Journeys To The Great Canals Of The World Suez Panama Hangzhou
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Journeys To The Great Canals Of The World Suez Panama Hangzhou
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Author : Kalman Dubov
language : en
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
Release Date : 2023-05-21
Journeys To The Great Canals Of The World Suez Panama Hangzhou written by Kalman Dubov and has been published by Kalman Dubov this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-05-21 with Technology & Engineering categories.
Human ingenuity has created three great canals in different locations on our planet. Each of these transformed the country and the world in its own way and time. The oldest canal to be constructed was the Grand Canal, an important Chinese waterway, connecting Suzhou and Beijing, a distance of 1,104 miles (1,776 km). This is the longest artificial canal in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not as well known as the other great canals, this important waterway enabled merchants to bring grain and other goods over this long distance so that merchants could transport goods throughout the kingdom. The Grand Canal was first constructed by Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, whose capital is in present-day Suzhou, in 486 BCE. Over the centuries, the Grand Canal was expanded and rebuilt and is still in use in China. The second oldest canal was constructed in ancient Egypt when the waterways of the Nile River were expanded to ease shipping goods throughout the country. Much later, modern engineers reconstructed the Suez Canal, an effort that required much ingenuity and effort to bring this project to fruition. This waterway, at 120.1 miles, was opened in 1869, transforming modern shipping of goods by reducing the journey by between Britain and India by 4,500 miles. Up to this time, ships had to travel around Africa's Cape of Good Hope or past the tip of South America (Magellan or Drake Passages) to reach the other side of the world. Both of these points are dangerous with many ships lost at sea. The Suez Canal completely bypassed this difficulty. However, the territorial disputes and enmities between the Egyptians and Israelis soon saw conflict across these placid waters. In each of the major wars fought between these two countries, the passage of mercantile ships through the Suez Canal became dangerous. Once peace was established between Egypt and Israel, maritime traffic resumed and the world benefited from that peace. Today, there is peace between these two countries, and I recount the instances when I sailed on the Suez Canal. The last canal to be built was in Panama, making travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans possible. French engineers tried to construct this canal but failed for various reasons. The United States then took over the project and in vast effort, saw the project to completion. Two years of preparatory effort was necessary to construct infrastructure for the thousands of workers who would toil in the earthworks being moved to create the Panama Canal. A notable effort was addressing the lethal malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases endemic in this country. In the end, yellow fever was completely eradicated from Panama, though malaria cases, though low, continue to be present. The Panama Canal is 50 miles in length and opened on 15 August 1914. Today, thousands of ships, carrying passengers and goods, travel through this, and the other canals, thereby transforming our world.
Journey To Albania Land Of Besa
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Author : Kalman Dubov
language : en
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
Release Date : 2024-02-18
Journey To Albania Land Of Besa written by Kalman Dubov and has been published by Kalman Dubov this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-02-18 with History categories.
Although tiny in comparison with other European countries, Albania looms large in terms of its people, culture and history. Blessed by an abundance of natural resources, together with the resourcefulness of its people, it stands strong in the face of much larger countries that have tried to control it and subjugate its people. In the face of overwhelming odds, Albania stood firm, refusing to be subdued to others despite that dominant country remaining on its soil for centuries. Descendants from the ancient Illyrians, a relatively unknown group, together with an obscure language unlike any other in Europe, its people are a mystery and a conundrum in the face of larger and more powerful countries. The Ottoman Empire, for example, dominated Albania and the Balkans for five centuries, but were unable to subjugate these people. Albanian embers for independence were nurtured and kept alive until, in the end, it achieved its national aspirations. Its core identity remained unchanged and strong in the face of such challenge. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Albanian is the concept of besa, a term denoting a code of honor. Once given to another, whether an Albanian or a stranger, the Albanian would rather forfeit his life than violate this code and promise. It was due to this concept and code that Jews in Albania, were protected and every manner of succor was extended to them. Albania remains the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe when at the end of that world war there was an increase in its Jewish population rather than the reverse. The Nazis considered the Jewish population in Albania to be about 200 persons. In fact, by war’s end, 2,000 people emerged, relating tales of the extraordinary courage and heroism extended to them by either Muslim or Christian Albanians. To date the State of Israel’s Yad Vashem has recognized 75 Albanians for its prestigious award of Righteous Among the Nations. Ironically, the very same code of honor that protected Jews during World War Two is now used by Albanians to perpetrate criminality across the world. The Albanian Mafia controls a vast international enterprise, overseeing every form of crime. At its basest element, the clannish hallmark of its membership is based on familial connections, with the code of besa given to its leadership and other members. Thereby, all in the clan are considered family for whom the code connects and protects, demanding total unquestioned obedience. Efforts to infiltrate these clans has proven an impossible task because of the interconnected webs of duty and control exerted on all in that organization. Betrayal of the clan is a violation of family and community so that total obedience is a given at all times. Hence, the same nobility of besa is also used negatively, against society and normative social frameworks. In addition, Albania still retains the cultural phenomenon of the ‘third sex’ where women become ‘sworn virgins.’ They are released from their traditional feminine role and become a ‘man,’ doing so by a formal oath given to twelve elders in the community. Afterwards, none may remind this ‘man’ of a previous life as a woman. Though the number of sworn virgins in Albania is small, it is still present and any woman may assume this transformation despite modernity and its claims of equality. The Albanian diet reflects its Mediterranean culture, using olive oil and an array of vegetables that provides an abundance of health to its people. There is much to learn from this ancient society. I hope this book does justice to the many traditions and culture of this unique people.
Journey To The Republic Of Guatemala Land Of The Maya
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Author : Kalman Dubov
language : en
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
Release Date : 2023-05-10
Journey To The Republic Of Guatemala Land Of The Maya written by Kalman Dubov and has been published by Kalman Dubov this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-05-10 with History categories.
The Central American country of Guatemala was populated by the Maya people whose empire extended from Honduras to the south to today's southern Mexico. Remnants of their presence are found throughout this region, with monumental architecture, cities, palaces, and great pyramids. Wherever one looks, the explosion of growth and development captures the viewer in its thrall. Even the many glyphs adorning these sites with their unique writing style are a marvel to behold. They lived here for an estimated two thousand years, and then, in the early 16th century, the Spanish came and conquered these people. By then, their greatness had already ended in the midst of the 10th century, when their culture and civilization collapsed. But they retained their culture by way of thousands of pictographic books which detailed their way of life and their advancements. But the Spaniards, zealous in their Catholicism, sought out and destroyed every such book they could find and burned them all. Except for three such books, known as the Maya Codices. Historians and scholars began the slow process of deciphering the Maya past. Great effort was expended and the reality of their lives, culture, kings, wars and daily practice began to emerge. And the world was astounded by the emerging picture. Perhaps a first in the world, was their mathematical calculation with 'zero,' a phenomenal achievement. Interestingly, the glyph of the zero depicted a woman - what mathematical genius was she to use zero in calculations? Their astronomy of the heavenly spheres was astoundingly precise, as was their knowledge of geometry and trigonometry. Their religion, however, included human sacrifices, following the practice of other nearby civilizations, such as the Aztecs, the Inca in South America, and others. The Spaniards stopped such worship and offerings and now subjugated these people into serfdom called encomiendas, or enforced working for the conquistadors and their descendants. Independence from Spain came in 1821, but the Mayan living conditions did not change. The country became divided between the Spanish descendants, now known as the Criollos, the middle class, known as Ladinos (not to be confused with Jews in 9th century Castilian Spain), and the Maya and other indigenous. The social distance from the upper to lower classes was immense. And that distance came forward during Guatemala's Civil War, from 1960 to 1996. The violence and massacres during this period was so evil, the president of the country, Rios Montt, was charged and convicted of Genocide, the first time a country charged its own leader with this crime. At a previous age and time, the face of Guatemala presented immense achievements. Today, violence, crime, and cultural penury is self-evident. Guatemala is a third-world country, where the majority of its people live in great poverty while the upper class has the land, its abundance and vast wealth.
History Of The Iberian Peninsula
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Author : Kalman Dubov
language : en
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
Release Date : 2023-04-24
History Of The Iberian Peninsula written by Kalman Dubov and has been published by Kalman Dubov this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-04-24 with Religion categories.
The Jewish history of the Iberian Peninsula begins during Roman times, followed by the Visigoths, a Germanic presence that was initially favorable towards the Jews. In 589 CE, their king Recarred converted to Roman Catholicism resulting in the Edicts of Toledo, a series of laws designed to create many difficulties for Jews who refused to convert to Christianity. Visigoth rule ended in 711 when Muslims from North Africa invaded. Tariq ibn Ziyad, a North African general, for whom Gibraltar is named (Jebel Tariq) found Visigoth armies weak and soon reached the Pyrenees and beyond. Muslim rule on Iberia lasted from 711 to 1492, as Christian armies reconquered and gained southern territories. During Islamic control of the peninsula, a conviviality (convivencia) existed amongst the three Abrahamic religions resulting in a vast seminal growth with translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts and advances in every area of human thought. The scholarship that grew from this period later fueled the Renaissance, benefiting modern scholarship. But in 1492, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile promulgated the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from the kingdom. This was followed by the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, an institution that tortured and murdered thousands of men, women, and children, even as young as twelve years old. The Inquisition extended to the New World. In Mexico City as in Lima Peru, victims of the Inquisition faced merciless tribunals and faced the same fate as in Spain. The Inquisition was finally abolished in 1968. Transitioning to 2015, Spain began offering dual nationality to Jewish descendants of the expelled. I analyze the requirements to do so, noting its extensive detail, even demanding support of the Spanish constitution and culture as well as tests in Spanish with proof of marriage in the Jewish-Castilian tradition. This book offers a tableau of the harsh, zealous, and intolerant past to an effort by Spain to amend that violent historic record by offering an open hand to Jews. I leave the reasoning why Spain is doing so to the pessimist and cynic or to the optimist and hopeful.
The Suez Canal And Panama Canal
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Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
language : en
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Release Date : 2018-03-20
The Suez Canal And Panama Canal written by Charles River Charles River Editors and has been published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-03-20 with categories.
*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading In 1831, a 26-year old French foreign service official by the name of Ferdinand de Lesseps was sent to Alexandria to serve as vice-consul. While undergoing an obligatory period of quarantine, the French Consul-General, Monsieur Mimaut, sent his new understudy a number of books to help pass the time, and one of these books proved to be a lengthy memorandum composed by French engineer Jacques-Marie le Père, writing on instructions from Napoleon Bonaparte. The subject was the linking of the Red Sea with the Mediterranean by the construction of a canal. This study made a deep impression on the mind of the young diplomat, and for the remainder of his term of service in Egypt, he applied himself to studying the question. Eventually, he came to believe that it was not only a viable project, but a potentially profitable one too, and, of course, it would be nothing less than a stupendous gift to mankind. As it turned out, the concept of linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean was not by any means new. In fact, the idea was as old as trade across the isthmus itself. Work on the Canal of the Pharaohs, or Necho's Canal, as it is more commonly known, began during Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty, under the reign either of Sethi I, or his son, the great Rameses II. The project sought to link the two oceans through an artificial canal of modest length linking a navigable stretch of the Nile to the Bitter Lakes, and then to the Red Sea. Most people have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but while not as many have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, those who have are aware that the Panama Canal is considered one of them. In a world where few natural rivers carved out over eons of time have reached a length of more than 50 miles, the idea that a group of men could carve a canal of that length seemed impossible. In fact, many thought it could not be done. On the other hand, there was a tremendous motivation to try, because if a canal could be successfully cut across Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it would cut weeks off the time necessary to carry goods by sea from the well-established East Coast of the United States to the burgeoning West Coast. Moreover, traveling around the tip of South America was fraught with danger, and European explorers and settlers had proposed building a canal in Panama or Nicaragua several centuries before the Panama Canal was actually built. By the late 19th century, the French actually tried to build such a canal, only to fail after a great deal of resources were put into construction and after workers died of malaria and other illnesses. At the turn of the 20th century, not only was the need for a canal still there, but the right man was in the White House. Indeed, President Theodore Roosevelt, a celebrated outdoorsman, might have been the only president who could have foreseen and accomplished such an audacious feat, and even he considered it one of his crowning achievements. Building the Panama Canal was a herculean task in every sense. Taking about 10 years to build, workers had to excavate millions of cubic yards of earth and fight off hordes of insects to make Roosevelt's vision a reality. Roosevelt also had to tie up the U.S. Navy in a revolt in Colombia to ensure Panama could become independent and thus ensure America had control of the canal. By 1914, ships were finally traversing through the Panama Canal, just as World War I was about to start, and a century later, the Panama Canal remains one of the world's most vital waterways.
Suez And Panama
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Author : André Siegfried
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 1940
Suez And Panama written by André Siegfried and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1940 with Panama Canal (Panama) categories.
Outlines the history and studies the importance of the world's two most famous canals - Suez Canal and Panama Canal.
Suez Canal
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Author : Joy Gregory
language : en
Publisher: Weigl Publishers
Release Date : 2019-08-01
Suez Canal written by Joy Gregory and has been published by Weigl Publishers this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019-08-01 with Juvenile Nonfiction categories.
The Suez Canal was created to improve international trade. Approximately 18,000 ships pass through the canal every year. Find out more in Suez Canal, a title in the Structural Wonders of the World series.
The New Panama Canal
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Author : Rosa María Britton
language : en
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Release Date : 2017-02-21
The New Panama Canal written by Rosa María Britton and has been published by National Geographic Books this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-02-21 with Photography categories.
A stunning photographic journey, this book tells the emotional story behind the epic construction of the new Panama Canal, a monumental work of technological achievement immersed in tropical splendor. Also referred to as the Third Set of Locks Project, the recent expansion of the Panama Canal by a construction consortium led by the Salini Impregilo group is a great feat of engineering, intending to double its capacity by increasing the number and the size of the ships passing through, minimizing the time it takes to cross the continent to just two hours and paving the way for a new era in global trade. This highly visual book documents the progression and construction of the canal, retracing its history and important events to reveal in vivid color this colossal human intervention in nature. The words of the authors, along with spectacular photographs by Edoardo Montaina, are accompanied by stunning views of the massive oil tankers, cargo ships, and cruise liners floating between two wings of wild forest.
Picturesque Panama And The Great Canal The Eighth Wonder Of The World
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Author : Ralph Emmett Avery
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date :
Picturesque Panama And The Great Canal The Eighth Wonder Of The World written by Ralph Emmett Avery and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on with categories.
Emperor S River
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Author : Liam James D'Arcy-Brown
language : en
Publisher: Eye & Lightning Books
Release Date : 2010-02-28
Emperor S River written by Liam James D'Arcy-Brown and has been published by Eye & Lightning Books this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2010-02-28 with Travel categories.
A look China's recent cultural reinterpretation of the oldest canal in the world, dug when Confucius was alive, along which has traveled not only cargo but ideas, customs, and dialects The face of modern China is changing. Liam D'Arcy-Brown travels the length of the Grand Canal, a symbol of national identity, Chinese pride, and cultural achievement. For those with an interest in China and its culture, people, or heritage, this book provides an exciting, fascinating, and well-written account of the navigation of the lifeblood of a rising powerâ€"the Grand Canal of China. At more than 1,100 miles long, and dating back to the 5th century BC, the Grand Canal of China is the world's longest artificial waterway and its oldest working canal. Though a source of great national pride to the Chinese, one of China's most economically important transport routes, and the possible savior of a rapidly desiccating Beijing, it has never been investigated by foreign writers and travelers. The first non-Chinese to have made this journey since the 1780s, Liam D'Arcy-Brown traveled from Hangzhou to Beijing along the Grand Canal by barges, boats, and road and here tells his tales.