Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Black/African Hair Texture

Black/African Hair Texture

Afro textured hair (also casually referred to as "nappy" hair, "kinky" hair or "wooly" hair) is the type of hair found among most people of sub-saharan African descent.

Overview

This type of hair is extremely tightly coiled, with a thick and compact appearance and feel. The hair's texture is similar to that of thick wool or cotton , and is usually black in color. Only persons of African decent usually have this type of hair, although some Caucasians have extremely frizzy and hard to manage hair that is almost wooly in texture (see wooly hair syndrome). Not all people of African descent have wooly hair, however. Many of the populations of North East Africa have looser hair that is not as tightly coiled as that of most other Africans. Some of these groups (the Amhara, Tigray/Tigre, Harari ) have Semetic (Sabaen) ancestry; others have virtually no Middle Eastern admixture or significant Middle Eastern ancestry ie. the Somali, Oromo, Afar, some Nubians and so on ). Although Horn Africans are the only Africans who may have non-wooly hair without Arab or Berber admixture, Black Africans naturally differ in complexion and facial features as well without admixture with non-Blacks. Wooly/kinky/nappy haired people of African descent are found in large numbers throughout the United States of America, the Caribbean, and Latin America as a result of the Atlantic slave trade, and in smaller numbers throughout parts of the Middle East and South Asia as a result of a lesser known Islamic/Eastern African slave trade. In addition to the Atlantic and Islamic slave trades that dispersed people of African origin to these parts of the world, the Negrito Pygmies of the Andaman Islands (of whom there are less than 1000) and the Melanesian populations of the Pacific who are of proto-African descent (via South Asia) often have African features and hair texture. Through African/Caribbean/Latin American migration, there are significant numbers of Black people found in Canada and Europe as well.

Various styles

During the 1960s and 70s, Black Power and pride movements in the United States brought about the emergence of the Afro hairstyle. Black men and women would grow their African textured hair out to several diameters away from their head. This was a rejection of Eurocentric standards of beauty, an embracing of African heritage and roots. and a confirmation of the idea that "Black is Beautiful" The Afro is sometimes texturized so that it is not in its true African state, but slightly relaxed with a frizzier and more wiry appearance that springs out. Eventually, this hair style grew away from its political and cultural connotation and was embraced by the mainstream. Afros became popular even among non-Blacks with looser curly hair. Other hairstyles often worn by wooly haired people of African descent are cornrows, braids, and dreadlocks. Cornrows and braiding traditions have survived in the African diaspora, and were brought to the Americas by African slaves. Dreadlocking is a tradition among the Rastafari movement of Jamaica. These hairstyles associated with people of African descent have become popular with non-Blacks with the emergence of hip hop culture and Caribbean influences such as reggae music. While recent years have brought about a movement among Black women to wear their hair naturally, most Black women in the Western world have their hair relaxed or straightened (either by use of a device such as a hot comb, or by the use of chemical relaxers usually containing lye). From the 1930s to the 1960s, conking, where Black men straighten their kinky hair using chemicals, was common in the United States. Some Black people in the Western world are discouraged from wearing natural hair in the workplace and also among other Black people. "Kinky" hair is sometimes seen as something inferior or to be ashamed of, compared to straight or "good hair" (an old southern United States term for looser, curly hair). Afro textured hair is usually handled and combed with an "Afro pic", which comes from the traditional African grooming instrument that has long separated "teeth" to part out tightly curled hair. There has been a boom in marketing to target hair products at African descended people (ie. "African Pride" for women, "Out of Africa" shampoo, etc. ) Slogans that promote a pan-African appreciation of Afro textured hair include "Happy to be nappy", "Don't worry, be nappy" as well as "Love, peace and nappiness". When African descended people wear natural hair, this is sometimes referred to as going "napptural".

See also


- Afro
- cornrows
- dreadlocks
- conk
- Jheri curl
- wooly hair syndrome

External image links


- [http://www.sooderso.net/bilder/zeitung/magazin02/wsoyinka01.gif] - Nigerian author Wole Soyinka
- [http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/women/fair_sex/11834.jpg] - Black Siddi woman from India
- [http://panafrican.tv/images/George%20Jackson%20-%20BPP%20-%20Black%20Power,White%20Blood.jpg] - George Jackson
- [http://www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-d/pictures/vanuatu-lini-walter.jpg] - Walter Lini, late prime minister of Vanuatu
- [http://lfa.atu.edu/Brucker/advertisement%20presentation/img001.gif] - Afro sheen advertisement in Swahili
- [http://www.misionurbana.com/artistas/Ludacris/wallpapers/ludacris4_1024.jpg] - Rapper Ludacris with a texturized Afro
- [http://www.supersites.ca/venessasstylestudioinc/nss-folder/braids1cornrowsdreds/cornrows.jpg] - Young Black men with cornrows
- [http://www.howtodread.com/dreadlocks.jpg] - Young boy with dreadlocks
- [http://www.framed-african-art.com/art/c06/a/k%E4mme.gif], [http://www.african-tribal-arts.com/images/tribalarts/Hg04_lg.jpg] - traditional African combs
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdavisAN.jpg] Angela Davis - Black Activist Category:African culture Category:African American culture Category:Hairdressing

Hair

:Hair is also the name of a musical; see the stage production and the movie. movie Hair is a filamentous outgrowth of the skin found only in mammals. In some species it is absent at certain stages of life. It projects from the epidermis, though it grows from follicles deep in the dermis. So-called "hairs" (trichomes) are also found on plants. The projections on insects and spiders are actually bristles. The hair of non-human species is commonly referred to as fur. There are varieties of cats, dogs, and mice bred to have little or no visible hair. Hair serves a number of different functions. It provides insulation from the cold, and in some species from hot weather. It is generally pigmented, providing coloration, sometimes the same as the underlying skin. It often serves as camouflage, both for prey and predators. In some species the pigmentation changes with the seasons; e.g., becoming white during the snowy winter, and in cases even more rapidly than that with changes in background. Hair can also provide protection against abrasion, and head hair can buffer impacts to the skull. In some species, hair patterns can be a part of sexual dimorphism; e.g., the long manes of male lions. In modern Western societies it is considered masculine for men to maintain the naturally thicker hair on their faces, arms, chests, backs, buttocks and legs, but the hair growing from the top of the head is generally kept relatively short. By contrast, it is considered feminine, for women to have little or no hair on their bodies, including pubic hair, but to let it grow long on the tops of their heads. Before World War I men generally had longer hair and beards. The trench warfare between 1914 and 1918 exposed men to lice and flea infestations, which caused the order for hair to be cut short, establishing a norm that has persisted. Hair care for humans is a major world industry with specialized tools, chemicals and techniques. In most societies, people style or adorn their hair for aesthetic reasons and often have it cut or removed by shaving or other means. In some, women usually shave their legs, armpits and sides of the pubic area, and shape their eyebrows.

Human hair

eyebrow Typically, humans have the longest hair on the top of the head, with shorter hair on the eyelids and eyebrows. The axillary (armpit) hair and pubic hair serves as lubrication during rubbing. Sometimes, the term body hair is used, to distinguish it from hair on the head. Individual hairs alternate periods of growth and dormancy. During the growth portion of the cycle, hair follicles are long and bulbous, and the hair advances outward at about a third of a millimeter per day. After three to six months, body hair growth stops (the pubic and axillary areas having the longest growth period). The follicle shrinks and the root of the hair rigidifies. Following a period of dormancy, another growth cycle starts, and eventually a new hair pushes the old one out of the follicle from beneath. Head hair, by comparison, grows for a long duration and to a great length before being shed. The rate of growth is approximately 1.25 centimeters, or about 0.5 inches, per month. Anthropologists speculate that the functional significance of long head hair may be adornment, a by-product of secondary natural selection once other somatic hair had been lost. Hair grows from all areas of the skin on humans regardless of sex or race except in the following locations: the lips, the nipples, the palms of hands, the soles of feet, certain external genital areas, the navel and other scar tissue. Some people seem to have less body and facial hair than others, but in fact have shorter and finer body hair while the total number of folicles is relatively constant. Several theories have been advanced to explain the unique features of human hair. One suggests that nature selected humans for shorter and thinner body hair as part of a set of adaptations including bipedal locomotion and an upright posture. There are several problems with this theory, not least of which is that cursorial hunting is used by (other) animals that do not show any thinning of hair, and that hair similar to chimpanzees and gorillas also shades the skin from radiant heat and protects it from hot winds, and thus another mechanism for heat loss is not required. Another problem is that bipedal locomotion possibly predates hominids moving from a forest environment to a savanna environment. A more recent theory for human hair loss has to do with a possible period of bipedal wading in a salt marsh in the Danakil region of Ethiopia, possibly occurring in the hominid lineage between 5 and 7 million years ago. As a wading animal, it was more efficient to develop short body hair and a layer of subcutaneous fat for streamlining and insulation in the aquatic environment; the eccrine sweat glands developed later after the hominids left the water; see Aquatic ape hypothesis. One problem with this theory is that both chimpanzees and gorillas have the same density and distribution of the eccrine glands, but that they have not been developed for sweat production. A third theory proposes that sexual selection played a role, possibly in conjunction with neoteny, with the more juvenile appearing females being selected by males as more desirable; see types of hair and vellus hair. This would also explain the sexual dimorphism in human body hair. At this point the evidence is inconclusive as to the cause of the unique features of human hair.

Structure

sexual dimorphism Hair consists 90% of a biological polymer, α-keratin, and about 10% water, which modifies its mechanical properties. This α-helically coiled protein is further wound into supermolecular coiled-coil microfibrils, many of which are held together with a protein glue to form long macrofibrils, which are packed inside dead hair cells about 100 µm long by 3 µm across. Several of these associate to form one strand of hair, which is covered with tiny surface scales. The ends of individual keratin chains are high in the amino acids proline (an α-helix breaker) and cysteine. Adjacent keratin chains are held together by many disulfide bonds bridging their cysteines. These links are very robust; virtually intact hair has been recovered from ancient Egyptian tombs. Different parts of the hair have different cysteine levels, leading to harder or softer material. Hair consists of an inner cortex, comprising spindle-shaped cells, and an outer sheath, called the cuticle. Within each cortical cell are the many fibrils, running parallel to the fibre axis, and between the fibrils is a softer material called the matrix. It grows from a hair follicle. The cuticle is responsible for much of the mechanical strength of the hair fibre. It consists of scale-shaped layers. Human hair typically has 6-8 layers of cuticle. Wool has only one, and other animal hair may have many more layers. Hair responds to its environment, and to its mechanical and chemical history. For example, hair which is wetted, styled and then dried, acquires a temporary 'set', which can hold it in style. This style is lost when the hair gets wet again. For more permanent styling, chemical treatments (perms) break and re-form the disulphide links within the hair structure. The diameter of a human hair ranges from about 18 µm to 180 µm. In people of European descent, blond hair and black hair are at the thinner end of the scale, while red hair is the thickest. The hair of people of Asian descent is typically thicker in diameter than the hair of other groups. The cross-sectional shape of human hair is typically round in people of Asian descent, round to oval in European descent, and nearly flat in African peoples; it is that flatness which allows African hair to attain its frizzly form. In contrast, hair that has a round cross section will be straight. A strand of straight round cross-section hair that has been flattened, for example, with an edge of a coin, will curl up into a micro-afro. The speed of growth is roughly 11 cm/yr = 0.3 mm/day = 300 nm/s. Cells at the base of the hair follicle divide and grow extremely rapidly. Drugs used in cancer chemotherapy frequently cause a temporary loss of hair, noticeable on the head and eyebrows, because they kill all rapidly dividing cells, not just the cancerous ones. Other diseases and traumas can cause temporary or permanent loss of hair, generally or in patches. Hair is strong. A single strand can hold 100g (3.5oz) of weight. A head of hair could support 12 tonnes. It is equivalent in strength to aluminium or Kevlar. Wet hair, however, is very fragile.

Types of hair

Kevlar On most adult humans there are two main types of hair: terminal hair, and vellus hair. A third type, lanugo hair, is present in the fetus, and some newborn babies. It can also be seen on the bodies of those who are extremely emaciated. Terminal hair grows thick and long, and is what grows on the head, armpits and pubic area, as well as on the face, chest, arms and legs (better evident in men). Vellus hair is a very soft and short hair that grows most places in the body in both sexes. In Caucasians it is often colourless, or blonde. It is best seen in women and children, as they have less terminal hair to obscure it.

Hair change with aging

Older people tend to develop gray hair (actually colorless) because the pigmentation in the hair is lost and the hair becomes colorless. The age at which this occurs varies from person to person, but in general nearly everyone 75 years or older has gray hair, and in general men tend to become gray at younger ages than women. The older a person is, the more likely he or she is to have gray hair, and above 85 almost nobody has his or her original hair color. Gray hair is considered to be a characteristic of normal aging. People starting out with very pale blond hair usually develop white hair instead of grey hair when aging. Some degree of scalp hair loss or thinning generally accompanies aging in both males and females, and it's estimated that half of men are affected by male pattern baldness by the time they're 50. The tendency toward baldness is a trait shared by a number of other primate species, and is thought to have evolutionary roots. (See evolutionary theories of baldness). There are also perhaps 50,000 bald women in the U.S.

Androgenic hair

The hair follicles on much of the body respond to androgens (primarily testosterone and its derivatives). The rate of hair growth increases and the heaviness of the hairs increases. However, different areas respond with different sensitivities. As testosterone level increases (normally at puberty), the sequence of appearance of sexual (androgenic) hair reflects the gradations of androgen sensitivity. The pubic area is most sensitive, and heavier hair usually grows there first in response to androgens. The following regions also respond to androgens, in order of decreasing sensitivity: axillary and perianal areas, sideburns, above the upper lip, periareolar areas, chin and beard areas, center of chest, arms and legs, across the chest, shoulders, buttocks, back, and abdomen. It is the hair in these areas that appears earlier or grows to excess in disorders of excess androgen (e.g., precocious puberty, late-onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and polycystic ovary syndrome).

Other information

Notable variations in physical appearance of the top and back of the head are:
- headgear
- hair color (original or artificial)
- hair type
- haircut, curls, dreadlocks, braids, ponytails, wigs, decorative hairpins, the way the hair is combed or otherwise arranged, or disarranged. Hair spray, gel, etc. may be used for fixation of the arrangement and may also make it shiny. It is commonly claimed that hair and nails will continue growing for several days after death. This is a myth; the appearance of growth is actually caused by the retraction of skin as the surrounding tissue dehydrates, making nails and hair more prominent. The hair shafts may also store certain poisons for years, even decades, after death. In the case of Col. Lafayette Baker, who died July 3, 1868, use of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer showed the man was killed by white arsenic. The prime suspect was Wally Pollack, Baker's brother-in-law. According to Dr. Ray A. Neff, Pollack had laced Baker's beer with it over a period of months, and a century or so later minute traces of arsenic showed up in the dead man's hair. Mrs. Baker's diary seems to confirm that it was indeed arsenic, as she writes of how she found some vials of it inside her brother's suitcoat one day.

External links


- [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=122411 Discussion about shaving and cultures]

See also


- Facial hair
- Pubic hair
- Hirsutism
- Baldness
- Depilation
- Widow's peak
- Cowlick
- Social role of hair
- Blond
- Brunette
- Red hair
- Trichophilia

References


- [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?s_site=ozarksnow&f_site=ozarksnow&f_sitename=Springfield+News-Leader+%28MO%29&p_theme=gannett&p_product=SNLB&p_action=search&p_field_base-0=&p_text_base-0=baldness&Search=Search&p_perpage=10&p_maxdocs=200&p_queryname=700&s_search_type=keyword&p_sort=_rank_%3AD&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date%3AB%2CE&p_text_date-0= "Uncovering the bald truth about hair loss."] Springfield News-leader, May 10, 2005. "Half of men" estimate is made by the American Academy of Dermatology and specifically estimates prevalence in the U.S. population, though this should reflect prevalence in other populations. Category:Human appearance Category:Integumentary system ms:Rambut ja:毛 (動物) simple:Hair



Wool

:This article is about wool, the fibre produced from sheep. For alternative meanings see Wool (disambiguation). Wool (disambiguation) Wool (disambiguation) Wool is the fibre derived from the hair of animals of the Caprinae family, principally sheep and goats, but the hair of other mammals such as alpacas may also be called wool. This article deals with the wool produced from domestic sheep. Wool is the fibre produced as the outer coat of sheep. Most of the fibre from domestic sheep has two qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur: it has scales which overlap like shingles on a roof and it is crimped; in some fleeces the wool fibres have more than 20 bends per inch. Both the scaling and the crimp make it possible to spin and felt the fleece. They help the individual fibres attach to each other so that they stay together. Because of the crimp, wool fabrics have a greater bulk than other textiles and retain air, which causes the product to retain heat. Insulation also works both ways; bedouins and tuaregs use wool clothes to keep the heat out. The amount of crimp corresponds with the fineness of the wool fibres. A fine wool like merino may have up to a hundred crimps per inch, where the coarser wools like karakul may have as few as one to two crimps per inch. Hair, by contrast, has little if any scale and no crimp and little ability to bind into yarn. On sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. The relative amounts of kemp to wool vary from breed to breed, and make some fleeces more desirable for spinning, felting or carding into batts for quilts or other insulating products. Wool is generally a creamy white colour, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors such as black, brown (also called moorit) and grey. Wool straight off a sheep contains a high level of grease (thus "greasy wool") which contains valuable lanolin. In this state it can be worked into yarn or knitted into water-resistant mittens, such as those of the Aran Island fishermen. The grease is generally removed for processing by scouring with detergent and alkali. After shearing, the wool is separated into five main categories: fleece (which makes up the vast bulk), pieces, bellies, crutchings and locks. The latter four are packaged and sold separately. The quality of fleece is determined by a technique known as wool classing, whereby a qualified woolclasser tries to group wools of similar gradings together to maximise the return for the farmer or sheep owner. The fibre diameter of wool varies from 15 micrometres (superfine merino) to 30 or more micrometres for the coarser wools. The finer diameters are generally more valuable.

History

As the raw material has been readily available since the widespread domestication of sheep and similar animals, the use of wool for clothing and other fabrics dates back to some of the earliest civilizations. Prior to invention of shears - probably in the Iron Age - they probably plucked the wool out by hand or by bronze combs. In medieval times, the wool trade was serious business. English wool exports - which bordered on European monopoly - were a significant source of income to the crown. Over the centuries, various British laws controlled the wool trade or required the use of wool even in burials. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as owling, was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand. In 1699 English crown forbade its American colonies to trade wool with anyone else but England itself. In the Renaissance, Medicis of Florence built their wealth and banking system on wool trade with the aid of the Arte della Lana, the wool guild. Spain allowed export of Merino lambs only with royal permission. German wool - based on sheep of Spanish origin - begun to overtake British one only at the end of 19th century. Australia's colonial economy was based on sheep raising and Australian wool trade overtook Germans by 1845.

Production

Global wool production is approximately 1.3 million tonnes per annum of which 60% goes into apparel. Australia, China and New Zealand are leading commercial producers of wool. Most Australian wool comes from the merino breed. Breeds such as Lincoln and Romney produce coarser fibres and wool of these sheep is usually used for making carpets. In the United States, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado also have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or French Merino). There is also a thriving 'home flock' contingent of small scale farmers who raise small hobby flocks of specialty sheep for the handspinning market. These small scale farmers may raise any type of sheep they wish, so the selection of fleeces is quite wide.

Global wool clip 2004/2005

#Australia: 25% of global wool clip (475 million kg greasy, 2004/2005) #China: 18% #New Zealand: 11% #Argentina: 3% #Turkey: 2% #Iran: 2% #United Kingdom: 2% #India: 2% #Sudan: 2% #South Africa: 1% ([http://www.wool.com.au/attachments/Education/AWI_WoolFacts.pdf source])

Uses

In addition to clothing, wool has been used for carpeting, felt, and upholstery. Wool felt covers piano hammers and it is used to absorb odors and noise in heavy machinery and stereo speakers. Ancient Greeks lined their helmets with felt and Roman legionnaires used breastplates made of wool felt. Shoddy is recycled or remanufactured wool. To make shoddy, existing wool fabric is cut or torn apart and respun. As this process makes the wool fibres shorter, the remanufactured fabric is inferior to the original. The recycled wool may be mixed with raw wool, wool noil, or another fibre such as cotton to increase the average fibre length. Such yarns are typically used as weft yarns with a cotton warp. This process was invented in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire and created a micro-economy in this area for many years. Ragg is a sturdy wool fibre made into yarn and used in many rugged applications like gloves.

See also

Wool production
- Domestic sheep
- Sheep shearing In mythology
- Golden Fleece Processing
- Canvas work
- Knitting
- Spinning
- Weaving Refined products
- Tweed
- Woolen
- Worsted Wool organisations
- British Wool Marketing Board
- Worshipful Company of Woolmen Wools not produced from domestic sheep
- Alpaca wool
- Angora wool
- Steel wool

External links


- [http://www.sheepusa.org/ American Sheep Industry Association]
- [http://www.ncwga.org/ Natural Colored Wool Growers Association]
- [http://www.wool.com.au/attachments/Education/AWI_WoolFacts.pdf Wool Facts September 2005 edition: Australia's Wool Industry] ja:ウール

Cotton

Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. The fibre is most often spun into thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. Cotton is a valuable crop because only about 10% of the raw weight is lost in processing. Once traces of wax, protein, etc. are removed, the remainder is a natural polymer of pure cellulose. This cellulose is arranged in a way that gives cotton unique properties of strength, durability, and absorbency. Each fibre is made up of twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat series of natural springs. When the cotton boll (seed case) is opened the fibres dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is ideal for spinning into a fine yarn.

History

yarn]] yarn Cotton has been used to make very fine lightweight cloth in areas with tropical climates for millennia. Some authorities claim that it was likely that the Egyptians had cotton as early as 12,000 BC, and evidence has been found of cotton in Mexican caves (cotton cloth and fragments of bloody fibre interwoven with feathers and fur) which dated back to approximately 7,000 years ago. There is clear archaeological evidence that people in South America and India domesticated different species of cotton independently thousands of years ago. The earliest written reference to cotton is in India. Cotton has been grown in India for more than three thousand years, and it is referred to in the Rig-Veda, written in 1500 BC. A thousand years later the great Greek historian Herodotus wrote about Indian cotton: "There are trees which grow wild there, the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep. The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool". (Book iii. 106) During the late mediaeval period, cotton became known as an imported fibre in northern Europe, without any knowledge of what it came from other than that it was a plant; people in the region, familiar only with animal fibres (wool from sheep), could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there India a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie.". This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in many European languages, such as German Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool". By the end of the 16th century AD, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Africa, Eurasia and the Americas. The Indian cotton processing industry was eclipsed during the British Industrial Revolution, when the invention of the Spinning Jenny (1764) and Arkwright's spinning frame (1769) enabled cheap mass-production of cotton cloth in the UK. Production capacity was further improved by the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. In the United States, growing the three crops, cotton, indigo and tobacco historically were the leading occupations of slaves. After emancipation, the share cropping system evolved which in many cases differed little from the systems of slavery.

Production

share cropping Today cotton is produced in many parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia, using cotton plants that have been selectively bred so that each plant grows more fibre. In 2002, cotton was grown on 330,000 km² of farmland. 47 billion pounds (21 million t) of raw cotton worth 20 billion dollars US was grown that year. The cotton industry relies heavily on chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides, although a very limited number of farmers are moving towards an organic model of production, and organic cotton products are now available at a limited number of locations. Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to a highly successful program of the US Dept. of Agriculture (the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, BWEP) this pest has been eliminated as a cotton pest from most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered cotton containing a gene which codes for a plant produced protein which is toxic to a number of worm pest of cotton (tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm, pink bollworm) the use of synthetic insecticides for controlling these pests has been greatly reduced throughout the parts of the world where GE cotton is grown. Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are generally used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton and generally used after application of a defoliant or natural defoliation occurring after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow. defoliant The logistics of cotton harvesting and processing have been improved by the development of the cotton module builder, a machine that compresses harvested cotton into a large block, which is then covered with a tarp and temporarily stored at the edge of the field.

Uses

In addition to the textile industry, cotton is used in fishnets, coffee filters, tents and in bookbinding. The first Chinese paper was made of cotton fiber, as is the modern US dollar bill and federal stationery. Fire hoses were once made of cotton. Denim, a type of durable cloth, is made mostly of cotton, as are most T-shirts. The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which after refining can be consumed by humans like any other vegetable oil. The cottonseed meal that is left is generally fed to livestock.

Fair trade

Cotton is an enormously important commodity throughout the world. However, many farmers in developing countries receive a low price for their produce, or find it difficult to compete with developed countries. This has led to 'fair trade' cotton clothing being available in some countries.

Old British cotton yarn measures


- 1 thread = 54 inches (c. 137 cm)
- 1 skein or rap = 80 threads (120 yards or c. 109 m)
- 1 hank = 7 skeins (840 yards or c. 768 m)
- 1 spindle = 18 hanks (15,120 yards or c. 13.826 km)

See also


- Cotton Gin
- New Orleans Cotton Exchange
- New York Cotton Exchange

References and further reading


- The Thames and Hudson Manual of Dyes and Fabrics, Joyce Storey, 1978
- [http://gardenbees.com/cotton%20spray/cottonspray.htm Photo documentation and commentary on collateral damage to the environment from cotton spraying]

External links


- [http://www.agrocel-cotton.com/english/en_glossary_of_terms.html Glossary of cotton terms]
- [http://www.cottoninc.com/ Cotton Incorporated] - a cotton industry trade group
- [http://quotes.tradingcharts.com/futures/quotes/CT.html New York Cotton Futures Prices] (30 Minute Delay)
- [http://www.nybot.com/ New York Board of Trade]
- [http://www.cotton-net.com/default.htm Cotton on the Net: The Cotton Market Directory]
- [http://www.ams.usda.gov/cotton/mncs/index.htm USDA AMS - Market News Reports - Cotton Reports]
- [http://www.tfc-charts.w2d.com/ Commodity Futures & Financial Market Charts]
- [http://www.usda.gov/ U.S. Department of Agriculture]
- [http://www.cottonusa.org/index.htm Cotton Council International]
- [http://www.cotton.org/cf/index.htm Cotton Foundation]
- [http://www.meeman.rhodes.edu/institutes/cotton/default.html ACSA International Cotton Institute]
- [http://www.supimacotton.org/ The Supima Association]
- [http://www.acsa-cotton.org/ American Cotton Shippers Association]
- [http://www.atmi.org/ American Textile Manufactures Institute]
- [http://www.cottoninc.com/ Cotton Incorporated]
- [http://www.icac.org/ International Cotton Advisory Committee]
- [http://www.cotton-net.com/ Cotton on the Net Home Page]
- [http://www.cotton.org/news National Cotton Council News and Current Events]
- [http://www.landofcotton.com/ The Land of Cotton News Magazine]
- [http://www.theseam.com The Seam]
- [http://www.ecotton.com eCotton]
- [http://www.pcca.com Plains Cotton Cooperative Association]
- [http://www.acsa-cotton.org/ American Cotton Shippers Association]
- [http://www.ams.usda.gov/cotton Agricultural Marketing Service]
- [http://www.lca.org.uk International Cotton Association] Category:Biodegradable materials Category:Fibers Category:Arabic words ja:綿 simple:Cotton

Caucasians

:caucasian

Wooly hair syndrome

Wooly hair syndrome is a rare condition affecting a small percentage of persons of Caucasian and Asian heritage. It is characterized by extremely frizzy and wiry hair that looks almost wooly in appearance. Not much is known about the disorder because of its rarity, but the trait is likely to run in families. "Wooly" hair is a rare congenital abnormality in structure of scalp hair. This hair is either present at birth, or appears during the first months of life. The curls, with an average diameter of 0.5cm, lie closely together and usually make the hair difficult to comb. In addition, the hair may be more fragile than usual. The syndrome usually lessens in adulthood, when wavy hair often takes the place of wooly hair. Wooly hair syndrome was first observed in a European family in 1907 by Gossage. The difference between wooly Afro textured hair and the extremely frizzy and wiry hair found in non-Blacks with the syndrome is that African hair lies typically separate and is tightly coiled or spiraled, while the curls of the Wooly hair syndrome tend to merge. This type of hair often only covers portions of the skull.

External links

Further information


- http://www.orpha.net/data/patho/GB/uk-woollyhair.pdf

Images


- [http://www.thetech.org/genetics/images/ask/woolyHair.jpg] - black and white photo of a Caucasian woman with the 'wooly hair syndrome'
- [http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/IndexDisplay.cfm?ImageID=1113490909] - Caucasian baby with 'wooly hair syndrome' Category:Congenital disorders

North East Africa

, in May of 1993. The orange and tan colors in this image indicate a largely arid to semiarid climate.]] The Horn of Africa (or, Somali Peninsula) is a peninsula of East Africa that juts into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent, and so-called because of its resemblance to a rhinoceros's horn. The term also refers to the greater region containing the republics of Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, and also the remaining portion of Somalia. As such, it covers approximately 2,000,000 km² and is inhabited by about 80 million people. Sudan and Kenya are sometimes included as well. Greater Somalia is a nationalist goal to create a unified Somali state in the Horn of Africa, in the former and present states referred to by the five points of the star in the national flag of Somalia since that country's independence: the former British and Italian colonies of present Somalia, the former French Somaliland (now Djibouti), the Ogaden in Ethiopia, and a portion of Kenya.

Geography and climate

The Horn of Africa, almost equidistant from the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer, is an arid region. Socotra is a small island off the coast of Somalia, in the Indian Ocean, that is considered to be part of Africa. Its size is 3,600 square km. It is a territory of Yemen, the southernmost country on the Arabian peninsula.

History

Ancient history

The Kingdom of Aksum was an African state located in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen that thrived between the 3rd and 11th centuries. Due to the Horn's strategic location, it has been used to restrict access to the Red Sea in the past. The region was also a source of biological resources during the Antiquity: The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans sent expeditions to the region for frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood or cinnabar and took these commodities back along the Incense Route. Therefore the Romans called this region Regio Aromatica.

Modern history

The Horn of Africa is a region continuously in crisis. Ethiopia occupies a predominant position in the Horn because of its demographic importance: about 60% of the area's population live in this country. Yet Ethiopia's history is largely marked by conflicts between Muslims and Christians for resources and living space, as well as between nationalism and Marxism-Leninism in the modern times. The rest of the region also faces continuous wars: a civil war erupted in Somalia in 1977, resulting in the country having had no functioning national government since 1991. Sudan, with the Sudanese Civil War, represents another important source of instability for the whole region. Conflicts have also occurred in Djibouti and Eritrea. Moreover, the region is regularly stricken by natural catastrophes, such as droughts (in Ethiopia) or flood (Somalia) that hit rural areas particularly hard. As a result, the region has some of the world's highest levels of malnutrition and is continuously loomed by a major humanitarian crisis. Between 1982 and 1992, about two million people died in the Horn of Africa due this a combination of war and famine. The Horn of Africa, since 2002, has been a major focus of attention by the United States, France, Germany, and eleven African nations regarding the War on Terrorism.

Culture and ethnicity

The countries of the Horn of Africa are culturally linked together and they are closer to Arabia than to the rest of Africa. Local people have been using the plow for cultivation and kept the Arabian dromedary as domestic animals for a long time. Some important ethno-linguistic groups in the Horn of Africa are:
- In Djibouti: the Afar (Danakil) and the Somali (Issa)
- In Eritrea: the Afar, the Beni-Amer (Beja), the Hidarb, the Jeberti, the Kunama (Baza), the Nara (Nialetic), the Saho (Irob), the Rashaida, the Tigre, and the Tigrinya.
- In Ethiopia: the Amhara (Amara), the Afar (Danakil, Adali), the Agaw/Awingi and Agaw/Kamyr, the Bale, the Borana, the Daasenech (Reshiat), the Gawwada (Gauwada), the Gurage/Siltie, the Hammer, the Harari (Adere), the Komuz, the Libido (Maraqo), the Mesengo (Majang), the Mursi, the Oromo (Azebul and Galla), the Qemant, the Saho, the Sidama, the Somali, the Sun, the Tigrinya and the Zayse.
- In Somalia: the Dabarre, the Digil-Rahawlin, the Garre, the Jiiddu, the Shambaara (Gosha), the Somali, the Swahili (Baraawe) and the Tunni.
- In Sudan: the Anuak, the Atwot, the Bale, the Beni-Amer (Beja), the Bisharin (Beja), the Burun (Barun, Borun), the Dar Fur Daju, the Dar Sila Daju, the Didinga (Xaroxa, Toil), the Fedicca-Mahas, the Nubian, the Fulani (Sudanese Fula), the Fur (Furawi), the Chulfan (Gulfan), the Gule (Fung, Hameg), the Hadendoa (Beja), the Hamar, the Hausa Fulani, the Ingessana (Tabi), the Kanga (Abu Sinun), the Yerwa Kanuri, the Katla (Akalak), the Kenuzi-Dongolese, the Nubi, the Central Koma (Komo), the Krongo Nuba, the Maba (Borgu, Mabang), the Maban-Jumjum (Maben), the Mararit (Ablyl, Ebiri, Masalit), the Masalit, the Mesakin (Masakin), the Midob (Miedob, Tidi), the Nyimang (Nyima, Ama), the Par (Lokoro), the Rufaa (Rufalyin), the Shatt (Daju), the Shatt (Mandul), the Sungor (Assagori), the Tagale (Taqalawin), the Temein, the Tigre, the Tira (Thiro), the Tulishi and the Zaghawa.

Economy

States of the region depend largely on a few key exports:
- Sudan: Cotton 50% of total exports.
- Ethiopia: Coffee 80% of total exports.
- Somalia: Bananas and livestock over 50% of total exports.

Ecology

livestock The Horn of Africa is a UNESCO's Biodiversity Hotspot and one of the two entirely arid ones. However the Horn of Africa suffers largely from overgrazing and only 5% of its original habitat still remains. On Socotra, another great threat is the development of infrastructure.

Fauna

About 220 mammals are found in the Horn of Africa. Among threatened species of the region, we find several antelopes such as the beira, the dibatag, the silver dikdik and the Speke’s gazelle. Other remarkable species include the Somali wild ass, the desert warthog, the hamadryas, the Somali pygmy gerbil, the ammodile and the Speke’s pectinator. The Grevy's zebra is the unique wild equid of the region. Some important bird species of the Horn are the Bulo Burti boubou, the golden-winged grosbeak, the Warsangli linnet or the Djibouti francolin. The Horn of Africa holds more endemic reptiles than anywhere else in Africa, with about 90 species over about 285 found exclusively here. Among endemic reptile genera, there are Haackgreerius, Haemodracon, Ditypophis, Pachycalamus or Aeluroglena. Half of these genera are uniquely found on Socotra. Unlike reptiles, amphibians are poorly represented in the region. There are about 100 species of freshwater fish in the Horn of Africa, about 10 of which are endemic. Among the endemic, we find the cave-dwelling Somalian blind barb and the Somalian cavefish.

Flora

It is estimated that about 5,000 species of vascular plants are found in the Horn, about the half of which is endemic. Endemism is most developed in Socotra and Northern Somalia. The region has two endemic plant families: the Barbeyaceae and the Dirachmaceae. Among the other remarkable species, there are the cucumber tree found only on Socotra, the Bankoualé palm, the Yeheb nut or the Somali cyclamen.

See also


- Geography of Africa
- History of Djibouti
- History of Eritrea
- History of Ethiopia
- History of Kenya
- History of Somalia
- History of Sudan
- Land of Punt
- Karoo - the other entirely arid biodiversity hotspot
- Compare: Bulge of Africa
- Compare: Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America

External links


- [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/33/index.html History of the Horn of Africa]
- [http://www.hananews.org/ Horn of Africa News Agency]
- [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0715_full.html WWF- Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets]
- [http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/horn_africa/ Horn of Africa Biodiversity Hotspot] Category:Geography of Africa Category:Regions of Africa Category:Peninsulas ko:아프리카의 뿔 ja:アフリカの角

Semetic

Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, cultures, and ethnicities. Although there is much debate about the scope of the word's "racial" use in the context of population genetics and history, as a linguistic term the language family is well-defined to include ancient and modern versions of Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian (Syriac), Babylonian (Akkadian), Hebrew, Maltese, Tigrigna, et al.

Origin

The word "Semitic" is an adjective derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Bible (Genesis 5.32, 6.10, 10.21), or more precisely from the Greek form of that name, namely Σημ (Sēm); the noun form referring to a person is Semite. The negative form of the adjective anti-Semitic is almost always used to mean "anti-Jewish", specifically. The concept of a "Semitic" peoples is derived from Biblical accounts of the origins of the cultures known to the ancient Hebrews. Those closest to them in culture and language were generally deemed to be descended from their forefather Shem. Enemies were often said to be descendents of his cursed brother Ham. In Genesis 10:21-31 Shem is described as the father of Aram, Asshur, and others: the Biblical ancestors of the Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Sabaeans, and Hebrews, etc., all of whose languages are closely related; the language family containing them was therefore named Semitic by linguists. However, the Canaanites and Amorites also spoke a language belonging to this family, and are therefore also termed Semitic in linguistics despite being described in Genesis as sons of Ham (See Sons of Noah). Shem is also described in Genesis as the father of the Elamites and the descendants of Lud, whose languages were not Semitic. The Proto-Semitic peoples, ancestors of the Semites in the Middle East before the break-up of the hypothesized original proto-Semitic language into various modern Semitic languages, are thought to have been originally from the Arabian Peninsula.

Language

The modern linguistic meaning of "Semitic" is therefore derived from, but not identical to Biblical usage. In a linguistic context the Semitic languages are a subgroup of the larger Afro-Asiatic language family (according to Greenberg's widely accepted classification) and include, among others, Akkadian, the ancient language of Babylon, Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, Arabic, the largest contemporary Semitic language, Aramaic, the mother-tongue of Jesus, Canaanite, Ge'ez, the ancient language of the Ethiopian Coptic scriptures, Hebrew, Phoenician or Punic, and South Arabian, the ancient language of Sheba/Saba, which today includes Mehri, spoken by only tiny minorities on the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Wildly successful as second languages far beyond their numbers of contemporary first-language speakers, a few Semitic languages today are the base of the sacred literature of some of the world's great religions, including Islam (Arabic), Judaism (Hebrew and Aramaic), and Orthodox Christianity (Aramaic and Ge'ez). Millions learn these as a second language (or an archaic version of their modern tongues): a billion Muslims learn to read and recite Classical Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, and Jews all over the world outside of Israel with other first languages speak and study Hebrew, the language of the Torah, Midrash, and other Jewish scriptures. It should be noted that Berber, Coptic, Ancient Egyptian, Hausa, Somali, and many other related languages within the wider area of Northern Africa and the Middle East do not belong to the Semitic group, but to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family of which the Semitic languages are also a subgroup. Other ancient and modern Middle Eastern languages — Armenian, Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, ancient Sumerian, and Nubian — do not belong to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family and are unrelated to it (or, to be more precise, possibly far more remotely related). (Note, the first three of these languages are Indo-European.) For a complete list of Semitic and Afro-Asiatic languages, see the [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=89997 Ethnologue's list].

Geography

Semitic peoples and their languages in modern and ancient historic times have covered a broad area bridging Africa, Western Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. The earliest historic (written) evidences of them are found in the Fertile Crescent, an area encompassing the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, extending northwest into southern Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the Levant along the eastern Mediterranean. (Today this same region is populated by Arabic speakers except for Israel, where modern Hebrew was reintroduced in the 20th century as the national language.) Early traces of Semitic speakers are found, too, in South Arabian inscriptions in Yemen and later, in Roman times, in Nabataean inscriptions from Petra (modern Jordan) south into Arabia. (Here, too, Arabic has largely won out over the original Semitic tongues.) Later expansions of Semitic languages and peoples are found into the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia, the last great holdout of South Semitic languages, and into North Africa at two widely separated periods. The first expansion occurred with the ancient Phoenicians, the name given by the Greeks to the Canaanites, along the southern Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Atlantic Ocean (colonies which included ancient Rome's nemesis Carthage). The second, a millennium later, occurred with the expansion of the Muslim armies and Arabic in the 7th-8th centuries AD, which, at their height, controlled the Hispanic Peninsula and Sicily. Arab Muslim expansion is also responsible for modern Arabic's presence from Mauretania, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, to the Red Sea in the northeastern corner of Africa, and its reach south along the Nile River through traditionally non-Semitic territory, as far as the northern half of Sudan, where, as the national language, non-Arab Sudanese even farther south must learn it. Semitic languages today are also spoken in Malta (where an Italian-influenced dialect of North African Arabic is spoken) and on the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean between Yemen and Somalia, where a dying vestige of South Arabian is spoken in the form of Soqotri.

Religion

In a religious context, the term Semitic can refer to the religions associated with the speakers of these languages: thus Judaism, Christianity and Islam are often described as "Semitic religions," though the term Abrahamic religions is more commonly used today. A truly comprehensive account of "Semitic" religions would equally include the polytheistic religions (such as the religions of Adad, Hadad) that flourished in the Middle East before the Abrahamic religions.

Ethnicity and "race"

Hadad In Medieval Europe all Asian peoples were thought of as descendents of Shem. By the nineteenth century the term Semitic was confined to the ethnic groups who have historically spoken Semitic languages. These peoples were often considered to be a distinct race. However, some anti-Semitic racial theorists of the time argued that the Semitic peoples arose from the blurring of distinctions between previously separate races. This supposed process was referred to as Semiticization by the race-theorist Arthur de Gobineau. The notion that Semitic identity was a product of racial "confusion" was later taken up by the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg. Modern science, in contrast, identifies an ethnic group's common physical descent through genetic research, and analysis of the Semitic peoples suggests that they share a significant common ancestry. Though no significant common mitochondrial results have been yielded, Y-chromosomal links between Near-Eastern peoples like the Palestinians, Syrians and ethnic Jews have proved fruitful, despite differences contributed from other groups (see Y-chromosomal Aaron). Although population genetics is still a young science, it seems to indicate that a significant proportion of these peoples' ancestry comes from a common Near Eastern population to which (despite the differences with the Biblical genealogy) the term Semitic has been applied.

External links


- [http://foundationstone.com.au/HtmlSupport/WebPage/semiticGenetics.html Semitic genetics]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=89998 Semitic language family tree] included under "Afro-Asiatic" in SIL's [http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp Ethnologue]. Category:African culture

Nubians

:This article is about the region in Africa, for other uses see Nubia (disambiguation) Today Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. Sudan ]] Its people spoke at least two varieties of the Nubian language group, a Nilo-Saharan subfamily which includes Nobiin, Kenuzi-Dongola, Midob and several related varieties in the northern part of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan. A variety (Birgid) was spoken (at least until 1970) north of Nyala in Darfur but is now extinct. Old Nubian was used in mostly religious texts dating from the 8th and 9th centuries AD. It is considered ancestral to modern day Nobiin.

History

Pre-history

The earliest cultures of Nubia left no writings and are unreported in the annals of other nations. The first noticeable cultures in Nubia include first the Badarian culture, then the Amratian and finally the Gerzean. From the Gerzean the first native culture developed known as the A-Group, which began roughly at the same time as the First dynasty of Egypt around 3100 BC. It consisted of semi-nomadic groups who subsided by herding sheep, goats, and some cattle. It is known from its distinctive burial rituals and pottery. Prehistoric tools discovered in Nubia date to circa 65,000 BC, found along the Nile Valley [http://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/01033.html]. This culture began to decline in the early 28th century BC. The succeeding culture is known as B-Group. Previously the B-Group people were thought to have invaded from elsewhere. Today most historians believe that B-Group was merely A-Group but far poorer. The causes of this is uncertain, but it was perhaps caused by Egyptian invasions and pillaging that began at this time. As trade between Egypt and Nubia increased so did wealth and stability. By the Egyptian 6th dynasty Nubia was divided into a series of small kingdoms. There is debate over whether these C-Group peoples, who flourished from c. 2240 BC to c. 2150 BC, were another internal evolution or invaders. There are definite similarities between the pottery of A-Group and C-Group, so it may be a return of the ousted Group-As, or an internal revival of lost arts. At this time the Sahara Desert was becoming too arid to support human beings and it is possible that there was a sudden influx of Saharan nomads. C-Group pottery is characterized by all over incised geometric lines with white infill and impressed imitations of basketry. A contemporaneous but distinct culture from the C-Group was the Pan Grave culture, so called because of their shallow graves. The Pan Graves are associated with the East bank of the Nile, but the Pan Graves and C-Group defintiely interacted. Their pottery is characterized by incised lines of a more limited character than the C-Group, generally having interspersed undecorated spaces within the geometric scheme. From the C-Group culture the first kingdom to unify much of the region arose, the Kingdom of Kerma, named for its presumed capital at Kerma. When Egyptian power revived under the New Kingdom they began to expand southwards. By the end of the reign of Thutmose I in 1520 BC all of northern Nubia had been annexed.

Kush

Thutmose I When the Egyptians pulled out, they left a lasting legacy that was merged with indigenous customs forming the kingdom of Kush. Kush adopted many Egyptian practices such as their religion and the practice of building pyramids. The kingdom of Kush survived longer than that of Egypt, even invading and controlling Egypt itself for a period (the Kushite dynasty) in the 8th century BC. Kush was never annexed by the Romans. The Kushites did trade with the Romans, and were also a source of mercenaries. During this time, the different parts of the region divided into smaller groups with individual leaders, or generals, each commanding small armies of mercenaries. They fought for control of what is now Nubia and its surrounding territories, leaving the entire region weak and vulnerable to attack. At some point, Kush was conquered by the Noba people, from which the name Nubia may derive (another possibility is that it comes from Nub, the Egyptian word for gold). From then on, the Romans referred to the area as the Nobatae. Indeed, recent studies in population genetics suggest that there was a south-north gene flow through the Nile Valley. Similarly, linguistic evidence suggests that the Nubians from the Nile Valley originally came from the south or southwest. Historical comparative research into the Nubian language group has indicated that the Nile-Nubian languages must have split off from the Nubian languages still spoken in the Nuba Mountains in Kordofan, Sudan, at least 2500 years ago.

Christian Nubia

Around AD 350 the area was invaded by the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum and the kingdom collapsed. Eventually three smaller kingdoms replaced it: northernmost was Nobatia between the first and second cataract of the Nile River, with its capital at Pachoras (modern day Faras); in the middle was Makuria, with its capital at Old Dongola; and southernmost was Alodia, with its capital at Soba (near Khartoum). King Silko of Nobatia crushed the Blemmyes, and recorded his victory in a Greek inscription carved in the wall of the temple of Talmis (modern Kalabsha) around AD 500. While bishop Athanasius of Alexandria consecrated one Marcus as bishop of Philae before his death in 373, showing that Christianity had penetrated the region by the fourth century, John of Ephesus records that a Monophysite priest named Julian converted the king and his nobles of Nobatia around 545. John of Ephesus also writes that the kingdom of Alodia was converted around 569. However, John of Bisclorum records that the kingdom of Makuria was converted to Roman Catholicism the same year, suggesting that John of Ephesus might be mistaken. Further doubt is cast on John's testimony by an entry in the chronicle of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Eutychius, which states that in 719 the church of Nubia transferred its allegiance from the Greek Orthodox to the Coptic Church. By the 7th century Makuria expanded becoming the dominant power in the region. It was strong enough to halt the southern expansion of Islam after the Arabs had taken Egypt. After several failed invasions the new rulers agreed to a treaty with Dogomba allowing for peaceful coexistence and trade. This treaty held for six hundred years. Over time the influx of Arab traders introduced Islam to Nubia and it gradually supplanted Christianity. While there are records of a bishop at Qasr Ibrim in 1372, his see had come to include that located at Faras. It is also clear that the "Royal" church at Dongola had been converted to a mosque around 1350.

Modern Nubia

In the 14th century the Dongolan government collapsed and the region became divided and dominated by Egypt. The next centuries would see several invasions of the region, as well as the establishment of a number of smaller kingdoms. Northern Nubia was brought under Egyptian control while the south came under the control of the Kingdom of Sennar in the sixteenth century. The entire region would come under Egyptian control during the rule of Mehemet Ali in the early nineteenth century, and later became a joint Anglo-Egyptian condominium. With the end of colonialism Nubia was divided between Egypt and Sudan. Many Egyptian Nubians were forcibly resettled to make room for Lake Nasser after the construction of the dams at Aswan. Nubian villages can now be found north of Aswan on the west bank of the Nile and on Elephantine Island, and many Nubians live in large cities such as Cairo.

See also


- Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
- Nubiology
- Nubian languages
- Pyramids of Nubia

Notes and references

Notes

# Fox, C.L., 'mtDNA analysis in ancient Nubians supports the existence of gene flow between sub-Sahara and North Africa in the Nile Valley', in Annals of Human Biology, 24, 3, 217–227. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9158841&itool=iconabstr (abstract)] # Joseph Greenberg as cited in Thelwall (1982).

References


- Thelwall, Robin (1978) 'Lexicostatistical relations between Nubian, Daju and Dinka', Études nubiennes: colloque de Chantilly, 2-6 juillet 1975, 265—286.
- Thelwall, Robin (1982) 'Linguistic Aspects of Greater Nubian History', in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 39–56. [http://www.thenubian.net/aspect.php online version]

External links


- http://www.napata.org
- [http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi1/1_retel1.htm Racism and the Rediscovery of Ancient Nubia]
- [http://impressions-ba.com/features.php?id_feature=10352 Kerma excavation] Category:Ancient peoples Category:Nubia

Berber

The Berbers (also called Imazighen, "free men", singular Amazigh) are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. There are between 14 and 25 million speakers of Berber languages in North Africa (see population estimation), principally concentrated in Morocco and Algeria but with smaller communities as far east as Egypt and as far south as Burkina Faso. Their languages, the Berber languages, form a branch of the Afroasiatic linguistic family comprising many closely related varieties, including Kabyle, Tashelhiyt, and Central Atlas Tamazight, with a total of roughly 14-25 million speakers.

Origin

There is no complete certitude about the origin of the Berbers; however, various disciplines shed light on the matter.

Genetic evidence

While population genetics is a young science still full of controversy, in general the genetic evidence appears to indicate that most northwest Africans (whether they consider themselves Berber or Arab) are predominantly of Berber origin, and that populations ancestral to the Berbers have been in the area since the Upper Paleolithic era. The genetically predominant ancestors of the Berbers appear to have come from the east - from East Africa, the Middle East, or both - but the details of this remain unclear. However, significant proportions of both the Berber and Arabized Berber gene pools derive from more recent migration of various Italic, Semitic, Germanic, and black sub-Saharan African peoples, all of whom have left their genetic footprints in the region. The Y chromosome is passed exclusively through the paternal line. According to [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v68n4/002582/002582.html Bosch et al. 2001], "the historical origins of the NW African Y-chromosome pool may be summarized as follows: 75% NW African Upper Paleolithic (H35, H36, and H38), 13% Neolithic (H58 and H71), 4% historic European gene flow (group IX, H50, H52), and 8% recent sub-Saharan African (H22 and H28)". They identify the "75% NW African Upper Paleolithic" component as "an Upper Paleolithic colonization that probably had its origin in eastern Africa." The interpretation of the second most frequent "Neolithic" haplotype is debated: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15202071 Arredi et al. 2004], like Semino et al. 2000 and Bosch et al. 2001, argue that the H71 haplogroup and North African Y-chromosomal diversity indicate a Neolithic-era "demic diffusion of Afro-Asiatic-speaking pastoralists from the Middle East", while [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=379148#RF17 Nebel et al. 2002] argue that H71 rather reflects "recent gene flow caused by the migration of Arabian tribes in the first millennium of the Common Era." Bosch et al. also find little genetic distinction between Arabic and Berber-speaking populations in North Africa, which they take to support the interpretation of the Arabization and Islamization of northwestern Africa, starting during the 7th century A.D., as cultural phenomena without extensive genetic replacement. [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v74n5/40866/40866.html Cruciani et al. 2004] note that the E-M81 haplogroup on the Y-chromosome correlates closely with Berber populations. The mtDNA, by contrast, is inherited only from the mother. According to [http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/~vincent/papers/980656.web.pdf Macaulay et al. 1999], "one-third of Mozabite Berber mtDNAs have a Near Eastern ancestry, probably having arrived in North Africa ∼50,000 years ago, and one-eighth have an origin in sub-Saharan Africa. Europe appears to be the source of many of the remaining sequences, with the rest having arisen either in Europe or in the Near East." [Maca-Meyer et al. 2003] analyze the "autochthonous North African lineage U6" in mtDNA, concluding that: : The most probable origin of the proto-U6 lineage was the Near East. Around 30,000 years ago it spread to North Africa where it represents a signature of regional continuity. Subgroup U6a reflects the first African expansion from the Maghrib returning to the east in Paleolithic times. Derivative clade U6a1 signals a posterior movement from East Africa back to the Maghrib and the Near East. This migration coincides with the probable Afroasiatic linguistic expansion. A genetic study by [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15180702 Fadhlaoui-Zid et al. 2004] argues concerning certain exclusively North African haplotypes that "expansion of this group of lineages took place around 10500 years ago in North Africa, and spread to neighbouring population", and apparently that a specific Northwestern African haplotype, U6, probably originated in the Near East 30,000 years ago but has not been highly preserved and accounts for 6-8% in southern Moroccan Berbers, 18% in Kabyles and 28% in Mozabites. Rando et al. 1998 (as cited by http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v68n4/002582/002582.html) "detected female-mediated gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa to NW Africa" amounting to as much as 21.5% of the mtDNA sequences in a sample of NW African populations; the amount varied from 82% (Touaregs) to 4% (Rifains). This north-south gradient in the sub-Saharan contribution to the gene pool is supported by [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15204363 Esteban et al.]

Archaeological

The Neolithic Capsian culture appeared in North Africa around 9,500 BC and lasted until possibly 2700 BC. Linguists and population geneticists alike have identified this culture as a probable period for the spread of an Afroasiatic language (ancestral to the modern Berber languages) to the area. The origins of the Capsian culture, however, are archeologically unclear. Some have regarded this culture's population as simply a continuation of the earlier Mesolithic Ibero-Maurusian culture, which appeared around ~22,000 BC, while others argue for a population change; the former view seems to be supported by dental evidence[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11006048]

Linguistic

The Berber languages form a branch of Afro-Asiatic, and thus descended from the proto-Afro-Asiatic language; on the basis of linguistic migration theory, this is most commonly believed by historical linguists (notably Igor Diakonoff and Christopher Ehret) to have originated in east Africa no earlier than 12,000 years ago, although Alexander Militarev argues instead for an origin in the Middle East. Ehret specifically suggests identifying the Capsian culture with speakers of languages ancestral to Berber and/or Chadic, and sees the Capsian culture as having been brought there from the African coast of the Red Sea. It is still disputed which branches of Afro-Asiatic are most closely related to Berber, but most linguists accept at least one of Semitic and Chadic as among its closest relatives within the family (see Afro-Asiatic languages#Classification history.) The Nobiin variety of Nubian contains several Berber loanwords, according to Bechhaus-Gerst, suggesting a former geographical distribution extending further southeast than the present.

Phenotype and genotype by region

The appearance and the genetic make-up of Berbers is best examined together with that of their fellow Arabic-speaking inhabitants of North Africa; both share a predominant Berber ancestry.

Coastal Northwest Africans

genotype About 75% of Northwest Africans live on the coast. Berber groups such as the Rifains and Kabyles have the least sub-Saharan admixture (~2%) and the highest European admixture (~15%); Arabic-speaking groups have about 7% sub-Saharan admixture overall. Berber groups in this zone include:
- Kabyles
- Chawis
- Rifains
- Amazighs
- Chenwas

Northwest Africans of the interior

Chawis About 20% of Northwest Africans live between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara; these groups have a moderate sub-Saharan admixture (~20%), including:
- Mozabites.
- Shleuhs.

Saharan Northwest Africans

Shleuhs About 5% of Northwest Africans live in the Sahara; these groups have the highest West African admixture, sometimes reaching 80-90% among the Tuaregs. They include:
- Touaregs
- Saharan Berbers, Oasis Berbers.

Religions and beliefs

Berbers are predominantly Sunni Muslim, most belonging to the Maliki madhhab, while the Mozabites, Djerbans, and Nafusis of the northern Sahara are Ibadi Muslim. Sufi tariqas are common in the western areas, but rarer in the east; marabout cults were traditionally important in most areas. Before their conversion to Islam, some Berber groups had converted to Christianity (often Donatist ) or Judaism, while others had continued to practice traditional polytheism. Under the influence of Islamic culture, some syncretic religions briefly emerged, as among the Berghouata, only to be replaced by Islam.

History

The Berbers have lived in North Africa for as far back as records of the area go. References to them occur frequently in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sources. Berber groups are first mentioned in writing by the ancient Egyptians during the Predynastic Period, and during the New Kingdom the Egyptians later fought against the Meshwesh and Lebu (Libyans) tribes on their western borders. Many Egyptologists think that from about 945 BC the Egyptians were ruled by Meshwesh immigrants who founded the Twenty-second Dynasty under Shoshenq I, beginning a long period of Berber rule in Egypt, although others posit different origins for these dynasties, including Nubian ones. The Byzantine chroniclers often complain of the Mazikes (Amazigh) raiding outlying monasteries, and berbers long remained the main population of the Western Desert well into the Nineteenth century. For many centuries the Berbers inhabited the coast of North Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. In historical times, they have expanded south into the Sahara (displacing earlier black African populations such as the Azer and Bafour), and have in turn been mainly culturally assimilated in much of North Africa by Arabs, particularly following the incursion of the Banu Hilal in the 11th century.

Berbers and the Islamic conquest

Unlike the conquests of previous religions and cultures, the coming of Islam, which was spread by Arabs, was to have pervasive and long-lasting effects on the Maghrib. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics, and in large part replacing tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms. Nonetheless, the Islamization and Arabization of the region were complicated and lengthy processes. Whereas nomadic Berbers were quick to convert and assist the Arab conquerors, not until the twelfth century under the Almohad Dynasty did the Christian and Jewish communities become totally marginalized. The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghrib, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. These early forays from a base in Egypt occurred under local initiative rather than under orders from the central caliphate. When the seat of the caliphate moved from Medina to Damascus, however, the Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty ruling from 661 to 750) recognized that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. In 670, therefore, an Arab army under Uqba ibn Nafi established the town of Al Qayrawan about 160 kilometers south of present-day Tunis and used it as a base for further operations. Abu al Muhajir Dinar, Uqba's successor, pushed westward into Algeria and eventually worked out a modus vivendi with Kusayla, the ruler of an extensive confederation of Christian Berbers. Kusayla, who had been based in Tilimsan (Tlemcen), became a Muslim and moved his headquarters to Takirwan, near Al Qayrawan. This harmony was short-lived, however. Arab and Berber forces controlled the region in turn until 697. By 711 Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa. Governors appointed by the Umayyad caliphs ruled from Al Qayrawan, capital the new wilaya (province) of Ifriqiya, which covered Tripolitania (the western part of present-day Libya), Tunisia, and eastern Algeria. Paradoxically, the spread of Islam among the Berbers did not guarantee their support for the Arab-dominated caliphate. The ruling Arabs alienated the Berbers by taxing them heavily; treating converts as second-class Muslims; and, at worst, by enslaving them. As a result, widespread opposition took the form of open revolt in 739-40 under the banner of Kharijite Islam. The Kharijites objected to Ali, the fourth caliph, making peace with the Umayyads in 657 and left Ali's camp (khariji means "those who leave"). The Kharijites had been fighting Umayyad rule in the East, and many Berbers were attracted by the sect's egalitarian precepts. For example, according to Kharijism, any suitable Muslim candidate could be elected caliph without regard to race, station, or descent from the Prophet Muhammad. After the revolt, Kharijites established a number of theocratic tribal kingdoms, most of which had short and troubled histories. Others, however, like Sijilmasa and Tilimsan, which straddled the principal trade routes, proved more viable and prospered. In 750 the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads as Muslim rulers, moved the caliphate to Baghdad and reestablished caliphal authority in Ifriqiya, appointing Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab as governor in Al Qayrawan. Although nominally serving at the caliph's pleasure, Al Aghlab and his successors, the Aghlabids, ruled independently until 909, presiding over a court that became a center for learning and culture. Just to the west of Aghlabid lands, Abd ar Rahman ibn Rustam ruled most of the central Maghrib from Tahert, southwest of Algiers. The rulers of the Rustamid imamate, which lasted from 761 to 909, each an Ibadi Kharijite imam, were elected by leading citizens. The imams gained a reputation for honesty, piety, and justice. The court at Tahert was noted for its support of scholarship in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology, as well as theology and law. The Rustamid imams, however, failed, by choice or by neglect, to organize a reliable standing army. This important factor, accompanied by the dynasty's eventual collapse into decadence, opened the way for Tahert's demise under the assault of the Fatimids.

Berbers in Al-Andalus

The Muslims who entered Iberia in 711 were mainly Berbers, and were led by a Berber, Tariq ibn Ziyad