Architecture in African Palaces

Palaces to house the king and his court were often built out of the same materials and in the same basic forms as ordinary houses, although palaces had thicker walls, more elaborate designs, and larger spaces. Some palaces were so large they resembled towns inside of towns. In what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the palaces of Kuba kings were mazelike in their complexity. They were typically situated on a mound in the center of town so that the king could see the entire town from the palace. A palace had two main sections: one for the king and one for his wives and children. Mats woven with beautiful designs formed the palace walls. Because of their fragility and impermanence, these mats required constant maintenance. Architects kept plans and records of palace and town layouts so that public buildings, streets, plazas, private compounds, and the palace itself could be re-created if the capital had to move.

In Nigeria, the Yoruba built more permanent palaces of sun-dried mud bricks. These palaces consisted of a series of courtyards, with each courtyard flanked by four rectangular units. Mud bricks formed the outer walls of each unit, and an overhanging roof shaded a veranda on the courtyard side. At the entrance to every Yoruba palace was a set of double wooden doors, intricately carved with abstract designs and images of human and animal figures. The Olowo Palace in Owo, southeastern Nigeria, had as many as 100 courtyards. Each courtyard had a specific function and was dedicated to a particular deity. The largest, said to have been twice the size of an American football field, was used for public assemblies and festivals. Some courtyards were paved with quartz pebbles or broken pottery. Pillars supporting the veranda roofs were carved with statues of the king mounted on a horse or shown with his senior wife.

In 17th-century Ghana, art and architectural traditions of the Ashanti Kingdom proclaimed the godlike powers of the king. For example, much of the art associated with the king was made of gold, a symbol of endurance, the soul, and the giving and safeguarding of life. The king represented the soul and vitality of the nation, and gold reinforced this image of him. The Ashanti king’s palace had several oblong courtyards surrounded by rectangular buildings. The walls of the palace compound and the shrines included inside were decorated with curving, abstract designs modeled out of mud and painted. Although the Ashanti never converted to Islam, Muslims living nearby probably influenced these decorations. Indeed, the patterns recall those of Hausa houses in northern Nigeria, where Islam is strong.

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Architecture in Africa

The architecture of sub-Saharan Africa is just as diverse as the art. Traditional architecture can be divided into two categories: buildings in rural settlements and buildings in larger, self-ruling urban centers called city-states.

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American Revolution

American Revolution (1775-1783) is a conflict between 13 British colonies in North America and their parent country, Great Britain. It was made up of two related events: the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and the formation of the American government as laid out by the Constitution of the United States in 1787. First, the war achieved independence from Great Britain by the colonies. Second, the newly created United States of America established a republican form of government, in which power resided with the people.

The revolution had many causes. Long-term social, economic, and political changes in the colonies before 1750 provided the basis for an independent nation with representative political institutions. More immediately, the French and Indian War (1754-1763) changed the relationship between the colonies and their mother country. Finally, a decade of conflicts between the British government and the colonists, beginning with the Stamp Act crisis in 1765, led to the outbreak of war in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Once independent, the new state governments implemented republican constitutions, and a Continental Congress directed the American war effort. Then in 1781 the rebellious states created a loose union under the Articles of Confederation. At the end of the war in 1783, Britain recognized its former colonies as an independent nation. In 1789 the people of the several states ratified the Constitution that created a stronger central government.

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Aksum Economy

The power of Aksum was based largely on trade. The Red Sea was an important thoroughfare for trading vessels at the time. Merchants from the Roman Empire traveled up and down the sea, trading in harbors along both the African and Arabian coasts, and sailing with the favorable monsoon winds on to India. Aksumites exported local products such as ivory, tortoise shell, hippopotamus hide, spices, incense, gold, obsidian, emeralds and other precious stones, and slaves. These items were exchanged for manufactured goods from the Mediterranean, including iron weapons, articles made of precious metals, glassware, cloth of great variety, garments, pottery, wine, and olive oil. Excavated Aksumite tombs contain many of these foreign objects, particularly glassware.

For the first few centuries of the kingdom’s existence, trade was conducted by barter and direct exchange of commodities. In about ad 270, during the reign of King Endubis, Aksum began minting coins in the style of Roman coins. Coinage made the exchange of products and tax collection more convenient, facilitating Aksumite trade. Aksumite coins were made of gold, silver, and bronze, and carried the name of the ruler in whose name they were issued. The coins are therefore important to historians’ understanding of the history of Aksum, providing royal names and a rough chronology of events.

As in most ancient societies, the internal economy of Aksum was based mainly on agriculture. The kingdom produced enough food to be self-sufficient. The main cereal crop may have been wheat, since a head of wheat is shown on coins. Aksumites most likely also grew teff, an indigenous cereal grain widely used in the region today. Although Aksum commonly imported iron weapons, iron was also smelted locally and manufactured into tools and weapons.

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Aksum Artistic and Cultural Development

The city of Aksum is famous for the large stone stelae that were erected to mark royal burial places. These enormous single pieces of stone, weighing hundreds of tons each, were quarried a few kilometers away from Aksum, brought to the burial sites, and raised into place—a process that would have required an enormous amount of labor. The largest stele was 33 m (108 ft) long. This stele fell in antiquity and still lies where it fell, broken into several pieces. Of the stelae still standing, the tallest is 24 m (79 ft) tall. Some stelae were carved to represent the facades of palaces, with false windows and doors and other decorations. The earlier, smaller, stelae were left plain. All the stelae were erected before the introduction of Christianity in the mid-4th century, although no exact dates can be attributed to them.

The language of Aksum was Ge’ez, which was written with characters derived from alphabets in use in southern Arabia for related languages. Writing from the Aksum period is known only from official inscriptions in stone. Aksumites may have used other materials, such as papyrus or parchment, for less formal purposes. Aksumites likely translated the Bible into Ge’ez, but no period Bibles have survived. Some royal Aksumite inscriptions were in Greek, a language commonly used for trade as well as for official purposes. Ge’ez, the basis for the modern Amharic script of Ethiopia, is now used only in the rituals of the Ethiopian church.

Although no longer the seat of kings, Aksum is still regarded with veneration in Ethiopia and is the subject of numerous legends that contain elements of historic truth. One legend calls Aksum the home of the Queen of Sheba. According to Ethiopian national tradition, the Queen of Sheba is said to have married King Solomon of Israel and given birth to Menelik, the legendary first emperor of Ethiopia. Another legend claims that Aksum is the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, which Menelik is said to have taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. While such legends are difficult to verify, there is no question that Aksum was an important political and cultural center in ancient times, and one whose influence is felt to this day in Ethiopia.

 

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Aircraft Carrier

Aircraft Carrier is a large naval vessel with a flight deck that supports the takeoff and landing of military aircraft. Aircraft carriers are the most important warships operated by the navies of the world. Their mission is the operation of aircraft in an ocean environment, which provides air cover to other warships and supports operations ashore where an air base is unavailable. Aircraft carriers are easily recognizable by their large size and distinctive shape, characterized by a continuous flat deck running the length of the ship.

Carriers are a powerful and extremely flexible part of a nation’s defense. A carrier is flexible in a way that armies and air forces are not because it can influence events merely by being seen. The power of an aircraft carrier can act as a visible deterrent to enemy aggression. A carrier is also flexible because it operates on the ocean. Unlike a land air base, no other country has to be consulted about where a carrier can go and what it can be used for because most of the ocean is considered international water and not part of any one country. This freedom allows carriers to move from one trouble spot to another quite easily. Carriers operate with a number of support and supply ships; this flotilla of ships is referred to as a carrier battle group.

Since World War II (1939-1945), carriers have primarily been used to influence world events and to support troops ashore. When the Korean War (1950-1953) broke out in June 1950, United States Navy carriers were the only military airpower immediately available to engage the enemy. U.S. Air Force units were unable to respond for several months. Aircraft carriers were also the first American units to arrive on the scene during the Vietnam War (1959-1975) and the Persian Gulf War (1991).

While carriers are important, they are also quite expensive, so there are only a few patrolling the world’s oceans today. Approximately 40 carriers of all types are currently in use or are being built. Of these, over half (24) are in service in the U.S. Navy. A typical American nuclear powered aircraft carrier can cost well over $4 billion and take five years to build.

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Aksumite Religion

Little is known about Aksumite religion before the conversion of King Ezana to Christianity. The names of some of the gods who were worshipped have survived. The chief god was Astar, associated with the Greek god Zeus. Mahrem was a war god, like the Greek god Ares, and a patron of the royal family. It is not known how the gods were worshipped, though the remains of a number of religious buildings still exist. The largest such structure still standing is in Yeha. In these buildings, archaeologists have found objects such as pottery animal figures, perhaps placed there as offerings. Stone altars were used for the burning of incense.

According to traditional accounts, two Christian Syrian boys, Aedisius and Frumentius, introduced Christianity to Aksum in the early 4th century. Aksumites captured the boys when they put their ship into port to obtain supplies during a voyage in the Red Sea. They were taken to the capital and employed at the royal court where Frumentius, due to his education, became secretary to King Ella Amida. When the king died, Ezana, who was still a child, assumed the throne, and Frumentius became his teacher and adviser. Frumentius used his position to convert the royal family to Christianity in 333 and to encourage Christian missionaries to spread the religion to the rest of the kingdom. The coins from Ezana’s reign carry a representation of the Christian cross in place of the earlier pagan emblem of a disc and crescent.

Frumentius traveled to Alexandria, in Egypt, to ask Saint Athanasius, the head of the Coptic Church (the Egyptian Christian church), to appoint a bishop for the developing Christian community of Aksum. Athanasius appointed Frumentius bishop and sent him back to Aksum to continue his missionary work. All subsequent heads of the Aksumite church were appointed by the Egyptian patriarch of Alexandria and were Egyptian Copts.

In the 5th century the Coptic Church, including the church of Aksum, split off from the main Christian churches of Rome and Constantinople. Coptic Christians embraced the doctrine of Monophysitism, the belief that Jesus Christ possessed only one, divine, nature and no human nature. This doctrine went against the orthodox Christian doctrine that Christ was both divine and human. The Council of Chalcedon condemned Monophysitism in 451, and since that time the Coptic Church has been independent of other Christian churches.

After the Council of Chalcedon, priests who continued to teach Monophysitism were persecuted in the eastern Roman Empire, and many migrated to Aksum. The influx of priests, along with the support of the royal family, strengthened missionary efforts in Aksum. Many churches and monasteries were founded after 451, some of which are still in use today.

The Aksumite church developed into the Abyssinian Church, the church of Ethiopia. While similar to that of the Coptic Church, the ritual of the Abyssinian Church contains many features different from those of other Christian churches. These may be derived from Aksum’s pre-Christian religion or from ancient Jewish practices, as Aksum’s people were often in contact with Jewish communities in southern Arabia. The Coptic patriarch of Alexandria continued to appoint the head of the Abyssinian Church until the 1950s, when the Ethiopian church became independent from the Coptic Church.

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Amati

Amati is a family of celebrated Italian violin makers of Cremona.

ANDREA AMATI

(died about 1578), founder of the Cremona school of violin makers. His model was a small violin with high back and belly, amber varnish, and a clear although weak tone.

ANTONIO AMATI

(circa 1550-c. 1638) and Girolamo Amati (c. 1556-c. 1630), sons of Andrea Amati. They worked together and followed their father’s style. Girolamo also developed a larger violin with an altered sound hole.

NICOLÒ AMATI

(1596-1684), son of Girolamo Amati. He became the most eminent craftsman of the family. His model is extremely elegant, with the backs and bellies arched and made of beautiful grained wood. The sound holes are graceful and bold, the scroll is exquisitely cut, and the varnish is transparent and of a deep, rich hue. As a rule, Nicolò used a small pattern, although he produced some large violins, which are now called grand Amatis and are highly valued. He also made a number of beautiful violas and violoncellos. The great Italian violin makers Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri were his pupils.

GIROLAMO AMATI

(1649-1740), son of Nicolò Amati, ended the leadership of the Amati name in the craft of violin making.

American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History is the largest natural history museum in the world, located in New York City. Covering several city blocks, the museum’s interconnected buildings house dozens of exhibition halls, various research laboratories, teaching facilities, and a natural history research library containing 485,000 volumes.

Since 1871 the museum has sponsored more than 1,000 scientific expeditions worldwide, amassing a collection of 32 million specimens and artifacts. The museum’s exhibitions explore anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, and biology. Notable anthropological halls include the Hall of South American Peoples, Hall of Asian Peoples, Hall of African Peoples, Peoples of the Pacific, the Hall of Mexico and Central America, and three halls devoted to the indigenous peoples of North America. The Hall of Human Biology and Evolution examines the heritage human beings share with other living things, traces the complex pattern of human evolution, and explores the qualities that make human beings unique.

A number of displays depicting species in their natural habitats appear in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, the Hall of Oceanic Birds, the Hall of North American Mammals, and the Hall of Ocean Life and Biology of Fishes, which contains a 28.7-m (94-ft) replica of a blue whale. This model is the largest of its type in the world. The Hall of Biodiversity features a walk-through, life-size diarama that recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of the Dzanga-Sangha tropical rainforest of the Central African Republic.

A seven-year renovation and reorganization of the museum’s famed dinosaur and fossil halls was completed in 1996. The six fossil halls house more than 600 specimens and draw on more than a century of research by the museum’s scientists to tell the story of the evolution of vertebrates. The five-story-high exhibit of Barosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur, is the world’s tallest freestanding dinosaur exhibit.

One of the museum’s most popular attractions is the Rose Center for Earth and Space, which was completed in 2000. The center features a variety of exhibits on astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and geology. The center’s main building is a seven-story-high cube of glass and steel. The cube houses the Hayden Sphere, a 27-m (87-ft) diameter aluminum sphere that replaced the old Hayden Planetarium in operation from 1935 to 1997. The top half of the sphere holds the Space Theater, a planetarium with advanced computer projection systems; the bottom half houses the Big Bang Theater, where visual and audio effects recreate the beginning of the universe. Other exhibits in the Rose Center include Cullman Hall of the Universe, featuring discoveries in modern astrophysics, and the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, which explores the Earth’s evolution and geology.

The American Museum of Natural History was founded in 1869 by a group of public-spirited Americans led by Albert S. Bickmore, the founding president. The group also included businessman Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the financier John Pierpont Morgan, and the writer and editor Charles Anderson Dana. The museum was first housed in a Central Park building known as the Arsenal. It was moved to its present site in 1877. The original American Museum-Hayden Planetarium was completed in 1935, and another notable addition, the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Building, was completed in 1936. The museum receives financial support from the city of New York.

 

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a society of scientists, founded in 1848 for the purpose of advancing science in the New World in every feasible way. The association emphasizes the unity of interest of workers in all branches of science, which it promotes through the publication of reports and the organization of meetings. One of the largest associations of scientists in the world, it has some 265 affiliated and associated societies, covering the entire field of pure and applied science. It is grouped in 24 sections: mathematics; physics; chemistry; astronomy; geology and geography; biological sciences; anthropology; psychology; education; general interest in science and engineering; social, economic, and political sciences; history and philosophy of science; linguistics and language science; engineering; medical sciences; dentistry and oral health sciences; neuroscience; pharmaceutical sciences; agriculture, food, and renewable resources; industrial science and technology; information, computing, and communication; atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences; statistics; and social impacts of science and engineering. Serving some 10 million scientists, the association publishes the weekly magazine Science, as well as various symposium volumes. It has produced new materials for the teaching of science from kindergarten through the elementary grades.

Headquarters of the AAAS is located in Washington, D.C. There are similar organizations that have been established in several other countries, as, for example, the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Institut de France.