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Topic Review
History of the Middle East
Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East (usually interchangeable with the Near East) has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. This history started from the earliest human settlements, continuing through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires through to the nation-states of the Middle East today. Template:Human history Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empires that came to rule almost the entire Middle East—particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC. From the early 7th century BC and onwards, the Iranian Medes followed by Achaemenid Persia and other subsequent Iranian states empires dominated the region. In the 1st century BC, the expanding Roman Republic absorbed the whole Eastern Mediterranean, which included much of the Near East. The Eastern Roman Empire, today commonly known as the Byzantine Empire, ruling from the Balkans to the Euphrates, became increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity, gradually creating religious rifts between the doctrines dictated by the establishment in Constantinople and believers in many parts of the Middle East. From the 3rd up to the course of the 7th century AD, the entire Middle East was dominated by the Byzantines and Sassanid Persia. From the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam. The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq Turks. In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, the armies of the Mongol Empire, mainly Turkic, swept through the region. By the early 15th century, a new power had arisen in western Anatolia, the Ottoman emirs, linguistically Turkic and religiously Islamic, who in 1453 captured the Christian Byzantine capital of Constantinople and made themselves sultans. Large parts of the Middle East became a warground between the Ottomans and Iranian Safavids for centuries starting in the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans had been driven out of Hungary and the balance of power along the frontier had shifted decisively in favor of the West. The British also established effective control of the Persian Gulf, and the French extended their influence into Lebanon and Syria. In 1912, the Italians seized Libya and the Dodecanese islands, just off the coast of the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern rulers tried to modernize their states to compete more effectively with the European powers. A turning point in the history of the Middle East came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia (in 1938) and the other Persian Gulf states, and also in Libya and Algeria. A Western dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the decline of British influence led to a growing American interest in the region. During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Syria and Egypt made moves towards independence. The British, the French, and the Soviets departed from many parts of the Middle East during and after World War II (1939–1945). The struggle between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine. Later in the midst of Cold War tensions, the Arabic-speaking countries of Western Asia and Northern Africa saw the rise of pan-Arabism. The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel, and the increasing importance of the oil industry, marked the creation of the modern Middle East. In most Middle Eastern countries, the growth of market economies was inhibited by political restrictions, corruption and cronyism, overspending on arms and prestige projects, and over-dependence on oil revenues. The wealthiest economies in the region per capita are the small oil-rich countries of Persian Gulf: Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. A combination of factors—among them the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1970s energy crisis beginning with the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to U.S. support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the concurrent Saudi-led popularization of Salafism/Wahhabism, and the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution—promoted the increasing rise of Islamism and the ongoing Islamic revival (Tajdid). The Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought a global security refocus from the Cold War to a War on Terror. Starting in the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave popularly known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries. Clashes in western Iraq on 30 December 2013 were preliminary to the Sunni pan-Islamist ISIL uprising. The term Near East can be used interchangeably with Middle East, but in a different context, especially when discussing ancient times, it may have a limited meaning, namely the northern, historically Aramaic-speaking Semitic area and adjacent Anatolian territories, marked in the two maps below.
  • 19.2K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
History, Preparation, Characterization and Applications of Moisturizers
Moisturizers are one of the most widely used preparations in cosmetics and have been extensively used to soften the skin for consumers. Cosmetically, moisturizers make the skin smooth by the mechanism of increasing the water content in the stratum corneum, hence exerting its most vital action, which is moisturizing action and maintaining a normal skin pH.
  • 3.3K
  • 13 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Hoffstetterius
Hoffstetterius is an extinct genus of toxodontid notoungulate mammal, belonging to the subfamily Toxodontinae whose remains were discovered in the Middle to Late Miocene (Mayoan to Montehermosan) Mauri Formation in the La Paz Department in Bolivia. The only described species is the type Hoffstetterius imperator.
  • 455
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Holiday Lighting Technology
Holiday lighting technology has been subject to considerable development and variation since the replacement of candles by electric lights. While originally used during the Christmas holidays as Christmas lights, modern electric light arrays have become popular around the world in many cultures and are used both during religious festivals and for other purposes unconnected to any festivities.
  • 429
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Hot Container Composting
Hot container composting (also referred to as in-vessel composting for larger industrial batches) is different to cold composting, in that compost is created without losing valuable heat. Heat loss is the reason why a compost pile takes so long to decompose. Observers have noted that the time taken to create compost can be dramatically reduced by retaining the heat in a suitably insulated container. Another observation noted is the way the compostable items are added and mixed which allows for aeration. This is an important step in the process. Compost becomes anaerobic due to the absence of air, and this can result in it becoming smelly. By adding large, medium and fine items to the top of the container, space is provided in between the items for the air to flow from bottom to top. This creates a trickle ventilation. Compost made with this method is called aerobic composting.
  • 220
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy
Hot dry rock (HDR) is an extremely abundant source of geothermal energy that is difficult to access. A vast store of thermal energy is contained within hot – but essentially dry and impervious crystalline basement rocks found almost everywhere deep beneath Earth's surface. A concept for the extraction of useful amounts of geothermal energy from HDR originated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1970, and Laboratory researchers were awarded a U.S. patent covering it. This technology has been tested extensively with multiple deep wells drilled in several field areas around world including the USA, Japan, Australia, France, and the UK and investment of billions of research funds. It continues to be the focus along with a related technique called EGS for sizable government-led research studies involving costly deep drilling and rock studies. Thermal energy has been recovered in reasonably sustainable tests over periods of years and in some cases electrical power generation was also achieved. However no commercial projects are ongoing or likely due to the high cost and limited capacity of the engineered reservoirs, associated wells, and pumping systems. Commonly tests have opened just one or more fractures such that the reservoir surface heat exchange areas are limited. For this technology to successfully compete with other energy sources, drilling costs would have to drop drastically or new approaches that result in much more extensive, complex, and higher rate flow paths through actual fracture networks would have to be established. The enthusiasim evident here on Wikipedia and in the research community is justified by the vast extent of the energy supply and the low environmental impact of the method however significant breakthroughs will be required to make this a commercial energy resource.
  • 6.4K
  • 30 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Hunga Tonga
Template:Infobox Island Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai is a volcanic island located about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south-southeast of Fonuafoʻou island in Tonga. The volcano is part of the highly active Tonga-Kermadec Islands volcanic arc, a subduction zone extending from New Zealand north-northeast to Fiji. It lies about 100 kilometres (62 mi) above a very active seismic zone. The island arc is formed at the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate.
  • 1.5K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Hurricane Preparedness
Cyclone mitigation encompasses the actions and planning taken before a tropical cyclone strikes to mitigate damage and injury from the storm. Knowledge of tropical cyclone impacts on an area help plan for future possibilities. Preparedness may involve preparations made by individuals as well as centralized efforts by governments or other organizations. Tracking storms during the tropical cyclone season helps individuals know current threats. Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers provide current information and forecasts to help individuals make the best decision possible.
  • 305
  • 28 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Hybrid Solar Dryers
Hybrid solar dryers, by definition, designed and constructed using direct solar energy and a heat exchanger. The products are dried under direct solar radiation and/or backup energy or stored heat when sunlight is not available. These types of dryers are used in single and mixed modes of drying. Several studies have been developed to test different techniques to improve solar dryers, considering the possible use of thermal storage materials, the deep bed drying method, improved solar collector designs and energy hybridization. They can be divided several ways, depending on their construction.
  • 319
  • 17 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Hydrogen Production in Arctic Region
The development of markets for low-carbon energy sources requires reconsideration of issues related to extraction and use of oil and gas. Significant reserves of hydrocarbons are concentrated in Arctic territories, e.g., 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas reserves and 13% of oil. Associated petroleum gas, natural gas and gas condensate could be able to expand the scope of their applications. Natural gas is the main raw material for the production of hydrogen and ammonia, which are considered promising primary energy resources of the future, the oxidation of which does not release CO2. Complex components contained in associated petroleum gas and gas condensate are valuable chemical raw materials to be used in a wide range of applications.
  • 1.7K
  • 17 Apr 2024
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