Paz, Croatia

Paz () is a village and ruined castle in Istria County, Croatia, in the municipality of Cerovlje. In 2011, the population of the village is 72.
Description.
It is in the north-eastern part of Istria, north-east of the Gologorica and Gradinje, north of Belaj and Posert castles, south-west of Boljun, and north-east from the municipality center Cerovlje. It is near the old road which connects Istria with Kastav.
Castle history.
It is an old settlement above the old road which in the past was the shortest way through the valley between Boljunčica and Pazinčica rivers. In 1785 in honor of Joseph II was built road "Jozefina" connecting Učka-Vranja-Boljun-Paz-Pazin. The settlement was first mentioned in 12th century as part of Aquileia church estates, as "Paas", later as "Pasperc", "Pasberk" or "Passberg". In the 17th century, Italian writer and geographer Fortunato Olmo mentioned it as "Villa del Cane". At the time of its first mention Paz was part of the Boljun manor estate, until around 1290s when Friedrich Eberstein received the village Paz as feud from the Aquileia patriarch Raimondo della Torre, and started to build a fortress. It was in Eberstein family property until 1374, because of not having an heir, and became part of Habsburgs Pazin principality. The castle was managed by Walderstein family who also upgraded it. At the time of War of the League of Cambrai, in 1508 was conquered and burned by Venice. The next year the castle was captured by Austrian general Krsto Frankopan, and it was inherited by his daughter Barbara married Bernardin Barbo from Kožljak castle. After her death in 1570 was inherited by the son Messaldo Barbo who the old Gothic fort renovated into Renaissance fortified residence, as evidenced by the inscription at the entrance of castle. The Barbo family, especially in Kožljak castle, supported Protestantism, however, Messaldo was so ardent supporter of Reformation that in 1574 at Vrhnika murdered own son Kastelano because did not want to abandon Roman Catholic faith. For that crime Messaldo was executed in 1589 in Ljubljana. It was in possession of his heirs until 1665 when was bought by Auersperg noble family, and in the 18th century was abandoned, becoming only the ruins.
Of the former fortified residence today are preserved only modest remains on the edge of the village. Ruins fully cover the long, narrow elongated plateau from west to east, which is with the steep slopes to the west and east separated from the adjacent slopes. It was a great defense and residential complex consisting of a strong fortified core and outside the fortified court on the west and east sides. Like some of the neighboring castle core is smaller trapezoid layout fort, built on the highest point above the village, 30 m long and 19 m wide. On the west side, where access to the fort is easiest, was in one corner strong rectangular tower, while the defensive wall was further defended with two smaller buildings of rectangular layout, situated along the external facade. Of the palace are preserved only one large room on the inside of the western defensive wall, next to the angular tower and a modest remains of other buildings in the southeastern part. Thanks to Valvasor engraving from 1679, it was a large residence with three two-storey wings that are surrounding a small inner courtyard, and to the west side of the one-storey wing was leaning on the walls. On the eastern side access to the center of the fort further defended external established garden, from which today only are preserved fragment of the south wall with loopholes.
At the western end of the village is the Baroque parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary from 1579. Of the former late Gothic church are preserved only custody of Baltazar Walderstein from 1496, with two coats of arms decorated with tombstones from 1636 to 1700. At the eastern entrance to the village, on top of a hill, is the cemetery church of St. Vid with partially preserved wall paintings from 1461 by master Albert from Konstanz, and on the southern wall decorated with family coats of arms from 1570, and the sarcophagus of Barbara Walderstein, mother Messaldo Barbo.


Siliguri Corridor

The Siliguri Corridor is a narrow stretch of land (about wide) located around the city of Siliguri in West Bengal, India. The corridor is important as it connects the states of Northeast India to the rest of India through the city of Siliguri. The countries of Nepal and Bangladesh lie on each side of the corridor and the Kingdom of Bhutan lies at the northern end of the corridor. The Kingdom of Sikkim formerly lay on the northern side of the corridor, until its merging with India in 1975.
The city of Siliguri, in the state of West Bengal, is the major city in this area and the central transfer point that connects Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Northeast India to one another.
History.
The Siliguri Corridor was created in 1947 after the partition of Bengal. The kingdom of Sikkim formerly lay on the northern side of the corridor, until its union with India in 1975 via a publicly held referendum. This gave India a buffer to the north of the Siliguri Corridor and consolidated India's control over the western side of the Chumbi Valley.
Geostrategic importance.
The Siliguri Corridor is an especially important and sensitive territory for India, formed by the creation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1948. The partition of India occurred as a result of hostility between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. From the very beginning, the relationship between these two new states was marked by hostilities and confrontations.
The formation of East Bengal created a geographical barrier to the northeastern part of India. The narrow Siliguri Corridor, which at one point is less than wide, remained as the only bridge between the northeastern part of India and the rest of the country.
Wedged between Bangladesh to the south and west and China to the north, the region has no access to the sea closer than Kolkata, on the other side of the corridor. Between Sikkim and Bhutan lies the Chumbi Valley, a dagger-like slice of Tibetan territory. A Chinese military advance of less than would cut off Bhutan, part of West Bengal and all of North-East India, an area containing almost 50 million people. This situation arose during the war between India and China in 1962.
India has embarked on a slew of projects, such as construction of India-China Border Roads and Advance Landing Ground (AGLs), Northeastern India connectivity and Look-East transnational connectivity projects to create multiple alternatives to Silliguri corridor, including through Bangladesh and sea, to mitigate the risk of being cut off.
Current situation.
As a sensitive area amidst three countries, the strip is heavily patrolled by the Indian Army, the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force and the West Bengal Police.
All land transportation between rest of India and its far northeastern states uses this circuitous corridor, as there is no free-trade agreement between Bangladesh and India. The Tetulia Corridor, an alternative to the Siliguri Corridor, is proposed under Article VIII of the India–Bangladesh Trade Agreement 1980, which states that "The two governments agree to make mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of their waterways, railways and roadways for commerce between the two countries and for passage of goods between two places in one country through the territory of the other". However, the proposal is still in the initial stages of negotiation.
The route has a major broad gauge railway line. Electrification of this double-track corridor is in progress with assistance from Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE). Additionally, the old metre gauge line (recently converted to a broad-gauge line) connects Siliguri Junction with Islampur in North Dinajpur District of West Bengal, via Bagdogra (the only airport of national interest in the corridor) and the bordering towns of Adhikari, Galgalia, Thakurganj, Naxalbari and Taiabpur with Nepal. National Highway 10 connects Siliguri to Guwahati in Assam, which is the most critical highway in the region, owing to insurgents operating in the vicinity.


The Guianas

The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word Guayanas ("Las Guayanas"), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories:
In the wider context, the Guianas also includes the following two territories:
History.
Pre-colonial period.
Before the arrival of European explorers, the Guianas were populated by scattered bands of Arawak Indians. The native tribes of the Northern Amazon are most closely related to the natives of the Caribbean; most evidence suggests that the Arawaks immigrated from the Orinoco and Essequibo River Basins in Venezuela and Guiana into the northern islands, and were then supplanted by more warlike tribes of Carib Indians, who departed from these same river valleys a few centuries later.
Over the centuries of the pre-colonial period, the ebb and flow of power between Arawak and Carib interests throughout the Caribbean resulted in a great deal of intermingling (some forced through capture, some accidental through contact). This ethnic mixing, particularly in the Caribbean margins like the Guianas, produced a hybridized culture. Despite their political rivalry, the ethnic and cultural blending between the two groups had reached such a level that, by the time of the Europeans' arrival, the Carib/Arawak complex in Guiana was so homogeneous that the two groups were almost indistinguishable to outsiders. Through the contact period following Columbus's arrival, the term "Guiana" was used to refer to all areas between the Orinoco, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon, and was seen so much as a unified, isolated entity that it was often referred to as the “Island of Guiana.”
European colonization.
Christopher Columbus first spotted the coast of the Guianas in 1498, but real interest in the exploration and colonization of the Guianas, which came to be known as the "Wild Coast," did not begin until the end of the sixteenth century. Walter Raleigh began the exploration of the Guianas in earnest in 1594. He was in search of a great golden city at the headwaters of the Caroní River. A year later he explored what is now Guyana and eastern Venezuela in search of "Manoa", the legendary city of the king known as El Dorado. Raleigh described the city of El Dorado as being located on Lake Parime far up the Orinoco River in Guyana. Much of his exploration is documented in his books "The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana", published first in 1596, and "The Discovery of Guiana, and the Journal of the Second Voyage Thereto", published in 1606.
After the publication of Raleigh's accounts, several other European powers developed interest in the Guianas. The Dutch joined in the exploration of the Guianas before the end of the century. In the 80 years between the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1568 and 1648, when the Treaty of Münster was signed with the Spanish, the Dutch had been practising the delicate art of cobbling together different ethnicities and religious faiths into a viable economic entity. When beginning an empire, the Dutch concerned themselves more with trade and establishing viable networks and outposts than with claiming tracts of land to act as a buffer against neighbouring states. With this goal in mind, the Dutch dispatched explorer Jacob Cornelisz to survey the area in 1597. His clerk, Adriaen Cabeliau, related the voyage of Cornelisz and his survey of Indian groups and areas of potential trade partnerships in his diary. Throughout the seventeenth century, the Dutch made gains by establishing trading colonies and outposts in the region and in the neighboring Caribbean islands under the banner of the Dutch West India Company. The company, established in 1621 for such purposes, benefited from a larger investment of capital than the English, primarily through foreign investors like Isaac de Pinto, a Portuguese Jew. The area was also cursorily explored by Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco Núñez de Balboa, and in 1608 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany also organized an expedition to the Guianas, but this was cut short by the untimely death of the Grand Duke.
English and Dutch settlers were regularly harassed by the Spanish and Portuguese, who viewed settlement of the area as a violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas. In 1613, Dutch trading posts on the Essequibo and Corantijn Rivers were completely destroyed by Spanish troops. The troops had been sent into the Guianas from neighboring Venezuela under the premise of stamping out privateering and with the support of a cédula passed by the Spanish Council of the Indies and King Philip III. Nonetheless, the Dutch returned in 1615, founding a new settlement at present-day Cayenne (later abandoned in favor of Suriname), one on the Wiapoco River (now more commonly known as the Oyapock) and one on the upper Amazon. By 1621, a charter was granted by the Dutch States-General, but even a few years prior to the official chartering a fort and trading post had been built at Kijkoveral, under the supervision of Aert Groenewegen, at the confluence of the Essequibo, Cuyuni, and Mazaruni Rivers. British settlers also succeeded in establishing a small settlement in 1606 and a much larger one in modern-day Suriname in 1650, under the leadership of former Barbadian governor Francis Willoughby, Lord Parham.
The French had also made less significant attempts at colonization, first in 1604 along the Sinnamary River. The settlement collapsed within a summer, and initial attempts at settlement near modern-day Cayenne, beginning in 1613, were met with similar setbacks. French priorities — land acquisition and Catholic conversion — were not easily reconciled with the difficulties of initial settlement-building on the Wild Coast. Even as late as 1635, the King of France granted permission to the whole of Guiana to a joint-stock company of Norman merchants. When these merchants made a settlement near the modern city of Cayenne, failure ensued. Eight years later, a reinforcement contingent led by Charles Poncet de Brétigny found only a few of the original colonists left alive, living among the aborigines. Later that year, among the combined total of the original surviving settlers, the reinforcement contingent led by de Brétigny, and a subsequent reinforcement later in the year, only two individuals remained alive long enough to reach the Dutch settlement on the Pomeroon River in 1645, begging for refuge. Though some trading outposts that could be considered permanent settlements were founded as early as 1624, French “possession” of the land now known as French Guiana is not recognized as having taken place until at least 1637. Cayenne itself, the first permanent settlement of comparable size to the Dutch colonies, experienced instability until 1643.
The Dutch appointed a new commandeur of the Guiana settlements in 1742. In this year, Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande took over the region. He held the position for three decades, coordinating the development and expansion of the Dutch colonies from his plantation Soesdyke in Demerara. Gravesande’s tenure brought significant change to the colonies, though his policy was in many ways an extension of his predecessor, Hermanus Gelskerke. Commandeur Gelskerke had begun pressing for change from a trading focus to one of cultivation, especially of sugar. The area east of the existing Essequibo colony, known as Demerara, was relatively isolated and encompassed the trading areas of just a few indigenous tribes, thus it contained only two trading outposts during Gelskerke’s term of office. Demerara, though, showed great potential as a sugar-cultivating area, so the commandeur began shifting focus toward the development of the region, signifying his intentions by transferring the administrative center of the colony from Fort Kijkoveral to Flag Island, on the mouth of the Essequibo River, further east and closer to Demerara. These operations were carried out by Gravesande, acting as the Secretary of the Company under Gelskerke. Upon Gelskerke’s death, Gravesande continued the policy of Demerara expansion and the move to sugar cultivation.
Conflict among the British, Dutch, and French continued throughout the seventeenth century. The Treaty of Breda sealed peace between the English and the Dutch. The treaty allowed the Dutch to retain control over the valuable sugar plantations and factories on the coast of Suriname which had been secured by Abraham Crijnssen earlier in 1667.
All the colonies along the Guiana coast were converted to profitable sugar plantations during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. War continued off and on among the three principal powers in the Guianas (the Netherlands, France, and Britain) until a final peace was signed in 1814 (the Convention of London), heavily favouring the British. By this time France had sold off most of its North American territory in the Louisiana Purchase and had lost all but Guadeloupe, Martinique, and French Guiana in the Caribbean region. The Dutch lost Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara; these colonies were consolidated under a central British administration and would be known after 1831 as British Guiana. The Dutch retained Suriname.
After 1814, the Guianas came to be recognized individually as British Guiana, French Guiana, and Dutch Guiana.


Silesia Euroregion

Euroregion Silesia is one of Euroregions in Poland and Czechia.
It was established in September 1998 under the agreement of the Association of Municipalities of the Upper Oder River Basin on the Polish side and the Regional Association of Czech-Polish Cooperation of Opole Silesia on the Czech side.
The Euroregion comprises 19 communes and cities on the Polish side (the districts of: Racibórz, Rybnik, Wodzisław in the Silesian Voivodeship and the district of Glubczyce in the Opole Voivodeship) and 19 communes and cities on the Czech side (Opava, Bruntál, Nový Jičín, Ostrava Districts).
The aim of the Euroregion is to undertake joint activities for the economic and social development of the region and to bring its inhabitants and institutions closer together. The Polish part of the Euroregion lies in the basin of the Upper Oder River and includes the Racibórz Basin, part of the Glubczyce Plateau and Ostrava Basin, while the Czech part lies in the basin of Opava and Moravia.


The Dakotas

The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, the economy, and cuisine among the two states.
Overview.
The two states combined have a population of 1,592,657, slightly less than Idaho, ranking at 40th place. The Dakotas have a total area of 147,878 square miles (383,177 square kilometres), which would rank 4th among U.S. states, right before Montana. The two states also have a population density of 9.8 per sq. mi (3.8 per km2).
The Dakotas are within the Midwestern United States, with the western portion in the High Plains. The PBS miniseries "New Perspectives on the West" noted historically important areas within the Dakotas, including the Black Hills, the town of Deadwood, Fort Buford, Standing Rock Reservation and Wounded Knee. The Upper Missouri River and the Upper Missouri River Valley are important geological features in the area, as well.
The area is mostly inhabited by people of Northern European origin. 44.9% of the population are of German ancestry, 21.8% of Norwegian, and 9.6% are of Irish heritage.
Both of the Dakotas have humid continental climate, with warm to hot summers and cold to even subarctic temperatures in winter. Due to the difference in circle of latitude, temperatures differ by degrees between the southern and northern areas, even inside the respective states.
Main cities.
The following are the top ten most populous cities in The Dakotas. Pierre, South Dakota, and Bismarck, North Dakota, are the respective state capitals.


Tres Fronteras

Tres Fronteras (, ) is the Spanish name for an area of the Amazon Rainforest in the Upper Amazon region of South America.
Geography.
It includes, and is named for, the tripoint where the borders of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia meet. The upper Amazon River flows through the area.
The area is noted for its natural beauty. Cities in the "Tres Fronteras" area include Tabatinga (in Brazil), Leticia (in Colombia), and Santa Rosa de Yavari (in Peru) on an island in the Amazon River.


Melitaea robertsi

The Baluchi fritillary ("Melitaea robertsi") is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae. It is found in Baluchistan and Chitral.


Jumma Khan Marri

Dr. Jumma Khan Marri (Balochi: جمعه خان مری) is a senior Baloch political activist from Balochistan. He was formerly a member of Baloch separatist groups.
In February 2018, Marri stated that he and his followers have left the separatists groups. He and his followers pledged their allegiance towards Pakistan and established 'Overseas Pakistani Balochi Unity' (OPBU) for the Baloch people living abroad. He stated that "sacrificed everything for a movement which turned out to be fundamentally faulty and empty from within". He state that BLF and Baloch freedom struggle was hijacked by India. Dr. Marri insists that India is behind the unrest in Balochistan. He disclosed that if India stops the money supplies, the insurgency will end the next day.
Personal life.
Jumma Khan Marri is the son of Mir Hazar Khan Marri. His father, Mir Hazar Khan Marri was the head of Bajarani Marri tribe. Jumma Khan's home town is in Kholu. In 1986, Jumma Khan went to Moscow to pursue higher education, where he acquired his degree in Medicines at Russian State Medical University and later obtained PhD in Immunology and Allergies in 1998.
Activities.
Marri drew parallels between Balochistan and Kosovo saying, "Baloch case is similar to that of Kosovo only the Baloch are an orphan nation without their own powerful uncle to look after their national interests, it is up to Baloch national leaders and the intellectual to find an uncle who could lobby for them at International Court of Justice, the United Nations and other world forums to press their interests, Baloch must stand united and clearly state their goals to international community to understand." He criticised Pakistan government's policies saying, "The problems of the Baloch are certainly not going to end with the policy that the Governments here have adopted since 1947. The alienation keeps on increasing and the youth keeps joining the ranks of fighters. The callous and heartless approach of the Federal Government and the continued atrocities by the law enforcement agencies is all adding up as the proverbial straw on the camel’s back; what is going to prove to be the last straw is anybody’s guess, or has the last straw already been placed in form of this apathy?"
In an interview with Russian news channel, Marri stated that he was the one who designed the 'free Balochistan flag'. He stated that he was among those people who were always on the forefront of Baloch freedom struggle. Marri said that he left Balochistan in 1979 and settled in Afghanistan along with his family. He stated that he has been in self imposed exile in Moscow since 2000. Moreover, he said that he "sacrificed everything for a movement which turned out to be fundamentally faulty and empty from within".
Overseas Pakistan Baloch Unity (OPBU).
On 18 February 2018, Dr. Jumma Khan Marri, stated that he and his followers have left the separatist groups. He said that he is launching 'Overseas Pakistani Balochi Community' for the Baloch living aboard. The purpose of new organisation will be to confront and expose the "evil design" of people like "Brahamdagh Bugti, Hyrbiyar Marri and Mehran Marri". He states that Brahamdagh Bugti, Hyrbiyar Marri and Mehran Marri "are on the Indian payroll”. Dr. Jumma Khan Marri announced his separation from separatist groups while attending a 'Pakistan Unity Day' event in Moscow.
Dr. Marri's decision to leave separatist groups was welcomed in Balochistan. A huge gathering took place in Kholu, Balochistan to welcome Dr. Marri's decision. Speaking from Moscow, Dr. Marri thanked people of Pakistan especially his supporters in Kholu for arranging such a big gathering to welcome his decision. He also asked the Balochs who are fighting against the state to lay down their weapons and start supporting development activities in the province. He stated that Indian funded so-called Baloch leaders were enjoying luxurious life in Europe while common Baloch was suffering from terrorism and violence. The gathering to welcome Dr. Marri's decision took place in Kholu which was once a stronghold of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
During an interview with Russian News channel, Dr. Marri stated that India is behind the unrest in Balochistan. He disclosed that if India stops the money supplies, the insurgency will end the next day. He said that majority of Baloch people have no problem with Pakistan. They have questions to the government just like every other normal citizen have for their government in their country around the world.
In September 2018, Dr. Marri visited Brussels where he held meetings with European Institutions for the awareness about the misuse of Human Rights Conventions by the terrorists. Dr. Marri told media in Brussels that 'during his meeting with European Institutions, he cautioned the policy makers about misuse of asylum by some terrorist from Balochistan under the pretext of human rights'. Some European countries have already rejected asylum to several Baloch leaders because of misuse of various forums to cause unrest among Baloch diaspora and in Balochistan.
While during his stay in Brussels, Dr. Marri also met with Baloch community in Europe to gain their support and to bring the misguided groups on the right track. Dr. Marri said that some Baloch are being allured by 'outside forces' in the name of nationalism which is only worsening the socio-economic plight of Baloch people. Dr. Marri also disclosed that he was offered funding from spy agencies of several countries to organize insurgencies in Balochistan, but over time he realized the real motive, which was to destabilize Balochistan. Such uprisings does not bring any dividends to people.
On China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Dr. Marri state that development of Gwadar Port, road networks and alternate power projects could offer great opportunities to Baloch people.


Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary

Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary or Daksum Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area located in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, south of Srinagar. It spreads over an area of . This area was protected as a game reserve for hangul during the Maharaja’s period, prior to 1948. In 1981, it was upgraded to the Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary.
Flora and fauna.
The vegetation types present in the Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary include dense coniferous forests and sub-alpine pastures. In dense coniferous forests, kail pine, spruce, fir, birch, deodar and juniper trees are predominant.
The Rajparian Wildlife Sanctuary is abode to many species of animals including the Himalayan black bear, hangul, and musk deer. A number of species of wild birds are also found in the sanctuary.
Disturbance.
In 1970, the Government of Kashmir constructed a sheep breeding farm on 1300 hectares of prime wintering area of the now critically endangered hangul. This sheep breeding farm is believed to have had an adverse effect on the movement of hangul in this area. Besides, the sanctuary has also been disturbed due to excessive grazing by the livestock of non-local Bakarwals.


Administrative divisions of Tajikistan

Administratively, Tajikistan is divided into:


Leiblach

The Leiblach is a tributary of Lake Constance and the Rhine.
The Leiblach source is near the German municipality of Heimenkirch, flowing to the southwest. Near the Austrian town of Hohenweiler, the river joins a small tributary, the . This tributary forms a part of the Austrian-German border, and below the confluence the border continues to follow the Leiblach until it eventually empties into Lake Constance between the German town of Lindau and the Austrian town of Lochau.


New Jersey Naval Museum

The New Jersey Naval Museum (NJNM) was a museum located along the Hackensack River in Hackensack in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Its mission was dedicated to the state's Navy heritage and naval history in general. The prominent element in the collection was the USS "Ling" (SS-297), a long "Balao"-class submarine of World War II. The museum land has since been sold for redevelopment, however the USS Ling remains grounded in the river, with an uncertain future. Efforts have been made since 2007 to find a new home for the Ling. In 2019, the Louisville Naval Museum began a campaign to attempt to relocate the ship to the Ohio River.
From 1972 until closing, the Museum had paid one dollar per year to rent its riverside site. In January 2007, the North Jersey Media Group, owner of the site, informed the museum that the site was going to be sold for redevelopment within the year and that the museum and submarine would need to be relocated.
Collections.
Prior to the closing of the museum, guided tours of the "Ling" were available to take visitors from bow to stern, exploring equipment, quarters, and weaponry. The weaponry on the "Ling" includes twenty-four torpedoes and one 4" deck gun (it originally had two 5" deck guns) for handling military targets too small to warrant the expenditure of a torpedo.
Volunteers maintained Japanese Kaiten IIs, a World War II Japanese suicide torpedo; a German Seehund, a World War II German two-man coastal defense submarine; and A Vietnam War-era Patrol Boat, River (PBR), all of which the US Navy has since reclaimed, in addition to "Ling" and some torpedoes, missiles, and artillery shells. The onshore museum building contained a number of different and unique items ranging from a United States Navy SEALs delivery vehicle to personal photographs and effects.
Closing.
After Hurricane Sandy the gangway was destroyed, leading to the closure of the sub and museum. Furthermore, the area was selected for a development project. The Naval History and Heritage Command has taken several artifacts after they were in a state of disrepair; with the remaining artifacts being housed by Harbor Freight.
Vandalism and Burglary.
In September 2018, artifacts from the submarine were stolen, and the Ling was also flooded. Several people have been identified in connection with the burglary.


Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect

The Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect () is a dialect of the Ukrainian language that originated in Pokuttia and Bukovina under the influence of the Romanian language. Along with Hutsul, Upper Prutian and Upper Sannian dialects, it is part of the archaic Galician-Bukovinian group of dialects. The dialect is locally spoken in some regions in Western Ukraine south of the Dniester and east of the Carpathian Mountains (on the territory of the Chernivtsi Oblast excluding its extremely western regions, and in the eastern part of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast).
History.
The territory of Pokuttia had been part of Moldavia since the 14th century. The Moldavian state had appeared by the mid-14th century, eventually expanding its territory all the way to the Black Sea. Bukovina and neighboring regions were the nucleus of the Moldavian Principality, with the city of Iași (outside but near Bukovina) as its capital from 1388 (after Baia and Siret, both in Bukovina). When Moldavia established its control over part of Pokuttia and Bukovina, there occurred a process of Romanianization. The language of the Moldavians influenced the language spoken by locals, and the Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect was formed. It is distinct from other Ukrainian dialects because all of them are influenced by other Slavic languages, while the Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect was formed under the influence of Romance languages. The dialect preserved several archaic endings and soft declension, and certain lexical peculiarities, including Romanianisms. The expansion of ancient Pokuttian phonetic features in the 14th-16th centuries in western Podolia contributed to the formation of a broader group of Dniester dialects.
Area of dialect's distribution.
The area of the Pokuttian-Bukovinian dialect covers the regions of western Ukraine located in the lower and middle reaches of the Dniester River (on the right bank of the Dniester east of the Carpathian Mountains). This area covers the eastern districts of the Ivano-Frankivsk region and almost entirely the territory of the Chernivtsi region, excluding its extreme western areas, generally coinciding with the historical and ethnographic regions of Pokuttia and Northern Bukovina. The dialect can also be found in small areas of Romania in the border areas with Ukraine (in the northern part of the Suceava County) and along the territory of Moldova.
Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect in Moldova.
The Slavs of the Pruto-Dniester region, together with the Romanians, who appeared as a compact ethnic group in the middle of the 14th century, and the Ruthenians of Transylvania created the Moldavian principality. In the 14th century, they made up around 39.5% of the population of this principality. Almost all the voivodes of the initial period of Moldavian history - Dragos, Bogdan I, Bogdan II, Lacko, and others bore Slavic names. The number of Slavic population of the principality is evidenced by the Novgorod and Voskresenskaya chronicles, which list the cities of the late XIV - early XV centuries, including those located in the lands that were by this time part of the Moldavian principality.
Some Slavs assimilated with the Moldavians, but the other part, living in the north and northeast of the Moldavian principality, managed to preserve their Slavic identity and called themselves Ruthenians or Russians. In the early twentieth century, researchers emphasized the cultural and linguistic features of this ethnic group, and its difference from the Moldavians, Northern Russians, and Southern Russians.
Linguistics.
The study of the Pokuttia-Bukovina dialect was carried out by such researchers of Ukrainian dialects as I. G. Verhratsky, Y. .A. Karpenko, K. Kisilevsky, B. V. Kobylyansky, K. Lukyanyuk, V. A Prokopenko and others.
The vocabulary of the Pokutsk-Bukovinian dialect area is characterized by such words as: ґázda, gazdin'i (Ukrainian literary gentleman, lord "master, mistress"), zhitnits'i (Ukrainian literal syrovatka "serum"), kugyt (Ukrainian letter piven "rooster"), lilik (Ukrainian letter kazhan "bat"), shytiy (Ukrainian letter hornless "hornless"), rish'ch'a (Ukrainian letter hmiz "brushwood") etc. With the Hutsul dialects, the Pokutsko-Bukovinian ones combine the following words: baryl'i (Ukrainian literal potato "potato"), véremne (Ukrainian literal weather "weather") and many others.


Bazman

Bazman (, also known as Kuh-e Bazman) is a dormant stratovolcano in a remote desert region of Sistan and Baluchestan Province in south-eastern Iran. A 500-m-wide crater caps the summit of the dominantly andesitic-dacitic volcano, the flanks of which are covered by monogenetic centres especially to the northwest. Bazman is a geologically young volcano which formed mainly in the Quaternary, with the oldest dated rocks being 11.7 million years old and the youngest 0.6 million years. Although no historic eruptions have been reported from Bazman, it does contain fumaroles. Thus Bazman may be regarded as dormant, rather than extinct. Its satellite cones have been the source of basaltic lava flows.
Bazman volcano is part of a volcanic arc in southeastern Iran, the Makran volcanic arc. At this arc, shallow subduction has generated an arc of volcanic activity which includes Bazman, Taftan and Koh-i-Sultan volcanoes. Bazman has been affected by heavy erosion. The flanks of the volcano are covered with debris coming from the volcano. A Cretaceous pluton is also associated with Bazman and has been investigated for the possibility of mining.
Geography and geology.
Bazman is also known as Kuh-i-Zindeh ("Mountain of the Living One"), after a saint, Khizr-as-Sallam. Yet another name is Kuh-i-Naushada, although they are sometimes considered to be separate mountains. The mountain was climbed in 1896 by Percy Sykes and Brazier Creagh; by 1906 its volcanic nature was known to geologists. It is located away from the Arabian Sea, and north-northwest of Bampur.
Regional setting.
Iran contains two major mountain ranges, the Alborz in northern Iran and Zagros in western Iran. Each range is associated with a major suture zone, the Alborz-Kopeh Dag and the Bitlis-Zagros sutures respectively. These mountain chains surround Central Iran, in whose southern part lies the Lut block and Bazman. Tectonically, southern central Iran does not follow the typical Alpide geological patterns insofar as faults are rare and the folds in the crust are broad. The Bazman area is covered by volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. The foreland of the mountain massifs such as the Bazman massif are affected by tectonic subsidence. A major Tertiary volcanic belt, analogous to the Indonesian volcanic arc, crosses Iran behind the Zagros.
South of Bazman volcano lies the broad Jaz Murian depression. To the south of this depression the Makran area separates the Arabian sea from inner Iran. The Makran area is geologically subdivided into the Inner Makran series which includes ophiolitic melange and the Coastal Makran Series. A phase of subduction commenced in the Cretaceous or Plio-Pleistocene, probably after earlier phases of subduction. This subduction has resulted in the formation of a volcanic complex including Bazman that stretches east-west and reaches a width of , and is known as the Makran-Chagai magmatic arc. There is also earthquake activity including the 1945 Makran earthquake, but overall earthquake activity in the Makran is low, probably due to the effect of sediments in the trench. A large accretionary prism formed directly behind the trench, in the trench the subduction occurs at a pace of . There is no evidence of a Wadati–Benioff zone beneath the Makran. Bazman has been grouped with Taftan volcano also in Iran and Koh-i-Sultan in Pakistan, of which only Taftan is considered active, Kuh-e-Nader is another volcanic field in this arc. This arc is over away from the trench, indicating that the subduction is very shallow. Within this arc, Bazman is located at the edge between the actual subduction and the continental collision zone. Bazman is also considered part of a long volcanic belt named the Urumieh-Dokhtar or Sahand-Bazman belt that extends from northwest to southeast and is accompanied by Cenozoic volcanic rocks and plutons. Bazman is sometimes considered to be part of a volcanic complex with the neighbouring Shahsavaran volcanic field.
Local setting.
Bazman is one among about nine volcanic centres in Iran that have had Quaternary eruptions. Other volcanoes are Damavand which is also Asia's highest volcano, Taftan, Qal'eh Hasan Ali, Sabalan and Sahand volcanoes. Most of these volcanoes are part of a volcanic belt named Dokhtar-Urmiah. With the exception of reports of possible lava flows at Taftan, none of these volcanoes have been reportedly active during historical times. Older volcanic activity within this belt has generated a number of porphyry deposits.
Bazman volcano is high, rising high above the surrounding terrain, and has steep slopes. At the top of the volcano lies a summit crater. This crater is well conserved and it has a diameter of . On the north flank, a northbound lava flow with prominent levees that eventually splits into a northwestern and northeastern arm was discharged by a steep lava cone that is known as Bazman Bacheh ("Bazman's Child") and lies northeast of the summit. Other viscous lava flows have been erupted from satellite cones, which occur mainly at distances of northeast from the summit. In total the volcano covers an area of about . The volcano is constructed on top of the Lut block, which reaches a thickness of . Quaternary sediments are buried beneath Bazman's eruption products. The Moho beneath Bazman is approximately deep. The area around Bazman is remote.
A field of monogenetic volcanoes is found northwest of Bazman. These include broad and shallow craters with diameters of with pyroclastic rocks, cryptodomes with diameters of up to and heights of , scoria cones reaching a height of with lava flow fields and individual lava flows. The varying state of erosion of these volcanoes indicates they formed over many millennia; some have been worn down to their feeding dykes.
Bazman has no recorded historical eruptions but fumarolic activity has been reported, as well as ongoing surface deformation. Bazman is considered to be occasionally smoking. Hot springs containing iron and sulfur are other signs of ongoing volcanism; Bazman has been considered a potential site for development of geothermal energy, with a surface area of . In 1960, Bazman together with Taftan was considered a volcano with sporadic historic activity, while a different report in 1975 considered the volcano extinct. Potassium-argon dating of basalts from the volcano has yielded ages of 4.6 and 0.6 million years ago. These dates were obtained on the monogenetic cones; zircons directly from Bazman rocks are dated 7.5 ± 0.1 and 5.9 ± 0.2 million years ago by uranium-lead dating, along with other ages of 8–6 million years ago from other zircons around Bazman. A third date is of 11.7 million years ago. Another report in 1981 suggested that isotopic ages also indicate historic activity. Latest research indicates that the main Bazman volcano formed between 1.4 and 0.63 million years ago, with a preceding stage of regional volcanism between 8.6 and 4.1 million years ago. Later ignimbritic volcanism took place between 590,000 and 470,000 years ago; the final volcanic activity around the summit of the volcano continued until less than 41,000 years ago. An important geothermal field is associated with Bazman and hot springs occur south of the volcano; they might derive their heat source from it.
Bazman volcano is constructed by dacite, but andesite has also been mentioned. Minor amounts of rhyolite have also been reported. Overall rock samples range from basalt to rhyolite in composition and are mostly of calc-alkaline composition. The satellite cones have erupted olivine-containing basalts. The mountain's flanks are covered by a layer of detritus, burying most of the flanks to over of altitude. Most of this detritus is erosional in nature, but pyroclastic rocks created by explosive activity and hot avalanches of extruded lava also contribute. thick olivine basalt found in the Jaz Murian depression may also come from Bazman. Basalt has also been found at one cryptodome. North of Bazman, andesites of Miocene-Eocene age are partly buried beneath the volcano and there are also andesitic to dacitic intrusions. Carboniferous and Permian metamorphic rocks form the oldest basement at Bazman.
Petrological analysis at the monogenetic volcanoes around Bazman has indicated porphyritic basalts containing clinopyroxene, hornblende, olivine and plagioclase, and titanite and zircon as accessories. The rocks have medium content, lower than that of Taftan and Koh-i-Sultan. This may reflect differences in the subduction beneath Bazman and the other two volcanoes. Composition data are typical of volcanic island arc rocks, with some samples have element ratios more akin to ocean island basalts. Lithosphere modified by the subduction may be the origin of the magmas that formed the monogenetic cones. On the basis of its composition, the environmental conditions under which one of the samples formed have been estimated, the temperature being and a minimum depth of about . The magmas ultimately originate through partial melting from a stable heat source.
A mining area is associated with Bazman and more precisely with Paleozoic-Mesozoic rocks including a 70 million years old granite pluton. This late Cretaceous pluton is localized south of Bazman volcano. According to other reports its rocks are also exposed on the northern side of Bazman. The granite complex is partly buried by Bazman volcano. Various hydrothermal and skarn alterations have generated mineral deposits that include silver, gold, copper, lead, magnesium, molybdenum, and zinc, and minor amounts of tungsten and possibly of vanadium. The Chahnali epithermal gold deposit is close to the volcano.
The area of Bazman is affected by rain erosion. Sheet floods such as those that occurred in 1976 are principal agents. Together with other kinds of erosion such as frost and salt weathering, these have formed a pediplain terrain with inselbergs being left, especially where harder rocks are found. Pebbles eroded from Bazman have been transported to the terrains of the Jaz Murian depression south of Bazman. The effects of this erosion have mantled the volcano with debris locally known as "dasht", reaching distances of over from the vent. With the exception of the Ziyarat valley on Bazman's southern flank, the area around Bazman is arid and uninhabited.
Climate and environment.
The Bazman protected area encompasses part of the volcano. Animal species recorded there include the Asian black bear, bustard, chinkara and sand cat.


Istrian Italians

Istrian Italians are an ethnic group from the Adriatic region of Istria in modern northwestern Croatia and southwestern Slovenia. Istrian Italians descend from the original Latinized population of Roman Histria, from the Venetian-speaking settlers who colonized the region during the time of the Republic of Venice, and from the local South Slavic people who culturally assimilated.
Today, as a result of the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus, the majority of Istrian Italians live outside of the Istrian peninsula; however, a significant Italian minority still lives in the Croatian County of Istria (6.92%) and in Slovenian Istria, where they are granted minority rights. According to the official Slovenian and Croatia censuses conducted in 2001 and 2002 respectively, they number around 22,000. The Istrian diaspora, on the other hand, numbers more than 200,000 people.
The number of people resident in the Croatian part of Istria declaring themselves to be Italian nearly doubled between 1981 and 1991 (i.e. before and after the dissolution of Yugoslavia).
History.
Early period.
Historian Theodor Mommsen wrote that Istria (the X region of "Roman Italia" since Augustus) was fully romanized in the 5th century AD.
Between 500 and 700 AD, Slavs settled in Southeastern Europe (Eastern Adriatic), and their number ever increased, and with the Ottoman invasion Slavs were pushed from the south and east. This led to Italic people becoming ever more confined to urban areas, while some areas of the countryside were populated by Slavs, with exceptions in western and southern Istria which remained fully Romance-speaking.
By the 11th centuries, most of the interior mountainous areas of northern and eastern Istria (Liburnia) were inhabited by South Slavs, while the Romance population continued to prevail in the south and west of the peninsula. Linguistically, the Romance inhabitants of Istria were most probably divided into two main linguistic groups: in the north-west, the speakers of a Rhaeto-Romance language similar to Ladin and Friulian prevailed, while in the south, the natives most probably spoke a variant of the Dalmatian language.
One modern claim suggests the original language of the romanized Istrians survived the invasions, this being the Istriot language which spoken by some near Pula). Republic of Venice influenced the neolatins of Istria for many centuries from the Middle Ages until 1797, until conquered by Napoleon: Capodistria and Pola were important centers of art and culture during the Italian Renaissance. Other historians have attributed the ancient language of romanized Istrians as being the Istro-Romanian.
Venetian rule.
In the 14th century, epidemics such as the Black Death decimated in those years the Istrian population, which was still mostly of Romance ethnicity. As a consequence of depopulation, Venice started settling Slavic communities to repopulate the interior areas of the peninsula. These were mostly Čakavian and partially Štokavian speaking South Slavs from Dalmatia and present-day Montenegro (differently from Kajkavian and proto-Slovene speakers that lived in the northern areas of the peninsula).
At the same time, settlers from the Veneto region were used to resettle the towns. This caused a language shift of the local Romance population who replaced the old Romance (either Rhaeto-Romance or Italo-Dalmatian) languages with the Venetian language. Only in the extreme south of the peninsula did the original Istrian Romance language survive: under strong Venetian influences it transformed itself into the modern Istriot language. Until the early 19th century, Dalmatian continued to be spoken on the island of Veglia / Krk, and a dialect of Friulian in the town of Muggia: both became extinct in the mid 19th century, replaced by Venetian.
In 1374 Because of the implementation of a treaty of inheritance, central and eastern Istria fell to the House of Habsburg, while Venice continued to control the northern, western and south-eastern portion of the peninsula, including the major coastal towns of Capodistria / Koper, Parenzo / Poreč, Rovigno / Rovinj, Pola / Pula, Fianona / Plomin, and the interior towns of Albona / Labin and Pinguente / Buzet. This created a dichotomy that characterized Istria until the late 18th century. The Venetian culture and language left a profound impact on Venetian Istria. By the Baroque and Enlightenment periods, Istrian Italians were completely integrated in the wider Italian culture via their belonging to the Republic of Venice. The towns of Venetian Istria became almost exclusively Venetian-speaking, and Venetian Italian was the language of commerce, culture and administration. Nevertheless, significant numbers of South Slavic speakers (mostly Slovene and Čakavian Croatian) continued to dwell in the rural areas of Venetian Istria, especially in the north of the province and on the border with Austrian Istria.
On the other hand, interior and eastern Istria was included into the Central European cultural sphere and were dominated by a feudal culture. By the late 18th century, the vast majority of Austrian Istria were Slavic (Slovene and Croat) speakers.
After the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) Austria occupied the Venetian part of the peninsula. After a short French interim, Austria reconquered the whole peninsula in 1813, and unified it into a single province. As a result, Istrian Italians became a minority in the new administrative unit, although they maintained their social and part of their political power.
Austrian period.
Although the incorporation into the Austrian Empire caused deep changes in the political asset of the region, it did not alter the social balance. Venetian-speaking Istrian Italians continued to dominate the region both culturally and economically. In the first half of the 19th century, the use of Venetian language even extended to some areas of former Austrian Istria, like the town of Pazin / Pisino. The Austrian censuses detected a gradual but constant rise of Italian speakers both in numerical and proportional terms: in 1848, around a third of Istrians were Italian (Venetian or Istriot) speakers.
From the early 19th century onward, the local Croats and Slovenes engaged in a national revival, demanding linguistic and national rights that challenged the supremacy of the Italian language and culture in Istria. The Croatian-Slovene national movement gained force only in the second part of the 19th century, causing a clash with a parallel nationalist movement of the Istrian Italians.
Many Istrian Italians looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. However, after 1866, when the Veneto and Friuli regions were ceded by the Austrians to the newly formed Kingdom Italy, Istria remained part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic (Trieste, Gorizia and Gradisca, Fiume). This triggered the gradual rise of Italian irredentism among many Italians in Istria, who demanded the unification of the Austrian Littoral, Fiume and Dalmatia with Italy.
Under Austrian rule in the 19th century, it included a large population of Italians, Croats, Slovenes, some Vlachs/Istro-Romanians and even a few Montenegrins. The Italians in Istria supported the Italian Risorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria This fact created a huge emigration of Italians from Istria before World War I, reducing their percentage inside the peninsula inhabitants (they were more than 50% of the total population during Napoleonic times (when General Marmont did a French census), but at the end of the 19th century they were reduced to only two fifths according to some estimates).
On the other hand, the Istrian Slovenes and Croats, who represented around three fifths of the Istrian population, increased their demands for national and linguistic emancipation. The result was the intensification of the ethnic strife between the two groups, although it was limited to institutional battles and it rarely manifested in violent forms.
Indeed, in 1910, the ethnic and linguistic composition was completely mixed and the Italians were reduced to minority, although still significant. According to the Austrian census results, out of 404,309 inhabitants in the "Margravate of Istria", 168,116 (41.6%) spoke Croatian, 147,416 (36.5%) spoke Italian, 55,365 (13.7%) spoke Slovene, 13,279 (3.3%) spoke German, 882 (0.2%) spoke Romanian, 2,116 (0.5%) spoke other languages and 17,135 (4.2%) were non-citizens, which had not been asked for their language of communication.
Excluding the almost exclusively Croatian-speaking areas that were annexed to Yugoslavia after WWI (Kastav and the island of Krk), Istria had 39% of Italian speakers, 37% of Croatian, and 14.7% Slovene speakers.
Until the end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the bourgeois Italian national liberal elites retained much of the political control in Istria.
Under Italy.
During World War One, many Istrians fought as volunteers on the Italian side against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Among them, the most famous was the Nazario Sauro from Koper (Capodistria).
After the end of the war, the whole peninsula was occupied by the Kingdom of Italy, and officially annexed to Italy with the Treaty of Rapallo of 1920. Istria was included in the administrative region known as the Julian March/Venezia Giulia. After the Fascist takeover of Italy in 1922, Italian became the sole language of administration and education. A fierce policy of Italianization was followed which prohibited all use of any language but Italian. Many Slovenes and Croats left the region, which strengthened the Italian positions. However, ethnic tensions grew, and a Slovenian and Croatian anti-Fascist insurgency started to appear in the late 1920s, although it was much less strong than in other parts of the Julian March.
Indeed, before the Treaty of Rapallo, the Italians in Istria accounted for nearly half of the local inhabitants and were mostly an indigenous population, but after the treaty they were bolstered by some new arrivals of the so-called "regnicoli" (from the Kingdom of Italy), which were never well liked by the indigenous Istrians Italians.
The Austrian 1910 census indicated approximately 182,500 people who listed Italian as their language of communication in what is now the territory of Slovenia and Croatia: 137,131 in Istria and 28,911 in Fiume/Rijeka (1918). Meanwhile, the Italian 1936 census indicated approximately 230,000 people who listed Italian as their language of communication (in what is now the territory of Slovenia and Croatia, then part of the Italian state): nearly 194,000 in today’s Croatia and 36,000 in today’s Slovenia.
World War Two and its consequences.
After the Italian armistice of 1943, Istria became a battlefield between the Nazi German army and the partisan (mostly Yugoslav) insurgency. Already in September 1943, several hundreds Istrian Italians were killed by the Yugoslav partisans because of their allegiance to the Italian State. This was the first wave of the Foibe massacres, which continued after the Yugoslav takeover of the region in May 1945.
From 1943 until 1953, according to various data, between 200,000 and 330,000 Italians emigrated from these regions. This emigration of Italians (called Istrian exodus) reduced the total population of the region and altered its ethnic structure.
After the Yugoslav Communist troops occupied Istria in May 1945, many Italians started leaving Istria under the pressure of the new authorities who demanded the annexation of Istria to Yugoslavia. With an agreement between the Allied forces and Tito's Yugoslav government, a line of demarcation known as the Morgan Line was set in June 1945: most of Istria remained under Yugoslav occupation, while the towns of Pula and Muggia were transferred to Allied administration.
With the peace treaty of 1947, most of Istria (including Pula) was assigned to Yugoslavia. This triggered the Istrian exodus, the departure of the large majority of Istrian Italians. Only the north-western portion was assigned to the zone B of the short-lived Free Territory of Trieste, but de facto remained under Yugoslav administration.
Part of Yugoslavia.
In 1953 according to the official census only 36,000 Italians lived in Yugoslavia, 16% of the Italian population before World War II, and another 35,000 lived in the zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT). After the dissolution of the FTT in 1954, and the definitive hand-over of the zone B to Yugoslavia, almost the totality of Istria became officially part of Yugoslavia. This triggered the last wave of the Istrian exodus, with most of the Istrian Italians leaving the zone B for elsewhere (mainly to Italy) because intimidated or preferring not to live in communist Yugoslavia. Yugoslav Istria was divided between Croatia and Slovenia, so that the Istrian Italians became subject to two different administrations.
In 1961 25,651 Italians remained in Yugoslavia (this number included some small minorities in Dalmatia), around 10-12% of the Italian population before World War II. Italians continued to emigrate in later decades (most of them to Australia, Canada, South America or the USA). Therefore, their population declined in each subsequent census to 15,132 inhabitants in 1981.
It has to be emphasized that the data of the Yugoslav censuses are unreliable in relation to the real number of Italians, since many members of the Italian minority, for various reasons, chose to be nationally undeclared or preferred to use their regional identity and declared themselves as Istrians. Not surprisingly in 2001 (i.e. after the dissolution of Yugoslavia), the Croatian and Slovenian censuses reported a total Italian population of 21,894 (with the figure in Croatia nearly doubling).
In its 1996 report on 'Local self-government, territorial integrity and protection of minorities' the Council of Europe's European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) put it that "a great majority of the local Italians, some thousands of Slovenes and of nationally undefined bilingual 'Istrians', used their legal right from the peace treaty to 'opt out' of the Yugoslav controlled part of Istria". In several waves they moved to Italy and elsewhere (also overseas, mainly in the Americas) and claimed Italian or other citizenship.
Current situation.
Today Istrian Italians are mostly a national minority in Croatia. Croatian municipalities with a significant Italian population include Grisignana / Grožnjan (51%), Verteneglio / Brtonigla (37%), and Buie / Buje (40%).
The last census (2001) showed that there are nearly 50,000 Istrian Italians in entire Istria (between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy), more than half of them living in Italy:
Source: Croatian Census - 2011. Slovenian Census - 2002. Italian Census - 1970/2001
Citizenship.
As per the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, those people who lived in the territories of the Kingdom of Italy ceded to Yugoslavia between 1940 and 1947 would lose their Italian citizenship, but could keep it should they decide to move to Italy in a ten year period following the treaty.
As such, the local Italian residents who opted to remain in Istria, Rijeka, Lastovo and other territories lost their Italian citizenship.
On 8 March 2006, the Italian government approved law n. 124, which would provide a possibility to regain the Italian citizenship to "those Italians and their descendants residing in Istria, Fiume, and Dalmatia between 1940 and 1947, when they relinquished it upon these territories being ceded to Yugoslavia. To access this initiative, the following documents are required:
Notable Istrian Italians.
List of famous Istrian Italians across the centuries.


Posert Castle

Posert Castle (Posrt, ), also known as Šabec (Schabez) and St. Martin, is a ruined fortress near the road between Paz and Šušnjevica, in municipality of Cerovlje, in Istria, Croatia. The ruins of the castle depending on the name are dating back to the 11th century (St. Martin), or 16th century (Šabec), while by archeological evidence to the second half of the 14th century. The castle was vastly devastated in the Uskok War (1615–17). Between 2009 and 2014 the castle was restored. Nearby the castle there is also a small Church of St. Martin from 1367.
History.
Until now the castle was considered as the same fortress with different names, of St. Martin, Posert and Šabec, which in several occasions were separately mentioned and built, but that wasn't confirmed by archaeological research. It is still unknown whether they were at the same or different locations.
The castle was associated with Castrum Sancti Martini from the 11th century, mentioned in the grant by Ulric II to Aquileia patriarchs. In the second half of 14th century St. Martin belonged to the Pazin county. Its lords were Gutenegg family, and when in 1436 became part of the Moysevich (Moise, Mojsijević) family estate, that area was named Posshart, while suburb as Possert.
In the 16th century, Juraj (or Giorgio) Barbo, of the Barbo family who inherited Moysevich estate and Kožljak in 1529, allegedly built new fortress Šabec. Between 1614 and 1617, during the Venice-Uskok war, both St. Martin (or Possert) and Šabec area were occupied and destroyed. As Šabec was in ruins and abandoned, Juraj decided to build a new castle Belaj south of it.
According to archeological excavations the castle is dated to the second half of the 14th century. This indicates that the castle was possibly built by Counts of Gorizia who were the lords of the area until 1374, or by the Habsburg family who inherited their estates.
Description.
The castle is of irregular trapezoidal layout with rectangular angle tower. The layout broad side is faced toward north. It consists of center in the northern part, and of external fortified yard in the central and southern part. The guard tower is best preserved. It had five floors, preserved to a height of with irregular layout, long by wide.


Konevsky Monastery

Konevsky Monastery ( (as it is written on the seal of the monastery), ) is a Russian Orthodox monastery that occupies the Konevets Island in the western part of the Lake Ladoga, Leningrad Oblast, Russian Federation. It is often regarded as the twin monastery with the Valaam Monastery, also located on an island group in the same lake.
Medieval origins.
The island of Konevets ( or ) has the maximum length of 5 km; its average width is 2 km. The island is separated from the mainland by a 5-km-wide strait. In the Middle Ages, the island was considered holy by the Finnish tribes who particularly revered a huge boulder in the shape of a horse's skull, weighing more than 750 tons. This boulder is known as "Kon’-Kamen’" or "Hevoskivi" (literally, "Steed-Stone") and gives its name to the island.
The monastery was founded around 1393 by St. Arseny Konevsky, who wished to convert pagan Karelians to Christianity. The location of the monastery was changed several times, in order to avert floods. The Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos was founded by St. Arseny in 1428; it was at this church that the monastery's main shrine was placed. It was a miraculous image of Mother of God, brought by St. Arseny from Mount Athos and representing Christ playing with a dove nestling, symbolizing spiritual purity.
Like the Valaam Monastery, the abbey at Konevets was known for its missionary activities. The Swedes captured the island during the Ingrian War, forcing the monks to retreat to Novgorod. Only after Russia retook the territory in the course of the Great Northern War they were allowed to reclaim their ancient possessions in Konevets. The revived cloister depended upon Novgorod until 1760, when it was officially recognized as a separate monastic establishment.
In 1812, after the Finnish War the monastery administratively became part of the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland, along with the rest of "Old Finland".
19th century.
The golden age of the monastery came with the 19th century, when its fame spread to the imperial capital and the island was visited by eminent visitors from Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Dumas and Fyodor Tyutchev. An 1873 essay by Nikolai Leskov describes his impressions from the monastery.
As a consequence of its high profile, the monastic community could fund extensive building projects, starting with the construction of a new cathedral in 1800–09. This huge two-storey eight-pillared building was designed by a local starets. It is surmounted by five octagonal drums bearing five blue bud-shaped domes. The same style is applied to the three-storey belltower (1810–12), rising to the height of 35 meters. Several other churches, a quay and an inn were added in the course of the century. Two sketae were set up to mark the ancient locations of the monastery.
20th century.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the monastery passed to the newly independent Finland, and came under the jurisdiction of the autonomous Finnish Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The island was fortified by the Finnish military, and the inn was expropriated to house a regiment staff. During the Winter War and Continuation War the monastery buildings were damaged. On 13 March 1940 the Winter War ended. The previous day the monks had been evacuated to the interior of Finland, taking the holy icon with them, but leaving the iconostasis, church bells, and the library. Another personal possession of St. Arseny, the Konevsky Psalter, dated to the 14th century, was sent to the Russian National Library. In 1940, the monks bought an estate named "Hiekka" (‘Sands’) from the Saastamoinen company in Keitele, and the monastery continued to function there until 1956.
The monks returned for a brief period during the Continuation War, but withdrew on 19 June 1944, ten days after the Soviet Union began the Offensive on the Karelian Isthmus, even though the Soviet troops never conquered the island or the adjacent shoreline on the isthmus. (These areas were ceded to the Soviet Union after the 1944 Moscow Armistice of September 19, 1944.)
In 1956 the monks joined the New Valamo Monastery in Heinävesi.
During the Soviet period, the monastery housed a military unit. In 1990 it became one of the first monasteries in the region to be revived by the Russian Orthodox Church. In November 1991, the brethren announced the discovery of St. Arseny's relics, that apparently had been hidden from the Swedes in 1573. By 2004, the Konevsky Monastery, which hosts a large number of tourists and pilgrims, had been mostly restored.


Tri-State Peak

Tri-State Peak is a mountain located in the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, near the "saddle" of the gap. It gets its name from being on the tripoint of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The elevation at the tri-state marker is 1,990 feet (607 m). The marker can be accessed via the "tri-state peak trail," (via connections with the Gap trail and the Object Lesson Road trail) and is about 1.2 miles from the park's visitor's center.
The site also includes a marker denoting the location as being on the "Royal Colonial Boundary of 1665," which was marked by the American Society of Civil Engineers.


Fiadh

Fiadh is a given name for a girl. It is Irish in origin, coming from a word meaning "deer", "wildness" but also "respect".
Origins.
Fiadh was largely unknown as a given name in the twentieth century, although the Irish word was known in the context of the fulacht fiadh and the word for a deer.
Irish given names for children experienced a spike in popularity after Vatican II when societal and parochial pressure to give saint's names to children was eased. Many of the Irish language origin names which were popular in the 1960s and 1970s (such as Sinéad, Deirdre or Emer) were out of fashion by the end of the century after reaching critical mass. Fiadh was part of a subsequent wave of names that became popular in the post Celtic Tiger period when the Irish language was perceived to have more social cache.
Popularity.
The name Fiadh first registered on the Republic of Ireland's CSO's name database in 2002, with three incidences noted. This had multiplied tenfold by 2011 and the name entered the national top ten by 2018. By 2020 it was the second most popular feminine given name in Ireland, attracting media analysis.


List of Ulster-related topics

The territorial extent covered by the term Ulster may vary, reflecting the prevalent deep political and cultural divisions.
Political and paramilitary organisations, parties and movements having "Ulster" as part of their name are almost invariably on the Unionist side; military and police units having such names are often accused of a pro-Unionist bias. That is, however, not necessarily the case with names in other spheres including "Ulster". For example, Ulster sports associations and teams often form part of an all-Ireland structure and thus, while not overtly political, are favourably regarded by Irish Nationalists.


Punjabi language writers in the United Kingdom

In the second half of the twentieth century, a number of Punjabis migrated to the United Kingdom from India, Pakistan and other countries. Among them a number of writers have emerged, writing variously in English and in Punjabi. Amongst these writers are Amarjit Chandan, Harjeet Atwal, Veena Verma Shivcharan Gill, Sathi Ludhianvi, K.C. Mohan, S.S. Santokh and Yash. In addition to these immigrants, British-born writers are emerging. These include Dominic Rai, Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon and Daljit Nagra.
Shivcharan Jaggi Kussa.
Shivcharan Jaggi Kussa was born in the village of Kussa, in Moga district. He migrated to Austria in 1986 where he served with the German and Austrian border Police. Since 2006, he has been living in the east end of London and has produced a series of Punjabi novels. He writes realistic satirical novels about corruption in the Indian Police force and Punjabi society in general. Since 2012, he has also written for Bollywood Punjabi and Hindi films. He has won many awards, including 7 gold medals and a further 17 literary awards, including the Nanak Singh Novelist Award from Punjabi Satth Lambra.
Amarjit Chandan.
Amarjit Chandan was born in Nairobi in November 1946. He worked for various Punjabi literary and political magazines, including the Bombay-based Economic and Political Weekly before migrating to England in 1980, where he lives with his radio-broadcaster wife and two sons. He has published eight collections of poetry and two books of essays in Punjabi in the Gurmukhi script and two in the Persian script and one in English translation titled "Being Here". His works include "Jarhan", "Beejak", "Chhanna" and "Guthali". He has edited many anthologies of world poetry and fiction, including two collections of British Punjabi poetry and short stories. His poetry has been published in Greek, Turkish, Hungarian and Romanian and Indian languages. His profile and work is listed on the Danka - Pakistan's Cultural Guide.
Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon.
Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon is from West London and writes novels, short stories and poetry in a British form of Punjabi which he taught himself to write. He has also published poetry in English. His debut novel, "Neela Noor", was published in 2007. He writes in the locally spoken form of the language influenced by English; His work is mainly influenced by Western literature and confronts social issues including racism, gender bias and incest. "Bharind (The Hornet)" is a collection of short stories and poetry. In his later novels such as the experimental gothic novel "O", he employs a genre he calls "Vachitarvaad", which encompasses science fiction, fantasy, horror and magical realism.
Harjeet Atwal.
Harjeet Atwal is a Punjabi writer mainly known as a novelist and story-teller. Some of his novels are; "One Way", "Ret", "Sawari", "Southall", "British Born Desi", "Das Saal Das Yug", "Early Birds", "Geet". He has written seven short stories books, one poetry collection, one travelogue, one biography and many more articles for different news papers and magazines. He is editor of a literary magazine as well named "Shabad". Since 1977 he has lived in London. He was born on 8 September 1952 and is married with three children.


Sogam Lolab

Sogam Lolab is a municipality situated in the Lolab Valley of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and is the home of many administrative offices for the area and acts as sub-district. It is separated by Nagmarg Meadows from Bandipora district to east. Sogam is at an altitude of above the sea level and has a population of about 16,166 with literacy rate of about 79.61%.


Music of southern China

The music of the southern China has many features that are distinct from the rest of the country. For instance, many folk songs only use three notes. The region is home to significant populations of ethnic minorities, such as the Zhuang, Miao, She and Tai people.
"Lingnan" (嶺南) is a generic term for the lands of southern China that covers Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi. The area, motherland of ancient Nanyue, was inhabited by the Baiyue, considered barbarians having loose contact with the Zhongyuan region, the centre of Chinese culture. In the 2nd century BC, the region was absorbed into the Middle Kingdom.
Fujian.
"See also Music of Taiwan"
Fujian () is a mountainous coastal province of China. Its provincial capital is Fuzhou, while Quanzhou was a major port in the 7th century CE, the period between the Sui and Tang eras. Situated upon an important maritime trade route, it was a conduit for elements of distant cultures. The result was what is now known as nanguan music, which today preserves many archaic features.
From the 17th century the Hoklo immigrated from Fujian to Taiwan and took with them informal folk music as well as more ritualized instrumental and operatic forms taught in amateur clubs, such as beiguan and nanguan. Large populations of similar background can also be found in Malaysia, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia, where they are usually referred to as "Hokkien", ("Fujian" in the Min Nan Chinese). There are two "nanguan" associations in Singapore and formerly there were several in the Philippines: "Tiong-Ho Long-Kun-sia" is one that is still active. Gang-a-tsui and Han-Tang Yuefu have popularised the "nanguan" ensemble abroad. A Quanzhou Nanguan Music Ensemble was founded in the early 1960s and there is a Fuzhou Folk Music Ensemble, founded in 1990.
Shifan is a kind of percussive music that accompanied the Dragon Lantern Dance. A troupe from Fujian is known to have performed the dance for an emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Over time string and wind instruments have been added.
Chanhe arose out of the Chanhe School of Buddhism from chanting accompanied by percussion instruments such as chimes and drums. In the early 1920s, wind and string instruments were added.
Guangdong.
"See also: Music of Hong Kong and Music of Macau."
Guangdong xiaoqu is the "sizhu" (chamber music) tradition native to the Pearl River delta area centered in Guangzhou (Canton). In modern times Guangdong has become known for "Guangdong music" (later "Guangdong folk tunes"), a synthesis of a number of local folk music styles (like "kunqu" opera), intended as an accompaniment for the region's folk operas when it arose along the Pearl River Delta in the 1920s. It had evolved into a string ensemble format by the 1960s, led by the "gaohu" with "ruan", "qinqin", "yangqin", "sanxian", "yehu", and various woodwind (including "houguan" or saxophone) and percussion instruments. Formerly, bowed stringed instruments such as the "erxian" and "tiqin" were used. Compositions by the noted "gaohu" player Lü Wencheng (吕文成, 1898–1981) remain particularly popular.
Chaozhou (also known as Teochew) music () includes Teochew string music (), Teochew gong and drum (), and Chaoyang flute music (). The Chaozhou "guzheng" () is regarded as a major member of the southern guzheng family.
Hakka hill songs ( ) are a type of shan'ge (), "mountain song" characteristic of the Guangdong region. They vary in theme from love to personal conduct. Said to have been used for courting, they are also used as a form of communication at a distance. Hakka hill songs can be made up impromptu, to communicate with others or to express oneself. The lyrics can also be made to contain puzzles as a game or competition. The challenger will answer the puzzle in the form of song of similar melody.
Guangxi.
The Gin people are known for their instrument called "duxianqin" (独弦琴, pinyin: dúxiánqín; lit. "single string zither"), a string instrument with only one string, said to date back to the 8th century. It is called "đàn bầu" in Vietnamese.
The Zhuang people are known for their "bayin" (八 音) instrumental ensemble, which includes such instruments as the maguhu, tuhu, huluhu, sanxian, drums, and cymbals, as well as other instruments.
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's most famous modern musician is Sister Liu, who was the subject of a 1960s film that introduced Guangxi's cultures to the rest of the world.
Guizhou.
Guizhou's folk tradition includes the song "Red Flower", which spread across China in the 1950s. The song came from the Buyi people. The Shui people use instruments like the lusheng, bronze drums and horns.
Hakka.
The music of the Hakka peoples is found in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong. Hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone and is entirely pentatonic.
Art music in southern China.
While nanguan is melodic and soft, Beiguan (北 管; pinyin: Běiguǎn; Taiwanese: Pakkóan, meaning "northern pipes") is loud, complex and associated with theatrical performance. Although its name sets it in opposition to the "southern" style of nanguan, the other main style associated with the quguan associations, it was widespread in Zhangzhou (the southern part of Fujian) and in Taiwan between the 17th and mid-20th centuries. By the early 21st century its popularity had declined. Formerly it was used when musical associations put on events for one another. "Beiguan" usually uses two Chinese oboes "(suona)" together with percussion; the woodblock "(bangzi)", large and small gongs "(da luo" and "xiao luo"), large and small cymbals "(da bo" and "xiao bo") and drums, the "ban gu" (high-pitched drum), the "tong gu" (small drum) and sometimes the "da gu" (large drum). It may also use various "huqin" and plucked instruments.
The Chaoshan region of Guangdong, bordering on Fujian and comprising the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, forms its own cultural sphere. Chaozhou xianshi (潮州 弦诗, literally "Chaozhou string-poem"; also called "xianshi yue" or "string-poem music") is classified as a type of "sizhu" music (chamber music for strings and woodwind, literally "silk/bamboo") although it typically uses stringed instruments only. It is found in northeastern Guangdong and parts of Fujian and also in regions with overseas Chaozhou populations, such as Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. In teahouses tea is often accompanied by Chaozhou music.
Developed from a fusion of elements, popular song, arias of Chinese opera, ancient melodies and pieces of Buddhist music, "Xianshi" music falls into two styles: "Rujia yue" is music of the Confucian school that can be performed as an independent instrumental music genre or at weddings and other ceremonies and that aims at elegance and nobility, while "Pengding yue" is principally the music of the theatre, though it may be played independently: it cultivates a sober, rustic style.
The instruments most commonly employed include several varieties of two-stringed bowed lutes; the () or () the lead instrument in the "Kejia" style, shorter and higher-pitched than the ), the tihu (of lower pitch than the , adapted from the Cantonese ) and the big and small yehu (coconut shell body), as well as several types of plucked lutes; the "pipa", big and small (a fretless bass instrument like the ), (four-stringed with short, fretted neck and round body), (four-stringed with long, fretted neck and round body) and meihuaqin. Other than this, the (zither) and (a hammered dulcimer thought to derive from the Iranian santur) are played as well as percussion instruments, a hand-held wooden clapper (), a pair of "temple" blocks ( and ) that mark the beat and a small drum ().
The ten characteristic compositions of Xianshi yue are
The form of each of these pieces resembles a suite ("taoqu") of variations upon a stock melody ("qupai" or "noted tune"). These are called "ban" or "beat" variations and follow an ordered sequence with changes of tempo and measure (most pieces have six or eight beat measures). Augmentation and diminution of the melody is used, so that it may repeatedly double in speed through the variations. The technique of "cui" introduces a division-like filling in of the melody with figures such as repeated notes and neighbouring or passing notes. Perfect-fourth transposition of the melody ("fan") also occurs, though the tonal centre remains constant.
Four or five main modes ("diao") are traditionally identified. However, while elsewhere in China such modes are mainly defined by absolute pitch and by the degree of the pentatonic scale that is taken as the key-note (thus setting the intervals of the scale), the xianshi conception of mode, rather like the Indian raga system, includes motif, ornament and intonation. Pitch is not absolute but the scale is usually constructed on a key-note approximating to western concert F – F#. Modes are pentatonic but all derive from a seven-note scale: no notice is taken of the starting and finishing tones of the melody in determining the mode and the key-note remains the same in every mode. Tunes may be adapted to a new mode, but the mode remains constant throughout any performance of the suite.
Apart from the major pentatonic scale two further tones, corresponding to a (sharp) perfect fourth and a (flat) major seventh, are employed. The "missing" steps of the scale in each mode may be used in ornament but are not part of main mode structure. The mode ("Light III Light VI") is the standard major pentatonic. But ("Light III Heavy VI") calls for a heavy string-pressure upon the sixth degree, raising it to the seventh. "Zhongsan zhongliu" ("Heavy III Heavy VI"), similarly, applies this upward string-bend to the third degree as well, raising it to the fourth. The fourth common scale, called "Huowu" ("Live V"), resembles this last but avoids the plain third degree and instead uses a heavy vibrato on the second degree. This is said to be the most characteristic mode of the region.
Chaozhou drum music includes the big drum and gong, the small drum and gong, the dizi set drum and dong and su drum and gong ensembles. The current Chaozhou drum music is said to be similar to the form of the Drum and Wind Music of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
The Chaozhou "guzheng" () is also regarded as a major member of the southern guzheng family.
Opera in southern China.
Jiangxi's opera heritage played a major role in the evolution of Beijing opera.
Cantonese opera is the operatic style of Guangdong, but Chaozhou opera (), which has a history of more than 500 years, based on local folk dances and ballads, formed its own style under the influence of Nanxi Opera, a style that originated in the Song Dynasty. Its tunes are graceful and pleasant, full of local color. The old form of choral accompaniment still remains a special feature. Clowns and females are the most distinctive characters in a Chaozhou opera, and fan-playing and acrobatic skills are more prominent than in other types of performances.
Guiju (), an indigenous form of opera from Guangxi, is most popular in the northern and eastern parts of the province, particularly around the city of Guilin, for which the genre is named. It is similar to Beijing opera but is sung in the Guilin dialect of Chinese.
Music events in southern China.
There is a Music and Dance Festival of Fujian Province, a Baihua Arts and Cultural Festival of Fuzhou Municipality. The cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou have applied to UNESCO for recognition as masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. Musical institutions in Guangdong include the Guangdong International Summer Music Festival.