Portal talk:Social Sciences/Quick Fact

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September 30, 2009

The French occupation of Tunisia began in spring 1881, and would only end with the independence of Tunisia in 1956. The occupation was the culmination of numerous smaller intrigues and actions.

September 28, 2009

'CASPAR - Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval' - is a digital preservation project funded in part by the European Union. It is an Integrated Project running from April 1, 2006 to Sept 30, 2009, and is part of the Sixth Framework Programme (Priority IST-2005-2.5.10, "Access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources").

CASPAR brings together a consortium covering important digital holdings, with the appropriate extensive scientific, cultural and creative expertise, together with commercial partners, and world leaders in the field of information preservation. This Integrated Project is led by Dr David Giaretta of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), who played a central role in the development of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS).

September 27, 2009

The Sack of Rome on 5 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States. It marked a crucial imperial victory in the conflict between Charles I of Spain Holy Roman Emperor, and the League of Cognac (1526–1529) — the alliance of France, Milan, Venice, Florence and the Papacy.

September 24, 2009

The Italian War of 1542–46 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive fighting in Italy, France, and the Low Countries, as well as attempted invasions of Spain and England; but, although the conflict was ruinously expensive for the major participants, its outcome was inconclusive.

The war arose from the failure of the Truce of Nice, which ended the Italian War of 1536–38, to resolve the long-standing conflict between Charles and Francis—particularly their conflicting claims to the Duchy of Milan. Having found a suitable pretext, Francis once again declared war against his perpetual enemy in 1542. Fighting began at once throughout the Low Countries; the following year saw the Franco-Ottoman alliance's attack on Nice, as well as a series of maneuvers in northern Italy which culminated in the bloody Battle of Ceresole. Charles and Henry then proceeded to invade France, but the long seiges of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Saint-Dizier prevented a decisive offensive against the French.

Charles came to terms with Francis by the Treaty of Crépy in late 1544, but the death of Francis's younger son, the Duke of Orléans—whose proposed marriage to a relative of the Emperor was the cornerstone of the treaty—made it moot less than a year afterwards. Henry, left alone but unwilling to return Boulogne to the French, continued to fight until 1546, when the Treaty of Ardres finally restored peace between France and England. The deaths of Francis and Henry in early 1547 left the resolution of the Italian Wars to their heirs.

September 22, 2009

The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days in 1871 in Paris.

September 19, 2009

The Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) of ancient China experienced contrasting periods of economic prosperity and decline. It is normally divided into three periods: Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE), the Xin Dynasty (9–23 CE), and Eastern Han (25–220 CE). The Xin Dynasty, established by the former regent Wang Mang, formed a brief interregnum between lengthy periods of Han rule. Following the fall of Wang Mang, the Han capital was moved eastward from Chang'an to Luoyang. In consequence, historians have named the succeeding eras Western Han and Eastern Han respectively.

The Han economy was defined by significant population growth, increasing urbanization, unprecedented growth of industry and trade and government experimentation with nationalization. In this era, the levels of minting and circulation of coin currency grew significantly, forming the foundation of a stable monetary system. The Silk Road facilitated the establishment of trade and tributary exchanges with foreign countries across Eurasia, many of which were previously unknown to the people of ancient China. The imperial capitals of both Western-Han (Chang'an), and of Eastern-Han (Luoyang), were among the largest cities in the world at the time, in both population and area. Here, government workshops manufactured furnishings for the palaces of the emperor and produced goods for the common people. The government oversaw the construction of roads and bridges, which facilitated official government business and encouraged commercial growth. Under Han rule, industrialists, wholesalers and merchants—from minor shopkeepers to wealthy businessmen—could engage in a wide range of enterprises and trade in the domestic, public, and even military spheres.

In the early Han period, rural peasant farmers were largely self-sufficient, but they began to rely more heavily upon commercial exchanges with the wealthy landowners of large agricultural estates. Many peasants fell into debt and were forced to become either hired laborers or rent-paying tenants of the land-owning classes. The Han government continually strove to provide economic aid to poor farmers, who had to compete with powerful and influential nobles, landowners, and merchants. The government tried to limit the power of these wealthy groups through heavy taxation and bureaucratic regulation. Emperor Wu's (r. 141–87 BCE) government even nationalized the iron and salt industries; however, these government monopolies were repealed during Eastern Han. Increasing government intervention in the private economy during the late 2nd century BCE severely weakened the commercial merchant class. This allowed wealthy landowners to increase their power and to ensure the continuation of an agrarian-dominated economy. The wealthy landlords eventually dominated commercial activities as well, maintaining control over the rural peasants—upon whom the government relied for tax revenues—military manpower, and public works labor. By the 180s CE, economic and political crises had caused the Han government to become heavily decentralized, while the great landowners became increasingly independent and powerful in their communities.

September 18, 2009

The SS Comet was a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. The Comet was built in 1857 as a wooden-hulled propeller-driven cargo vessel that was soon adapted to carry passengers. She suffered a series of maritime accidents prior to her final sinking in 1875 causing the loss of ten lives. She became known as the only treasure ship of Lake Superior because she carried 70 tons of Montana silver ore when she sank. The first attempts to salvage her cargo in 1876 and 1938 were unsuccessful. The Comet was finally salvaged in the 1980s when artifacts from the wreck were illegally removed. The artifacts are now the property of the State of Michigan and are on display as a loan to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The fate of her silver ore cargo is unknown. Her wreck is now protected by the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve as part of an underwater museum.

September 17, 2009

The Battle of Myriokephalon, also known as the Myriocephalum, or Miryakefalon Savaşı in Turkish, was a battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks in Phrygia on September 17, 1176. It was a serious reverse for the Byzantine forces and was to be the final, unsuccessful, effort by the Byzantines to recover the interior of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks..

September 16, 2009

The Hungarian Revolutionary War was a conflict between Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Soviet Hungary, shortly after the end of World War I which lasted from March 28 1919 to June 4 1920. With the volatile and politically unstable atmosphere of Central Europe in the inter-war years, the establishment of independent governments of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in November 1918 would see the struggle to regain territories of the former empire.

September 15, 2009

As of December 2007, the average monthly gross salary in Belgrade amounted to 59 897 Serbian dinars (about 746 euro, 1082 USD) the highest of any district in Serbia. The average net salary was 42 901 Serbian dinars (about 535 euro, 774 USD. GDP per capita is $10 836 USD in real terms and $18 204 in terms of purchasing power parity.

September 13, 2009

'Forensic accounting' is the specialty practice area of accountancy that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. "Forensic" means "suitable for use in a court of law", and it is to that standard and potential outcome that forensic accountants generally have to work. Forensic accountants, also referred to as forensic auditors or investigative auditors, often have to give expert evidence at the eventual trial. All of the larger accounting firms, as well as many medium-sized and boutique firms, have specialist forensic accounting departments. Within these groups, there may be further sub-specializations: some forensic accountants may, for example, just specialize in insurance claims, personal injury claims, fraud, construction, or royalty audit.

September 12, 2009

The Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia, also known as Bagratid Armenia, was an independent state established by prince Ashot I Bagratuni in 885 following nearly two centuries of foreign domination of Greater Armenia under Arab Umayyad and 'Abbasid rule. With the two contemporary powers in the region, the 'Abbasids and Byzantines, too preoccupied to concentrate their forces in subjugating the people of the region and the dissipation of several of the Armenian nakharar noble families, Ashot was able to assert himself as the leading figure of a movement to dislodge the Arabs from Armenia.

September 11, 2009

The Diocletianic Persecution (or Great Persecution) was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman empire. In 303, Emperor Diocletian and his colleagues Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutionary laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.

September 10, 2009

The first Constitution of the Maldives was proclaimed on December 2, 1932, under the rule of Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen III. He issued a decree on March 19, 1931, to compile a written Constitution. In 1930 Bernard H. Bourdill, the then acting Governor of Ceylon, visited Malé to advise the Sultan and the government of the Maldives in drafting of the First Constitution. His visit was made at the request of the Maldivian Government. The compiled Constitution contained 92 articles. It took exactly 1 year, 8 months and 22 days from the Sultan's decree to draft a Constitution to the ratification of the document.

September 9, 2009

The Berm of Western Sahara (also known as the Moroccan Wall) is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure, mostly a sand wall (or "berm"), running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco. It acts as a separation barrier between the Moroccan-controlled areas and the Polisario-controlled section of the territory that lies along its eastern and southern border.

September 8, 2009

The Rebel (French title: L'Homme révolté) is a 1951 book-length essay by Albert Camus, which treats both the metaphysical and the historical development of rebellion and revolution in societies, especially Western Europe. Camus relates writers and artists as diverse as Epicurus and Lucretius, the Maqruis de Sade, Georg Wilhelm Friederich Hegel, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friederich Nietzsche, and André Breton in an integrated, historical portrait of man in revolt.

September 7, 2009

The Brazil Plan or Plano Collor is the name given to a collection of economic reforms and inflation-stabilization plans carried out during the presidency of Fernando Collor de Mello of Brazil, between 1990 and 1992.

September 6, 2009

One of the earliest French tank designs was from the Levavasseur project which received its name from the French Captain Levavasseur of the 6th Artillery Battalion. It is considered as the first description, made by a soldier, of what was going to become the tank. Although there are competing theories of whether or not this was the first conception of the tank.

September 5, 2009

The Dongguk Tonggam is a chronicle of early Korean History. It was originally commissioned in 1446 and completed in 1485. The Dongguk Tonggam is the earliest extant record to list the names of the rulers of Gojoseon after Dangun.

September 4, 2009
The Treaty of Nettuno allowed Italian citizens to immigrate to Yugoslavian Dalmatia (now part of Croatia). It is not clear whether the Croatian government recognizes the treaty as it has not been used as a basis for argument in a recognized court.

September 3, 2009
The province of Jakarta in Indonesia is divided into regencies which in turn are divided administratively into subdistricts, known as Kecamatan.

September 2, 2009
The International Criminal Court is composed of four primary organs: The Presidency, Judicial Divisions, Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry.

September 1, 2009
As it relates to the U.S. money supply, M1 is the amount of money that can be readily spent. In layman's terms it is the measure of liquid funds in the U.S. economy at a given moment in time. This statistic is maintained by the U.S. Federal Reserve System.