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Lingwai Daida
''Lingwai Daida'' (), variously translated as ''Representative Answers from the Region beyond the Mountains'', ''Notes Answering urious Questionsfrom the land beyond the Pass'' or other similar titles, is a 12th-century geographical treatise written by Zhou Qufei (). It contains information on the geography, history, social custom and economy of territories of southern China, Guangxi in particular. More significantly it also provides knowledge of distant lands in China during the Song dynasty, and includes descriptions of oversea states as far away as Africa and southern Spain. Background The book was written in 1178 by Zhou Qufei. Zhou based his book largely on information he had gathered himself and other previous published works, particularly a book written by Fan Chengda. He worked for 6 years in Guangxi; and had worked as an assistant sub-prefect in Guilin, Guangxi. In Guilin, Zhou served for a time under Fan Chengda who wrote a book on the southern region of China, '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhao Rugua
Zhao Rukuo ( zh, t=趙汝适, s=赵汝适, p=Zhào Rǔkuò; 1170–1231), also romanised as Zhao Rugua, Chau Ju-kua, or misread as Zhao Rushi, was a Chinese government official and writer during the Song dynasty. He wrote a two-volume book titled '' Zhu Fan Zhi''. The book deals with the world known to the Chinese in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the first volume is a list of foreign places with descriptions of each place and the customs of its local people. The second volume is a catalog of trade goods. Biography Zhao was a member of the Song dynasty imperial clan, an eighth-generation descendant of Emperor Taizong in the lineage through the younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong. He was born in Tiantai County in Taizhou, Zhejiang in 1170. He began his career as a bureaucrat in 1190, and rose through the ranks. In 1224, he was appointed the supervisor of maritime trade (市舶司, ) in Quanzhou, Fujian province. He also held the posts of prefect for Quanzhou as well the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daoyi Zhilüe
''Daoyi Zhilüe'' ( zh, t=島夷誌略, s=岛夷志略, p=Dǎo Yí Zhì Lüè, w=Tao i chih lio) or ''Daoyi Zhi'' ( zh, t=島夷誌, s=岛夷志, p=Dǎo Yí Zhì, w=Tao i chih) which may be translated as ''A Brief Account of Island Barbarians'' or other similar titles, is a book written c. 1339 (completed c. 1349) by Yuan dynasty Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan recounting his travels to over a hundred places in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The book was written in present-day Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, .... It described the weather, products, people, and customs of the places that Wang Dayuan visited. The timeline for Wang Dayuan's life and travels is: *1311 - born *1330 - sailed for the first time from Quanzhou *1334 - returned to Yuan dy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William W
William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will or Wil, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, Billie, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie). Female forms include Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the German given name ''Wilhelm''. Both ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic ''*Wiljahelmaz'', with a direct cognate also in the Old Norse name ''Vilhjalmr'' and a West Germanic borrowing into Medieval Latin ''Willelmus''. The Proto-Germanic name is a compound of *''wiljô'' "will, wish, desire" and *''helmaz'' "helm, helmet".Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich Hirth
Friedrich Hirth Ph.D. (16 April 1845 in Tonna, Germany, Gräfentonna, Saxe-Gotha – 10 January 1927 in Munich) was a German-American Sinology, sinologist. Biography He was educated at the universities of University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, and University of Greifswald, Greifswald (Ph.D., 1869). He was in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service from 1870 to 1897. In 1902, Professor Hirth was appointed to the first Dean Lung Professorship of Chinese at Columbia University (New York City). Prior to World War II, a collection of Chinese manuscripts and printed books made by him was in the Berlin State Library, Royal Library at Berlin, and another of porcelains of considerable historical importance in the Gotha (town)#Sights, Gotha Museum; most of the Hirth collection from the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin is now in Kraków. As an investigator he conducted researches in Chinese literature by imitation of the methods of classical philology. Works * Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simoom
Simoom ( ''samūm''; from the root ''s-m-m'', "to poison") is a strong, hot, dry, dust-laden wind. The word is generally used to describe a local wind that blows in the Sahara, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and the deserts of Arabian Peninsula. Its temperature may exceed and the relative humidity may fall below 10%. Name Alternative spellings include samoon, samun, simoun, and simoon. Another name used for this wind is samiel ( Turkish ''samyeli'' from Arabic ''sāmm سامّ'' meaning ''poisonous'' and Turkish ''yel'' meaning ''wind''). An alternative type occurring in the region of Central Asia is known as "Garmsil" (гармсель). The name means "poison wind" and is given because the sudden onset of simoom may also cause heat stroke. This is attributed to the fact that the hot wind brings more heat to the body than can be disposed of by the evaporation of perspiration. Description '' The Nuttall Encyclopædia'' described the simoom: The storm moves in cyclone (circular) fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Of Darkness
The Land of Darkness (Arabic: ديار الظلمات romanized: ''Diyārī Zulūmāt'') was a mythical land supposedly enshrouded in perpetual darkness. It was usually said to be in Abkhazia, and was officially known as Hanyson or Hamson (or some variation; the name apparently comes from the Hamshen area of Turkey), or simply the Forest of Abkhazia. The Land of Darkness enjoyed popularity in medieval travel literature such as the '' Alexander Romance'' and the '' Travels of Sir John Mandeville''. According to Mandeville, no one ventures into Hanyson out of fear, but the people in the surrounding area know it to be populated, as they can hear human voices inside. The residents of Hanyson are the descendants of Persian Emperor Saures (Shapur II) and his men, who were trapped there forever by a miracle of God. Saures had been persecuting his Christian subjects in Abkhazia, and had cornered them on a plain. They prayed to God, and God responded by surrounding the king's armies in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catty
The jin () or catty (from Malay ''kati'') is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries. Related units include the picul (dan/shi), equal to 100 catties, and the tael (liang), which is of a catty. A stone (also dan/shi) is a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and a ''gwan'' () is 30 catties. Catty or ''kati'' is still used in Southeast Asia as a unit of measurement in some contexts especially by the significant Overseas Chinese populations across the region, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore. The catty is traditionally equivalent to around pound avoirdupois, formalised as 604.78982 grams in Hong Kong, 604.5 grams historically in Vietnam, 604.79 grams in Malaysia and 604.8 grams in Singapore. In some countries, the weight has been rounded to 600 grams (Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Thailand). In mainland China, the catty (more commonly translated as jin within China) has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damietta
Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Catholic Diocese, bishopric and is a multiple titular see. It is also a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. Etymology The modern name of the city comes from its Coptic name Tamiati ( ), which in turn most likely comes from Ancient Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian (, "mooring, port, town") and :wikt:𓊖, t:O49 (), a determinative used for towns and cities, although al-Maqrizi suggested a Syriac language, Syriac etymology. History Mentioned by the 6th-century geographer Stephanus of Byzantium, the city was called ''Tamíathis'' () in the Hellenistic period. Under the Rashidun Caliphate, Rashid caliph Umar (579–644), the Arabs took the city and successfully resisted the attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the west almost by the Morocco–Spain border. The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about , representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa—is only wide. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccation, desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. The sea was an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocco border, the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to Morocco–Western Sahara border, the south. Morocco also claims the Spain, Spanish Enclave and exclave, exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Plazas de soberanía, Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It has a population of approximately 37 million. Islam is both the official and predominant religion, while Arabic and Berber are the official languages. Additionally, French and the Moroccan dialect of Arabic are widely spoken. The culture of Morocco is a mix of Arab culture, Arab, Berbers, Berber, Culture of Africa, African and Culture of Europe, European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almoravid Dynasty
The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almohads in 1147. The Almoravids emerged from a coalition of the Lamtuna, Gudala, and Massufa, nomadic Berber tribes living in what is now Mauritania and the Western Sahara, traversing the territory between the Draa, the Niger, and the Senegal rivers. During their expansion into the Maghreb, they founded the city of Marrakesh as a capital, . Shortly after this, the empire was divided into two branches: a northern one centered in the Maghreb, led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin and his descendants, and a southern one based in the Sahara, led by Abu Bakr ibn Umar and his descendants. The Almoravids expanded their control to al-Andalus (the Muslim territories in Iberia) and were crucial in temporarily halting the advance of the Christian kingdoms in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
