War. And as its Soviet counterpart had, SAC was put in charge of the ICBM arsenal as well.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_STRATEGOS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
In the Hellenic world, a strategos meant, literally, “army leader” … although over time it came to mean a “great general.” When the Macedonians overran Greece, it was used by Philip II and his son Alexander for commanders on detached assignments as quasi-representatives of the king. Later, during the Diadochi empires, it was a gubernatorial office combining civil and military duties. In Greek-speaking Byzantium, a strategos was the supreme military officer of a field army, usually groomed from birth for the semi-hereditary position.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SURVEY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Even prehistoric tribes had “scouts,” those hardy individuals who went out looking for better caves, hunting grounds, and sources of water. Once folk settled down and began clumping together in villages and towns, fleet-footed and eagle-eyed individuals willing to hike over the hills and trudge through trackless forests remained of vital importance, for a civilization that doesn’t know what’s going on around it is blind to both opportunities and dangers. As they surveyed the surroundings and brought back tales of fabulous wonders, scouts not only expanded possibilities, but humanity’s imagination as well.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_SYMPHONIES_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Although the first symphonies – instrumental works in three or four movements scored for large orchestras – appeared in the early 1600s, it was during the 18th Century that they took on the form known today. The aristocracy, followed by the rising affluent middle-class, became fans of these extended pieces of music in cultural centers such as Vienna, Milan, and Paris, performed in 100-piece ensembles of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Sponsors devoted fortunes to helping aspiring composers, and symphonies came to play a highly visible role in public life in Europe. In the early 19th Century, Beethoven – among others – elevated the symphony even more, from a popular but common genre to supreme musical artwork. It remains so to this day.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_THIRD_ALTERNATIVE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The Third Alternative (or Third Position) is a nationalist political philosophy that emphasizes its opposition to both capitalism and communism, instead synthesizing radical ideas from both. Those following this approach favor state ownership of production and the distribution of goods and services to “the productive members of society,” peaceful segregation of ethnic and racial groups within the state, and have recently embraced radical environmentalism. Classic examples of this philosophy include Sukarno, Nehru, and Nasser.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_TOTAL_WAR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Ancient warfare was generally “total war,” until morality set in and rules evolved. Total war is defined as the mobilization of an entire civilization’s might and the application of that might against an entire enemy civilization – targeting not just its military, but the civilian populace and infrastructure, industrial and agricultural resources, and its will to carry on the fight. For centuries, professional armies and navies conducted “limited” warfare in colorful conflicts (and that’s not just those pretty uniforms), and chivalry and honor marked (supposedly) the battlefield. But with industrialization, the American Civil War and the even more entertaining First World War, utilizing every means to destroy one’s enemy became the preferred strategy. The Second World War was the quintessential total war (thus far).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_TOWN_CHARTERS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Traditionally, the granting of a town charter gave it and its inhabitants the right to certain privileges in the feudal system. Townspeople were burghers, as opposed to serfs, and “free” in the sense that they were protected by (and owed allegiance only to) the king rather than the local manor lord. Charters also gave the burghers some semblance of self-government, in that the rich merchants would be allowed to choose a mayor and hold a market or faire under their own auspices … so long as acceptable to the king, of course. As early as the 10th Century AD, German towns were being granted town charters, with their own militia, courts, and taxes … the model for all those after.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_TRADE_CONFEDERATION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
As international trade recovered after the collapse of the Roman Empire, some traders found it was better to pool their resources and establish their own economic infrastructure than go it alone or trust to the government (whatever uncertain form this took). In short, the merchants of a city or region sought to establish shared trade routes, or establish monopolies in certain commodities, or both. Many of these were foundations for the more formal merchant confederations that could span several cities. Too, trade confederations tended to be shorter lived, as the death of a merchant or trader family usually ended the ad hoc and loosely organized confederation.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_TRAVELING_MERCHANTS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Most villages, manors and towns in Medieval Europe were as self-sufficient as possible, so it was the more exotic and expensive luxuries in which a traveling merchant would trade. The Crusades, particularly, introduced the gentry and their vassals (those that survived the fighting) to the finer things … spices, fine woods, incenses, silk, and such. Even as the conquerors acquired a taste for these, the conquest of Palestine opened the trade routes from far corners of the East, and Italian traders were soon bringing all sorts of goods back. From the Italian and Byzantine ports, these imports were carried by traveling merchants, even to distant England and Scandinavia.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_TRIANGULAR_TRADE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Triangular trade routes are those that connect three locations, each with a different commodity desired in one of the other two, in a profitable cycle of merchant voyages. As the colonial empires grew, shipping captains sought to make their trips across the Atlantic Ocean ever more efficient. One such was the British colonial route: salt fish and lumber from New England to British colonies in the West Indies, sugar and molasses from the islands to Britain, and manufactured goods from Britain to New England. But the most profitable and horrific was surely the transatlantic trade in enslaved people operating from the 1500s to 1800s; engaged in by various nations, enslaved West Africans to the Caribbean and American colonies, cash crops and raw materials from there to Europe, and manufactured goods to Africa. And repeat …


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_URBAN_PLANNING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
According to archeologists, there is evidence of urban planning – or at least something more than haphazard building – in a number of ancient towns found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. They have uncovered paved streets laid out in a grid pattern, and from the 8th Century BC onward most Greek cities were laid out on orthogonal grid plans. But it was the Romans who were masters of urban planning – far more so than other civilizations. Roman city planning focused on military defense, public convenience, and ease of transport through the streets (connecting to those nice roads). As Rome declined, most of these nifty ideas disappeared for a time, although the great European cities still surround a Roman city center.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_VETERANCY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The term “veteran” comes from the Latin vetus, meaning “old” (just don’t refer to one that way). Although there had been those lucky ones who had survived military service before, it was the Romans who established the practice of honoring survivors with privileges and rewards. Any non-Roman soldier honorably discharged was granted Roman citizenship (not to be taken lightly). The normal term of enlistment was 25 years, and upon discharge, both Roman and non-Roman veterans were given pensions (the praemia, established by Emperor Augustus) and land grants, usually on the frontiers. Since Roman veterans were subject to recall, the latter meant that reinforcements were never far away when barbarians invaded.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GOVERNMENTS_PAGE_POLICY_WARS_OF_RELIGION_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
One thing is guaranteed about the faithful: their willingness to kill (or die) for their beliefs. Since the ancient Mesopotamian city-states began bashing each other, religion has been the cause of many a “holy” war – the Israelite conquest of the Canaan city-states, Muslim expansion, and the subsequent Crusades. But none matched the wars of religion that were set off when Luther nailed up his 95 theses. For much of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Protestants and Catholics went at each other with abandon, devastating most of Central Europe and causing astronomical casualties – an estimated 11.5 million in the Thirty Years War and another four million in the French Wars of Religion alone.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_INTRO_CHAPTER_CONTENT_PARA_1
Text:
Great People are the artists, merchants, engineers, scientists, generals, or admirals who can, single-handedly, change the course of a civilization. In Civilization VI, each Great Person is an individual with their own name and effect based on their historical influence. There are seven types of Great People: Great Artists (or Writers or Musicians), Great Engineers, Great Merchants, Great Scientists, Great Prophets, Great Admirals, and Great Generals.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABDUS_SALAM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Born in Jhang in January 1926, Abdus Salam would become of the first Pakistani and the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for science, specifically in theoretical physics. His father was an official for the Department of Education of the Punjab State, so he didn’t go to bed hungry; and his family had a long tradition as religious scholars, and so were respected. When Abdus cycled home from Lahore at the age of 14, having gained the highest marks ever recorded for entrance to the University of the Punjab, the entire village turned out to congratulate him.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABDUS_SALAM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Needless-to-say, the boy Abdus won a full scholarship at the university; although interested in Urdu and English literature and comparative religion, he chose to study mathematics (a curious choice). At the age of 20, he completed his MA, and was that year awarded a scholarship at Cambridge; in 1950, he received recognition for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to physics.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABDUS_SALAM_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Returning to Pakistan in 1951, taking up the post of head of the Mathematics Department at Punjab University, intending to found a school for research, Salam soon realized what other young geniuses had – his hometown just didn’t have the opportunities available elsewhere. In 1954 he accepted a lectureship at Cambridge, but visited his native land often as an advisor on science policy; from 1961 to 1971, he was Chief Scientific Advisor to the President of Pakistan. And for 40 years he was a prolific researcher and writer in theoretical elementary particle physics, culminating with a shared Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 for his work on electroweak unification. Throughout, Abdus remained a devout Muslim – married twice and father of six – until he died in November 1996.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABU_AL_QASIM_AL_ZAHRAWI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Around 936 AD, Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi was born in the town of El-Zahra, a few miles northwest of Cordoba, in Islamic al-Andalus. Under the Umayyad Caliphate, it was a golden age of learning and stability, al-Andalus a place where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived in harmony, scientific advances were made without fear, and prosperity and tolerance was the rule rather than the exception. It was the ideal environment for the greatest surgeon in civilization to flourish.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABU_AL_QASIM_AL_ZAHRAWI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
While little is known of his youth, he was trained as a physician; his fame quickly spread such that he was appointed court physician by Caliph al-Hakim III, a post he supposedly held for 50 years (al-Zahrawi died in 1013). Unlike doctors today, al-Zahrawi insisted on seeing all who came as patients, regardless of their financial status – a quirk the caliph allowed him to indulge. Thus, al-Zahrawi saw a variety of illnesses and injuries, could experiment with treatments, and could record in meticulous detail his observations. Towards the end of his life, he compiled these into a 30-volume encyclopedia of medicine, the 'Al-Tasrif li man ajaz an-il-talif' (“An Aid for Those Who Lack the Capacity to Read Big Books”).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ABU_AL_QASIM_AL_ZAHRAWI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Copies of the 'Al-Tasrif' made their way from Moorish Spain across the Muslim and Christian worlds, to even the corners where healing was still considered witchcraft and people simply didn’t cut other people open (except in war, naturally). Over the course of the next century, it was translated into Latin and dozens of other languages. From the 1100s onward, it was the standard medical text throughout the civilized world … and was still being reprinted and used as late as the 1770s.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADA_LOVELACE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
The only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron (who abandoned his wife a month after the birth), Ada Lovelace began a lifelong friendship with Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge, in 1833 AD, when she was but 17 years old. Their relationship seems to have been a platonic one, for they soon commenced a voluminous correspondence on mathematics, logic, and all manner of scholarly topics. In 1835 Ada married William King, ten years her senior and soon Earl of Lovelace. She would bear three children.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADA_LOVELACE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Her only other significant contribution to civilization resulted from her efforts as a translator for Babbage. By 1834 Babbage had devised a new design for his “Difference Engine,” a mechanical calculator for polynomial functions. But Parliament refused to sink any money into this second design, the “Analytical Engine,” and Babbage turned to foreign investors. In 1842, the Italian Louis Menebrea published a tract in French on the Analytical Engine, and Babbage recruited Ada to translate it for him. Over a nine-month period, she worked at this task, and appended a series of detailed notes to it … longer than the memoir itself. Among this extensive annotation, she devised a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers using the machine. On the basis of this, some historians of science consider her to be the first “computer programmer.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADA_LOVELACE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Following the publication of Lovelace’s work, she and Babbage had a brief falling out. But it was smoothed over not long before her death of cancer at the age of 36. She remained his “Enchantress of Numbers.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADAM_SMITH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Neither wealthy nor financially secure, Adam Smith nevertheless had a profound effect on world economics. Solely because he wrote the “bible of capitalism,” the first scholarly work to analyze the generation and distribution of wealth.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADAM_SMITH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Although the date of his birth isn’t known, Adam Smith was baptized in June 1723 AD in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. His father was a judge advocate and comptroller of customs in Kirkcaldy (so perhaps money was in Adam’s blood if not his pocket), but died two months after the birth of his son. Adam attended the Burgh School in the town, where he learned Latin, mathematics, history, literature, and so forth. At the age of 14, he entered the University of Glasgow, studying “moral philosophy," and in 1740 went on to Oxford University.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADAM_SMITH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Sponsored by the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, Smith began offering a series of public lectures on economics and morality, as well as more prosaic talks on rhetoric and the like. Now a Doctor of Law, in 1766 Smith returned to Kirkcaldy and spent the next decade writing his magnum opus in relative obscurity … at least until it was published in 1776. It was an instant success, the first printing of 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' sold out in just six months. In it, Smith concluded that a free-market economy was the most productive and beneficial of systems; such a system based on individual self-interest was a big hit with entrepreneurs everywhere.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADAM_SMITH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
Over the next few years, Adam Smith would hold a number of positions, ending with appointment as the rector of the University of Glasgow in 1787. He died just three years later at the age of 67. 


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADI_SHANKARA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Sivaguru and his wife were poor and childless (which amounts to the same thing in ancient India) in the village of Kaladi in Kerala. But they regularly prayed at the nearby Vadakkunnathan temple in Trichur. Shiva appeared to the couple in a dream and promised them a choice – either one son who would be short-lived but the most brilliant philosopher of the age, or many sons who would each lead mediocre lives. Sivaguru opted for a brilliant son, and so Shankara was born c. 800 AD.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADI_SHANKARA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Since there are 14 different historical biographies of his life, it is rather challenging to sort out fact from fiction, but all agree Shankara was a holy Hindu. Even as a child he displayed a penchant towards spiritual insight, could recite the Puranas, and mastered the Vedas. Adi believed whole-heartedly in the Vedas simultaneously disputed the need for over-exaggerated associated rituals and religious practices. As a teen, he therefore asked his mother – his father being dead – for permission to renounce the world and travel south in search of a guru. Thus he met one Govinda Bhagavatpada, who helped Shankara master various forms of yoga that included Hatha, Raja and Jnana. Adi vowed to spread the teachings of Brahma Sutras across the world (or as much of it as he could reach).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADI_SHANKARA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Shankara became convinced of the philosophy of “non-dualism”; he believed that each individual has a divine existence, and that though bodies are diverse the soul is one. The moment someone believes that life is finite, he (or she) is discarding the higher dimension of understanding. This concept became central to the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism he founded. He also started the monastic order known as Dashanami and the Shanmata convention of worship.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ADI_SHANKARA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Returning to the fable of his birth, it should be noted that Adi Shankara died at the age of 32, at the pilgrimage site in the Himalayas known as Kedarnath.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AETHELFLAED_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Æthelflæd was born around 864 AD, eldest child of the great Alfred the Great, king of Wessex. She took up her father’s crusade to drive back the Danish invasions of England, and did well enough to be described by English historians as “our greatest woman-general.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AETHELFLAED_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In time, Æthelflæd was betrothed to her kinsman Æthelred, the Ealdorman of Mercia. According to some, on the journey to her wedding, her party was attacked by Danes – perhaps hoping to prevent an alliance between Wessex and Mercia – but the lady directed her escort into an old trench and so fought off the attackers. Within a few years, Æthelred and Æthelflæd had their first and only child (Ælfwynn); it appears that fighting off the Vikings … who had already overrun portions of Mercia … left them little time for other activities. By 884 Æthelflæd had joined her husband in directing the campaign, spending much of her time overseeing the rebuilding of crumbling Roman strongholds and the fortifying of towns as Anglo-Saxon forces recaptured Danish-held territories. According to legend, she also was the prime architect of Saxon strategy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AETHELFLAED_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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And she personally led Mercian forces into battle, as at Chester in 911. This was one of many battles in which Æthelred was not involved; he had been ill since around 902, and after ten years of battling poor health finally died. At this point Æthelflæd became the sole ruler of Mercia, and thus “Lady of Mercia.” Æthelflæd immediately turned to her brother Edward (the Elder, who had succeeded Alfred in 899) for support, and together they continued the campaign to drive the Danes out and unify the various English kingdoms. While Wessex acquired London and Oxford, she led campaigns in Wales in 916 and 917, and liberated Derby and Leicester to the north in 918. But on her way to York to accept its pledge of fealty, she died, likely succumbing to one of the now-trivial diseases of the time.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AHMAD_SHAH_MASSOUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Ahmad Shah, the “Lion of Panjshir," was born in Bazarak to a well-to-do Afghani family sometime in 1953 AD. He took the name “Massoud” as a nom de guerre while leading guerrillas against the Soviet occupation from 1979 through 1989. Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996 Massoud, who initially was willing to work with it to provide stability to the nation but eventually rejected its fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, returned to armed opposition, forming the “United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan.” For his troubles he was assassinated on September 9, probably at the instigation of al-Qaeda, two days before the 2001 attacks in the United States.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AHMAD_SHAH_MASSOUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Intelligent, well-read (speaking five languages fluently) and devout, Ahmad was an engineering student at Kabul University when he joined the Sazman-i Jawanan-i Musulman (the “Muslim Youth” movement). So he was annoyed when the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan killed the president, his immediate family and his bodyguards in a violent coup in April 1978 and initiated “reforms” along Marxist-Leninist lines. Believing that an uprising against the new government would be widely supported, Ahmad launched it in the Panjshir in July 1979, and the Soviet Union sent forces to support the PDPA in December.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AHMAD_SHAH_MASSOUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Although initially Massoud’s mujahideen numbered only 5000, his guerrilla tactics in the rugged mountains and valleys were brilliant; his growing forces ambushed Soviet fuel and supply convoys, enemy patrols, military camps and hospitals. Attacks on the enemy infrastructure brought reprisals and six bloody Soviet offensives into the Panjshir. When the Russians finally withdrew from the morass, Afghanistan collapsed into civil war. At first, Massoud sought to include the extremist Taliban, backed by Pakistan, hoping it would help provide added stability in the peace process … but soon he was again leading a resistance movement in the mountains. By this point, he had become an international spokesman for Afghani aspirations of freedom; thus, at the age of 48, Ahmad Massoud became the target of a suicide attack.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALAN_TURING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Alan Mathison Turing is today considered the “father” of both theoretical computer science and of artificial intelligence. His 1936 paper “On Computable Numbers” – proving that a universal algorithmic method of determining mathematical truths cannot exist – laid the foundations for his proposal of the “Universal Turing Machine,” capable of computing anything that is computable. He was also the first to address the issue of artificial intelligence in his 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”; among other advances in it Turing offered the “Turing Test,” an effort to devise a standard for artificial intelligence allowing humans to spot the difference between a machine and themselves.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALAN_TURING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Alan was born in June 1912 AD in London, the son of a civil servant on leave from his duties in India. When he was 13, the boy was enrolled in the independent Sherborne School, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics. In 1931 Turing entered Cambridge. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1938, he returned to Cambridge … just in time for the Second World War to break out. During WW2 Turing worked at Bletchley Park, a member of the Government Code and Cypher School, part of the team that developed the electromechanical device to decipher the German Enigma encryption.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALAN_TURING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Afterward, he held a number of high-ranking positions in the mathematics and computing departments at the University of Manchester. But his lifestyle finally caught up with him, for homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom (at the time). After a scandal, he was arrested in January 1952 and, rather than imprisonment, chose chemical castration through injections. In June 1954 Alan Turing was found dead in his home by his housekeeper. An autopsy found it to be due to cyanide poisoning and the court ruled his death a suicide.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALBERT_EINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Considered the greatest genius of the 20th Century and the most influential theoretical physicist of all time, Albert Einstein had a passion for inquiry that eventually led him to develop the special and the general theories of relativity. Born in 1879 AD in Ulm, his academic career would span seven decades and four countries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALBERT_EINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Albert grew up in a secular Jewish home, beginning his education at a Catholic elementary school, and continuing at the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich before transferring to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich when his family relocated to Italy. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and accepted a position as a technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. While so employed, he obtained his doctorate in 1905.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALBERT_EINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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It was while unhappily married and working a menial job that Einstein did most of his remarkable thinking and writing. In 1905, his avowed “miracle year,” he published four brilliant papers in the 'Annalen der Physik,' the most influential physics journal of the time: on the photoelectric effect, on Brownian motion, on the matter-energy relationship (E=mc2), and on his own “special theory of relativity.” In 1921 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, not for relativity but for his laws of photo-electricity.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALBERT_EINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Einstein remained at the Berlin institute until 1933, when he renounced his German citizenship “for political reasons” and emigrated to the United States. Through the years in Berlin and later in the United States, he sought to refine his general theory of relativity and develop a unified field theory (without luck, and a “holy grail” for physicists ever since). Made a professor of theoretical physics at Princeton, he retired in 1945 and died there in 1955 from an aortic aneurysm.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALEXANDER_PUSHKIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in June 1799 AD in Moscow, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin displayed a talent for writing poetry while still a child. The Russian government, recognizing talent, in 1818 assigned him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Pushing paper for the government by day, by night Pushkin wrote poetry – so good that he eventually (after his death) became Russia’s poet laureate.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALEXANDER_PUSHKIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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But he didn’t stay to the subject of unrequited love and romantic tragedy; several of his poems (notably, 'Noel' and 'Ode to Freedom') promoted liberal ideals, political freedom, and other controversial topics. As a result, Pushkin’s government service was terminated and he was banished in 1820 to the wilds of the Caucasus and Crimea. From there he wandered through the Ukraine and Moldavia. His enforced vacation did give Alexander the chance to pen his masterworks: 'Boris Godunov' and the verse-novel 'Eugene Onegin.' In 1823 Pushkin ended up in Odessa, where he again infuriated the local government, which sent him into exile on his mother’s rural estate. Despite his reputation as a troublemaker, friends at court finagled an audience with Tsar Nicholas I to petition for his release from exile and return to Moscow.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALEXANDER_PUSHKIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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But freedom didn’t last long. Although not associated with the Decembrist Uprising in St. Petersburg in 1825, after it ended the authorities found some of his poetry among the rebels’ papers. Pushkin found himself under the scrutiny of government censors, unable to travel or publish. He kept writing though, finishing two novels and starting a third. But by 1837 Pushkin was deep in debt and hearing rumors that his young wife had a lover; in response, the poet challenged the alleged lover to a duel. Bad idea, for the gun is certainly mightier than the pen. Shot in the abdomen, Pushkin died two days later.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALFRED_NOBEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Alfred Nobel – whose fortune established the famed Nobel Prizes – held some 350 patents by the time of his death (mostly for things that blew other things up), had founded several successful companies (most of which manufactured armaments), and had built laboratories in more than 20 countries (mostly seeking new ways to blow things up). In this, Alfred simply followed in the family business of blowing things up; his father was Immanuel Nobel, an arms manufacturer.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALFRED_NOBEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in 1833 AD in Stockholm, when Alfred was nine years old, the family relocated to St. Petersburg where Immanuel was building a torpedo factory. Here young Alfred received his early education, showing a real aptitude for chemistry. At the age of 18, he went to the United States to further his studies in chemistry. At some point, Alfred also travelled to Paris, where he was introduced to nitroglycerin, a volatile and explosive liquid invented in 1847. It was love at first sight. Alfred devoted himself to perfecting a way to explode nitroglycerine safely, at a distance; in 1865 he patented the mercury fulminate cap … and his fortune was made.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALFRED_NOBEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Unfortunately, his factories had the unfortunate habit of occasionally blowing up. In an attempt to cut down on the overhead, Alfred discovered that he could incorporate nitroglycerine with a porous clay (kieselguhr) … thus, dynamite. Shortly after he developed an even more stable explosive he named “gelignite” (blasting gelatin).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALFRED_NOBEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Although his love affair with explosives continued for many years after, Alfred's interest seemed to shift later in his life. During November 1895, a year before his death, he signed his last will and testament … most of his considerable fortune going to establish a fund to award prizes in various human endeavors he felt important for civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALVAR_AALTO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born 1898 AD, the career of the Finn Alvar Aalto spanned the decades of the 1920s through the 1970s, ranging from Nordic Classical to Humanistic Functionalism to Scandinavian Modernism. An architect, painter, designer and sculptor, it was Aalto’s focus on the ideal of Gesamtkunstwerk that led to him creating not just the building but the interior surfaces, furnishings, and even the glasswork that would fill it. During his productive years, he would design hundreds of structures, ranging from homes to town halls, retirement communities and hospitals, churches and vicarages, theaters and monuments, libraries and shops and cafes, saunas and spas, and even tombs – in fact, just about every type of building found in modern civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ALVAR_AALTO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born to a Finnish-speaking father and Swedish-speaking mother, Aalto enrolled at the Helsinki University to study architecture in 1916. But his studies were interrupted (he would eventually get his degree in 1921) by the Russian Revolution and resulting Finnish Civil War, in which he took up arms for Finnish independence. In 1922, despite being drafted into military service – he rose to be a reserve second lieutenant – Aalto opened his architectural firm and designed his first constructs. In 1925, he married Aino Marsio (1894-1949), another architect, and their collaboration revolutionized European design. The marriage didn't last, and in 1952 Alvar would remarry, yet another architect, one Elissa Makiniemi (1922-1994); together they continued to push the boundaries of acceptable architecture until his death in 1976.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AMRITA_SHER_GIL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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For hundreds of years the women of the Punjab kept the traditional arts alive … embroidering their phulkaris with bold floral designs, covering the mud walls with amazing murals, drawing the chowkpurna on thresholds. Then there was Amrita Sher-Gil, born to an Indian father and Hungarian mother, who fused Indian styles and themes with European techniques and tastes. But she died at the age of 28, and her brilliance only shined after her death.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AMRITA_SHER_GIL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Amrita was born in Budapest in 1913 AD, and displayed a precocious talent for painting. Throughout her childhood, the family would move back-and-forth between India and Europe. At the age of 16, Amrita entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she greatly admired the recent work of Cézanne, Modigliani, and Gauguin. Her own work tended, however, to be stiff and “academic,” as she tried her hand at still-life, landscapes, portraits, and nudes. Convinced that her artistic path lay in India, she relocated to the subcontinent in 1934, settling in Simla in early 1935.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_AMRITA_SHER_GIL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Sher-Gil’s first efforts were directed at finding a mode appropriate to herself. Influenced by the cave paintings common in western India, she sought to develop a style in marked contrast with other Indian artists of the so-called Bengali school. She used colors that were unbridled and bold – in direct contrast to the pale and muted hues of accepted Indian artists – with sorrowful subjects, mostly images of emaciated men and women in everyday scenes. In 1938 Amrita returned to Hungary, there marrying her cousin Victor Egan. After a year in Europe, the couple returned to India to settle in Saraya, a small village, then moved to the sprawl of Lahore. There, just days before the opening of her much-anticipated first solo show, she slipped into a coma and died in December 1941.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANA_NZINGA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Ruthless and conniving, Nzinga Mbande of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms of the Mbundu (modern Angola) would fight the Portuguese for 35 years. Salacious legends about her abound: that she murdered her brother to take the throne; that after killing her brother’s family, she ate their hearts to absorb their courage; that in a pre-battle ritual, she had slaves decapitated and drank their blood; that she maintained a 60-man harem, periodically killing some to replace them. While it is likely that Portuguese propaganda may have embellished some of these rumors, a kernel of truth underlay each.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANA_NZINGA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande (named “Nzinga” because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck at birth) was born a princess of the Mbundu c. 1583 AD. She first appears in historical records as an envoy for her brother Ngola at peace negotiations with the invading Portuguese in 1621. But Portugal didn’t honor the treaty, and Nzinga assumed the crown to fight them … either when Ngola committed suicide, or Nzinga poisoned him, or by killing Ngola’s heir immediately after the king’s death. After a brief alliance with the Portuguese in order for her to suppress internal and external threats from African tribes, in 1626 Portugal again invaded Ndongo. Fleeing, Nzinga assumed rule in the adjacent kingdom of Matamba by “supplanting” its queen Mwongo and merged the two.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANA_NZINGA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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To rebuild her armies, Nzinga offered sanctuary and incentives to runaway slaves and European-trained Africans for their service. She converted to Christianity to gain backing from other European colonial powers, and in 1641 she allied with the Dutch. With reinforcements from the Dutch and from nearby Kongo, she led her forces to rout a Portuguese army in 1647. Nzinga then laid siege to the Portuguese colonial capital of central Africa. Finally, in 1657, weary from the long struggle she signed a peace treaty with Portugal. She devoted herself to rebuilding her kingdom, to resettling former slaves and soldiers, to internal reforms, until her death in 1663.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANDREY_RUBLEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Most artists – given their lifestyles – don’t get canonized. But the Russian Orthodox Church made Andrei Rublev, considered the greatest icon-painter of all time, a saint in 1988.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANDREY_RUBLEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Little information survives about the life of Andrei Rublev; it is known that he was born somewhere … likely the village of Sergiev Posad near Moscow, likely around 1370 AD. At some early period in his life, Andrei became a monk in the Spas Andronievski Monastery, perhaps shortly after the saintly Theophanes arrived there in 1395. Rublev never left, for all of his paintings – religious frescos and icons – are found in the vicinity of Moscow. The first actual record of him is in 1405 when he executed a number of panel paintings for the Blagoveschenski Sobor (Cathedral of the Annunciation) in the Moscow Kremlin. The few contemporary accounts that remain from his religious superiors describe him as being “unusually focused” and that “everything he created was a result of deep thoughts.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANDREY_RUBLEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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It is impossible to devise a chronology for Rublev’s works, as the saintly icon painters never signed nor dated their paintings. Chronicles do hint that he painted the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir around 1408, icons for the Zvenigirod churches, the miniatures in the Khitrovo Gospels, and the works in the Trinity Lavra around 1427. The only work truly authenticated, however, is the famed Trinity icon completed around 1410. Many of his works – such as the Deesis – were likely destroyed in the great Moscow fire in 1547. His style, marked by a sense of asceticism and harmony, was pronounced a model for church painting at the Stoglayi Synod in 1551. Andrei reportedly died in the Androikov Monastery in January 1430.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANGELICA_KAUFFMAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Her work and life were summed up by the German Johann von Goethe, an acquaintance, thus: “The good Angelica has a most remarkable, and for a woman unheard-of, talent …” A child prodigy, widely travelled, portrait painter to English aristocracy, immensely popular and made quite wealthy, leader in the Neoclassical movement, elected to Rome’s Accademia di San Luca, and one of two females to help found England’s Royal Academy in 1768 AD. Remarkable, indeed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANGELICA_KAUFFMAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Maria Anna Angelica Catherina Kauffman was born in October 1741 in Coire, Switzerland; her father, Johann Josef, was a modestly successful painter of church murals. As soon as she was able to hold a piece of chalk, Angelica began sketching, copying her father’s collection of art prints. Johann, recognizing her budding talent, began instructing her in various drawing and painting techniques. At the age of 11, the girl supposedly painted a portrait of the Bishop of Como, her first commission.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANGELICA_KAUFFMAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Angelica's reputation grew, even as she matured, and she received a growing stream of commissions from the rich and famous. In 1760, Johann moved the family to Milan because he wanted his daughter to study paintings of the Renaissance masters. But Angelica was considering a career in the opera; however, a family friend warned that the opera was a dangerous place filled with seedy people and would lead to a life of sin. Thus, at her father’s urging, Angelica chose art over opera.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANGELICA_KAUFFMAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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In 1766, Angelica relocated from Rome to London, where her fame preceded her. She was inundated with commissions, even a personal visit by the Princess of Wales, making Kauffman both a celebrity at court and greatly in demand among the snobs of England. Over the next 16 years, she came to be hailed as the greatest portraitist of her age. Angelica eventually returned to Italy, and she died in Rome in 1807.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIN_DVORAK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Contrary to popular legend, Antonín Dvorák was not born in 1841 into poverty. An innkeeper and butcher, his father was of some import in their modest Czech village. Also an amateur musician, his father encouraged his son’s pursuit of a musical career, getting him violin lessons and eventually sending him to the prestigious Prague Organ School. At the age of 18, Antonín emerged as a trained organist and immediately became a working musician in dance bands and theater orchestras. So able was he that young Dvorák was appointed principle violist of the Provisional Theater Orchestra, the world’s first Czech-language theater.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIN_DVORAK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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During these early years, Antonín married and began composing “serious” music: chamber pieces, miniatures, a concerto, and an opera. He continued to refine and rewrite his pieces, combining Czech folklore traditions with classical instrumentation. In 1875 he submitted one of these for consideration in a competition where he was awarded a state grant by the Austrian government (he would receive three more over the next decade). Thanks to a fateful meeting with Johannes Brahms, he found an influential music publisher. Soon enough, Dvorák’s music became popular internationally. In 1890, he enjoyed a triumph in Moscow, where Tchaikovsky arranged two concerts of his music.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIN_DVORAK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Two years later, Dvorák accepted the post of artistic director at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where he earned the princely annual salary of $15000, 25 times what he was making in Prague. So began his “American phase” of composing, among others, the Ninth Symphony, String Quartet #12, and the cantata “The American Flag.” After an economic depression in the mid-1890s, he returned to his homeland, settling in Prague to compose his last works. There he died in May 1904 of an undiagnosed cause after five weeks of illness.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_CARLOS_GOMEZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in July 1836 AD in Brazil, Gomes was the first composer from the “New World” whose work was considered acceptable to the Europeans. A contemporary with Verdi and Puccini, he was the only non-European of the time to successfully offer new operas in Italy, and his work spread outward across civilization from there.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_CARLOS_GOMEZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Of Brazilian-African descent, Antônio was born in Campinas, son of maestro Manuel Gomes and also younger brother to José Pedro, himself a successful conductor. With their support, Antônio was accepted to study at the Conservatory of Music in Rio de Janeiro; he graduated with honors … and soon after composed his first opera. In 1861, his 'A Noite do Castelo' premiered in Brazil to modest success and critical review. Two years later, a second opera was more successful. So much so that the Emperor of Brazil offered him a royal scholarship to study in Italy at the Conservatory in Milan.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_CARLOS_GOMEZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Completing his studies and thus becoming a “Maestro Composer,” Gomes premiered his third opera – this based on the work of Brazilian novelist José de Alencar in 1870. It was a huge success; Antônio was even decorated by King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. The opera toured Europe and Gomes returned to Brazil a celebrity, and moderately wealthy. But he returned to Italy within the year to marry Adelina Peri, a pianist he had met there while studying.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_CARLOS_GOMEZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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When Brazil declared its independence in 1889, Gomes declined the invitation to compose the national anthem. Instead, he divided his time between Brazil and Italy, composing new operatic works, as well as authoring three song books. Although in poor health, Gomes agreed to take up the position of director for the musical conservatory in Belém, but he died shortly after arriving there in September 1896.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_VIVALDI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Ordained as a priest in 1703 AD, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi choose to follow his passion for music rather than for God. Born March 1678 in Venice, he became a virtuoso violinist, respected teacher, and prolific composer. The son of a professional violinist and music instructor, it seemed fated that Antonio would eventually be recognized as the greatest Baroque composer, creating hundreds of masterful works.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_VIVALDI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Although he remained a priest – indeed, he was known as the “Red Priest” during his lifetime (and a bit beyond) – health problems prevented him from carrying out priestly duties like delivering the Mass. Instead, at the age of 25 he was named the music master at the 'Ospedale della Pietá' (an orphanage, the “Devout Hospital of Mercy”), instructing the boys in all sorts of instruments. There for the next 30 years, Vivaldi would compose his major works – choral music, concertos, cantatas, and operas (about 50 remain extant). The most talented of his students were organized into an orchestra to perform his compositions; by 1716, it had gained international recognition.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ANTONIO_VIVALDI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Although honored with a knighthood by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi’s renown didn’t translate into money, so in 1730 he departed Venice for Vienna and Prague. Perhaps he hoped to find a wealthy patron, but the sudden death of Charles VI left him bereft. Despite a few commissions, he died a pauper in Vienna in 1741. He was buried in a simple grave, following a poorly-attended funeral service without music.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARTEMISIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Artemisia, named after the sister of Apollo, is the only woman Herodotus attributes with the virtue of 'andreia' (courage). Nothing is known of her birth or childhood, but c. 500 BC, just prior to the Ionian revolt that triggered the Persian invasion of Greece, she married the king of Helicarnassus. When he died a few years later, she took the throne.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARTEMISIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Intelligent enough to recognize the odds, Artemisia sided with Xerxes during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. And she took a personal role, commanding the Helicarnassian contingent of five or six ships. By all accounts, she performed skillfully in the three-day naval battle of Artemisium; although a tactical stalemate, it was a Persian strategic victory as the smaller allied Greek fleet withdrew to Salamis. When the Persians approached the reinforced Greek forces under Themistocles, she was the only Persian commander to advise against attacking, urging patience instead.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARTEMISIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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As Xerxes watched from his golden throne, the Persian fleet sallied into the straits … there to be decisively defeated. Despite her reservations, it appears that Artemisia performed brilliantly, if ruthlessly. Finding her ships trapped between the deadly Greek triremes and the disintegrating Persian fleet, she was determined to break out. Pursued by enemy triremes, she calmly rammed a Persian ship blocking her path and made her escape. Believing her an ally, the Greeks dropped their pursuit while Xerxes, believing her to have sunk an enemy and exasperated at his own admirals, declared “My men have become women, and my women men.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARTEMISIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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After the battle Artemisia advised Xerxes to himself return to Asia, and Herodotus wrote that she transported his sons from Greece to safety in Ephesus. After that, she disappears from the historical record.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARYABHATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born sometime around 476 AD, somewhere in central India, scholars are fairly certain (or not) that the mathematician Aryabhata (if that was his name) travelled to the city of Kusumapura for advanced studies. It is also believed by historians that he became the head of an institution there … or perhaps of the university at Nalanda instead … or perhaps of the observatory at Taregana. Nor is it certain where or when he died, although it was supposedly around 550.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARYABHATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Rather more is known about his work, for it laid the basis for civilization’s concepts regarding modern mathematics and astronomy. Although he wrote several scientific treatises, he is chiefly known for the 'Aryabhativa,' a work in 108 verses across various topics. Among these are observations and calculations in algebra, arithmetic, and plane and spherical trigonometry; he also included early sine tables and quadratic equations. In the process, to sort out his equations, Aryabhata worked out a place-value system using letters to represent unknown values; and, not coincidentally, he devised an approximation of “pi.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARYABHATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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All this at the age of 23, according to his students. As if the mathematical insights weren’t enough, the 'Aryahativa' also offers astronomical calculations based on these, notable for determining planetary periods in the solar system. Using the value of pi, Aryabhata calculated that the earth had a circumference of 24,835 miles – correct to within 0.2% and far closer than any other until the Europeans discovered the world wasn’t flat after all. 


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ARYABHATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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For hundreds of years the 'Aryabhativa' was unknown to the rest of the world, until Islamic scholars translated it during the 9th Century. From there, it made its way into Europe in the 1200s, just in time to set off an “astronomical revolution.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BHASA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Save for mention in the works of other writers such as Kālidāsa, the first great playwright in India – known as “Bhasa” – was unrecognized until the early 20th Century, even though he lived at some point between the 2nd Century BC and 2nd Century AD. Even his name is not verified, for bhasa simply means “spoken language” in Sanskrit.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BHASA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Nonetheless, to Bhasa are credited the earliest plays in Sanskrit, although until copies were discovered in Kerala in 1912 these works were thought to have been lost. Now 13 classic scripts are confidently (more-or-less) credited to him by historians. All of these one-act dramatizations, save for the Charudatta, are complete and generally romances taken from the famous epics the 'Mahabharata' and the 'Ramayana.' But the prolific Bhasa did not respect Indian dramatic conventions of his time, for he freely depicted scenes of sleep, battle, death, and murder on stage – all of which the Natya-sastra considered inappropriate for public display. His style was vigorous, dramatic, and direct, without excessive ostentation, unlike other Indian playwrights … although he did tend to repeat whole stanzas from one play to the next.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BHASA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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As India squeezed out from under British dominion, Bhasa’s plays were revived and performed once again, initially in Hindi and later translated into other languages (even English). Today, at least in Indian civilization, he is considered on par with Sophocles and Shakespeare.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BI_SHENG_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born a commoner (hence, nothing is known of his early life) during the Song dynasty around 990 AD, at some point between 1041 and 1048 Bi Sheng invented moveable type – long before that dilettante Gutenberg was printing short excerpts from the Bible. Bi Sheng is mentioned only by name in the writings of the polymath Shen Kuo, although technical details of his moveable type – made from porcelain – abound in the literature of China.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BI_SHENG_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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His method was elegantly simple: take clay and roll it thin as the edge of coin; cut characters into the surface (a tedious task, as Chinese script at the time had over 3000); fire the individual pieces of type; when ready to print, arrange the appropriate characters on an iron sheet; cover the type with a mix of ash, pine resin, and wax; use a close fitting frame to hold a piece of paper (another Chinese invention) against the type; then press down using a board for even pressure. Hence, printing…


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BI_SHENG_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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There are only a few remaining fragments of Sheng’s printing extant, the best preserved being Zhou Bida’s Notes of the Jade Hall. After this, Bi Sheng disappeared into an obscurity as deep as that of his ancestry, the only note of his passing being Kuo’s comment, “When Bi Sheng died, his fount of type passed into the possession of my followers.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BODHIDHARMA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Accounts of Bodhidharma’s life are largely apocryphal – as one might expect, given that he was a Buddhist monk who arrived in China from India some 1500 years ago during either the Liu Song dynasty (420-479 AD) or the Liang dynasty (502-557 AD). He is traditionally credited with establishing the Zen branch of Mahayana Buddhism by founding the Shaolin Monastery near Zhengzhou in Henan province. Thus Bodhidharma became the first Buddhist patriarch in China, as well as master of the Shaolin monks (he supposedly instituted the physical regime that led to their form of Kung Fu).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BODHIDHARMA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In the absence of any facts, stories abound. One, that soon after meeting the Nan emperor Wudi, who had questioned him concerning accrued positive karma by building Buddhist temples, Bodhidharma retired to a monastery in Luoyang where he spent nine years staring at a cave wall in deep concentration. Another states that, in a fit of anger after repeatedly falling asleep while meditating, he cut off his eyelids … upon touching the ground they sprang up as the first tea plants. Still another tells the tale of how Bodhidharma refused to resume teaching until a would-be student Dazu Huike, who had kept vigil in the snows outside the Shaolin Monastery, cut off his own left arm to demonstrate sincerity. No wonder throughout Buddhist art Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered, wide-eyed, unforgiving sort.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BODHIDHARMA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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According to folklore, Bodhidharma travelled from China to the Indonesian islands, there spreading his knowledge of the Mahayama doctrine and martial arts before returning to China through Nanyue. Even after his death, he wouldn’t stay still. Three years after Bodhidharma died a Chinese official met him carrying one shoe on a trail in the Pamir Mountains; when Bodhidharma’s grave was exhumed, it contained but a single sandal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BORIS_ORLOVSKY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Boris Ivanovich Orlovsky was born a Russian serf in 1793. He would gain his freedom after sculpting a bust of Tsar Alexander I. This allowed Orlovsky to travel to Italy and further his art by studying under Neo-classical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, whom he greatly impressed. Upon his return to Russia, he would become a professor at the Russian Academy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BORIS_ORLOVSKY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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His masterpieces included the angel atop the Alexander Column in Palace Square and the statue of Mikhail Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of Kazan Cathedral.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BOUDICA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Her followers defeated a Roman army. She torched Londinium, leaving a charred layer a half-meter thick. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, her troops slaughtered 70 thousand civilians in Londinium, Verulamium, and Camulodunum, rushing to “cut throats, hang, burn and crucify.” So who was she? And why was she so bloody angry?


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BOUDICA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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The first thing to know about Boudica (also Boudicca, Boadicea, Buddug and such) is how little is known about her. What is known comes from the works of two Roman historians (Tacitus and Cassius Dio). It seems Boudica’s husband Prasutagus ruled the Iceni tribe in Britannia as a nominally independent ally of mighty Rome around 60 AD, and left his kingdom to his daughters and the emperor Nero to rule jointly in the event of his death. He died, and the Romans promptly ignored the terms, claiming Prasutagus had defaulted on his debts. When Queen Boudica objected, she was flogged and her daughters raped. And Rome felt her wrath…


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BOUDICA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Some 100 thousand barbarians rallied to Boudica’s call for revenge, and marched on Camulodunum, a colonia – a settlement for retired Roman soldiers and their families – in Iceni territory. The garrison, about 200 men, thought the “rebels” would scatter when confronted; it was a mistake. Having won the “battle,” the barbarians proceeded to slaughter everyone in the town … women, children, the infirm and elderly, and infants.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_BOUDICA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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The Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulius – away campaigning in Wales – upon hearing of the mess, dispatched the IX Legion Hispania to protect Londinium. Boudica’s force overran the legion and descended upon the city. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his remaining legions in the West Midlands. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Suetonius decisively defeated Boudica’s horde on the Roman road known as Watling Street. With her followers dead or scattered, Boudica either killed herself or fell ill and died.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CARL_SAGAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Carl Sagan was many things – astronomer, astrophysicist, astrobiologist – but it was his efforts as a popularizer of modern science that made him famous. Sagan, among other things, helped discover the high surface temperature of Venus and demonstrated the production of amino acids from common chemicals by radiation (thus proving extraterrestrial life possible). He assembled the physical messages sent into deep space: the Pioneer plaque and Voyager recording. Yet it was his effort to bring the cosmos to civilization which made him a celebrity.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CARL_SAGAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Probably the best-known scientist in the world in the 1970s and 1980s, Carl Edward Sagan was born in Brooklyn in November 1934 AD. A not-so-typical teenager, Sagan graduated from high school at the age of 16, and entered the University of Chicago to study physics in 1955. After completing a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics in four years, Carl landed at the University of California-Berkeley. The early ‘60s found him at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, where his work centered on the physical conditions of planets, notably Venus and Jupiter. In 1968 Sagan became head of Cornell University’s Laboratory for Planetary Studies, and soon worked with NASA to choose landing sites on Mars for the Viking probes.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CARL_SAGAN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Now fairly well-known among cosmologists, articulate and energetic, Carl Sagan became a science author for the masses with a series of bestsellers such as 'Cosmic Connection' (1973), 'Other Worlds' (1975), and 'The Dragons of Eden' (1977, Pulitzer Prize winner). He consulted on Hollywood films to ensure “accuracy” – such as for Kubrick’s '2001: A Space Odyssey.' In 1980, he co-founded the Planetary Society. Oh, and he launched the influential TV series 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,' which he both wrote and hosted. He died of pneumonia, a complication of his myelodysplasia, at the age of 62.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_CORREA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Of the many reasons for choosing to be an architect, a fascination with model trains – laying out the track and building the terrain – is not the obvious one. But Charles Correa, India’s most influential contemporary architect, who died in 2015 AD after an incredible career and brief illness, once claimed that’s how his interest began.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_CORREA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in 1930 in Secunderabad, Correa took his first degree in design at the University of Bombay (the Raj still being in place), and went on to study at the University of Michigan (1949-1953) and MIT (1953-1955). He returned to India in 1958 to open his own architectural firm in Mumbai (Bombay’s name having been changed when the British pulled out). The first structure to bring him attention outside India was the Gandhi Ashram – a grouping of brick and stone pavilions celebrating the life of the hero, completed in 1963.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_CORREA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Blending traditional materials with modern designs, Correa made a name for himself with designs for a “tube house” in Ahmedabad, the Sonmarg apartments, the towering Kanchenjunga highrise, and the stunning Bharat Bhavan Art Centre in Bhopal, among many other buildings. From 1970 through 1975 he was the Chief Architect overseeing the construction of the planned city of Navi Mumbai (home to 1.17 million in 2011). Carrying on with his interest and leadership in urban planning and low-cost housing in Third World nations, while protecting the environment and using native materials, in 1984 Correa founded the Urban Design Research Institute in Bombay, which carries on his legacy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_DARWIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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After a five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, followed by years of thought, Charles Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' in 1859 AD, and set off a philosophical and religious firestorm that has yet to abate.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_DARWIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born 1809, Charles Robert Darwin was the fifth of six children, the next in a long line of scientists. Since his mother Susanna had died when the boy was eight, there was no cushion to the sharp edges of learning in his life. At the age of 16, Charles entered Edinburgh College and choose to immerse himself in natural history. Following graduation from Christ’s College at Cambridge in 1831, his professor recommended Charles for a naturalist’s position aboard a British Admiralty survey ship, set to voyage around the world. Through direct observation and the collection of samples (birds, mice, and other small once-living creatures), especially on the isolated Galapagos archipelago, Darwin began to evolve a theory. Upon his return, he wrote upon his musings in the 'Journal of Researches.'


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHARLES_DARWIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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In 1858, Darwin introduced his revolutionary theory of evolution in a letter read at a meeting of the Linnean Society of London, a “learned” body devoted to the study of taxonomy. The next year, built on the basis of this paper, the great book was published. Although Charles wrote a number of other treatises – notably 'The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex,' which set off its own controversy among the Victorians – none were as evolutionary for civilization. Following a lifetime of research, Darwin died in London in April 1882.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHESTER_NIMITZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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As CinCPac (NavSpeak for “Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet”) for the United States and CinCPOA (“Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Area”) for the Allies, Chester William Nimitz is as responsible for the defeat of Imperial Japan as anyone. Growing up in Fredericksburg on the arid plains of central Texas, CWN looked to a military career to escape the drudgery and tedium. As a teenager (born in 1885 AD) he had sought to apply for admittance to West Point but there were no openings; so he took the entrance exam to the Naval Academy as consolation, with scores so outstanding he entered in 1901. Graduating from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, seventh in his class, he was assigned to the battleship USS 'Ohio' and actually met Admiral Tōgō when it visited Japan.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHESTER_NIMITZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Nimitz’s early career was hardly remarkable, although he did become an expert in the new field of submarine warfare and even oversaw the construction of the sub base at Pearl Harbor in 1920. He also taught advanced courses at the Naval War College and evaluated cadet war games, where he admitted, “The enemy of our games was always Japan.” In 1929 he was appointed commander of the 20th SUBRON (“Submarine Squadron”) and 1933 took command of the heavy cruiser 'Augusta' in the Far East. A week after the debacle at Pearl Harbor, thanks to Nimitz’s familiarity with the Pacific and long-held view of Japan as America’s primary threat in the region, SecNav (“Secretary of the Navy”) Frank Knox gave him command of the Pacific Fleet. Soon after, the JCS (‘Joint Chiefs of Staff”) made him CinCPOA


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHESTER_NIMITZ_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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With the victory in 1945, Nimitz was promoted to CNO (“Chief of Naval Operations”), the last surviving American fleet admiral. In 1947 he retired from active service. Nimitz died in 1966 and was buried with MFH (“Military Funeral Honors”) in California.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHING_SHIH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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From prostitute to pirate lord … not the usual career path for a great admiral, but at her peak Ching Shih commanded the infamous Red Flag Fleet of some 400 cannon-armed junks and over 20 thousand men.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHING_SHIH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Little is known of her early life, save that she was born as Shi Xiang Gu in the Guangdong province in 1775 AD. At a young age she became a prostitute working in a floating brothel in Canton and there – supposedly taken by her beauty – the pirate Zheng Yi wooed and wed her in 1801. At the time Zheng commanded a modest fleet plundering the trade routes in the South China Sea. Shi soon took a hand in the pirate operations, and together with Zheng they built it into an imposing 200 ships. As the piracy became ever more successful, the Red Flag Fleet fissioned into others, all owing allegiance to Zheng: the Black, White, Yellow, Blue and Green. And Shi helped forge the Cantonese Pirate Coalition with their major competitor, the psychotic Wu Shi’er, whom even other pirates loathed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHING_SHIH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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But in November 1807 Zheng died in Vietnam, and Shi took over – her name now Ching Shih (simply: “Zheng’s widow”). She set forth strict rules, focused on business and military strategy, and diversified into opium smuggling, slavery, and “protection” of coastal villages, stretching from Macau to Canton, which provided anchorage and supplies. The pirate fleet plundered the trade routes, and defeated all Chinese, Portuguese, and British warships sent to end the “Terror of South China.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CHING_SHIH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Finally accepting the futility of chasing the Red Flag Fleet, having lost 63 naval ships, the Chinese government offered a general amnesty to Ching Shih and her rogues in 1810. Now respectable, she returned to Canton to open the best gambling house in China, and died peacefully in 1844.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLANCY_FERNANDO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The chief claim to fame for Admiral Wannakuwatta Waduge Erwin Clancy Fernando, commander of the Sri Lankan navy from November 1991 to November 1992 AD, was that he was the most senior officer to be assassinated by the separatist LTTE (“Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam”) during their three-decade fight for independence.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLANCY_FERNANDO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in 1938, Fernando was educated at the Prince of Wales’ College in Moratuwa, after which he enlisted as a cadet officer in the Royal Ceylon Navy in 1957. Completing basic training, he proceeded to advanced studies at the Britannia Royal Navy College in Dartmouth. In April 1963 he was promoted to lieutenant, after that proceeding steadily if not spectacularly upward through the ranks. Most of his early service was spent on bases at Trincomalee, Tangalle and Karainagar, leavened with the occasional spell at sea. Fernando specialized in communications, and devised the first cryptographic system for the navy. Eventually he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and appointed Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy … which consisted of about 50 “ships,” mostly coastal craft purchased from China, Israel and India: patrol boats, gun boats and fast attack craft.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLANCY_FERNANDO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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At the time Fernando took command of the navy, the government was locked in a long-running struggle with the Liberation Tigers, which sought to create a separate and independent state for the Tamil people in the northern portion of the island. The admiral moved against the Tamil freedom fighters, making arrangements with the Indian navy for joint patrols along the coastlines, cutting their supply lines across the Palk Strait and Kilali lagoon. Within the year, Fernando was killed by a suicide bomber who drove an explosive-laden motorbike into his staff car on 16 November … killing not only the admiral but his hapless driver and his aide as well.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLARA_SCHUMANN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Although not widely regarded as a composer - her husband Robert Schumann is, however - Clara Josephine Wieck was considered one of the greatest pianists of the Romantic era of classical music. In an acclaimed career that spanned six decades, she changed the format, style, and offerings of the traditional piano recital, and so refined the tastes of the general public.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLARA_SCHUMANN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Clara was born in Leipzig in September 1819 AD to her music instructor father, who insisted she receive training in piano, violin, voice, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint. It was under his watchful eye that she began performing publically at the age of eight. In 1840, much to her father's displeasure, she married Robert Schumann, one of his students. Together, they launched a successful collaboration in music, he composing for and she playing the piano. Clara continued performing despite marriage and motherhood (she gave birth to eight between 1841 and 1854). It was unheard of – and slightly scandalous.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLARA_SCHUMANN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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The highly respected Clara and Robert befriended a number of talented young artists and composers. In 1844 they first met 14-year-old violin prodigy Joseph Joachim, who would later accompany Clara Schumann on a number of tours. In 1853 they met then-unknown Johannes Brahms and encouraged him to pursue his passion for composing for the piano; Clara was the first to perform his works in public.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLARA_SCHUMANN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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After losing her husband to a spiral of depression, attempted suicide, commitment, and later death, Clara scarcely missed a beat in launching a series of concert tours in his memory, playing many of his unfinished pieces to critical praise, often paired with Joachim. For 40 years she remained the greatest of pianists, but suffered a stroke in March 1896 and died a few weeks later.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLAUDE_MONET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Impressionist paintings are known for their use of color and distinct brushstrokes that lend a sense of movement to the piece. They resemble what the real world might look like if painted inside of a dream. The visionary artist Claude Monet was a master of the art style; it was his raison d’etre.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CLAUDE_MONET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
For Monet, painting was life. This pursuit was rejected by his father, who refused to pay for his release from a military draft unless he abandon painting. His passion was again tested when he and his wife Camille lived in destitution, when debt collectors seized his paintings. Even at the end of his life, when cataracts affected his vision, he continued to paint. After the cataracts were removed he retouched his work, some believe in an attempt to capture the ultraviolet light he could now see.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_COLAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
According to the 'Histories' – although Herodotus’ accounts are as much fiction as fact – Colaeus of Samos was a merchant blown off course from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, and so arrived at Tartessos c. 640 BC. There, beyond the Pillars of Herakles in southwestern Spain, he found a tribe of Celts working rich silver mines in the region. He traded his cargo of goods originally intended for Egypt – likely foodstuffs, pottery, tools, and cloth – to the barbarians for such an amount of silver (a stunning 60 talents) as to make him wealthy beyond the legendary Midas.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_COLAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
When Colaeus returned to Greece, he supposedly commissioned a great bronze vase and dedicated it and one-tenth of his profits – past and future – to the goddess Hera in thanks for his safe return to civilization. Whether he retired after this voyage or continued to travel to the Tartessos mines to bring silver back to Samos is unknown. However, later Greek historians claim that the story of the storm was merely an invention of clever Colaeus, intended to hide his route from competitors since the rewards from the previously untapped source of silver would have been immense. However, the profits were enough to draw other Greeks and Phoenicians to search for the silver source. By a century later the Phoenicians had established a regular route, bringing out tin as well as silver.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_COLAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Herodotus, himself a merchant and traveler, mentions only two “traders” in his writings – Sostratos and Colaeus. So they must have been quite successful to have drawn his notice. Needless-to-say, nothing else is known of this nigh-mythical merchant named Colaeus …


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CONFUCIUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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A philosopher and teacher who inadvertently became a great prophet – he founded one of civilization’s great religions – Kong Qui (better known as Confucius) was born c. 551 BC in the Lu state of ancient China. Focused on ethical models of private and public behavior, his views were collected in the 'Analects' after his death and although suppressed by the Qin dynasty would later become extremely influential during the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties. His was a philosophy based on the principle of 'ren' (“loving others”) while exercising self-control.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CONFUCIUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Since the 'Records of the Historian' (written some four centuries later) is more myth than fact, virtually nothing is known of Confucius’ early life. In contrast to his impact, his life seems starkly undramatic, or as the Chinese have put it “plain and real.” In the 'Analects', he himself states that as a youth he was poor – although a member of the shih (aristocratic) class – and forced to acquire several skills. His first occupation may have been as keeper of the Lu granary, and later as a supervisor of the fields. It is not known when he began teaching, but it is likely to have been after the age of 30; by 515 he had gathered a large number of student-disciples, and he had focused on the “Six Arts” that would promote self-control: archery, calligraphy, computation, music, chariot-driving, and ritual.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CONFUCIUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Around 498 Confucius embarked on a journey across eastern China. Accompanied by several of his energetic followers, they wandered about through Wei, Sung, and Ch’en lecturing, despite being threatened at times. While on his journey, Confucius penned several of the most influential works of ancient philosophy, including his revision of the 'Book of Odes' and his history of the dukes of Lu (the 'Spring and Autumn Annals'). The sage died in November 479.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CORNELIUS_VANDERBILT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in humble circumstances and receiving a mediocre education, Cornelius Vanderbilt overcame these through innate intelligence and sheer ruthlessness. As he once noted, “If you don’t have competition, you don’t have competitors to skin.” And he was very good at skinning just about everyone; at the time of his death, he was worth some $239 billion (today’s equivalent).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CORNELIUS_VANDERBILT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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As a boy, Cornelius worked with his father on the water, attending school when he wasn’t working. As a teen, he transported goods in his own boat, and eventually acquired a small fleet. In 1813 AD, he married his cousin Sophia and eventually had 13 children. Vanderbilt acquired a job as a ferry captain and in the late 1820s went into business on his own, both building and operating steamships. Ruthless and shrewd, “Commodore” Vanderbilt dominated the industry through engaging in fierce fare wars with his rivals. By the mid-1840s, he was a millionaire.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CORNELIUS_VANDERBILT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Not satisfied with being a multi-millionaire, and perhaps bored with bankrupting other steamship lines, in the 1860s he shifted his focus from steamships to railroads. He established the first inter-regional railway in the United States, and so could lower costs, speed travel times, and generally increase efficiency … and profits.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_CORNELIUS_VANDERBILT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
Unlike other Gilded Age tycoons, Cornelius wasn’t fond of giving his money away to charities or other philanthropic endeavors. The only substantial donation he made was near the end of his life, when he pledged one million dollars to endow Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Vanderbilt died at the age of 82 in January 1877, leaving the bulk of his fortune to his son William (much to the chagrin of his other nine surviving children).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DMITRI_MENDELEEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
At his funeral in St. Petersburg in February 1907 AD, students of charismatic professor Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev from the St. Petersburg Technological Institute and the St. Petersburg State University carried a large copy of the periodic table behind the hearse. A fitting tribute to the man who discovered the periodic laws and devised that table.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DMITRI_MENDELEEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Born in Tobolsk in 1834, Dmitri was the final son of Mariya Dmitriyevna, who supported her family as a manager in a glass factory. When it later burned down, Mariya moved her brood to St. Petersburg. There Dmitri attended the Main Pedagogical Institute, graduating in 1855; unfortunately, he contracted tuberculosis and took teaching positions in the Crimea to recover in a warmer clime. His health restored, he returned to St. Petersburg to earn a master’s degree, followed by studies abroad. Already having published several research papers in chemistry, he taught first at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute and then joined the faculty at the city’s university. Realizing there was a need for a definitive textbook to cover his inorganic chemistry classes, Dmitri wrote 'The Principles of Chemistry.'


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DMITRI_MENDELEEV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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While working on the book, Mendeleev noticed recurring patterns in both chemical and physical properties among elements. Using his broad knowledge of chemistry – since he had never specialized Dmitri had no preconceptions – he found ever more similarities and connections. After months systematically arranging the dozens of known elements by atomic weight in a grid, he even claimed he could predict the qualities of undiscovered elements. In 1869 he formally presented his “periodic laws” to the Russian Chemical Society … to great indifference. Until, that is, three new elements were found over the next 20 years that matched his predictions. In London in 1889, he presented his latest diagram of the elements to great acclaim.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DONATELLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Donato di Niccolo di Betta Bardi was born in Florence around 1386 AD and died there around 1466, having a productive eighty-year life chipping away at stone, marble, and other rocks. The emotion and expressivity of his work made him the greatest of Renaissance sculptors; the artist Vasari wrote of his work, “There is a marvelous suggestion of life bursting out of the stone.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DONATELLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Son of a craftsman, Donatello was educated in the home of the Martelli banking family, who happened to be patrons of the arts. In 1403 he apprenticed with the metalsmith and sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, helping him craft the statues of prophets for the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral, There are accounts that Donatello and the artist Brunelleschi struck up a friendship and the two travelled south to excavate the ancient ruins around Rome. Whatever the truth of that, there is no denying that Donatello incorporated classic styles in his subsequent carvings. Over the following couple decades, he completed some of the great masterpieces of the Renaissance: the marble 'Saint George,' the colossal 'Saint John the Evangelist,' the infamous bronze nude 'David,' and the bronze relief 'Feast of Herod.'


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DONATELLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
From 1443 through 1453, Donatello kept chipping away in Padua, creating the monumental sculpted altarpiece for the Santo and the equestrian statue of the commander Gattamelata. He spent his last years in Florence, mostly on commissions for the de Medici. He completed, for instance, the haunting 'Magdalene Penitent' for the convent at Santa Maria di Cestello, intended to provide comfort and inspiration to the repentant prostitutes the convent took in. His work influenced chiselers, notably Michelangelo, for centuries … although his reputation for crafting imposing, large-than-life figures was unmatched. Donatello died of unknown causes, and his last, unfinished piece was completed by his apprentice Bertoldo di Giovanni.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DOUGLAS_MACARTHUR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Douglas MacArthur led American troops in World War I, commanded the Allied Forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and led United Nations troops in the Korean War. MacArthur earned the Medal of Honor and is one of only five individuals to earn the rank General of the Army in the United States.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DOUGLAS_MACARTHUR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
MacArthur graduated at the top of his class from West Point and after World War I would return to become the school’s superintendent. During his life, he would also serve as chief of staff of the army for President Herbert Hoover, Field Marshal of the Philippines for President Manuel Quezon, and was encouraged to run for President of the United States himself. Yet, in a lifetime of accomplishments, liberating the Philippines from Japanese forces and accepting Japan’s surrender during World War II are perhaps his most well-known.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DWIGHT_EISENHOWER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
If administration and planning were the prime ingredients of martial greatness, then Dwight David Eisenhower was surely one of the greatest commanders of all time.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DWIGHT_EISENHOWER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Born in Denison, third of seven boys, Dwight graduated from Abilene High School in 1909 AD. Lacking the funds to attend any normal college, he applied and was accepted to West Point in 1911; although he graduated, his reputation was that of a violator of academy regulations and less than stellar student. After West Point, Eisenhower experienced several years of professional frustration and disappointment. World War I ended a week before he was scheduled to go to Europe, so he missed all the fun and promotions there. But he proved his organizational (and political) skills by serving as aide to generals Fox Conner, John J. Pershing and then to Douglas MacArthur.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DWIGHT_EISENHOWER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Eisenhower was assigned to the General Staff in Washington, where he remained until June 1942 helping lay out the American strategy for fighting Germany and Japan. His organizational skills so impressed General George Marshall that he appointed Eisenhower Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force for the invasion of North Africa. So successful at pushing paper and keeping the egos of Allied commanders in check was he that he was put in charge of Operation Overlord, the Allied assault on Nazi-occupied Europe.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_DWIGHT_EISENHOWER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
After the war, Eisenhower was briefly president of Columbia University, then with the outbreak of the Korean War took a leave to serve as Supreme Commander of NATO. Upon his return, “Ike” – having dabbled in the martial and academic spheres – entered the far more ruthless world of politics. He easily beat Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson for American president in 1952 and 1956. With Richard Nixon as his vice president, Eisenhower proved surprisingly effective and popular. He waged the Cold War, began the reforms of civil rights, continued the New Deal, and even balanced the budget. One of the better presidents in some time, he next took on the onerous task of heading Gettysburg College, dying in March 1969.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDGAR_ALLEN_POE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
“Master of the Macabre,” the American Edgar Allan Poe churned out atmospheric poems and tales of mystery and horror. Fitting, as his own life was full of both.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDGAR_ALLEN_POE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
The son of actors, born in January 1809, young Edgar never got to know them … his father left when he was an infant and his mother died when he was three years old. Separated from his siblings, the boy was sent to live with John and Francis Allen, a successful tobacco merchant and his wife living in Richmond. Never close with John – perhaps because he scribbled poems on the back of the man’s business papers – Edgar eventually entered the University of Virginia in 1826.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDGAR_ALLEN_POE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Poe harbored conflicting desires – writing and soldiering. He published his first collection of poems in 1827, and joined the army the same year. He won a spot at West Point in 1830, but was kicked out after a year for his (poor) handling of his duties. Leaving the academy, Poe focused on his other passion, living as a starving author in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and at last Baltimore, where he lodged with his aunt Maria and married his cousin Virginia when she was but 13 years old.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDGAR_ALLEN_POE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
In the late 1830s he published his first collection of short stories, 'Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque;' the title says it all, and it was a modest success. A talent on the rise, in 1843 Edgar won a literary prize for “The Gold Bug,” one of his stories that helped launch a new genre: detective fiction. He became a household name in 1845 with the publication of his poem "The Raven." But Poe was overcome with grief at the death of his beloved Virginia in 1847. His own death – under somewhat mysterious circumstances – followed in October 1849.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDMONIA_LEWIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Born around 1844 AD of an Afro-Haitian father and mostly-Ojibwa mother, not much is known about Mary Edmonia Lewis. She spent her early childhood with her mother’s people, running about in the woods of upstate New York. Edmonia was known as “Wildfire” to the tribe, and her older brother as “Sunrise” (his “Christian” name was Samuel). When they were orphaned when she was ten years old, two “aunts” took them in.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDMONIA_LEWIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
With the encouragement and support of Samuel, Wildfire settled down somewhat, enrolling in Oberlin College in Ohio in 1859. But she was a mediocre scholar, at least in everything save art, and soon left for Boston. There she befriended the likes of abolitionist William Garrison and sculptor Edward Brackett. By the middle of the Civil War, she had earned a small measure of commercial success in the city crafting medallions of Garrison, John Brown and other abolitionist leaders. And in 1864 her bust of famed Colonel Robert Shaw of the all-black 54th Massachusetts Regiment made Edmonia enough cash to depart for Rome.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDMONIA_LEWIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
In Rome Lewis joined an extensive and vibrant artistic community (all roads really do lead to Rome … even for artists). She was soon working in marble, in the popular neoclassical style, and had some success, especially among American and British tourists, especially for her depictions of African and Native American women. She also converted to Catholicism and took several commissions for altarpieces and other Christian ornaments.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EDMONIA_LEWIS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
Much like her childhood, Edmonia’s final years are shrouded in mystery. Until the 1890s she continued to sculpt and exhibit her work in Rome, but virtually nothing is recorded of the last decade of her life. It was widely believed that she died in Rome in 1911, but recent documents indicate Wildfire likely died in London in 1907. 


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_CID_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
As some military leaders have, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar – known as “El Cid” (from the Arabic as-sid, meaning “the lord”) – has passed beyond history into legend. And like all legendary liberators, he looked to “dream the impossible dream” and “fight the unbeatable foe.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_CID_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Rodrigo’s father was a member of the minor nobility of Castile, but it was his mother’s relationships that meant the boy was brought up in the household of the king’s eldest son, Sancho II. When Sancho assumed the throne in 1065 AD, he appointed the 22-year-old de Vivar as his armiger regis (royal standard-bearer), or king’s champion and commander of the royal troops. In 1067, Rodrigo accompanied Sancho on the campaign against the Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza which made it a tributary of Castile. That same year Sancho launched a campaign to seize his brother Alfonso VI’s kingdom of Leon. Although legend would depict El Cid (the name given him by the Moors after Zaragoza) a reluctant supporter of the aggression, it is unlikely he had any real scruples and he certainly distinguished himself in the ensuing war. But when Sancho was killed besieging Zamora, El Cid quickly changed his allegiance, and married Alfonso’s niece to boot.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_CID_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
However, things did not go well at court; although Cid’s apologists would portray him as blameless victim of conniving nobles, Rodrigo’s perchance for arrogance eventually forced him into exile from Leon. Offering his services to the Muslim rulers of Zaragoza, he loyally served the caliph and his successor for a decade against Lérida and its Christian allies, notably Barcelona and Aragon. Come 1086 and the great Almoravid invasion from North Africa, Alfonso swallowed his ire and recalled El Cid. When the 18-month siege of Valencia finally ended in 1094, El Cid entered it as conqueror, had the former ruler burnt alive, and brought in a French bishop. He ruled there even-handed, favoring neither Christian nor Muslim, until his death in 1099.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_GRECO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos around 1541 in Crete, in his mid-20s he travelled to Venice to study under Titian. Under his guidance, Domenikos began mastering the fundamentals of Renaissance painting: perspective, colors, the human form, and crafting detailed scenes. From Venice to Rome, where he resided and worked in the palace of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, an influential and adept diplomat for the Holy See. In 1572, El Greco (it is around this time that he changed his name to something more manageable by Italians) established his own studio; but success proved elusive and he departed for Spain in 1576.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_GRECO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
In Madrid, El Greco failed to secure the royal patronage of Philip II, and so moved on to Toledo. There he was hired by Diego de Castilla, dean of the Toledo Cathedral, to create a group of works for the church. During his next three decades, El Greco refined his style, his paintings marked by exaggerated and distorted depictions of human beings, producing landmark works such as 'St. Peter in Tears' (1582), 'The Burial of Count Orgaz' (1588), 'The Adoration of the Shepherds' (1599), and 'The Opening of the Fifth Seal' (1614).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EL_GRECO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
His style and emotional subjects vividly expressed the passion of the Counter-Reformation in Spain. His work underscored with powerful images the importance of the sacraments, the Virgin, and the saints. His later paintings with their haunting intensity would influence scores of artists for centuries, from the Cubists to the German expressionists to the abstract impressionists. He died in Toledo in 1614. Following his death, he fell into obscurity until rediscovery in the late 19th Century, when he was declared the “Prophet of Modern Art.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILIE_DU_CHATELET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil was born in Paris in 1706 AD to a well-connected, noble family – her father the baron was a favorite of Louis XIV – and had every privilege a little girl could want. Little is known of her early education (it was likely whatever was appropriate for girls at the time), but when she was 18, the baron arranged for his only daughter to marry into one of the oldest bloodlines in Lorraine. The Marquis du Chatelet brought prestige… but little else. For the first years of her marriage, the new marquise lived a very traditional life: managed the household in Semur, bore a daughter and two sons, and when appropriate enjoyed all the pleasures of Paris.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILIE_DU_CHATELET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
It was in 1733, when she was again in Semur pregnant with her second son, that Emilie became interested in mathematics. The marquise took up the serious study of Descartes’ analytical geometry, and began translating Newton’s new 'Principia,' adding her own commentary including completion and expansion of some of the Brit’s key hypotheses. Upon publication, the latter became the definitive edition across Europe.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILIE_DU_CHATELET_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Through the rest of the 1730s and 1740s, she continued to read, study, and write, even while caring for her husband, children, and several lovers. Indeed, her writings on optics, grammar, and a critical commentary on the Old and New Testaments were almost as famous as her scandalous affairs. Among those, Voltaire – who wrote to Frederick II of Prussia that she was “a great man whose only fault was being a woman” – and the mathematician de Maupertuis and the philosopher de la Mettrie. Her last lover, the soldier-poet de Saint-Lambert, was father to her last child; Emilie du Chatelet died in 1749 a week after giving birth.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILY_DICKINSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in December 1830 AD in Amherst to an old New England family; she was educated at Amherst Academy (now College), which her grandfather had founded. But she was of a ”delicate” nature, given to incapacitating bouts of “vapors,” such that although an excellent student she quit the academy in 1848. Some scholars have speculated that she suffered from agoraphobia, depression, and anxiety. She would spend the rest of her reclusive life on the family homestead, known locally as “The Homestead.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILY_DICKINSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Emily had begun writing as a teenager … since she didn’t have many friends, a natural outlet for all that repressed emotion. One friend she did have was Benjamin Newton, who introduced the impressionable young lady to the writing of William Wordsworth. Besides scribbling poetry and caring for her ever-ailing mother – neither Emily nor her sister Lavinia ever married, and lived at The Homestead until their deaths – the young lady maintained a voluminous correspondence with the likes of Newton, the minister Charles Wadsworth, Judge Otis Lord, and a few others.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_EMILY_DICKINSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
After 1860, Emily rarely left the estate. It was during this period, through the death of Emily’s mother in 1882, that she filled dozens of notebooks with hundreds of poems, all without the family’s knowledge. Of the some 1800 poems she penned, fewer than a dozen were published during her lifetime – and those were altered by the heavy-handed editors because of her unconventional style. Dickinson’s poems were made up of short lines, slant rhyme, and “unacceptable” punctuation and capitalization. Emily died of kidney disease in 1886, and Lavinia discovered her notebooks. In 1890, the family published the first volume of her collected poems, establishing her as one of the great American poets.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ERWIN_SCHRODINGER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Maybe not as famous as that famous cat, Erwin Schrödinger was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist whose groundbreaking wave equation moved quantum theory from the margins to the mainstream in scientific inquiry. Born in 1887 AD in Vienna, Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was home-schooled until he turned 11 years old, when he began classes at the prestigious Akademisches Gymnasium. By 1910, he had obtained his PhD in physics from the University of Vienna. Drafted into the military in 1914, Erwin spent WW1 as an artillery officer on the Italian Front.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ERWIN_SCHRODINGER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Erwin took on professorial duties at the University of Stuttgart, University of Jena, and University of Breslau before joining the faculty of the University of Zurich. Stumbling upon a theory of wave mechanics proposed by physicist Louis de Broglie, Schrödinger published a revolutionary paper – the first of several – explaining that an electron in an atom would move as a wave rather than a particle. That paper became a cornerstone of quantum theory. Moving to the University of Berlin, Schrödinger continued his innovative work … until he fled to the hallowed halls of Oxford University in protest of Nazi anti-Semitism in 1933.


Language: en_US
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Over the next few years, he would teach briefly at various schools around the world before being invited by the Irish Prime Minister de Valera in 1939 to head the School of Theoretical Physics at the Institute for Advanced studies in Dublin; he would remain there until retirement in 1956, when he returned to Vienna. Erwin spent his last years writing, melding his views on a variety of subjects with his quantum perspective in several books, including the problem of unifying gravitation and electromagnetism which had absorbed Einstein’s attention (and remains unresolved). And explaining the conundrum of Schrödinger's Cat. He died in 1961 in Vienna.


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Born Josephine Esther Mentzer, Lauder grew up in an apartment above her father's store in New York with her parents and eight brothers and sisters. The addition of her uncle to the household made living space smaller, but he introduced her to the wonders of chemistry. It was under his tutelage that she learned to create her own skin-care products.


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Lauder eventually moved to Manhattan, continuing to experiment and improve her cosmetics. Enjoying modest success, her breakthrough came after Saks Fifth Avenue made a purchase of her products and they sold out in two days. Her fragrance, Youth Dew, would go on to sell 150 million bottles.


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She was a working mother, successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Her business genius built a cosmetics empire that would continue to support her family even after passing at the age of 97.


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All that can be said of Euclid’s life, all that is known with a certainty, is that – according to the Greek philosopher Proclus – he taught in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I, at some point between 323 and 285 BC. The “father of Geometry,” Euclid is arguably the best known mathematician of history; his 13 books of 'The Elements' were the center of teaching geometry for two millennia, and became the basis by which mathematical treatises would be judged for centuries … as much for its organization and exposition as for content.


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Euclid not only set the standard by which mathematicians would forever be judged, but made rationalism the basis for all science in the modern world. His work begins with definitions and five postulates, the assumption of certain facts to serve as the basis for logical deductions. Thus the famous fifth postulate, that one and only one line can be drawn through a point parallel to a given line, formed the basis for all his proofs afterward (and when ignored, led to non-Euclidian geometry in the 19th Century). His insistence on axioms as the starting point for any investigation of a phenomenon established science as deductive, that proofs (no matter how convoluted) led to truths about existence.


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The style and subject matter of the 13 books give the impression that Euclid incorporated the writings of others; this is likely true, although it is impossible to determine which parts are his and which came from others. Whatever the facts, Euclid’s own contemporaries – and mathematicians ever afterward – considered his the final and definitive word on geometry. It has been claimed that, other than the Bible, 'The Elements' is the most translated, published, and studied of all books in civilization.


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Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 to an aristocratic father from Maryland (who could trace family to the author of the "Star Spangled Banner") and the daughter of self-made Irish immigrants. He received a private education at Catholic schools and was admitted to Princeton, where after an initial burst of success on the literary and social fronts, he neglected most of the actual educational parts of college, and ended up on academic probation. He dropped out and joined the army in 1917, and wrote his first novel (which, though rejected by the publisher was encouraged for revision and resubmission). In 1918 while stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, he met prominent local belle Zelda Sayre. After a somewhat tumultuous engagement, the two were married in 1920 as Fitzgerald's first novel, 'This Side of Paradise,' was published.


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Fitzgerald had tapped into the zeitgeist of the Jazz Age with his novels, of which The Great Gatsby is considered the most exemplary. His heroes and heroines are socialites, young, idealists, devoted to leisure. There is a sense of imminent catastrophe about them, of imminent disillusion, and a mortal fear of aging out of the moment of beauty. The specter of the just-finished War to End All Wars looms, having laid waste to the old order and old moralities, but there is often no real sense of what is to follow. In many ways, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's life paralleled these themes. The couple were celebrities and fixtures of the social scene, and Scott Fitzgerald's drinking (and its consequences) was often as widely and hotly discussed as the stories he wrote. Fitzgerald wrote and drank, fought with Zelda and drank, published stories and articles in magazines and drank, and moved to Europe and drank. As the Jazz age waned, Zelda Fitzgerald's mental health deteriorated, and she was institutionalized for the rest of her life. Scott Fitzgerald eventually moved to Hollywood and earned a living as a screenwriter to pay down his enormous debts. He died in relative obscurity in 1940, only 44 years old.


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His literary reputation improved in the decades after his death, and now his work is regarded as some of the best and most iconic of the Jazz Age. No other writer captured the heady joy and sharp glamour of the era the way Scott Fitzgerald could. And perhaps no other writer's life embodied the tragic end and lost promises of the Jazz Age the way F. Scott Fitzgerald's did.


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Born in 1377 AD in Florence and died in 1446, also in Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi is considered one of the most brilliant architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. Best known for the great brick dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, built with machines Brunelleschi himself invented for the task. His childhood was unremarkable – second of three sons of a notary in the city. He was initially schooled as a goldsmith and craftsman in the Arte della Seta, a merchants’ guild. Around 1401, Brunelleschi is designated in city records as a master goldsmith.


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Having lost a competitive commission to craft bronze reliefs for the doors of a Florentine church, Brunelleschi decided to concentrate his energy on architecture rather than sculpture. With his friend Donatello (yes, that one), he visited Rome and was seemingly inspired by all of the decaying ruins. In short order, Brunelleschi had his first architectural commission in Florence, building the Hospital of the Innocents. Other works followed: the Ridolfi Chapel, the Barbadori Chapel, the Pazzi Chapel, and eventually the dome of the great cathedral in the city. In doing so, not only did he reincorporate the linear perspective, but also devised machinery for the theatrical “miracle” productions in Florentine churches. Brunelleschi died and was buried in the cathedral he made famous.


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Can’t say that Francis Drake didn’t have an exciting life: slaver, privateer (or pirate according to most), vice-admiral in the victory over the Spanish armada, first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, and the most famous mariner of the Elizabethan Age. Born at some point between 1540 and 1544 AD in Devonshire, Francis Drake was the eldest of 12 sons. Since the family obviously couldn’t support useless mouths, he was eventually apprenticed to a merchant sailing the coastal waters between England and France; with a gift for navigation, he was soon recruited by the Hawkins brood, privateers prowling the shipping lanes.


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By the 1560s, Drake was given command of the 'Judith,' and at the head of a small fleet with John Hawkins, worked as slave traders. They then sailed for New Spain to sell their captives, but ran afoul of the Spanish viceroy. In a running battle Drake escaped. In 1572, based on this exploit, Drake was given a privateer’s commission by Elizabeth, and set off to plunder the Caribbean. So successful was he that the queen dispatched him to raid the Pacific coastline. After internal strife and a great storm scattered Drake’s little fleet, rather than face the enraged Spanish in the Atlantic, he set out with the 'Golden Hind' to sail back to England across the Pacific. In 1580 Drake reached Plymouth with a shipload of treasure; Elizabeth knighted him in 1581.


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Sir Francis Drake continued to “singe the King of Spain’s beard” (as Francis Bacon put it), seemingly with impunity. Thus, as the Spanish Armada gathered, it was inevitable that Drake would be appointed a vice-admiral of the English navy set to fight it. In a series of running battles, the Armada was shattered and the pirate made into a folk hero. He died of dysentery while on an expedition to raid Panama in 1596.


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Another of those sorts who abandon a life of luxury for a life of faith, Francis was born to a wealthy family in Assisi c. 1182 AD. A rambunctious youth, Francis looked to a life in the military, and in 1201 he joined a campaign against Perugia. He was captured, spent a year in prison awaiting ransom, and perhaps had his first visions therein. Supposedly Francis heard the voice of Christ directing him to live a life of poverty and to repair the Church. But he happily returned to a carefree life upon his release.


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According to ecclesiastical records, in 1205 Francis set out to enlist in the army the Count of Brienne, but on the way he encountered a leper. Viewing the leper as a symbol of morality – or as Jesus incognito as Catholics would have it – Francis embraced and kissed him. He returned to Assisi, abandoned his dissolute ways, divested himself of worldly goods, spent hours meditating, preached around the city (even to animals), restored ruined chapels, and ministered to lepers. Some viewed him as touched by God … others (including his family) as just touched.


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Inevitably Francis attracted others as touched as he. Inspired by a sermon concerning Matthew 10:9, in 1209 he and his followers made a pilgrimage to Rome to seek consent to form a new religious order. In time, the tonsured bunch was recognized by the papacy, with Francis ordained as their deacon – hence, the Franciscans. Besides preaching, Francis kept busy the next couple of decades: founding the Order of Poor Dames in 1211, attending the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, attempting to convert the Sultan of Egypt to Christianity in 1219, and visiting the Holy Land in 1220. Then in 1224 Francis received a vision that left him with the stigmata of Christ … although skeptics note that descriptions of the wounds are similar to the symptoms of leprosy.


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Francis is Assisi died in October 1226 at the age of 44; the Catholic Church rushed to make him a saint in 1228.


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A child prodigy, at least in music, by the age of nine Franz Liszt was performing in concert halls in his native Austro-Hungary. By the time of his death at the age of 74 of pneumonia, Franz Liszt had written more than 700 compositions, and was said to be the most technically proficient pianist of any age.


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Secretary to Prince Esterhazy, Liszt’s father requested and was granted leave to take his son to Vienna, where no less a composer than Antonio Salieri became a proponent of the boy’s musical genius. For several months there, the young Liszt performed private concerts for the wealthy and the nobility. Perhaps his most uncanny demonstration was his ability to improvise a musical composition on the spot from any melody suggested by an audience member. At the age of 12, Franz was taken to the Paris Conservatory in an unsuccessful attempt to get him admitted.


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In 1826 AD the 15-year-old Liszt’s father passed away, and the family fell on hard times, forced to share a tiny Parisian apartment. Liszt, disheartened, seemingly lost interest in music for a time, instead reading profusely, notably on the subjects of art and religion. But in 1833, having recovered from his depression and composing again, Franz Liszt debuted his first new work, and soon enough others. He also returned to public performances, becoming celebrated across Europe for his skill – with his reputation bolstered by the donation of much of the proceeds (concert tickets weren’t any cheaper than they are now) to charities and humanitarian causes.


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Born in 1863 AD in Weilheim-in-Oberbayern near mountainous Munich, Franz was hardly promising material for the Imperial German Navy. But after completing basic training in 1879, he decided to join the navy (perhaps to “see the world”). Following studies in Kiel he took the naval entrance examinations, and in April 1881, at the age of 18, Franz Hipper became an officer. After another round of studies, he was appointed to oversee the training of recruits for the First Naval Battalion. Passing through the Executive Officer School in 1885, Hipper would serve on several warships, including the armored frigate 'SMS Friedrich der Grosse' and the battleship 'SMS Worth.'


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Advancement continued apace for Hipper, the very model for professionalism and competence. Promoted to Kapitan zur See in 1907, Hipper assumed various seagoing commands, served as officer in charge of the training of torpedo boat crews, and eventually became chief of staff to Rear Admiral Gustav von Bachmann, Deputy Flag Officer of Reconnaissance Forces. In January 1912 when von Bachmann was promoted, Hipper was himself promoted to rear admiral and made deputy flag officer. In 1913 Hipper assumed command of the First Scouting Group, made up of the High Seas Fleet’s battlecruisers combining power with speed.


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He was at that post when that minor brouhaha broke out among the great European powers in August 1914. For the rest of his career, Franz (now “von”) Hipper would battle the British for control of the North Sea. Between shelling British coastal towns (Great Yarmouth, Hartlepool, Whitby and others) and engaging in the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland, Franz kept busy through the war … finally being promoted to command the entire fleet in August 1918, just months before the armistice. Von Hipper retired in December, to a quiet life in Altona where he died in 1932.


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Born in March 1810 AD in Poland, Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen came from an émigré middle-class family of French origins. The precocious boy published his first composition at the age of seven. His father, Nicholas, found employment as a tutor to aristocrats in Warsaw soon after Frédéric’s birth, thereby exposing the child to civilized society. Thus, by 1818 the musical prodigy was performing in salons across the city.


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Having completed his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, Chopin’s parents sent him to Vienna to find his fortune, which he did when he made his concert debut there in 1829. Over the next three years, he meandered across Austria, Poland, Germany, and France, eventually settling in Paris. There he found employment and acclaim as a recitalist and teacher of debutants in the homes of the wealthy. This lucrative pursuit allowed him both to live well and to devote time to composing some of the greatest works in musical history, the likes of the Nocturnes of Op. 9 and 15, the Scherzo in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31 and the Sonata in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35.


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Though Chopin had had various affairs, and even been engaged once, none lasted more than a year … until he took up with the French novelist Amantine Lucile Dupin, better known as George Sand, in 1839. Having spent intimate time in Majorca together, Sand realized that Chopin’s health was deteriorating; he was diagnosed with consumption, better known as tuberculosis. Their relationship turned stormy, but they managed to remain together until 1848, when Sand finally broke it off. Chopin, after a grueling concert tour of Britain, returned to Paris and died in October of the following year.


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Since he was only a novus homo (simply meaning not one of the old Roman aristocracy), not much is known about the personal life of Gaius Duilius … other than he lived during the 3rd Century BC. But he did manage to somehow get himself elected consul in 260 BC, at the outbreak of the First Punic War. Junior to the patrician Gnaeus Scipio Asina operating in Sicily, Duilius was given the command of the Roman “rear” fleet, where it was expected he could stay out of trouble. But when Scipio Asina managed to get himself captured at the battle of the Lipari Islands, Gaius Duilius was suddenly in command of the whole fleet … or what remained of it.


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Realizing that his forces lacked any skill whatsoever at naval warfare, and were facing a far superior (in every way) Carthaginian fleet, Duilius decided to fight under conditions as similar as possible to a land engagement, where the Romans were pretty good. Hence, he invented the corvus (a bridge equipped with a grappling iron). The following battle of Mylae was a stunning victory for Rome, the first Roman victory in a naval engagement against the Carthaginians; the smaller Roman fleet even captured a number of enemy ships, including the flagship. Duilius was rewarded with a triumphal march in Rome and a column (the columna rostrata) adorned with the “beaks” of Carthaginian warships in the Forum.


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On a more practical note, in 258 Gaius Duilius was elected censor and in 231 BC he was empowered as a magistrate and given authority by the Senate to hold elections if he deemed the Republic in a state of emergency … the last historical record of him.


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In any history of science, Galileo Galilei plays a key part; he is a – if not the – central figure in the Scientific Revolution. His works on physics, astronomy, and the scientific method still evoke debate. And his travails and tribulations at the hand of the Church remain a cautionary tale for scientists today. By the time he died, Galilei had become as famous (or infamous) as any person in Europe – even the popes that condemned him.


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Born in 1564 in Pisa, the lad Galileo in 1583 embarked on the study of medicine at the University of Pisa, but left in 1585 due to financial difficulties. He turned to supporting himself with minor teaching positions, amusing himself by studying objects in motion, leading to the publication of 'The Little Balance.' That, in turn, gained him a teaching post at the University of Pisa, where his experiments with falling objects contradicted the Church-sanctioned Aristotelian theories of physics. Which would have been tolerated, except he published 'On Motion,' and his contract was not renewed. No matter. He quickly found a position at the University of Padua, where for 18 years he lectured in geometry and astronomy.


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For Galileo, this newfound popularity and prosperity led him to pursue new interests – building telescopes and observing the heavens. In 1610, he began publishing his findings, arguing in favor of the heliocentric Copernican theory. The Church was incensed as his writings became ever more substantial, for in 1616 the Holy Inquisition had pronounced the Copernican theory heretical, and in July 1634 Galileo was convicted of heresy. In January 1642, the “father of modern science” died in Arcetri, still under papal arrest. 


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Named Angelina Yeoward at birth in 1873 AD in Azamgarh, she would become a famed vocalist, 'kathak' dancer, courtesan, and first recording star in India. Her Jewish father was an engineer and her Hindi mother Victoria was trained in classical Hindi music and dance. The marriage didn’t last; mother and daughter moved to Banaras in 1881, where Victoria took up with a Muslim nobleman and converted to Islam. She took the name Malak Jaan and renamed her daughter Gauhar. In Banaras, Malak became renowned as a 'tawaif' (a “female entertainer,” loosely equivalent to the Japanese geisha). As her career peaked and in search of wealthier patrons, Malak moved herself and Gauhar to Calcutta.


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Malak was thus able to hire the best of tutors and teachers for her talented daughter, who mastered 'dhrupad' and 'dhammar' as well as various forms of traditional dance. At the age of 14, Gauhar gave her first recital, to the Maharaja of Darbhanga, who was so impressed that he appointed the teen court musician and dancer. Over the next decade as a 'tawaif,' Gauhar enjoyed the patronage of a number of wealthy men, growing wealthy herself. Needless-to-say, she lived well – even extravagantly – once spending 20 thousand rupees on a party for her cat. A true diva (Gauhar, not the cat).


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In 1902 came her most significant contribution to civilization, for it was in that year that Gauhar Jaan agreed to record a series of native songs for the Gramophone Company. From 1902 to 1920, she recorded over 600 songs. Even as she continued her profession as a courtesan, she helped preserve disappearing Indian musical traditions in a dozen dialects. In her declining years, Gauhar was appointed court musician to the royal court at Mysore in August 1928, but died 18 months later.


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Genghis – born Temujin somewhere in northern Mongolia around 1162 AD, son of the chieftain Yesugei of the Borjigin tribe – laid the foundation for the largest contiguous empire in civilization, mostly through engaging in wholesale massacres of civilian populations across central Asia and northern China. Genghis was proclaimed “Universal Ruler” by the Mongols, and established meritocracy and religious tolerance, forbid the kidnapping and selling of women, banned slavery, and made the theft of livestock punishable by death.


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Before he turned ten, Temujin’s father had been poisoned and his family shunned by their tribe.  Shortly thereafter, the boy killed his older brother and took over as head of the family, making alliances and building a reputation as a fierce warrior. At the age of 20 he led an army of 20 thousand, and set out to unify the Mongols. By 1205 he had vanquished all rivals and the following year, at a conclave of representatives from every tribe, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan. The leading shaman even declared him the earthly representative of Mongke Koko Tengri (the “Eternal Blue Sky”), the supreme god of the Mongols.


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Wasting no time in capitalizing on his divine status, in 1207 Genghis led his horsemen against the kingdom of Xi Xia, forcing it to succumb to his rule two years later (mostly because there was no one left to resist). He then turned on the Jin dynasty in northern China, drawn not by its scientific and artistic wonders but by seemingly endless rice fields which could feed the expanding empire. While war against the Jin dragged on for 20 years, Genghis also moved westward, gathering 200 thousand Mongols to thrash the Khwarizm dynasty (spanning modern Turkestan, Persia and Afghanistan), piling the skulls of men, women, and children so high that by 1221 it was no more.


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The famed 'Canterbury Tales' is unfinished, yet considered one of the greatest literary works of civilization, proving that perseverance isn’t a necessity after all. Born in 1340 AD to a bourgeois family in London, Geoffrey Chaucer was educated at the St. John’s Cathedral School and in 1357 became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster, the wife of the Duke of Clarence. The young Geoffrey went off to fight in the Hundred Years’ War … and promptly got captured at Rethel.


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Ransomed by King Edward III, Chaucer entered his service, travelling across France, Italy, and Spain as a diplomatic esquire to the Crown. And in 1366 Chaucer married Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting to the queen … which didn’t hurt Chaucer’s standing any. After some further diplomatic adventures in Florence and Genoa on behalf of the king, Chaucer was appointed Comptroller of Customs, a lucrative position. In 1385 he petitioned for leave, but spent the next years still in service – even as a member of Parliament for a short time. After Richard II ascended the throne, he served as Clerk of Works and then as a sub-forester (gardener) at the king’s Somerset estate. Chaucer died in October 1400 in Westminster.


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The precise dates of Chaucer’s writings – including 'The Legend of Good Women,' 'Parliament of Foules,' and Troilus and Criseyde – are uncertain. In fact, given his duties to the crown, no one is quite sure how he found the time to write at all. For his magnum opus, Chaucer had planned on 120 satirical, witty stories for the 'Tales,' ambitious even by today’s standards. He’d only finished 24 by his death.


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Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GEORGY_ZHUKOV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The most successful and most decorated general of the Soviet Union, Gregori Konstantinovich Zhukov was born in December 1896 AD in the backwater (and that’s being generous) village of Strelkova to a peasant family. In 1915, while serving as an apprentice to a furrier in Moscow, he was conscripted into the 106th Reserve Cavalry Regiment and served throughout the war. In a wise career move, he joined the Bolshevik Party immediately after the 1917 October Revolution, serving the Party well during the Russian Civil War.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GEORGY_ZHUKOV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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For his role in suppressing the 1921 Tambov Rebellion, Zhukov was promoted – the first of several that in May 1933 brought him to command of the 4th Cavalry Division and in 1937 the 6th Cavalry Corps. Over these years he became convinced that armored warfare was the way of the future, and he developed his own views on how it should be used to batter an enemy into submission. Successfully evading Stalin’s purges of the military, Zhukov was tasked with halting the Japanese aggression along the Mongolian-Manchurian border. Arriving in May 1939, in August Zhukov annihilated the Japanese 23rd Division by outflanking it with armored forces. Returning to Moscow in 1941, he was declared a hero and made Chief of Staff of the Red Army – just in time to see it crushed by the invading Wehrmacht.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GEORGY_ZHUKOV_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Zhukov’s first task was to save Moscow – victory. Then to halt the Germans at Stalingrad – victory. Then to push the invaders back into Eastern Europe – victory, Then to capture Berlin – victory. For his exploits (although these came at great cost for the common Russian soldiers), now Marshal of the Soviet Union, he was termed “the general who never lost a battle.” However, Zhukov’s fame was his undoing, for Stalin wasn’t one to tolerate anyone more popular than he. Zhukov was demoted after the war and assigned to a minor posting. Although he experienced a brief rise in stature when Stalin died in 1953, Zhukov spent his remaining days in relative obscurity until his death in 1974.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GIOVANNI_DE_MEDICI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Even the most influential and powerful of families get their start somehow, and for the de Medici it was with Giovanni di Bicci, founder of the family’s fortune. While later de Medici would get themselves elected to the papacy, father scores of children, lead armies, marry into royal families, throw wild parties in the Vatican and such, the first Giovanni was born into a middle-class, staid, and sober family. Having few choices, Giovanni – born in 1360 AD in Florence, where job prospects were limited to commerce or religion – went to work for his banker uncle Vieri. Showing an aptitude for “squeezing blood from turnips,” Giovanni progressed fairly quickly from apprentice, to clerk, to agent, to junior partner. In 1385 he was put in charge of the Rome branch of the bank.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GIOVANNI_DE_MEDICI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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When old Vieri retired in 1393, Giovanni took control of the whole operation. In 1397 he transferred his headquarters back to Florence, while keeping the lending operations in Rome, where at various times (and with various bribes) it served as the Pope’s bank. Soon he also established branches in other cities in Italy and abroad, becoming rich to such an extent that during the 1415 Council of Constance the de Medici monopolized Italy’s financial transactions. In the process, Giovanni – thanks to all that clerking when younger – devised standardized accounting procedures, diversification (farming and mining ventures), usurious interest rates, and the like.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GIOVANNI_DE_MEDICI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Meanwhile, Giovanni’s influence increased exponentially. From 1402 onward he was repeatedly elected prior of the Arte del Cambio (the Italian bankers’ guild). And he was made general manager of the Apostolic Camera, the papal treasury, for a period … a lucrative appointment. Giovanni di Bicci de Medici died in February 1429, and was laid to rest in a marble sarcophagus commissioned from the great Donatello.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GRACE_HOPPER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in New York City in December 1906 AD, Grace Brewster Murray never commanded a ship or naval base, never saw combat nor taught at any military academy or war college. Yet Grace retired a Rear Admiral Lower Half (actually, “Commodore,” but the rank was renamed in 1985) in the United States Navy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GRACE_HOPPER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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After graduating from Vassar College, where she studied mathematics and physics, in 1928, Grace was accepted into Yale University where she received her master’s degree in 1930. That same year she married Vincent Hopper. In 1934, she completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale. When World War II broke out, Grace didn’t rush to join the festivities, but she did enlist in the U.S. Navy Reserve in December 1943 … choosing the Navy simply because her father had served in it. Given her background, Grace was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance computation project at Harvard, where she was part of the programming staff working on the “Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator,” better known as the Mark I computer.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GRACE_HOPPER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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At the end of the war, Hopper remained in the Reserve, remained at the Harvard facility and worked on the Mark II and III projects. She moved into private industry in 1949 where she worked for the Eckert-Manchly Computer Company and then with Remington Rand. She had a hand in – though not the inventor of – the first compiler for computer languages, the precursor to COBOL. Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in 1966, but was recalled to duty to help standardize the service’s computer languages.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GRACE_HOPPER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Grace was promoted to captain in 1973 … which is where she would have remained for the rest of her service except that Representative Philip Crane pushed a joint resolution through Congress that led to her promotion to commodore in 1983. She died in Virginia in 1992.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAV_KLIMT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Gustav Klimt was born in July 1862 AD on the outskirts of Vienna in the long twilight of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Son of a gold-engraver who had relocated from Bohemia seeking a better life, until 1883 Gustav lived in poverty while attending the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts – the Kunstgewerbeschule – to study architectural drawing. His rather bourgeoisie ambition was to become a drawing teacher, but he had more talent than that. After graduation he opened a small studio with his younger brother Ernst and friend Franz Masch. The trio agreed to concentrate on murals in the rococo style popular among Vienna’s upper class at the time. So successful were they that they received the Golden Order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I in 1888.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAV_KLIMT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Gustav remained part of the “establishment” for only a few years. With the passing of his brother Ernst, and now experimenting with radically new styles, Klimt helped form a non-traditional artists’ group known as the Vienna Secession in 1897 to promote “meaningful, personal artistic freedom.” But his works, featuring nude human forms and dark symbolic imagery, brought a lot of criticism and public indignation. Despite these frustrations, Klimt’s success reached its peak during the next two decades.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAV_KLIMT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Beginning with his Pallas Athena piece in 1898, Klimt created a series of works that made extensive use of ornamental gold leaf and a two-dimensional perspective akin to mosaics. Among the most striking of these iconic paintings are 'Judith' (1901) and 'The Kiss' (1908). Perhaps the most famous work of his “Golden Phase” – 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer' – was completed in 1907. Despite the disdain in his home city, his newer “impressionistic” works won prizes in competitions in Paris, Rome and other locales. But in 1918 Gustav suffered a stroke, which led to pneumonia, which led to death. 


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVE_EIFFEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Despite nearly two million visitors hiking up and down the newly-opened Eiffel Tower during the great Parisian Centennial Exposition of 1889, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel was little known outside France during his lifetime. Yet Eiffel – born in Dijon in December 1832 AD – became one of the most famous engineers in civilization, published some 31 books, and was an avid swimmer and fencer until in his 80s. In an age when the sophisticated looked upon engineers with disdain as grubby workmen with dirt under their nails, Eiffel was literate (he had a vast library), cultured, and courteous, able to mix well in any company … be it laborers, academics, or the wealthy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVE_EIFFEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Getting his professional start with a French firm headed by Charles Nepven, which was eventually bought by a Belgian engineering firm, Eiffel made his mark building bridges, notably the 1600-foot cast iron bridge spanning the Garonne near Bordeaux. He soon moved from bridges to buildings, among others the entrance hall for the Palace des Machines for the 1878 Paris Exposition, for which he developed innovative lightweight (relatively) iron trusses and arches.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVE_EIFFEL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Having designed the iron frame for the Statue of Liberty (French officials feared the winds of New York would knock it over), it seemed fated that he would be tapped to build the centerpiece for the great exposition. Although now quite famous in France, a series of scandals forced his resignation in 1893 as chairman of his own company. He built a study in the Eiffel Tower, where for the rest of his life he had time to devote to other interests, among them meteorology and telecommunications. He died peacefully at his home in 1923.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVUS_ADOLPHUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Gustavus Adolphus, sometimes known as “The Lion of the North,” was the eldest son of Charles IX, and was just short of 17 years of age when he succeeded his father to the Swedish throne in 1611. Since Charles had overthrown Sigismund III – who was also king of Poland – to seize the Swedish crown, the resulting dynastic squabble involved Sweden and Poland in a war that lasted 60 years. Charles had also managed to blunder into a war with Russia. And Denmark too after he defaulted on loans. Finally, various Catholic powers were threatening to end Sweden’s Lutheran leanings … violently. So Gustavus had a few “challenges” to face.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVUS_ADOLPHUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Gustavus managed to negotiate a peace with the Danes in 1613, at the cost of a heavy indemnity. That same year the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne of Russia ended that threat, although Adolphus decided to take advantage of the upheaval by seizing the Russian holdings of Ingria and Kexholm, thus linking Swedish Finland to Swedish Estonia. In 1617, that war too was over. This left Gustavus and his brilliant chancellor Oxenstierna free to focus on internal reforms, which included the restructuring of the Swedish army. The Lion then used it to bludgeon Poland into the Truce of Altmark in 1629, which saw Sweden acquire Livonia on the Baltic.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_GUSTAVUS_ADOLPHUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Which was just as well, as Gustavus had become embroiled in the Christian feud known as the Thirty Years War. To “support and protect” the Protestants in Germany, Gustavus undertook an invasion. He first consolidated the Protestant positions in the north, and then defeated a Catholic army under Tilly that was laying waste to Saxony. In March 1632 he entered Catholic Bavaria, a staunch ally of the Holy Roman Emperor. The subsequent battle of Lutzen was another Protestant victory, but in the process Gustavus Adolphus was shot down by enemy troops.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HAJI_HUUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Haji Huud was born into Islamic royalty – his father was the sultan of Samarkand – near Damascus, and by all accounts was quite bright … becoming a Hafiz Qur’an (one who had memorized the entire holy book) at the age of 14. At that same age he became the sultan when his father died in 1039 AD. Although an able administrator and popular with his subjects, Haji kept having visions, in which an angel informed him he was to leave his earthly kingdom and spend the rest of his life on the path of Islamic devotion. Thus, at the age of 28, Haji Huud departed for Mecca.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HAJI_HUUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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For 36 years Haji went on the Hajj annually, effectively living in Mecca; he also spent considerable time in Medina (another holy city). At some point during all this pilgrimaging and praying, he received a divine inspiration to spread Islam to India. Proceeding to Chist (Persia), where he received spiritual instruction from the Sufi mystic Hazrat Khwaja Abu Yusuf Nasiruddin Chisti, he returned briefly to Samarkand to gather a retinue (including his son Ismail Kadri) before setting out for Patan in Hindu-infested India.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HAJI_HUUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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There Haji Huud soon ran afoul of the temple priests, supposedly killing their tiger. When the priests informed the Gujarat prince Karandev, in a rage he ordered his army to arrest the interlopers. But as the soldiers approached – so the tale goes – they sank into the ground. Pleading with Haji for salvation, he ordered the earth to release them … whereupon the entire army converted to Islam on the spot. Karandev soon followed suit after a few more miracles, and built the first mosque in Patan.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HAJI_HUUD_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Haji Huud lived on in Patan – never returning home – for 51 years, and thousands on northern India and Pakistan accepted Islam because of him. Due to his faith, Huud lived to the age of 116, final dying peacefully in 1141 AD.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HANNIBAL_BARCA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in Carthage c. 247 BC, Hannibal – of the great Barca (meaning “thunderbolt”) family – would give the Romans nightmares for decades and great generals inspiration for centuries. Eldest son of Hamilcar, hero of the First Punic War, at the age of 26 Hannibal was elected to command in Iberia. He soon married Imilce, an Iberian princess, and conquered or allied with most of the Iberian tribes. In 219, he attacked the fortified town of Saguntum, allied to Rome … and the Second Punic War erupted.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HANNIBAL_BARCA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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The following spring, with an army of 100 thousand men (and 40 elephants), Hannibal marched through the Pyrenees into Gaul, cowed or beat all the Roman allies in his path, sidestepped the army of Publius Cornelius Scipio, and crossed the Alps. Facing inclement weather and attacks from indigenous tribes, the crossing is one of the most remarkable military feats in history. Although by the time he exited the mountains into northern Italy after 15 days, he was down to some 20 thousand infantry, 6000 cavalry and 37 elephants.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HANNIBAL_BARCA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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For the next three years, Hannibal rampaged across Italy, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy at Trebbia, Trasimene, and Cannae. He was within miles of Rome itself but – given his own accumulating losses – was unable to push Scipio out of the way, and Scipio didn’t have the forces to decisively win either. That’s because the Roman Senate had dispatched legions to attack Carthaginian cities in Iberia and North Africa. Hannibal abandoned his pillaging and returned to defend his homeland. In 202, at the epic battle of Zama, Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HANNIBAL_BARCA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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After the war, Hannibal spent several years in politics in Carthage, but in 195 the Romans demanded he retire from office. Joining the Seleucids in their hopeless fight against Rome, after defeat he fled to Bithynia. Rome demanded he be turned over, and he fled again to Libyssa, where he took his own life in 183 BC.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HELENA_RUBINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The eldest of eight daughters born to the Jewish couple of Augusta and Horace Rubinstein, Helena later (much later) wrote, “There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HELENA_RUBINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born Chaja in Krakow in December 1872, as the oldest child Helena helped her father with the bookkeeping for his shop and her mother make beauty ointments. Augusta repeatedly told her eight daughters they would wield influence only through the “powers of beauty and love.” It was love that sent Helena to Australia in 1902. When she demurred from studying medicine, her father agreed so long as she married instead of studied. Her choice was, however, not the sedate and rich 35-year-old widower her father selected for her, but rather a poor fellow student from the University of Krakow. So Helena left Poland for Australia to get away from her father.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HELENA_RUBINSTEIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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There she began making beauty creams based on her mother’s recipes. They were a big hit with the locals, and soon she had opened her own shop in Melbourne. In 1905 Helena headed back to Europe, there to study the latest advances in skin treatments. She returned to Australia, along with a Dr. Jacob Lykusky, to create more cosmetic formulae. Rubinstein began travelling to promote her products, and in 1908 opened the Salon de Beauté Valaze in London. Although she married and gave birth to two sons, that didn’t slow her down. She opened salons in New York and San Francisco, engaged in heated rivalries with Elizabeth Arden and Charles Revlon, and sold her American operations to Lehman Brothers in 1928 … which she bought back cheap after the stock market crash.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HG_WELLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Visionary or crackpot, great artist or great hack, the debates rage on about Herbert George Wells among historians, sociologists, and literary scholars still. A staunch socialist and free thinker, his personal life was as tumultuous as the response to his “science fiction” novels and short stories.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HG_WELLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in Bromley in September 1866 AD, H.G.’s was a working-class background, although his father did play professional cricket. Bedridden for several months at the age of seven as the result of an accident, young Wells became an avid reader. When his father’s hardware shop failed, H.G. and his brothers were apprenticed to a draper and his mother took work as a housekeeper on an estate, where the boy had access to the owner’s extensive library. Wells now devoured (figuratively, of course) great literary works. He soon found a way to turn all this reading stuff to use, winning a scholarship to the Normal School of Science where he studied physics, chemistry, astronomy, and biology, along with more mundane subjects.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HG_WELLS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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H.G. Wells, by the time he graduated from college, had no doubts about what he was destined to do. Even in college he used his growing knowledge of the fringes of Victorian science to begin writing what he called “scientific romances.” Several were published in minor literary magazines. In 1895, when he was a teacher, Wells became an overnight literary sensation with the appearance of 'The Time Machine.' With that, he could leave teaching, and for the rest of his life simply write … essays, short stories, articles, and nonfiction books as the mood struck him, most dealing with science and the future.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HIERONYMUS_BOSCH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Since Hieronymus Bosch started daubing paint on boards, his Medieval visions of heaven and hell have shaped Christian civilization and been used to admonish sinners. Born Jheronimus (or Jeroen) van Aeken around 1450 AD in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in Brabant, the artist was a pessimist and stern moralist who displayed in his art no illusions about the rationality of human nature nor confidence in the love of God; his triptychs are sermons on folly, sin, and damnation.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HIERONYMUS_BOSCH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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As mysterious and enigmatic as any artist, little is known of Bosch’s life; he left no writings, no correspondence or diaries or notes, and what is known comes from church records … mostly the account books of the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady. It appears that his grandfather, Jan van Aeken, was an artist and had five sons, four of whom were also artists of sorts. Around 1480, Hieronymus married Alety Goyaerts den Meervenne, daughter of a wealthy family; not only did the marriage improve his social standing but gave him a comfortable life … enough so that he didn’t need to work for a living. An entry in the accounts of the Illustrious Brotherhood records a funeral mass for Bosch in August 1516.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HIERONYMUS_BOSCH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Any chronology of Bosch’s surviving painted triptychs is difficult because, of the 35 to 40 works attributed to him, only seven are signed and none dated. It is his macabre masterpieces such as 'The Cure of Folly,' 'The Seven Deadly Sins,' 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' and the allegorical 'The Last Judgment' that exemplified his dark and disturbing visions of mankind and its enduring obsession with lust, obscenity, greed, and sin.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HILDEGARD_OF_BINGEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Declared by some “the greatest woman of her time," Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess, philosopher, liturgical poet and composer, botanist and herbalist, polymath, mystic (she had visions of humans as “living sparks” of God’s love), and, in time, a saint. She was born in 1098 AD, the daughter of a minor knight, Hildebert of Bermensheim. When she claimed to have visions, the family packed her off to the monastery at Mount St. Disibode at the age of eight, there to be instructed by the “blessed Jutta” for the next decade. When she was 18, she became a nun.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HILDEGARD_OF_BINGEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Around 1136 she was elected magistra (“instructress”) by her fellow nuns, and in 1165 would found a monastery herself at Eibingen, in the Celtic tradition housing both men and women (in separate quarters, of course). Besides her spiritual works detailing her visions and debating theology, her musical compositions and poems, her administrative duties, and her voluminous correspondence (over 300 of her letters remain extant), she experimented in the monastery’s herbal garden and infirmary. As she gained practical knowledge of diagnosis, prognosis, and healing, Hildegard blended physical treatment with holistic applications centered on “spiritual healing.” She catalogued all her findings and practices – along with a heavy dose of theology – in two lengthy tomes.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HILDEGARD_OF_BINGEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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The first, the 'Physica,' is made up of nine chapters that describe the scientific and medicinal properties of various plants, rocks, fish, reptiles, and mammals. The second, 'Causae et Curae,' is an exploration of the human body, its connection to the natural world, and remedies for various ailments that afflict it. The mysticism she elevates in these notwithstanding, her works became standard medical references, used long past her death in 1179.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HOMER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Not a lot is known about Homer, the man. A lot is known about Homer, the great poet. His works 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' have become the archetypal roadmaps for civilization’s literature. Literary historians have concluded that the formal structure and rigid plot of 'The Iliad' can be attributed to an author at the height of his abilities, while the colloquial, novelistic approach of 'The Odyssey' is likely that of an elderly Homer. Regardless of the differing styles of the two lengthy narrative poems, scholars are (mostly) agreed that these were likely the work of one person.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HOMER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Assuming Homer existed at all (there is even debate on this), the date of his birth has been placed anywhere from 1200 BC to around 750 BC, based on the style of his poetry. Herodotus claimed Homer lived around 850 BC (but then Herodotus also claimed the existence of centaurs). Likewise, there is debate over where Homer lived, with seven cities claiming him as a native son. Historians have narrowed the possibilities, based on the dialect of his writings, to Ionia, Smyrna, Chios … or, at least, somewhere along the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HOMER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Whatever the details of his life and death, Homer laid the foundation for Western literature, established some of its iconic forms and tropes, and served as godfather of ancient Greece’s collective memory.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HORATIO_NELSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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According to most pundits, Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount, 1st Duke of Bronté, was the greatest naval tactician to have ever lived – even though two of his three most famous victories were attacks on ships at anchor, one of those of a neutral nation. And he fought stubbornly against the tides of freedom, including his suppression of the republican revolt in Naples. So the great hero of England is not without controversy as to his legacy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HORATIO_NELSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born into a moderately well-off family in 1758 AD in Burnham Thorpe (Norfolk), the sixth of 11 children, at the age of 12 Horatio joined the Royal Navy. So diligent and self-confident was he that within 20 years he was captain … didn’t hurt that his uncle, Maurice Suckling, was Comptroller of the Navy. Nelson first saw action in the West Indies during the American Revolution, beating up on hapless and outgunned Spanish ships and towns. But American independence had the Royal Navy facing cutbacks, and Nelson returned to England on indefinite leave and half-pay.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HORATIO_NELSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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The French Revolution saw Nelson back in service, as the English sought to put down all that democratic nonsense … yet again. Nelson proved a very good commander: daring, bold, often reckless, stern but respected by his men, and willing to disobey orders, as he did when ordered to withdraw from the attack on the neutral Danish fleet at Copenhagen. He also managed to lose his right eye (Corsica, 1794) and an arm (Battle of Santa Cruz in Tenerife, 1797). All culminated at his great victory over the combined French-Spanish fleet in 1805 at Trafalgar, where Nelson was killed aboard his flagship 'HMS Victory' when felled by a French sharpshooter. Among his reported last words according to the ship’s surgeon William Beatty: “Thank God I have done my duty.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HYPATIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In the year 416 AD, a mob of Christian radicals stormed a carriage in the streets of Alexandria, dragged the women within into a nearby church, where they beat her with roofing tiles. Thus died Hypatia, the first great female scholar of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. She was, at the time of her death, head of the Neoplatonic School in the cosmopolitan city … but declared a Hellenistic pagan by the bloody-minded mob.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HYPATIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Daughter of a mathematician, she was born in Alexandria c. 370 AD. Being quite brilliant, she was sent off to be educated in Athens, returning to her home around 400 to become head of the well-respected school in Alexandria. There she lectured on mathematics and philosophy, assisted her father in his monumental commentary on Ptolemy’s 'Almagest,' and herself produced a new version of Euclid’s 'The Elements.'


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HYPATIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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But it was her dabbling with pagan tools such as astrolabes and musical instruments, as well as her willingness to accept anyone – including non-Christians and foreigners – into her school that brought approbation. Church leaders ranted about her “Satanic wiles” and worse, she ignored all those Biblical pronouncements about the proper behavior of women.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_HYPATIA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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It all came to a head when Cyril (later “St. Cyril”) was appointed patriarch of Alexandria in 412, and promptly became a bitter political rival to Orestes, the Roman governor, as the church and state fought for control. Hypatia happened to be a friend of Orestes, as well as the city’s leading intellectual light … and female. She soon became the focal point of riots and fighting between Christians and non-Christians, and her murder soon followed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born around 125 AD in the city of Smyrna, unlike most of the early “church fathers” Irenaeus was brought up a Christian rather than converted. During the persecutions of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, the brilliant “philosopher-king” who had some intellectual concerns with the Christians, Irenaeus was made a priest of Lugdunum in Gaul.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Little is known of the details of his life after Irenaeus got promoted, but it seems he divided his activities between the duties of a pastor to his flock and of a missionary. Mostly, he wrote, virtually all of his works are diatribes against the heresy of Gnosticism, a fashionable movement in the rapidly expanding Catholic Church that espoused dualism and situational ethics undertaken by each individual. His best known rant, Adversus Haereses (“Against Heresies”), is a detailed attack on Gnosticism that emphasized the elements of Catholicism: the episcopate, scriptures and religious ritual. Irenaeus argued that the only “safe” guide to interpretation of the holy writings came from the bishops, who traced their lineage direct to the first apostles. His polemical works are credited with establishing the orthodoxy of Christianity and the evolving doctrine of the primacy of the Papal See.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENAEUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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The last record of Irenaeus is dated to 190 or 191 when he exerted influence on Pope Victor I not to excommunicate Christian communities in Asia Minor which had fallen into the practice of the Quartodeciman celebration of Easter. Irenaeus died c. 200 AD. Although there is a tradition of him being martyred, there is no actual evidence that he died from anything other than natural causes.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENE_OF_ATHENS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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As empress consort to Leo IV of Byzantium, then dowager empress, then empress regnant, Irene of Athens would set financial policy in the western terminus of the fabled Silk Road for three decades. Other than blinding and thus killing her son Constantine, her role in promoting and expanding the silk industry is perhaps her greatest accomplishment. She also had a new gold solidus (coin) minted with her likeness to stabilize the empire’s economy, and established trade alliances with the Carolingian and the Roman papal state. While she had no great need for wealth herself (she was an empress after all), she certainly helped make others in Byzantium quite rich.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENE_OF_ATHENS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Irene was born c. 752 to the influential Sarantapechos family of Athens (hence the moniker); she was brought to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine V and married to his son Leo in 768. In January 771 Irene gave birth to a son, the goal of all queens and empresses of the time. When Leo died in 780, she became regent for her nine-year-old son. She spent the next two decades putting down plots (including her own son) against the throne and her autocratic ways. Until her death in 803, she ruled unchallenged.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_IRENE_OF_ATHENS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Even as it grew rich off the silk trade from China, Byzantium sought to establish its own domestic production and thus cut out greedy middlemen. Even as wife to Leo, Irene of Athens saw the enormous economic benefit in silk production to feed the demand in Europe; and like the Chinese, she saw the value in insuring that the industry was controlled by the imperial family. So she had the Eleutherios (silk-weaving workshops) built where production could be closely monitored. It worked, for thanks to Irene, the Byzantine crown would profit mightily by offering an alternative to expensive Chinese silk for seven centuries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISAAC_NEWTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in Woolsthorpe to a farming family in 1643 AD, at the time of his death in 1727 Sir Isaac Newton had been living with a niece near Winchester … but wealthy, famous, cantankerous, annoying, infirm, with his few friends worrying about his mental stability. Many proclaim him the greatest genius who has ever lived, though  in the 20th Century Einstein would overturn most of Newton’s “laws” and make space, distance, and motion relative rather than absolute.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISAAC_NEWTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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At the King’s School in Grantham, Isaac was introduced to the fascinating (for him) world of physics. Pulled out by his mother, the 12-year-old boy was to be made a farmer; he failed miserably. Isaac was soon sent back to King’s School to finish; in 1661, with the help of an uncle, he was accepted into a “work-study” program at the University of Cambridge. When the Great Plague ravaged England, Newton returned to his home for 18 months, during which he conceived his method of infinitesimal calculus, developed his theory of light and color, and found insights into the laws of planetary motion – eventually leading to his greatest hit, 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,' credited as the single most influential treatise on physics.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISAAC_NEWTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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In the interim, Newton had gained a couple more degrees (he eventually returned to Cambridge), taken various short-term teaching positions, published his controversial (scientifically speaking) work on optics, had a couple of nervous breakdowns, and engaged in some scholarly feuds (which got quite nasty). Publication in 1687 of the 'Principia' raised Isaac to international prominence, greater public visibility, and in 1689 he was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament, beginning an involvement in public affairs that would last until his death. Newton traded a life of scientific inquiry for one of political prestige.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISIDORE_OF_MILETUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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A renowned mathematician and engineer even before Justinian I commissioned him to build the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the Greek Isidore of Miletus had a storied career. He taught at the universities of Alexandria and Constantinople, made the first comprehensive compilation of the writings of Archimedes, and designed baths and temples. But it is the big basilica he is remembered for in civilization.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISIDORE_OF_MILETUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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The first basilica on the site had been completed in 360 AD, but had been badly damaged in the Nika Riots – along with most of the rest of the city. The Nika Riots in 532 – sparked by clashes between the Blues and the Greens, supporters of rival chariot racing teams in the Hippodrome – left half the city burned and some 30 thousand dead. Justinian, a holy man, wanted a church that couldn’t be burned down. He turned to Isidore and to Anthemius of Tralles.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_ISIDORE_OF_MILETUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Their design drew upon classical Roman architecture and modern (for the time) construction methods; the basilica was centered on a 250-by-230 foot great hall capped with a massive dome, making it the largest church in the Orthodox realm. The Hagia Sophia was completed in just five years, due to the thousands of “volunteer” laborers and loads of raw materials “donated” by the empire’s subjects. Isidore likely died before 558, for when the dome was damaged in an earthquake that year, it was his nephew Isidorus who oversaw the repairs.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAKOB_FUGGER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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One of the “super-rich” (about $277 billion dollars in today’s terms) of the Renaissance, Jakob Fugger was an entrepreneur, merchant and banker; he even gained a concession from Charles V to hold sovereign rights over select lands, thus allowing Jakob to mint his own money. At the time of Jakob’s birth in March 1459 AD, the Fuggers were already successful merchants in Augsburg. In 1469 his father died and Jakob was told to abandon his plans for a career in the priesthood. Instead, he was sent at the age of 14 to the family’s offices in Venice, where he studied bookkeeping … with decided zeal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAKOB_FUGGER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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When he completed his studies in 1485, Jakob was given control of the family’s interests in Innsbruck. He loaned Archduke Sigismund some 23 thousand gold florins, and as collateral received "temporary" control of several profitable silver mines in the region. When Sigismund turned over his dukedom to the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I – who was even worse at managing his finances than the duke – Jakob soon had him indebted as well. In the process, he gained control of vast copper mines in Silesia and Poland.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAKOB_FUGGER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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As Maximilian borrowed ever more, Jakob gained ever more land, a title of nobility, and was made a count of the empire in 1514. A few years later he bribed most of the electors to insure that Maximilian's grandson Charles became the new Holy Roman Emperor … and that the Fuggers would keep the Hapsburgs indebted. As a result of this, the Fuggers were given the rights to divert the revenues of three knightly orders in Spain into their own coffers, as well as mining ventures in mercury and silver there. In the last years of his life Jakob Fugger even made the Vatican indebted, loaning it the money to establish the Swiss Guard in 1506. Jakob died in 1525, still counting coin.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_JOYCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
His stream-of-consciousness style made him a literary innovator. His exploration of language and new forms of story-telling made him famous. His examination of everyday lives made him popular. And the explicit content of his novels made him a celebrity and brought about landmark legal decisions on obscenity.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_JOYCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born James Augustine Aloysius Joyce in Dublin in February 1882 AD, he was the eldest of ten children. His father John was a talented vocalist, reputedly one of the finest tenors in the land, but didn’t provide a stable household - he liked to drink. James graduated from University College Dublin in 1902, and promptly left for Paris, ostensibly to study medicine. But he returned to Ireland upon learning of his mother’s fatal illness. He remained for a short while, long enough to “step out” with Nora Barnacle, a hotel chambermaid who would bear him two children. And, like his father, he began imbibing large quantities of alcohol.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_JOYCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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During Joyce’s stay, he made his first literary sale to the 'Irish Homestead' magazine. But it wasn’t enough to keep him in Ireland; over the next few years he and Nora would live in Pula, Trieste, Rome, Paris and Zurich (during World War I). His first book, 'The Dubliners,' a series of short stories, was published in 1914 and his first novel two years later. Joyce then embarked on writing his landmark novel: 'Ulysses,' recounting the events of a single day in Dublin. Published in 1922, it was promptly banned by self-appointed censors in both America and Britain; what with all the controversy, sales soared.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_JOYCE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Financially secure at last, James made Nora an “honest woman,” moved back to Paris, wrote 'Finnegans Wake,' moved back to Zurich at the onset of the German invasion of France in World War II, and died there in January 1941.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_OF_ST_GEORGE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Master James of St. Georges – or more formally Jacques de Saint-Georges d’Espéranche – was a Savoyard employed by England’s Edward I to design and build castles to keep his new but unruly subjects in line. Edward Longshanks kept grabbing chunks of Wales from 1277 to 1283 AD, when Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was finally killed in battle at Orewin Bridge. Concerned about a rebellion among the Welsh lords while he turned his attention north to the Scots, the king ordered the building of castles. Edward likely had met James – son of a master mason working in Savoy – in 1273 on a state visit, and hired him as his 'ingeniator' (chief engineer) in 1278.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_OF_ST_GEORGE_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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James got busy building castles for Longshank’s Welsh occupation; at least 12 of the 17 English castles built in Wales during this period are his work. At Rhuddlan, James’ first effort, he perfected the symmetrical, concentric “walls-within-walls” which became his trademark. His castles soon dotted the Welsh countryside – Conwy, Flint, Harlech, Caernarfon, and Beaumaris among others. Around September 1298 James joined Edward in Scotland to set about intimidating another bunch of savages with his castles, but managed to expand the fortifications at only Linlithgow Palace and at Stirling before his death in 1308.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_WATT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The Scottish mechanical engineer and all-round tinkerer James Watt was born in Greenock in January 1736 AD, son of a prosperous shipwright and a well-educated mother. Watt was schooled at home by her until her death when he was 18. He left his ailing father to study instrument making in London, returning after a year to Glasgow to make his own fortune in his own company. There he gained some repute for building and repairing astronomical instruments for the University of Glasgow. Around 1764, Watt was given a Newcomen steam engine to repair, and he became infatuated with the potential of steam power.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_WATT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Watt thought the design of the Newcomen, in use for 50 years to pump water from mines, was outdated, hopelessly inefficient, and unreliable. In 1769, Watt received his first patent for improvements to it. Then in 1775, Matthew Boulton of Birmingham joined Watt to create the firm Boulton & Watt, which soon became the most important "engineering" firm in England, supplying engines to fill the unrequited demand by paper, cotton, flour, iron, textile mills, as well as distilleries, canals, and waterworks. Wealthy beyond belief by 1800, Watt retired to devote himself to research, inventing the rotary steam engine, the double-action engine, and the steam pressure indicator. He died in 1819, still tinkering.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_WATT_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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So pivotal was his role in industrial civilization that a unit of measurement of mechanical (and eventually electrical) power – defined as joules per second – was named for him, perhaps the ultimate honor for an engineer.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_YOUNG_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Scottish chemist James Young devised an improvement for Michael Faraday’s battery, proposed a method of combating potato blight, is responsible for advancements in rustproofing the Royal Navy’s fleet, iterated upon Hippolyte Fizeau’s speed of light measurement technique, and is best recognized for his patented technique of crude oil refinement. Young devised technique after observing how crude oil was affected by heated coal seams. Experimenting with artificial methods of reproducing this process would yield a variety of useful oils.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMES_YOUNG_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In 1850, he and his close friend and business partner Edward Meldrum established the world’s first commercial oil company. He would eventually withdraw from the company, enjoying the fortune earned from his paraffin oil patent.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMSETJI_TATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In 1857 India revolted against British oppression. The rebellion would fail, but amid the turmoil a young Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata would begin his journey to heal his homeland and transform it into an industrialized nation. He understood that freedom meant little without financial stability. The company he would found grew to become a global conglomerate of nearly 100 companies, providing its workers with benefits such as medical care, education for children and its workers, pension and maternity leave.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JAMSETJI_TATA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Colonial rulers would attempt to subvert Tata’s ambition, but would not succeed. This world traveler understood the profit to be gained in the textile industry and opened a cotton mill in Bombay. Today, the Tata Group operates in the chemical, communications, consumer goods, energy, engineering, materials, and services industries.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANAKI_AMMAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in 1897 AD in Tellicherry in the British Raj, unlike other Indian girls at the time, her parents encouraged Janaki Ammal Edavaleth Kakkat to pursue her intellectual interests – which soon focused on botany. One of 19 children to her father’s two wives, there wasn’t a lot of money to spare for her higher education; nevertheless, she moved to Madras and obtained a bachelor’s degree from Queen Mary’s College and an honors degree from Presidency College there in 1921. After a brief teaching career, she won a scholarship to the University of Michigan and obtained her master’s degree in 1925, returning again to complete her doctorate in 1931.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANAKI_AMMAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Ammal soon joined the Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore in an effort to create varieties of high-yield cane that would thrive across the subcontinent. However, her status as a single female (she never married) led to irreconcilable “differences” with the rest of the research staff; she left for London in 1940, eventually taking a cytologist position at the Royal Horticultural Society. Working at the famed Kew Gardens, Janaki completed chromosome studies on a wide variety of common plants, throwing new light on the evolution of a wide range of these, with special focus on medicinal ones.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANAKI_AMMAL_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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She didn’t return to India until she received a personal invitation in 1951 from Jawaharlal Nehru to reorganize and head the Botanical Survey there. Janaki’s work on developing genetic hybrids of sugarcane and bamboo at the institute were pivotal for the advancement of Indian agriculture. In 1970, she settled in Madras as emeritus professor at the Center for Advanced Study in Botany, until her death in 1984. Her major interest in her final years was the care of her large brood of cats and kittens … just another crazy cat lady.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_AUSTEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Unlike most great authors who seemingly must suffer for their art, Jane Austin had a fairly comfortable and untroubled life. Born in December 1775 AD in Hampshire, England, she was the seventh child of well-respected (if not wealthy) members of the community. Her father was a rector at the nearby Anglican Church, and her mother was a rector’s wife. Her Oxford-educated father had an extensive library, and encouraged his brood to revel in it.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_AUSTEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
In a few years, in order to acquire a formal education, Jane and her older sister Cassandra were sent off to boarding school. But the sisters contracted typhus, nearly died, and returned home, never to leave again. To pass the time and give her romantic notions free rein, Jane began writing stories – eventually novels – in a series of notebooks in the mid-1890s. They were, in effect, witty parodies of the romantic claptrap of the day. These bits and pieces would evolve into more ambitious works: the great 'Sense & Sensibility,' 'Pride & Prejudice,' and 'Northanger Abbey.' With the help of her brother Henry, who convinced the printer and bookseller Thomas Edgerton to publish it, 'Sense' would be released in 1811 – anonymously but to acclaim for its social commentary.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_AUSTEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Jane spent her adulthood running the family home for her aging parents, playing piano, attending church, socializing with the neighbors, and all those other things expected of a proper English spinster. But it seems she was neither bored nor resentful. In 1801 the family – father, mother, Jane and Cassandra – moved to Bath. Her father died four years later, and for several years the three women moved about, until able to settle into a cottage in Chawton owned by Jane’s brother Edward. In 1816, Jane fell ill with a degenerative disease, dying the next year.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_DREW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Jane Drew (actually, Iris Estelle Radcliffe Drew, eventually Dame Jane Drew) was born in Croydon, daughter to a designer of surgical implements and later founder of the British Institute of Surgical Technicians, in March 1911 AD. She eventually became equally famous, as a modernist architect and town planner. She studied at the Architectural Association School in London, graduating in 1934; shortly after, she won a competition to design a hospital in Devon. As architecture was an exclusively male-dominated art at the time, this accomplishment was a real feather in her cap. Soon enough she married another architect, James Allison, and joined his firm. But she kept her maiden name, being a “modernist” sort.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_DREW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Although her marriage collapsed in 1939, she reveled in being mother to her twin daughters. A forthright, assertive, bold, and mischievous feminist (her personality either enthralled or repelled everyone who met her), she made her own way as an architect. She eventually became a member of the Congrés International d’Architecture Moderne, where she met the famous Le Courbusier and less-so Maxwell Fry; the latter she married in 1942, creating a partnership that would revolutionize urban planning and change the facade of a dozen former British colonies.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_DREW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
In Ghana, Nigeria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Singapore, India, and even Scotland, Drew’s modernist designs were striking, functional, and often controversial. But it was the firm’s collaboration with Le Courbusier to design Chandigarh, a new city in the Punjab after Indian independence, which proved most enduringly famous.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANE_DREW_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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After her retirement in 1979, Jane churned out copious published works on architecture, was presented dozens of honorary degrees, and was made a Dame of the British Empire by the Queen in 1996, dying later that year in July.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANG_SEUNG_EOP_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Even as a civilization collapses and dynasties crumble, great artists still produce great art … albeit, often in obscurity. The end of the Joseon Kingdom gave birth to a number of preeminent artists: Ahn Gyeon, Shin Saimdang, Master Jeong Seon, and Kim Hong-do. But the most legendary might have been Jang Seung-eop – better known by his pen name “Owon” – whose powerful brush strokes revolutionized Korean art … “a saint who got drunk on the sensation of painting.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANG_SEUNG_EOP_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in 1843 AD, Jang’s parents died during his childhood; the orphan wandered about before being taken into the Hanyang (Seoul) household of the aristocrat Yi Ung-heon. The teen Jang was illiterate, having no schooling, but once he took a brush in hand his skill at painting became evident. He was able, it is said, to dash off masterful drawings with one stroke of the brush; likely an exaggeration, but he does seem to have been able to paint with alacrity and skill. His reputation spread, and his exquisite and delicate paintings of landscapes, portraits and especially scenes of daily life in the capital were much in demand. Owon painted to make money; he sold his works mostly to the newly empowered merchant class.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JANG_SEUNG_EOP_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Unlike most artists who make a preliminary sketch or draft, Jang could apply ink to silk or paper without hesitation to create masterworks. And he found his muse in alcohol and women, of which he was inordinately fond. Legend has it that he frequented banquets given by wealthy merchants, churning out paintings on the spot while drinking wine served to him by fawning women. It is uncertain where (he tended to wander about) or how he died, but Jang disappeared from history in 1897 at the age of 55.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAN_OF_ARC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Born a peasant in Champagne around January 1412 AD, Jeanne – later known as la Pucelle (the Maid) – was illiterate and unlearned … although she was quite skilled at spinning and sewing. And she was singularly pious, embarrassingly so. Around the age of 13, Jeanne became conscious that she was hearing the voices of angels – St. Michael, St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and others. Soon enough, these angels were telling Jeanne she was to drive the English out of France (the Hundred Years War which had begun in 1337 was dragging on) and bring the Dauphin (later Charles VII) to Reims (which was occupied by the English and their Burgundian allies) to be crowned the true king of France.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAN_OF_ARC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In May 1428, the 17-year-old girl convinced Robert de Baudricourt, French commander at Vaucouleurs, to take her to Chinon, where Charles’ court was in residence. Persuading the non-too-bright Dauphin to allow her to accompany the French troops attempting to raise the English siege of Orléans, in a series of battles she inspired them to a stunning victory. Although he hesitated to make the commitment, Charles finally entered Reims accompanied by Jeanne and was crowned King of France in July 1429.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAN_OF_ARC_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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The following spring, King Charles ordered Jeanne to Compiégne to defeat the Burgundians, but during the battle she was thrown from her horse and captured. In the months that followed, the Burgundians got 10,000 francs in ransom, the English executed her as a heretic, and the French had a new patron saint.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAQUIM_MARQUES_LISBOA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The naval career of Joaquim Marques Lisboa spanned seventy years as a national hero, first admiral and patron of the Navy of Brazil. His birthday – 13 December – is remembered there as “Sailor Day.” And he helped suppress a lot of revolts by disgruntled natives, peasants and ex-slaves: the Cabanagem, the Sabinada, the Farroupilha, the Balaiada and the Praieira.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAQUIM_MARQUES_LISBOA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Joaquim was born in the city of Rio Grande, one of the most important ports in Brazil, in 1807 AD; at the age of 13, he enlisted in the navy. He was assigned to the frigate Niterói and took part in several naval actions along the coast of Bahia both before and during the brief war of independence in 1822. At 20, he was given command of a decrepit schooner and engaged, but was captured by the Argentine warship 'Patagonia.' Repatriated home, in 1840 Lisboa was promoted to captain-de-fragata and in 1847 to full captain.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAQUIM_MARQUES_LISBOA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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For the next 15 years, now Marquis de Tamandare, Joaquim Lisboa would sail about suppressing revolts, oversee the construction of new ships in Europe, and be promoted – frequently. By 1864 he took over as commander-in-chief of Brazilian naval operations … just in time to lead his forces in the Paraguayan War (1864-1870). During the conflict he saw action on the Parana and Paraguay rivers. But in 1866, for health and political reasons, Lisboa requested removal from office.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOAQUIM_MARQUES_LISBOA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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A staunch royalist, Joaquim had asked Pedro II for permission to take command of the Imperial Navy and arrest the dissenters that issued the proclamation of the Republic of Brazil in 1889. Pedro demurred, preferring exile to civil war. At the age of 82, the fiery old warhorse remained steadfastly beside the imperial family until the Alagoas sailed for Europe. In March 1897, Lisboa died.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHANN_SEBASTIAN_BACH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in March 1685 AD in Thuringia, J.S. Bach had a prestigious musical lineage in a musical family stretching back several generations. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the town musician for Eisenach and taught his son the violin before the boy turned six years old. The young Bach entered Lutheran school at the age of seven, where he was immersed in religious studies. J.S. lived with his older brother, Johann Christoph, the church organist, who taught him that instrument.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHANN_SEBASTIAN_BACH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In 1703 Johann Sebastian landed his first musical gig, playing violin and organ and other instruments as needed at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. A skilled and admired performer, J.S. took on a number of positions in churches and courts over the next several years, during which he began composing more challenging original pieces. In 1717, Bach accepted a position in the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, While there, in tribute to the Duke of Brandenburg, Bach composed a series of musical works – the “Brandenburg Concertos,” considered by many the greatest musical expression of civilization.


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Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHANN_SEBASTIAN_BACH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Bach, never settled, moved on to Leipzig, where he became the organist and teacher at St. Thomas Church. Over the next few years, he created a number of religious compositions, earning him ever more fame. But by 1740, his eyesight was failing. Despite that, he continued to perform and compose, completing his last known work in 1749. J.S. suffered a stroke later that year and died in July 1750.


Language: en_US
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A lawyer who turned from the dark side to the light of great literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in August 1749 AD in Frankfurt-am-Main. Goethe was also, in the fullest sense of the term, bourgeois; unlike most of his contemporary artists, he had no need of wealthy patrons nor gainful employment.


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Goethe was the son of a well-off tailor-turned-innkeeper who, after studying law in Leipzig and Strasbourg, lived on the inheritance from his father’s estate, allowing him to tour Italy, France and the Low Countries. In April 1770, Johann began studies for his doctorate, but his dissertation questioning the legal status of the Ten Commandments was too scandalous to be accepted. Although he never matriculated, von Goethe did meet young Johann Herder, already a famous literary intellectual, who introduced him to the works of Shakespeare.


Language: en_US
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Von Goethe had (briefly, but it was boring) a legal practice yet found the urge to write too appealing. In the autumn of 1771, he finished the first draft of his first play; in 1774 he completed his first novel. Neither were published immediately, but friends and others read the works in manuscript. Soon enough, Johann Wolfgang found himself firmly established as part of the German literary movement known as S'turm und Drang', marked by political liberalism and a commitment to Herder’s ideal of a national German culture.


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Following a couple of illicit affairs and a rudely-ended engagement, Johann set off in 1776 to tour Italy. But he never arrived; he received an invitation from the new duke of Weimar, Charles Augustus. For the rest of his life – save for the span 1786-1788 when he finally visited Italy (in style) – he would remain at Weimar writing. His prodigious output before his death in 1832 would eventually be published in 142 volumes.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_A_ROEBLING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Everyone crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City can attribute their safe passage to John Roebling. Born in Mülhausen, Prussia, the young man studied drafting, architecture, and engineering before working to build roads for three years.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_A_ROEBLING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In 1831, he moved with his brother to the United States, there marrying and beginning a family, before ultimately finding work as a railroad surveyor for a new line across the Allegheny Mountains. It was here that his suggestion to use weaved wire cables to haul heavy goods launched his cable manufacturing business.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_A_ROEBLING_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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But an engineer’s curiosity is never satisfied, and so with the success of his business, he began to explore designs for, and build, suspension bridges. In the end, he died from complications resulting from an accident at the site of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1869.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_JACOB_ASTOR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The first multi-millionaire of the United States (certainly not the last) and the first to create a corporate trust, John Jacob Astor was a self-made tycoon who built his fortune on the fur industry. Born near Heidelberg in July 1763 AD, he was the son of a poor but happy butcher, and learned to be frugal from his mother. With a basic education and not much else, John decided to go to America.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_JACOB_ASTOR_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Astor made his way from Baltimore to New York, where he opened a fur shop in 1786. Between 1790 and 1808 his agents collected furs from trappers operating as far west as Michigan. The Jay Treaty in 1794 forced the British out of the region, and in short order Astor had expanded his operations throughout the Great Lakes territories. Following the Louisiana Purchase, Astor turned his attention to dominating the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest; he obtained an exclusive charter to form the American Fur Company. After another war with England, Astor convinced Congress to pass laws that banned foreigners from engaging in the fur trade within American borders. By 1830, he had eliminated all the independent fur traders and had a virtual monopoly on the fur trade from the Great Lakes to the Pacific. But then John lost interest, and retired from his company in 1834.


Language: en_US
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Instead, he dabbled in real estate, notably in booming New York City. He bought and sold properties, sometimes multiple times … increasing the rent with each transaction. Offices, businesses, grand homes, and slums, Astor profited from the rocketing value of land on the confined island of Manhattan. During the last decade of his life, it is estimated that he made in excess of 1.25 million dollars annually in rents alone. At the time of his death in March 1848, he was the largest landlord in the city.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_MONASH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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One of the First World War’s outstanding commanders, John Monash was born in West Melbourne in June 1865 AD, studied engineering at Melbourne University, married in 1891, completed his Masters in 1893, and though still in college was placed in charge of constructing a new railway. But it was his military service that brought John success. Having joined the university’s company of the 4th Battalion, Victoria Rifles in 1884, he became a lieutenant in the North Melbourne Battery in 1887, and was promoted to captain in 1895, major in 1897, a lieutenant-colonel in intelligence in 1906, and commanding officer of the 13th Infantry Brigade in 1912.


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When war came and Australia followed Great Britain into the carnage, Monash was given command of the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade, landing at Gallipoli in April 1915. After that disaster, despite some criticism for his performance there, he was promoted to brigadier and took his men to the killing fields in France. He was soon promoted to major general and placed in command of the new Australian 3rd Division. In the bloody years following, his troops were involved in several “confrontations” with the Germans, including Messines, the third battle of Ypres, Broodseinde, and around Armentières. Unlike most of the butchers in command of the Allied (and German) forces, he actually enjoyed some success. So impressed was the British High Command by his meticulous planning and enthusiasm for military minutiae that in May 1918 Monash was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the Australian Corps, at that time the largest on the Western Front.


Language: en_US
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After spending eight months in England overseeing the repatriation of the Australians home, Monash returned to Melbourne himself in early 1919. He entered civilian life, and in 1920 became the manager of Victoria’s State Electricity Commission, as well as vice-chancellor for the University of Melbourne in 1923. He died of heart disease in October 1931.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_ROCKEFELLER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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There's “rich” … and then there’s John D. Rockefeller. Co-founder of the Standard Oil Company in 1870 AD, by the mid-1880s he controlled some 90 percent of all refineries and pipelines in the United States. In 1911 the Supreme Court found Standard Oil in violation of anti-trust laws and ordered it dissolved, but that didn’t slow John D. much. Based on 1918 federal income tax records, Rockefeller earned about 1.5 billion dollars that year, roughly 2% of the country’s total wealth. At his death, he was estimated to be worth the equivalent of $341 billion.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_ROCKEFELLER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Born in July 1839 in Richford, he was the eldest son of William Rockefeller, either a travelling salesman or a con artist. Industrious to a fault, John earned money raising turkeys, selling potatoes and candy, doing odd jobs, and even loaning neighbors small sums with low interest. And he learned to be shrewd; his father once bragged, “I cheat my boys every chance I get.” In 1853, John took a business course at Folsom’s Commercial College, and became an assistant bookkeeper.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_ROCKEFELLER_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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In 1859, Rockefeller and Maurice Clark together raised four thousand dollars and opened their own firm, dealing in wholesale food. In 1863 John D. and his partners entered the oil business. They built an oil refinery in Cleveland’s industrial area “The Flats." John, in control of the company, found inventive ways to reinvest profits, control costs and even sell the refineries’ waste by-products. In 1870, Rockefeller bought out his partners and incorporated the Standard Oil Company; thanks to favorable economic conditions and Rockefeller’s own “business acumen” (a polite term for ruthless practices) it soon dominated the market. After Standard Oil was broken up, he spent his last years being a philanthropist and died in 1937.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_SPILSBURY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The apprentice of the Royal Geographer to King George III, John Spilsbury’s unique geography teaching aid would become his best known invention. Transferring a map of the world onto wood and carving out each country, students of geography learned the subject by assembling the first jigsaw puzzle.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_SPILSBURY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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He made his first puzzle in 1767 and went on to turn the world, continents, and countries into puzzles. The business this invention spawned was passed on to his wife after his death.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_THE_BAPTIST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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A central figure in three faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam (and even forgotten sects like Mandaeism) – John the Baptist is generally regarded by the faithful as the precursor to Jesus Christ. Born c. 5 BC somewhere in Judea, John was – supposedly – the result of the intercession of God to Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were otherwise too old to bear children. Zachariah, unsure and fearful of the situation before him, was rendered temporarily mute as punishment. Thus the child was born and named John in fulfillment of “God’s will.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOHN_THE_BAPTIST_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Made a priest of the order of Abijah, at the age of 30 John began preaching on the banks of the River Jordan about the evils of the time, the coming of the messiah, and baptizing, thus earning the sobriquet “the Baptist.” When Jesus came to him to be baptized, according to the Scriptures John recognized him as a fellow prophet and said, “It is I who need baptism from you.” Instead, Jesus persuaded John to baptize him anyway, whereupon the heavens opened and the spirit of God appeared as a dove. Jesus left for Galilee and John’s fame grew … until he ran afoul of Herod Antipas, Tetrach of Perea and Galilee.


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John didn’t think much of Herod’s marriage to his half-brother Philip’s wife, the adulterous and incestuous Herodias. He was loud and vocal in his condemnation, and Herod eventually had him arrested and imprisoned in the Machaerus fortress. Herod later promised his daughter by Herodias – Salome, famous for her dancing – anything she might wish. At the instigation of her mother, she asked for John's head … literally. And so John the Baptist died sometime between 33 and 36 AD.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOSEPH_PAXTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in 1803 among a family of farmers, Joseph Paxton’s “green thumb” was cultivated from an early age. In his youth, he held a number of jobs gardening, which he took to with great enthusiasm and natural skill.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOSEPH_PAXTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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So skilled was he, in fact, that in 1826 he was appointed head gardener at Chatsworth House, the estate of the duke of Devonshire. It was here that his interest in the design and building of greenhouses began, among other projects – a rock garden, fountain, and feeder lake.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JOSEPH_PAXTON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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All of this came to a head in 1850, when his design for a temporary exhibition hall, The Crystal Palace, was accepted as the design for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The unique structure of glass and iron was revolutionary – but more importantly, cheap. And so, it became an icon of the exhibition and an inspiration for greenhouse design even today.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JUVENTINO_ROSAS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Enigmatic – mostly because he lived a short time and tended to be footloose – Juventino Rosas is considered the greatest of Mexican composers writing melodic dance music. Born in January 1868 AD in Santa Cruz (the town was later renamed Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas), Juventino was a violinist who began his career playing in street bands in Mexico City around 1875. His talents came to the attention of wealthy patrons, who sponsored Juventino in the National Conservatory of Music … twice. But Rosas left the school in 1885 and again in 1888 without taking the final examination.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_JUVENTINO_ROSAS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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It was here that Rosas began composing, among his pieces the popular waltz 'Sobre las Olas' and mazurka 'Acuérdate'. In the late 1880s unconfirmed reports had Rosas a member of a military band, and in 1891 he was supposedly playing in the region of Michoacán as an itinerant violinist. It is known that in 1893 he joined the Tipica Mexicana orchestra that toured America and took part in the World Exposition in Chicago, winning a number of gold medals. (Musically, Chicago was quite exciting during the great fair, for Sousa’s Band was playing daily at the exposition and Scott Joplin was pounding out ragtime in the speakeasies.)


Language: en_US
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Rosas continued to compose music, infusing each piece with a Latin flavor: polkas, mazurkas, schottisches, and other dance works. Eventually his body of work numbered around 50 compositions. In 1894 he joined an Italian-Mexican ensemble touring the southern United States and Cuba, but he fell ill and was left behind in Surgidero de Batabanó. There, as a result of spinal myelitis, he died at the age of 26. In 1939, the remains of Juventino Rosas were returned to Mexico City, where they were interred in the “Rotunda of Illustrious Men.”


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_KAREL_CAPEK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The son of a Bohemian country doctor, Karel Čapek was born in January 1890 AD in Malé Svatoňovice, then part of Austria-Hungary, then Czechoslovakia, then the Nazi-occupied Slovak State, until finally becoming the Czech Republic in 1992. Karel, despite his father’s occupation, was a sickly boy, suffering all his life of a spinal ailment; perhaps his writing was compensation.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_KAREL_CAPEK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Karel became enamored with the visual arts as a teen, especially Cubism, but having little talent, turned to the study of philosophy in Prague, Berlin, and Paris for several years. In 1917, he began writing essays on controversial topics such as Czech nationalism, foreign totalitarianism, and rampant consumerism. Soon, however, he turned from essays to fiction. Almost all of Čapek's literary works are inquiries into philosophical conundrums; his first batch of short stories are concerned with man’s efforts to break the pattern of destiny and grasp “ultimate” values.


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But it was Čapek's “black utopia” stories – showing how unchecked scientific discoveries and technological progress tempt mankind into disaster – that drew the most attention. Thus, in his play 'R.U.R.,' first performed in 1921, the creation of humanlike machines result in these “robots” (from the Czech word for “forced labor”) coming to dominate the human race and even threaten it with extinction.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_KAREL_CAPEK_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Throughout the 1930s, Čapek produced an astounding range of writings: besides his dystopian stories he wrote detective stories, modern fairy tales, humorous gardening guides, reimagining of famous figures (such as Hamlet), and his great novel 'War with the Newts.' But when he turned his pen to anti-fascist plays, he made enemies and was placed on the Gestapo’s list of Czechs to be “interned” when Germany absorbed Czechoslovakia. He was perhaps fortunate to die in December 1938, only months before the Nazis invaded and ended Czech democracy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_KATSUSHIKA_HOKUSAI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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In the beginning there was the wave. The towering blue-and-white tsunami in the foreground of the most august of mountains in Japan, 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' was one of Katsushika Hokusai’s series of “Views of Mount Fuji.” It has been an icon of Japanese art since the first print in 1830. That wave, from the date Admiral Perry arrived, swept beyond the islands; it would eventually crash over Europe and America. And make Hokusai world famous.


Language: en_US
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Most of what is known about Hokusai comes from the autobiography he himself wrote, so the details should be taken with a touch of skepticism. Born on the ninth month of the tenth year of the Hōreki period (so, around October 1760 AD) in Edo, Hokusai began painting at the age of six. At 14, the boy was apprenticed to a wood-carver, and at 18 he was accepted into the studio of the artist Katsukawa Shunsho. Shunsho practiced ukiyo-e, wood-block printing and painting. Hokusai would, during this, change his name to Shunro … the first of many. Indeed, Hokusai is known by at least 30 names during his life.


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Upon the death of Shunsho in 1793, Hokusai (who was dabbling in other schools of art) was expelled from the Katsukawa school. And, whereas the traditional subjects of ukiyo-e were courtesans and Kabuki actors and daimyo, he began applying the technique to landscapes. In 1800 Katsushika  – the name he is best known by – published two collections of prints: Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. By 1834, under the name Gakyo Rojin Manji (“the old man mad about art”), the workaholic was producing hundreds of prints a year … more than 30000 by the time he died in April 1849.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LAOZI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The reputed author of the 'Tao Te Ching,' and thus the “founder” of Taoism, Laozi was a native of the district of Hu in the state of Chu born during the 5th Century BC (at least according to 'Records of the Historian' written around 100 BC). Laozi was venerated by Confucius, and so alive before that philosopher, and was later worshipped as an imperial ancestor during the Tang dynasty. The rest concerning Laozi is legend … which is always more fun.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LAOZI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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According to that, Laozi was appointed the “historian” – a scholar specializing in reading entrails and divination – at the royal court of the Zhou dynasty. Recognizing the “moral decay” among the Zhou, he soon departed and eventually came to the Xiangu Pass to the west. There Yinxi, the legendary guardian of the pass, begged Laozi to write a book. Thus Laozi set down his beliefs concerning the 'Tao' (the “Way”) and the 'Te' (the “Virtue”) in two sections of 5000 characters. So impressed was Yinxi that he asked to be accepted as a disciple. Thus began Taoism


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With that, Laozi departed … and “nobody knows what became of him.” There are stories of him wandering about the state of Qin, writing and teaching about the Tao. Since the ancient Chinese held that the superior man could live a very long time, there are rumors that he lived 129 years, taking the name “Tan” to conceal his real identity so he could meditate during his old age on the Yin-Yang dichotomy without being bothered by would-be students. Other tales have him wandering even further west, becoming the "true Buddha." Whatever the facts of his last years, his mysticism echoes still – occasionally as a fad among affluent Westerners.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LASKARINA_BOUBOULINA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in a prison in Constantinople in May 1771 AD, daughter of a Greek captain who had taken part in the failed Orlov Revolt, Laskarina Pinotsi had rebellion in her blood. Raised in obscurity on the island of Spetses, she would marry twice, the second time to the wealthy merchant and captain Dimitrios Bouboulis, who had the misfortune to get killed by Algerian pirates in 1811. Inheriting the trading business and family fortune, she used the money to build and outfit warships, including the 'Agamemnon,' one of the largest in the Mediterranean. Eventually she had an imposing fleet of eight.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LASKARINA_BOUBOULINA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Following an attempt by the Ottomans to confiscate her holdings – avoided only through the intervention of the Russian government in thanks for her dead husband’s service to the Czars during the recent Turko-Russian War – Laskarina supposedly joined the Filiki Etaireia, an underground movement preparing for the violent overthrow of Ottoman rule. On March 13, 1821, twelve days before the start of the Greek War of Independence, Bouboulina was the first to raise the revolutionary flag over Spetses and took her ships to sea. In the ensuing conflict, she commanded her fleet at the blockades of Nafplion and Pylos, and took part in the victorious assault on the fortress at Monemvasia. She thus played a key role in the creation of the new Greek state.


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But freedom brought only political discord and a civil war in 1824. Her outspoken disgust at this brought her arrest – twice – and eventual banishment to Spetses. Bitter and with her fortune depleted, Bouboulina retreated from it all … only to be fatally shot during a feud with the Koutsis family after her son had eloped with one of their daughters. Thus an ignominious end for the heroine.


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Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEIF_ERIKSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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While the Europeans were just paddling around in the placid Mediterranean or scuttling between the British Isles and the mainland, the Norse were traversing the daunting North Atlantic. Leif was born the second son of Eric the Red, probably in Iceland, c. 970 AD. When Eric got himself banished from Iceland, he sailed west and settled his family and thralls in Greenland in 986.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEIF_ERIKSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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According to accounts (those histrionic Viking sagas), Erikson as a young man sailed to Norway in 1000, where he was convinced somehow to convert to Christianity. The Norwegian king Olaf commissioned Leif to return to Greenland to proselytize, showing his heathen relations the errors of their ways. While Erikson made it to Greenland, on his voyage back to Scandinavia the following year his fleet got lost and ended up off North America. Disembarking on the shore of what is likely Nova Scotia, Leif named the new land “Vinland” (because of the wild grapes found there).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEIF_ERIKSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Whatever his motives (or lack thereof) or seafaring skill (or lack thereof), Leif Erikson is considered to be the first European to stumble onto the “New” World – whatever the pretentions of that sycophant Columbus 500 years later. Archaeological digs in the 1960s confirmed there was a Norse settlement on the northern tip of Newfoundland, perhaps Leifsbudir referred to in the Groenlendinga saga. Leif himself didn’t remain in this unholy place, and returned to Greenland in the spring – never to come back (although his brother did … dying in a skirmish with irate natives).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEIF_ERIKSON_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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Back in Greenland, Leif’s father proved “unreceptive” to the muddled Christian faith, but Leif did manage to convert his mother. When Eric the Red passed, Leif took over as chieftain of the Greenland holdings. Nothing is recorded of his short reign, and he died c. 1020.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEO_TOLSTOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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If nothing else, Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy could churn out a lot of words; it helps that his two longest novels, 'War and Peace' (1869) and 'Anna Karenina' (1877), are also masterful … considered two of the greatest works in all civilization. Which is not to say his other five novels, five novellas, six plays, dozens of short stories, and pieces on philosophy and pedagogy are not also good … and lengthy.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEO_TOLSTOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Leo was born on the family estate in Tula province of Tsarist Russia in September 1828. When his mother died, his aunt assumed caring for the four boys. When his father – Count Nikolay – died seven years later, the brothers became wards of first that aunt, and when she died another. Despite all this death, young Tolstoy seems to have been fairly well-adjusted. However, he did managed to fail both as a student, and then as manager of the estate. So Leo joined the army.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEO_TOLSTOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
As a soldier, Tolstoy had lots of time (among other things) to kill and so began writing an autobiographical story. In 1852 when he submitted it to the magazine 'The Contemporary,' it was eagerly accepted and published. Thus he found his true calling; even in the midst of the Crimean War, Tolstoy wrote … and wrote, and wrote. Despite a marriage, anarchist leanings, and a spiritual revelation, he kept writing.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEO_TOLSTOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
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When Leo’s new beliefs prompted him to begin giving away all his money and property, his wife strongly objected. This led to Tolstoy granting her the copyrights – and presumably the royalties as well – of all his written works that predated 1881. Although he continued to write, he never again enjoyed such success as these earlier works. Tolstoy died at the age of 82.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEONARDO_DA_VINCI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Born in a Tuscan hill town in 1452 AD, Leonardo would become the true “Renaissance Man.” Full of “unquenchable curiosity” and ideas (perhaps too many), he made a career as an artist, engineer, inventor, journalist, and theorist. Leonardo’s notebooks are full of architectural drawings, notes, and designs for engineering machinery … most of his fancies never realized. Among all the scribblings are thoughts and research on various construction materials and on the relative strengths of various types of pillars, arches, and beams. And he went so far as to design a plan for an “ideal city” and present it to Ludovico il More.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEONARDO_DA_VINCI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In 1502, da Vinci (never one to be timid) presented a design to the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II for a single-span 720-foot bridge across the mouth of the Bosporus. In terms of construction, da Vinci may have been involved in a number of civil engineering projects that did eventually get built. He may have worked with Bramante in 1492 in rebuilding the Vigevano Marketplace; he also submitted a model for the new central tower of the Milan Cathedral, although it was rejected. Near the end of his life (he died in 1519) he was making sketches for the French Queen Mother’s castle at Romorantin. Even though many of his architectural plans never came to fruition, these are studied still.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEVI_STRAUSS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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The San Francisco gold rush brought hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers to California. Levi Strauss moved there and found a fortune, but not in the hills.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEVI_STRAUSS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Born in 1829 in Germany, Levi Strauss moved to the United States with his family when he was 18. His family opened a business that sold clothes, blankets, and other dry goods. He moved to San Francisco to capitalize upon the gold rush, opening west coast branch of Levi Strauss & Co. One of his customers, a tailor named Jacob Davis, innovated on the design of denim pants by adding metal rivets to the seams to prevent ripping. Davis joined Strauss and opened factories to produce the jeans. More expensive than their competition because they did not exploit immigrants, Levi Strauss & Company guaranteed their pants would not rip and replaced any that did.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LEVI_STRAUSS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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Levi Strauss died in 1902. Ten years after his death, his company would begin selling products internationally. Seventy years later, sales reached $1 billion.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LI_BAI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
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Li Bai … or Li Bo, or the Westernized Li Pai or Li Po, courtesy name Taibai, or Li Tai-po, literary name Qinglian Jushi (“Household of Azure Lotus”) and others … however known to civilization, is considered China’s greatest poet. Born in 701 AD in Sichuan province, he liked to fancy himself part of the imperial family, but actually belonged to a less exalted lineage. At the age of 24 he left home to wander about a bit, sailing down the Yangtze, eventually marrying the granddaughter of a court minister, living with her family for a few years. He began writing poetry, which he showed to various government officials in the vain hope of being employed as a court scribe.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LI_BAI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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In 744, Li Bai married a second time, granddaughter to yet another high court official – Wu Zetian’s chancellor Zong Chuke – and the couple moved to Chang-an, the Tang capital city. In 756, Li Bai became the unofficial poet laureate of the expedition of Prince Li, who was soon arrested and executed for treason, a fate Li Bai managed to avoid … being instead banished to barbaric Yelang. He eventually returned to China, there to live the rest of his life, enjoying good food, wine, refined company, and writing poetry.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LI_BAI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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All of which Li Bai incorporated in his poetry; indeed, being one of the most famous tipplers in China’s long tradition of artistic imbibers, many of his best works celebrate the joy of drinking. Of course, he also wrote about friendship, solitude, the passage of time, and the beauty of the natural world. According to legend, Li Bai drowned in 762 when, drunk in a boat, he tried to seize the moon’s reflection in the water and fell overboard.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LILIUOKALANI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Born Lydia Lili’u Walania Wewehi Kamaka’eha in 1838 AD, when she came to the throne of Hawaii she took the royal name of Lili’uokalani (her married name was Lydia Dominis, even simpler to spell). She was the last monarch and only Queen Regent of the kingdom, resisting American annexation until arrested and forced to abdicate. Her “crown lands” were seized by the Americans, and her 1910 lawsuit for compensation was – not surprisingly, as it was heard in an American court – unsuccessful. Among all of this, she was also an accomplished musician and composer of native songs and chants.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LILIUOKALANI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
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Adopted in the 'hanai' tradition by Abner Paki, the princess was educated at a missionary Royal School, where she received English, some music and, of course, religious instruction. As a royal, Lili’u became a member of the court of Kamehameha IV, but in 1862 married John Owen Dominis. In January 1891, Kalakaua died and Lili’uokalani became the first woman to take the throne of Hawaii … and the last monarch of the island kingdom. In 1894, American agitators staged a rebellion, ousted the government, and proclaimed the Republic of Hawaii, requesting annexation by the United States. Imprisoned for a year, Lili’uokalani abdicated in return for pardon for her supporters. She was placed under house arrest.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LILIUOKALANI_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
It was while in prison, then under house arrest, that she turned to writing, both books and songs, celebrating her Hawaiian heritage. Perhaps as some cosmic consolation for losing her kingdom, her works became quite popular world-wide, notably the famed lament “Aloha ‘Oe,” which became closely identified with the islands. By the time of her death in 1917, she had set down over 165 musical compositions.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LIU_TIANHUA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
When Chinese composer Liu Tianhua died in 1932 AD at the age of 37, he had only composed about a dozen pieces, ten of which were for the erhu, a two-string instrument. To this day, this small repertoire remains the most significant for the instrument so closely identified with Chinese culture.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LIU_TIANHUA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Born in Jianqyin, Liu came from an accomplished family – his father a noted Qing dynasty scholar, one of his brothers a popular musician, and his other brother a poet. Liu began studying music – including Western classical compositions and mastering the violin and the trumpet – at an early age. As he grew, he developed a passion for traditional Chinese music and its role in modern China; his greatest contribution may be his improvements to the design of erhu, which had fallen into the abyss of public indifference.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LIU_TIANHUA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
His appointment to teach music at the University of Peking was a turning point in his career. It allowed Liu to further develop his practice and theory of Chinese music and pass these on to his students. He also began performing, and by 1930 was a famed performer as well as scholar. With his familiarity with Western educational traditions, he devised innovative methods of teaching traditional Chinese music. As an academic, he wrote progressive studies for the erhu and the pipa, the first time such studies had appeared in the scholarly literature.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LIU_TIANHUA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_4
Text:
The years 1923 to 1932 were the most productive of his short life as a composer. All his compositions date from those nine years, and he also arranged and transcribed a number of traditional tunes for the erhu. But just two years after his first concert of his own works – featuring pieces like “Toward the Brightness” and “Beautiful Night” – he fell ill and died.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LUDWIG_VAN_BEETHOVEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Deaf but brilliant, cursed with an unhappy life and increasingly ill, Ludwig van Beethoven has been the darling of the cognoscenti everywhere since, composing innovative sonatas, quartets, concertos, and symphonies despite his challenges. Born in December 1770 AD in Bonn, Beethoven began learning music from his father, Bonn’s most eminent musician … with a certain vigor. His father was a harsh Kapellmeister, beating the small boy for every hesitation and mistake; on daily basis young Beethoven was flogged, locked in the cellar, and made to practice for hours without rest. But he mastered the violin, clavier, and organ, giving his first public recital in 1778.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LUDWIG_VAN_BEETHOVEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
In 1784, when his father was no longer able to support the family, Ludwig took a position as Assistant Organist at the court for the modest salary of 150 florins annually. In 1787, to broaden his musical experience, the court dispatched Beethoven to Vienna, where he may have met the celebrated Mozart. But after only a few weeks, Beethoven returned to Bonn, where his mother had fallen ill. Over the next years, his own celebrity grew among the wealthy and elite. With Napoleon’s armies sweeping across the states of Germany, Beethoven returned to Vienna. There he studied piano with Haydn, voice with Salieri, and counterpoint with Albrechtsberger.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_LUDWIG_VAN_BEETHOVEN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Considered a virtuoso pianist, he soon gained a number of patrons. This finally gave him the wherewithal to compose, and in 1795 he premiered his first piano concerto, the one in C Major. In 1800 he debuted his Symphony No. 1. Once started, and greeted with acclaim for the beauty of his works, Beethoven eventually produced nine symphonies, 32 piano sonatas (and ten for the violin), 16 string quartets, as well as chamber music and choral works. He died in 1827 and the world wept.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MADHVA_ACHARYA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Madhva Acharya was born near the town of Udupi in 1238 AD to an elderly but pious Brahmin. Educated by his father, the boy at the tender age of 11 felt an “inner urge he could not resist” to take holy orders and lead the life of an ascetic. When Acyutapreksha, the village holy man and a follower of the Adwaita school of Hinduism, initiated Madhva into sannyasa (the life stage of renunciation of the world) he renamed the youth Purna Prajna (by which he is now known among the faithful).


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MADHVA_ACHARYA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Seven years after he took his vows, Madhva set out on a pilgrimage to places such as Benares, Allahabad, and Delhi. Along the way he debated with various eminent religious scholars and other holy sorts (Buddhist, Jain, as well as Hindu), gathering disciples of his own. It was on this journey that he arrived in Badri; there he observed a vow of silence for 48 days, while bathing frequently in the holy Ganges. When he resumed his meandering, he dictated his first commentary on the Brahma sutras; in the process, Madhva established the philosophical foundation for the Dvaita school of Vedanta Hinduism. Dvaita proclaims a strict distinction between God (Paramatman) and individual souls (jivatman); thus, in this view, souls are not created by God but do depend on him for their existence.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MADHVA_ACHARYA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Back in Udupi Madhva Acharya wrote his bhashyas (commentaries) on the ten Upanisads and composed 40 hymns of the Rigveda. He set out for Badri again, afoot and monk’s staff in hand, and then wandered to Goa on his way back to his hometown. Supposedly he enjoyed a long life of robust health, thanks to his religious practices. Having spent the next decades teaching disciples his theology and sending them out to spread his insights, at the age of 79 Madhva “disappeared from vision” and transferred himself to Badarikashrama. There he remains still.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCO_POLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Likely the most famous tourist in history, the peripatetic Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254 AD to a wealthy merchant family. Since the primary goal of the wealthy seems to be to amass more wealth, young Polo spent most of his childhood being raised by others, since his father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo, were off on trading ventures. Having made contact with the court of Kublai Khan, the brothers Polo returned to Venice in 1269. They outfitted a new trading expedition and two years later set off for the Far East again, this time with young Marco in tow.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCO_POLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
The Khan had expressed some interest in learning more about Christianity, and the expedition was to have been accompanied by 100 priests at Kublai’s request. But the Polos could only recruit two, and these soon turned back after getting a taste of the rigors of travel. But the rest of the expedition persevered through the harsh conditions and after four years reached Xanadu, the summer palace of the Khan of China. Kublai seems to have liked them, for Niccolo and Maffeo were given important positions in the court while Marco was employed by the Khan as a special envoy to far-flung places such as Burma and Tibet.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCO_POLO_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
But all good things must come to an end, and the Polos headed back to the West, in escort of a Mongolian princess bound for marriage to a Persian prince. The Polos left with a caravan of several hundred; by the time they reached Hormuz in Persia, just 18 – including the bedraggled princess – remained alive. Two years later, Marco returned to Venice, took up the family business, married, raised three daughters, and died peacefully in January 1324 … his tales an inspiration to the adventurous and greedy ever since.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCUS_LICINIUS_CRASSUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and one of the richest of all time, Marcus Licinius Crassus was the second of three sons fathered by the influential Roman senator Publius Crassus. As a young officer, Marcus had been forced to flee to Hispania when Lucius Cinna took control of Rome 87 BC, but returned to support Lucius Sulla in the ensuing civil war. After Sulla’s victory, he held a praetorship, gaining some fame for putting down the salve uprising led by Spartacus. In 70 BC, Crassus and Pompey pressured the Senate into electing them co-consuls; once in office, they reversed most of Sulla’s reforms.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCUS_LICINIUS_CRASSUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
During the next decade, as Pompey scored military victories abroad, Marcus Crassus amassed enormous wealth, mostly from the sale of property previously confiscated by Sulla, and loans to senators who liked living too well. He also maintained a troop of 500 slaves skilled in construction, and when one of Rome’s frequent fires broke out, would then buy up the ruins, quickly rebuild the neighborhood, and then charge exorbitant rents. At one point it was said that Crassus owned most of Rome.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARCUS_LICINIUS_CRASSUS_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
He certainly wasn’t the first rich man to have delusions of grandeur, but in his case it proved decidedly deleterious. In 60 BC Crassus joined Pompey and young Julius Caesar in forming the so-called First Triumvirate to rule Rome. Whether it was jealousy of Caesar and Pompey or simply greed, Marcus Crassus managed to get the Senate to appoint him governor of the rich province of Syria. Not satisfied plundering Syria, he embarked on an ill-advised invasion of Parthia, where he was killed at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Legend has it that his head was severed and molten gold poured into his mouth as a mark of his infamous greed.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARGARET_CAVENDISH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Margaret Lucas was born in 1623 AD in Colchester, Essex. She received no formal education, but she did have access to some nice libraries and became an avid reader at an early age. Being a precocious sort, Margaret was soon putting her own thoughts on paper, although it was thought unseemly by most – save her brother John, a well-established scholar of law and the natural sciences. In 1642 she was sent by the family – perhaps hoping to nip this thinking thing in the bud – to live with her sister in Oxford, where the royal court happened to be in residence. Seeking an independent life, Margaret applied, and was accepted, to be a maid of honor to Queen Henrietta Maria, accompanying her mistress into exile in Paris in 1644 at the height of the first English Civil War.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARGARET_CAVENDISH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
There, while still scribbling, Margaret met William Cavendish, Marquess (late Duke) of Newcastle-on-Tyne; they married at the end of 1645, lived in liberal Rotterdam and Antwerp until the Restoration of 1660 allowed the couple to return home and restore the Cavendish estates. Her marriage to the duke is noteworthy for two reasons. First, at a time when it just wasn’t done to print the writings of a woman, most of hers saw publication due to her well-connected husband. Secondly, thanks to Cavendish she made the acquaintance of thinkers like Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, Marin Mersenne, and Pierre Gassendi.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARGARET_CAVENDISH_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Although eccentric (she was known widely as “Mad Madge”), widely regarded as either pretentious or a genius, her speech “full of oaths and obscenity,” she was a prolific author, publishing poems, plays, literary critiques, and works on philosophy and natural science. She died in 1673, brilliant and extravagant to the end.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARIE_CATHERINE_D_AULNOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy was born in Barneville, France, in 1650. She entered an arranged marriage with a man thirty years older than herself, had three children in four years, and then was embroiled in a a case involving a treason charge against her husband. The details of the case remain somewhat murky; d'Aulnoy and her husband were acquitted of treason, the false witnesses executed, d'Aulnoy's mother fled to Spain, and d'Aulnoy was banished from Paris. She eventually returned and became a permanent resident of Paris by 1690, and there her salon became one of the city's most popular.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARIE_CATHERINE_D_AULNOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
The genre description of "fairy tale" may be taken from the title of her book 'Les Contes des Fees.' Many salons of that time were writing stories about fairies, or the intersection of normal people's lives and the world of magic, drawing on inspiration from both the courtly and folk literature of the middle ages and Renaissance. Her tales play with the conventions of the genre (wicked stepmothers abound, wolves of the two- and four-legged variety threaten young heroines, and occasionally a prince sheds his disguise at an opportune moment,) but hers are remarkable for the richness of their setting. Minor characters' and villains' motivations are often explained in great detail. The agenda of the helpful fairies do not always correspond with those of the humans they help. She published two books of these fairy tales: Les Contes de Fees (The Tales of the Fairies)  and Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode (New Tales, or Fairies of Fashion). D'Aulnoy also wrote extensively on historical matters, and she earned the nickname "Clio" after the muse of history for these efforts. Her historical works were subject to criticism and remain somewhat obscure to this day.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARIE_CATHERINE_D_AULNOY_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
Her life could have been drawn from one of her stories. D'Aulnoy's intrigue and rehabilitated reputation, engagement with some of Paris' brightest minds, and a dedication to letters had a lasting influence on an entire genre. Sometimes a life has a happy ending.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARINA_RASKOVA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Growing up in a middle-class, musically-inclined family in Stalin’s Russia was no easy thing. Her father an opera singer, her mother a music teacher, it was little wonder that the child Marina Malinina dreamed of a musical career. But during her teen years, she became more interested in chemistry (likely to the dismay of her parents, dealing with teenage angst). Certainly chemistry offered more opportunities in the Soviet Union than singing. After graduating from high school in 1929 AD, she obtained employment in a dye factory as a chemist; there she met and married Sergei Raskov (thus changing her name to Raskova). The next year Marina began working at the Aero Navigation Laboratory of the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy in the drafting department. Here began her fascination with flight.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARINA_RASKOVA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_2
Text:
Two years later Raskova joined the Red Army Air Force, becoming the service’s first female navigator. Within a year she had her pilot’s certificate and was teaching navigation. In a world swept up in enthusiasm (and a certain prurient interest) for female aviatrix, she joined two others (Polina Osipenko and Valentina Grizodubova) to set long distance flying records, notably the “Flight of the Rodina” (a modified Tupolev DB-2B) in 1938 from Moscow to Komsomolsk (roughly 3700 miles). For this she (and the other two) was the first woman to receive the “Hero of the Soviet Union” medal.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARINA_RASKOVA_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
Text:
But when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Marina’s path changed. Because of her status as a “hero” she was able to convince Stalin to allow her to form all-female combat regiments. Although burdened with obsolete planes (as were most Red Army squadrons), she created the 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment (which became infamous among the Germans as the “Night Witches”), the 125th Guards Bomber Regiment (dropped 980 tons on the enemy), and the 586th Fighter Regiment (38 confirmed kills as bomber escorts). In the bitter skies over Russia, casualties were high. Raskova herself was killed in January 1943 while attempting to make a forced landing on the banks of the Volga River.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARK_TWAIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_1
Text:
Better known by his pen name, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was at various times a riverboat pilot, journalist, critic, entrepreneur, lecturer and humorist, inventor, and author of numerous short stories and several novels, including two classics of American literature: 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' His pen name … Mark Twain.


Language: en_US
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Born in 1835 AD in Florida, Missouri, when he was four his family moved to nearby Hannibal, a bustling metropolis of 1000 (not counting the dogs and hogs). His father – a serious sort who worked there as a lawyer and judge – died in 1847 and the family became “almost destitute.” Nonetheless, Samuel managed to keep up his schooling until the age of 12, when, to help the family finances he found work as an apprentice printer. Meanwhile, he began studies to be a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, gaining license and a position in 1859. However, his career was cut short by the Civil War. So Clemens took Horace Greeley’s advice.


Language: en_US
Tag: LOC_PEDIA_GREATPEOPLE_PAGE_GREAT_PERSON_INDIVIDUAL_MARK_TWAIN_CHAPTER_HISTORY_PARA_3
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For the next five years he would make his way across Nevada and California, first as a prospector, and when that didn’t pan out as a reporter. In the process, Twain honed a distinctive style: friendly, conversational, often satirical, insightful, and funny. With the publication nationwide of the story “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” followed by the 1869 novel 'The Innocents Abroad,' he became the most popular and successful writer of the time.


