Marsala the area has been conquered by Norman, Angevin and Aragonese troops. During this time, Marsala became wealthy, primarily through trade. However the blocking up of the harbour of Punta Alga, decreed by Emperor Charles V so as to stop Saracen forays, brought an end to this period of prosperity. The development of Marsala wine at the end of the 18th century, headed by English merchants settled in Sicily, considerably improved local trade. This triggered an economic expansion in Marsala, including the funding of infrastructure projects such as the current harbour of Margitello. On 11 May 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi landed at
An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat which is Excited by Friction An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat which is Excited by Friction "An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat which is Excited by Friction" (1798), which was published in the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society", is a scientific paper by Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford that provided a substantial challenge to established theories of heat and began the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics. Rumford was an opponent of the caloric theory of heat which held that heat was a fluid that could be neither created nor destroyed. He had further developed the view that all gases