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Rye

Rye

References:
[http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=42089 ITIS 42089] 2002-09-22 Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used to make flour, feed, some whiskeys and most vodkas. Rye, alone or overseeded, is planted as a livestock forage or harvested for hay. It is highly tolerant of soil acidity and is more tolerant of dry and cool conditions than wheat, though not as tolerant of cold as barley. The first possible use of domestic rye comes from the site of Tell Abu Hureyra in northern Syria, in the Euphrates Valley, dating to late Epi-Palaeolithic. Rye was not one of the main cereals of Classical Antiquity. Probably it was only an accidental plant occurring in small numbers in most wheat fields. Since the middle ages, it is widely cultivated in Central and Eastern Europe and is the main bread cereal in most areas east of the French-German border and north of Hungary. Some non-food uses of rye include rye whiskey and medical uses of rye extract. Its straw is used to make corn dollies. The flame moth, the turnip moth are among the species of lepidoptera whose larvae feed on rye.

Poaceae

There are 7 subfamilies:
Subfamily Arundinoideae
Subfamily Bambusoideae
Subfamily Centothecoideae
Subfamily Chloridoideae
Subfamily Panicoideae
Subfamily Pooideae
Subfamily Stipoideae
The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, also known as Gramineae. There are about 600 genera and perhaps 10,000 species of grasses. It is estimated grasslands comprise 20% of the vegetation cover of the earth. This family is the most important of all plant families to human economies, including lawn and forage grasses, the staple food grains grown around the world, and bamboo, widely used for construction throughout Asia. Grasses generally have the following characteristics:
- Typically hollow stems (called culms), plugged at intervals (the nodes).
- Leaves, arising at nodes, alternate, distichous (in one plane) or rarely spiral, and parallel-veined.
- Leaves differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem for a distance and a blade with margin usually entire; a ligule (a membranous appendage or ring of hairs) lies at the junction between sheath and blade.
- Small, wind-pollinated flowers (called florets) sheathed inside two glumes (bracts), lacking petals, and grouped into spikelets, these arranged in a panicle, raceme, spike, or head.
- Fruit that is a caryopsis. Until recently grasses were thought to have evolved around 55 million years ago, based on fossil records. However, recent findings of 65-million-year-old grass phytoliths including ancestors of rice and bamboo in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites ([http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17334781.htm], [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/310/5751/1126]), places the diversification of grasses to an earlier date. The growth of grasses from the base of the blade rather than from growing tips gave the grasses an edge under the pressures of grazing herbivores.

Cultivation and uses

coprolite Agricultural grasses grown for human food production are called cereals. Cereals constitute the major source of food energy for humans and perhaps the major source of protein, and include rice in South and Southeast Asia, maize in Central and South America, and wheat and barley in the Americas and North Eurasia. Many other grasses are also grown for forage and fodder for animal food, particularly for sheep and cattle. Some commonly known grass plants are:
- maize
- wheat
- rice
- rye
- ryegrass
- sugarcane
- barley
- bamboo

External links and references

- [http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/grasses-db/sppindex.htm Kew Index of World Grass Species]
- [http://forages.oregonstate.edu/projects/regrowth/main.cfm?PageID=11 Definitions of Grass structures]
- [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/graminea.htm Poaceae] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz] (1992 onwards). [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ The families of flowering plants:] descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.
- L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). [http://delta-intkey.com/grass/ The grass genera of the world:] descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references. Category:Grasses Category: gardening Category:Plant families Category:Poales ja:イネ科 th:หญ้า

Barley

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. Barley is the fifth largest cultivated cereal crop in the world (570,000 km²). Its germination time is anywhere from 1-3 days.

History

Cultivated barley is descended from Wild Barley (Hordeum spontaneum), which still can be found in the Middle East. Both luder forms are diploid (2n=14 chromosomes). All variants of barley produce viable seed when crossed and are thus considered to belong to one and the same species today. The major difference between wild and domesticated barley is the brittle rachis of the former, which is conducive to self-propagation. The earliest finds of barley come from Epi-Paleolithic sites in the Levant, beginning in the Natufian. The first domesticated barley has been found in the aceramic neolithic layers (PPN B) of Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria. The domestication seems to be contemporaneous to that of wheat. Barley, seen as an ancient and central gift of the earth, had ritual significance, probably from the earliest stages of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The preparatory kykeon or mixed drink of the initiates, prepared from barley and herbs, was referred to in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, who was also called "Barley-mother". Greek practice was to dry the barley groats and roast them before preparing the porridge, according to Pliny the Elder's Natural History (xviii.72). This produces a malt that soon ferments and becomes slightly alcoholic.

Cultivars

malt Barley may be divided into two major cultivar groups, fall and spring, to which may be added a bastard variety called bear or bigg, which affords similar nutriment or substance, though of inferior quality. The spring is cultivated like oats; the fall, like fall wheat. Early barley, under various names, was formerly sown in Britain upon lands that had been previously summer-fallowed, or were in high condition. The most proper seed season for spring barley is any time in March or April, though good crops have been produced by seeds sown at a much later period. Barley can be divided by the number of kernel rows in the head. Three species have been cultivated; two-row barley (Hordeum distichum), four-row (Hordeum tetrastichum L. and six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare) according to the traditional terminology. In two-row barley only one flower is fertile, two in the four-row variety, in the six-row variety all three; modern barley growing largely uses H. vulgare. Two-row barley is the oldest form, wild barley having two rows as well. Two-row barley has a lower protein content than six-row barley but a higher enzyme content. High protein barley is best suited for animal feed or malt that has a large adjunct content. Two-row barley is best suited for pure malts. Four-row is unsuitable for brewing. There are naked and hulled barleys, the hulled barleys being the older forms. Barley is widely adaptable and is currently a major crop of the temperate and tropical areas.

Production

The 2004 world production of barley in MT (metric tons), as per country, according to [http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/servlet/XteServlet3?Areas=%3E862&Items=44&Elements=51&Years=2004&Format=Table&Xaxis=Years&Yaxis=Countries&Aggregate=&Calculate=&Domain=SUA&ItemTypes=Production.Crops.Primary&language=EN FAOSTAT] was as follows;
- 1. Russian Federation 17,179,740
- 2. Canada 13,186,400
- 3. Germany 12,993,000
- 4. Ukraine 11,068,800
- 5. France 11,040,214
- 6. Spain 10,608,700
- 7. Turkey 9,000,000
- 8. Australia 6,454,000
- 9. USA 6,080,020
- 10. UK 5,860,000 The total world production for 2004 was 153,624,393 MT, the world production in 1974 was 148,818,870 MT, an increase of a mere 3.2%.

Yield

The average yield in 2004 was 26,804 Hg/HA (Hectograms per Hectare), while in 1974 was 19,525 Hg/HA, an improvement of 37%. As per country the yield of production in 2004 was as follows;
- 1. France 67,732
- 2. UK 58,251
- 3. Germany 58,108
- 4. USA 37,364
- 5. Spain 33,462
- 6. Canada 32,562
- 7. Turkey 25,714
- 8. Ukraine 24,535
- 9. Australia 17,983
- 10. Russian Federation 17,966

Uses

Russian Federation Barley is a staple food for humans and other animals. It is more tolerant of salts than wheat, which might explain the increase of barley cultivation on Mesopotamia from the 2nd Millennium BC onwards. Barley can still thrive in conditions that are too cold even for rye. Malting barley is a key ingredient in beer and whiskey production. The 1881 Household Cyclopedia adds:

Next to wheat the most valuable grain is barley, especially on light and sharp soils. It is a tender grain and easily hurt in any of the stages of its growth, particularly at seed time; a heavy shower of rain will then almost ruin a crop on the best prepared land; and in all the after processes greater pains and attention are required to ensure success than in the case of other grains. The harvest process is difficult, and often attended with danger; even the threshing of it is not easily executed with machines, because the awn generally adheres to the grain, and renders separation from the straw a troublesome task. Barley, in fact, is raised at greater expense than wheat, and generally speaking is a more hazardous crop. Except upon rich and genial soils, where climate will allow wheat to be perfectly reared, it ought not to be cultivated.
Preparation of ground
Barley is chiefly taken after turnips, sometimes after peas and beans, but rarely by good farmers either after wheat or oats, unless under special circumstances. When sown after turnips it is generally taken with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips are consumed, the ground thus receiving much benefit from the spring frosts. But often two, or more furrows are necessary for the fields last consumed, because when a spring drought sets in, the surface, from being poached by the removal or consumption of the crop, gets so hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, harrowing and rolling necessary than would otherwise be called for. When sown after beans and peas, one winter and one spring ploughing are usually bestowed: but when after wheat or oats, three ploughings are necessary, so that the ground may be put in proper condition. These operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and rarely in that case is the grower paid for the expense of his labor. Where land is in such a situation as to require three ploughings before it can be seeded with barley, it is better to summer-fallow it at once than to run the risks which seldom fail to accompany a quantity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, moisture is lost during the different processes, and an imperfect braird necessarily follows; if it be wet the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils of a wet seed time are sustained by the future crop.

The quantity sown is different in different cases, according to the quality of the soil and other circumstances. Upon very rich lands eight pecks per acre [110 kg/ha] are sometimes sown; twelve [160 kg/ha] is very common, and upon poor land more is sometimes given.

By good judges a quantity of seed is sown sufficient to ensure a full crop, without depending on its sending out offsets; indeed, where that is done few offsets are produced, the crop grows and ripens equally, and the grain is uniformly good. The small bristles on the top of the barley are called 'awn'

Roasted barley is also made into a hot drink in some parts of the world. In Italy, for instance, a "caffé d'orzo" is an espresso style drink made from ground roasted barley. When prepared from the roasted barley directly, it can be made in many standard espresso or coffee makers. Although traditionally considered a coffee substitute for children, it is an increasingly common choice in Italy and other places for those who choose to eschew coffee for health reasons. In the United States, instant roasted barley drinks are sold under the name of "Postum", "Pero", and others, including varieties of "café de cebada" in Latin American markets.

Reference

- [http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=40865 ITIS 40865 2002-09-22] Category:Cereals Category:Grasses ko:보리 ja:オオムギ

Whiskey

Whisky (or whiskey) is an alcoholic beverage distilled from grain, often including malt, which has then been aged in wooden barrels.

Spelling

The spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for those distilled in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, while whiskey (with an e; plural whiskeys) is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and the United States; however, there are exceptions. Kentucky, for example, usually spells its produce "whisky". A mnemonic used to remember which spelling is used is that "Ireland" and "United States" have at least one "e" in their names, while "Scotland," "Canada" and "Japan" do not. International law reserves the term "Scotch whisky" to those whiskies produced in Scotland; whiskies produced in other countries in the Scotch style must use another name. Similar conventions exist for "Irish whiskey," "Canadian whisky," and "Bourbon Whiskey." In North America, the abbreviated term "Scotch" is usually used for "Scotch Whisky." In England, Scotland, and Wales, the term "Whisky" almost always refers to "Scotch Whisky", and the term "Scotch" is rarely used by itself. The Welsh version is wysgi. The name is derived from Gaelic uisge beatha (water of life). (Other countries also have their own "water of life": see the Scandinavian Akvavit or Italian Grappa, whose name derives from the Latin aqua vitae.) Irish whiskey is typically distilled three times from a mash of several grains. Scottish whisky is typically distilled twice, either from barley malt alone (see single malt whisky), or from barley malts and other grain malts which are then mixed together. Kentucky whisky, called Bourbon, is normally only distilled once, as are most other American and Canadian whiskeys.

Characteristics

Bourbon Whisky is drunk straight, with water or ice, or mixed with other spirits or drinks (such as "Rye & Coke" or "Rye & Ginger"). Whisky is sold in several styles. Malt whisky consists of whisky made from 100 percent malted barley, whereas malt whisky from one distillery, rather than blended, is called single malt. The grains used to make malt whisky include barley in Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the United States, rye in Canada and the United States, and corn in the United States. Pure pot still whiskey is made in Ireland from a combination of malted and unmalted barley. Various types of straight whiskey, such as Rye whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, and Bourbon whiskey which are produced in the U.S. are aged in charred, oak barrels. Blended whisky is made from a combination of any of the above whiskies with the similar grain whisky or neutral grain spirits, which are much less expensive to produce than the other types of whisky. Blends will almost always identify the type of base whisky used, ie. blended Scotch, blended Canadian, or blended Bourbon. Light whiskey is a style of American whiskey made up almost entirely of neutral grain spirits, with small amounts (typically less than 5 - 10 percent total volume) of straight whiskey and sherry added for flavor and coloring. At one time much of the whiskey produced in the U.S. was "Bottled-in-Bond" according to the dictates of an [1898] Act of Congress; this practice has been largely discontinued, because one of the requirements of the Act was that such whiskey be produced at 100 U.S. alcoholic proof (50% alcohol by volume). Whiskey this potent is rare in the U.S. anymore, partially because of changing public tastes but also because an alcoholic content so high is illegal in many countries, limiting the export market for it.

Whiskey-based drinks

- List of cocktails

External links

- [http://www.thewhiskyguide.com/ The Whisky Guide]
- [http://www.whiskymag.com/ Whisky Magazine]
- [http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/ Scotch Whisky and distilleries]

Other Concepts

Whiskey is also the letter W in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
- Category:Alcoholic beverages Category:Distilled beverages Category:Scottish society Category:Economy of Scotland Category:Scottish cuisine Category:Scottish cultural icons ko:위스키 ja:ウイスキー

Wheat

T. aestivum
T. aethiopicum
T. araraticum
T. boeoticum
T. carthlicum
T. compactum
T. dicoccon
T. durum
T. ispahanicum
T. karamyschevii
T. militinae
T. monococcum
T. polonicum
T. spelta
T. timopheevii
T. trunciale
T. turanicum
T. turgidum
T. urartu
T. vavilovii
T. zhukovskyi
References:
[http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=42236 ITIS 42236] 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp.) is a grass that is cultivated around the world. Globally, it is the second-largest cereal crop behind maize; the third being rice. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour, livestock feed and as an ingredient in the brewing of beer. The husk can be separated and ground into bran. Wheat is also planted strictly as a forage crop for livestock and as straw, too.

History

Domestic wheat originated in southwest Asia in what is now known as the Fertile Crescent. The oldest archaeological evidence for wheat cultivation comes from Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, and Iraq. Around 9000 years ago, wild einkorn wheat was harvested and domesticated in the first archeological signs of sedentary farming in the fertile crescent. Around 8,000 years ago though, a mutation or hybridization occurred within emmer wheat, resulting in a plant with seeds that were larger, but could not sow themselves on the wind (see domestication). While this plant could not have succeeded in the wild, it produced more food for humans, and within cultivated fields, it outcompeted plants with smaller, self-sowing seeds to become the primary ancestor of modern wheat breeds. A wild ancestor (Triticum turgidum dicoccoides (Körn.)) of one of the earliest domesticated forms of emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum dicoccum (Schrank.)), was discovered in the region of Palestine by Aaron Aaronsohn in 1906. The cultivation of wheat began to spread into Europe beginning in the Neolithic period.

Genetics & Breeding

Wheat genetics is more complicated than domesticated animal genetics. Wheat is capable of polyploidism, or having more than two sets of chromosomes (diploid). Many wheat breeds not only have differences in their genomes but also in the number of chromosomes they carry. Four out of five of the most common wheat breeds are the results of hybridization. Einkorn wheat is diploid (2x chromosomes) and can be considered the "grandfather" breed of wheat. Einkorn wheat hybridized with another wild diploid grass (Triticum speltoides, Triticum tripsacoides or Triticum searsii) made the tetraploid (4x chromosomes) breeds, Emmer and Durum wheat. Emmer and Durum wheat hybridized with yet another wild diploid grass (Triticum tauschii) made the hexaploid (6x chromosomes) breeds Spelt wheat and Common wheat. It is debatable whether emmer wheat was naturally or intentionally hybridized: to interbreed emmer wheat’s ancestors required a chromosome duplication mutation, a mutation that does not seem survivable naturally for more than a few generations for wheat. All of this genetic engineering (hybridizing) was conducted thousands of years ago by ancient farmers completely unaware of modern genetics or the difficulty of hybridizing polyploid plants.

Cultivars

There are many taxonomic classification systems used for wheat species. It is good to keep in mind that the name of a wheat species from one information source may not be the name of a wheat species in another information source. [http://www.ksu.edu/wgrc/Taxonomy/taxintro.html] Wheat cultivars are classified by growing season, such as winter wheat vs. spring wheat, and by gluten content, such as hard wheat (high gluten content) or soft wheat (high starch content).

Major cultivar groups of wheat

- Common Wheat - (T. aestivum) A hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in the world.
- Einkorn - (T. monococcum) A diploid species with wild and cultivated variants. One of the earliest cultivated but rarely planted today.
- Emmer - (T. turgidum var. dicoccum) A tetraploid species, with wild and cultivated variants. Cultivated in ancient times but no longer in widespread usage.
- Durum - (T. turgidum var. durum) The only tetraploid form of wheat widely used today.
- Kamut® or QK-77 - (T. turgidum var. polonicum) A tetraploid species grown in small quantities that is extensively marketed. Originally from the Middle East
- Spelt - (T. spelta) Another hexaploid species cultivated in limited quantities. Spelt Spelt

Economics

Harvested wheat grain is classified according to grain properties (see below) for the purposes of the commodities market. Wheat buyers use the classifications to help determine which wheat to purchase as each class has special uses. Wheat producers determine which classes of wheat are the most profitable to cultivate with this system. Wheat is widely cultivated as a cash crop because it produces a good yield per unit area, grows well in a temperate climate even with a moderately short growing season, and yields a versatile, high-quality flour that is widely used in baking. Most breads are made with wheat flour, even many breads named for the other grains they contain, including most rye and oat breads. Many other popular foods are made from wheat flour as well, resulting in a large demand for the grain even in economies with a significant food surplus.

Production and consumption statistics

In the 2004 crop year, global wheat production totalled 624 million tonnes and the top wheat producing countries were: # China: 91.3 million tonnes # India: 72 million tonnes # United States: 58.8 million tonnes # Russian Federation: 42.2 million tonnes # France: 39 million tonnes # Germany: 25.3 million tonnes # Australia: 22.5 million tonnes 1997 global per capita wheat consumption was 101 kg, led by Denmark at 623 kg. Past International wheat production statistics.

Agronomy

Crop development

International wheat production statistics Crop management decisions require the knowledge of stage of development of the crop. In particular, spring fertilizers applications, herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators are typically applied at specific stages of plant development. For example, current recommendations often indicate the second application of nitrogen be done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about 1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale). Knowledge of stages is also interesting to identify periods of higher risk, in terms of climate. For example, the meïosis stage is extremely suceptible to low temperatures (under 4 °C) or high temperatures (over 25 °C). Farmers also benefit from knowing when the flag leaf (last leaf) appears as this leaf represents about 75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period and as such should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to ensure a good yield. Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes and Zadoks scales being the most widely used. Each scale is a standard system which describes successive stages reached by the crop during the agricultural season.

Wheat stages

- Wheat at the anthesis stage (face and side view)

Diseases

Wheat is subject to more diseases than other grains, and, in some seasons, especially in wet ones, heavier losses are sustained from those diseases than are felt in the culture of other cereal crops. Wheat may suffer from the attack of insects at the root; from blight, which primarily affects the leaf or straw, and ultimately deprives the grain of sufficient nourishment; from mildew on the ear; and from gum of different shades, which lodges on the chaff or cups in which the grain is deposited. Examples of wheat diseases: Bacterial diseases
- Bacterial leaf blight Pseudomonas syringae subsp. syringae
- Bacterial sheath rot Pseudomonas fuscovaginae
- Basal glume rot Pseudomonas syringae pv. atrofaciens
- Black chaff = bacterial streak Xanthomonas campestris pv. translucens
- Pink seed Erwinia rhapontici Fungal diseases
- Alternaria leaf blight Alternaria triticina
- Anthracnose Colletotrichum graminicola
- Ascochyta leaf spot Ascochyta tritici
- Black head molds = sooty molds Alternaria spp., Cladosporium spp.
- Common bunt = stinking smut T. tritici, T. laevis
- Downy mildew = crazy top Sclerophthora macrospora
- Dwarf bunt Tilletia controversa
- Ergot Claviceps purpurea
- Foot rot = dryland foot rot Fusarium spp.
- Leaf rust = brown rust Puccinia triticina
- Pink snow mold = Fusarium patch Microdochium nivale
- Powdery mildew = Blumeria graminis
- Scab = head blight Fusarium spp., Gibberella zeae, Microdochium nivale
- Septoria blotch Septoria tritici = Mycospharella graminicola
- Smut = Ustilaginomycotina clade of the class Teliomycetae, subphylum Basidiomycota
- Storage moulds Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. Nematodes, parasitic
- Grass cyst nematode Punctodera punctata
- Root gall nematode Subanguina spp. Viral diseases and viruslike agents
- Agropyron mosaic genus Rymovirus, Agropyron mosaic virus (AgMV)
- Barley stripe mosaic genus Hordeivirus, Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV)
- Oat sterile dwarf genus Fijivirus, Oat sterile dwarf virus (OSDV)
- Tobacco mosaic genus Tobamovirus, Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)
- Wheat dwarf genus Monogeminivirus, Wheat dwarf virus (WDV)
- Wheat yellow mosaic Wheat yellow mosaic bymovirus Phytoplasmal diseases
- Aster yellows phytoplasma Link between air pollution and septoria blotch A team of researchers examined a library of British wheat samples dating back to 1843. For each year, they determined the levels of Phaeosphaeria nodorum and Mycospharella graminicola DNA in the samples. After accounting for influences such as growing and harvesting methods and weather conditions, they compared the DNA data with estimates of emissions of air pollutants. The effect of sulfur dioxide correlated with the abundance of the two fungi. P. nodrum grew more successful with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. M. graminicola was more abundant before 1870 and since the 1970s. The success since the 1970s is a reflection of reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions due to environmental regulations. (Bearchell, et al., 2005)

Pests

Wheat is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including The Flame, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Turnip Moth.

Wheat in the United States

Classes used in the United States are
- Durum - Very hard, translucent, light colored grain used to make semolina flour for pasta.
- Hard Red Spring - Hard, brownish, high protein wheat used for bread and hard baked goods.
- Hard Red Winter - Hard, brownish, very high protein wheat used for bread, hard baked goods and as an adjunct in other flours to increase protein.
- Soft Red Winter - Soft, brownish, medium protein wheat used for bread.
- Hard White - Hard, light colored, opaque, chalky, medium protein wheat planted in dry, temperate areas. Used for bread and brewing
- Soft White - Soft, light colored, very low protein wheat grown in temperate moist areas. Used for bread. Hard wheats are harder to process and red wheats may need bleaching. Therefore, soft and white wheats usually command higher prices than hard and red wheats on the commodities market. Much of the following text is taken from the Household Cyclopedia of 1881: Wheat may be classed under two principal divisions, though each of these admits of several subdivisions. The first is composed of all the varieties of red wheat. The second division comprehends the whole varieties of white wheat, which again may be arranged under two distinct heads, namely, thick-chaffed and thin-chaffed. Thick-chaffed wheat varieties were the most widely used before 1799, as they generally make the best quality flour, and in dry seasons, equal the yields of thin-chaffed varieties. However, thick-chaffed varieties are particularly susceptible to mildew, while thin-chaffed varieties are quite hardy and in general are more resistant to mildew. Consequently, a widespread outbreak of mildew in 1799 began a gradual decline in the popularity of thick-chaffed varieties.

References

-
- Bonjean, A.P., and W.J. Angus (editors). The World Wheat Book: a history of wheat breeding. Lavoisier Publ., Paris. 1131 pp. (2001). ISBN 2-7430-0402-9.

External links

- [http://www.kswheat.com/ The Kansas Wheat Commission].
- [http://www.ndwheat.com/ The North Dakota Wheat Commission].
- [http://www.cimmyt.org/ CIMMYT] – Web site of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
- [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/crops/wheat.html Triticum species] at Purdue University
- [http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/168/2/1087 A Workshop Report on Wheat Genome Sequencing]
- [http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pdf/54.pdf Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Hulled Wheats] (PDF) July 1995
- [http://www.genome.org/cgi/content/full/10/10/1509 Molecular Genetic Maps in Wild Emmer Wheat] Category:Cereals Category:Grains Category:Grasses ja:コムギ

Tell Abu Hureyra

Tell Abu Hureyra ("tell" is arabic for "mount") was a site of an ancient settlement in the northern Levant or western Mesopotamia. It has been cited as showing the earliest known evidence of agriculture anywhere. It is located on a plateau near a south bank of the Euphrates River, presently beneath Lake Assad in northern Syria to the east of Aleppo.[5] There were two separate periods of settlement, with a period of abandonment between. An Epipalaeolithic settlement was established around 11,500 BC [3], probably by the Natufian culture in an northeast expansion from their earlier settlements in the southern Levant. It consisted of a small number of round huts, probably constructed from degradable materials such as wood and brush, with the settlement housing a few hundred people at most. During this time most food was obtained from hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants. Huts contained underground storage areas for food. The main animal hunted was gazelle during its annual migration, with other large wild animals such as onager, sheep and cattle killed occasionally and smaller animals such as hare, fox and birds were hunted throughout the year. Wild plants harvested included einkorn wheat and emmer wheat and two varieties of rye. Evidence has been found for cultivation of rye from 11,050 BC [7]. It has been suggested that drier climate conditions resulting from the beginning of the Younger Dryas caused wild cereals to become scarce, leading the people to begin cultivation as a means of securing a food supply. Results of recent analysis of the rye grains from this level suggest that they may actually have been domesticated during the Epi-Palaeolithic. After a period of abandoment, a Neolithic settlement was established, perhaps 10 times as large as the earlier settlement and one of the largest at that time in the Middle East. Mud-brick houses were constructed and a large mound was built up under the settlement mainly from the remains of old houses. An increasingly wide variety of plants were cultivated and examination of human skeletons has shown various deformities that have been associated with laborious agricultural work, particularly the grinding of grain.[9]. Animals were also herded. Pottery was used from around 6000 BC and weaving some time before that. The village was abandoned around 5900 BC [4] Archaeology The site was excavated in 1972 and 1973 as a rescue operation before it was flooded under Lake Assad, which was the reservoir of the newly constructed Tabqa Dam. A large amount of material was recovered and studied over the following decades. A preliminary report was published in 1983 and a final report in 2000 [2]. References and external links #http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba51/ba51news.html #Village on the Euphrates, A.M.T. Moore, G.C. Hillman, and A.J. Legge (2000). -- http://www.rit.edu/~698awww/statement.html -- http://super5.arcl.ed.ac.uk/a1/module_1/sum4b1c.htm #Estimated calibration of 11500 radiocarbon years BP from [2]. #estimated calibration of 7000 radiocarbon years BP from [2]. #, according to http://users.ox.ac.uk/~orau/dl_am21.html #BBC article -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_489000/489449.stm #estimated calibration of 11,000 BP as cited in [2]. See also Moore, et al [2000] Village on the Euphrates. Oxford University Press. #http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/anthro/asb222/projects/project15.html #Theya Molleson, http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi960.htm Abu Hureyra Category:Ancient history Category:History of Syria

Classical antiquity

:This article describes the ancient classical period. For the classical period in music (second half of the 18th century), see classical music era. Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD), to end in the dissolution of Classical culture with the close of Late Antiquity. Such a wide sampling of history and territory covers many rather disparate cultures and periods. "Classical antiquity" typically refers to an idealized vision of later people, of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, "the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome!" In the 18th and 19th centuries reverence for classical antiquity was much greater in Western Europe and the United States than it is today. Respect for the "ancients" of Greece and Rome affected politics, philosophy, sculpture, literature, theatre, education, and even architecture and sexuality. In politics, the presence of a Roman Emperor was felt to be desirable long after the empire fell. This tendency reached its peak when Charlemagne was crowned "Roman Emperor" in the year 800, an act which led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. The notion that an emperor is a monarch who outranks a mere king dates from this period. In this political ideal, there would always be a Roman Empire, a state whose jurisdiction extended to the entire civilised world. Epic poetry in Latin continued to be written and circulated well into the nineteenth century. John Milton and even Arthur Rimbaud got their first poetic educations in Latin. Genres like epic poetry, pastoral verse, and the endless use of characters and themes from Greek mythology left a deep mark on Western literature. In architecture, there have been several Greek Revivals, which seem more inspired in retrospect by Roman architecture than Greek. Still, one needs only to look at Washington, DC to see a city filled with large marble buildings with façades made out to look like Roman temples, with columns constructed in the classical orders of architecture. In philosophy, the efforts of St Thomas Aquinas were derived largely from the thought of Aristotle, despite the intervening change in religion from paganism to Christianity. Greek and Roman authorities such as Hippocrates and Galen formed the foundation of the practice of medicine even longer than Greek thought prevailed in philosophy. In the French theatre, tragedians such as Molière and Racine wrote plays on mythological or classical historical subjects and subjected them to the strict rules of the classical unities derived from Aristotle's Poetics. The desire to dance like a latter-day vision of how the ancient Greeks did it moved Isadora Duncan to create her brand of ballet. The Renaissance discovery of Classical Antiquity is a book by Roberto Weiss on how the renaissance was partly caused by the rediscovery of classic antiquity. "Classical antiquity," then, is the contemporary vision of Greek and Roman culture by their admirers from the more recent past. It remains a vision that many people in the twenty-first century continue to find compelling.

Subtopics

Geographical:
- Ancient Greece
- Hellenistic Greece
- Ancient Rome
- Roman Britain
- Roman Iberia
- Ancient Macedonia
- Ancient Troy
- Gaul
- Germania
- Ancient history of Cyprus
- Carthage
- Roman Iron Age, for the Roman period in Scandinavia and Northern Germany
- The Balkans in classical antiquity
- Late Antiquity Topical:
- Classical architecture
- Classical orders
- Classical education

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. The Middle Ages of Western Europe are commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies, the start of European overseas exploration, the humanist revival, and the Protestant Reformation starting in 1517. These various changes all mark the beginning of the Early Modern period that preceded the Industrial Revolution. The Middle Ages are commonly referred to as the medieval period or medieval times or simply medieval.

The Early Middle Ages

medieval flourished in the early Middle Ages: Hildesheim.]] As the authority of the Roman Empire dwindled in Western Europe, its territories were entered and settled by succeeding waves of "barbarian" tribal confederations, some of whom distrusted and rejected the classical culture of Rome, while others, like the Goths admired it and considered themselves the legatees and heirs of Rome. Prominent among these peoples in the movement were the Huns and Avars and Magyars with the large number of Germanic and later Slavic peoples. The era of the migrations is referred to as the Migration Period. It has historically been termed the "Dark Ages" by Western European historians, and as Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples") by German historians. The term "Dark Ages" has now fallen from favour, partly to avoid the entrenched stereotypes associated with the phrase, but also partly because more recent research into the period has in fact revealed its surprising artistic sophistication, though its political and social senses were unevolved and its technologies undeveloped, compared to the preceding culture. Although the settled population of the Roman period were not everywhere decimated, the new peoples greatly altered established society, and with it, law, culture and religion, and patterns of property ownership. The Pax Romana, with its accompanying benefits of safe conditions for trade and manufacture, and a unified cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections, had already been in decline for some time as the 5th century drew to a close. Now it was largely lost, to be replaced by the rule of local potentates, and the gradual break-down of economic and social linkages and infrastructure. This break-down was often fast and dramatic as it became unsafe to travel or carry goods over any distance and there was a consequent collapse in trade and manufacture for export. Major industries that depended on trade, such as large-scale pottery manufacture, vanished almost overnight in places like Britain. The Islamic invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries, which conquered the Levant, North Africa, Spain, Portugal and some of the Mediterranean islands (including Sicily), increased localization by halting much of what remained of seaborne commerce. So where sites like Tintagel in Cornwall had managed to obtain supplies of Mediterranean luxury goods well into the 6th century, this connection too was lost. Administrative, educational and military infrastructure quickly vanished, leading to the rise of illiteracy among leadership.

A new order

Until recently it has been common to speak of "barbarian invasions" sweeping in from beyond Imperial borders and bringing about the end of the Roman Empire. Modern historians now acknowledge that this presents an incomplete portrait of a complex time of migration. In some important cases, such as that of the Franks entering Gaul, settlement of the newcomers took place over many decades, as groups seeking new economic opportunities crossed into Roman territory, retaining their own tribal leadership, and acculturating to or displacing the Gallo-Roman society, often without widespread violence. Other outsiders, like Theodoric of the Ostrogoths, were civilized, though illiterate patrons, who saw themselves successors to the Roman tradition, employing cultured Roman ministers, like Cassiodorus. Like the Goths, many of the outsiders were foederati, military allies of the Empire, who had earned rights of settlement, including among others the Franks and the Burgundians. Between the 5th and 8th centuries a completely new political and social infrastructure developed across the lands of the former empire, based upon powerful regional noble families, and the newly established kingdoms of the Ostrogoths in Italy, Visigoths in Spain and Portugal, Franks and Burgundians in Gaul and western Germany, and Saxons in England. These lands remained Christian, and their Arian conquerors were soon converted, following the example of the pagan Frank Clovis I. The interaction between the culture of the newcomers, the remnants of classical culture, and Christian influences, produced a new model for society. The centralized administrative systems of the Romans did not withstand the changes, and the institutional support for large scale chattel slavery largely disappeared. However beyond these areas of Europe were many people with little or no contact with Christianity or with classic Roman culture. Warrior people such as the Avars and the Vikings were still capable of causing major disruption to the newly emerging societies of Western Europe. The Christian Church, the only centralized institution to survive the fall of the western Roman Empire intact, was the sole unifying cultural influence, preserving its selection from Latin learning, maintaining the art of writing, and a centralized administration through its network of bishops. The Early Middle Ages are characterized by the urban control of bishops and the territorial control exercised by dukes and counts. The rise of urban communes marked the beginning of the High Middle Ages. bishop Outside the de-urbanized remains of cities, the power of central government was greatly reduced. Consequently government authority, and responsibility for military organization, taxation and law and order, was delegated to provincial and local lords, who supported themselves directly from the proceeds of the territories over which they held military, political and judicial power. In this lay the beginnings of the feudal system. The High Middle Ages would see the regrowth of centralized power, and the growth of new "national" identities, as strong rulers sought to eliminate competition (and potential threat to their rule) from powerful feudal nobles. Well known examples of such consolidation include the Albigensian Crusade and the Wars of the Roses. This hierarchy of reciprocal obligations, known as feudalism or the feudal system, binding each man to serve his superior in return for the latter's protection, made for a confusion of territorial sovereignty (since allegiances were subject to change over time, and were sometimes mutually contradictory). The benefit of feudalism however, was its resiliency, and the ability of local arrangements to provide stable government in the absence of a strong royal power in a political order distinguished by its lack of uniformity. Territoriality was reduced to a network of personal allegiances. In the east, the Eastern Roman Empire (called by historians the "Byzantine Empire"), maintained a form of Christianised Roman rule in the lands of Asia Minor, Greece and the Slavic territories bordering Greece, and in Sicily and southern Italy. The eastern emperors had maintained a nominal claim to rule over the west, reconquered by Belisarius, but this was a political fiction under Lombard rule and became strongly disputed from 800, with the creation of the so-called Holy Roman Empire, under Charlemagne, briefly uniting much of modern day France, western Germany and northern Italy. From now on, Europe was to be bi-polar, with east and west competing for power and influence in the largely un-christianized expanses of northern Europe. The spread of Christianity in the Migrations Period, both from the Mediterranean area and from Ireland, occasioned a pre-eminent cultural and ideological role for its abbots, and the collapse of a res publica meant that the bishops became identified with the remains of urban government. Christianity provided the basis for a first European "identity," Christendom, unified until the separation of Orthodox Churches from the Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054, one of the dates that marks the onset of the High Middle Ages.

A Carolingian renaissance

See also the careers of Charlemagne and Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
The High Middle Ages
:Main article: High Middle Ages From beginnings roughly about the year 1000, greater stability came to the lands of western Europe. With the brief exception of the Mongol incursions, major barbarian invasions had ceased. The advance of Christian kingdoms and military orders into previously pagan regions in the Baltic and Finnic northeast brought the forced assimilation of numerous native peoples to the European entity. The "High Middle Ages" describes the expansionist culture and intellectual revival from the late 11th century to the beginning of the 14th. In central and northern Italy and in Flanders the rise of towns that were self-governing to some degree within their territories marked a beginning for re-urbanization in Western Europe. In Spain and Portugal, a slow reconquest of the urban and literate Muslim-ruled territories began. One consequence of this was that the Latin-literate world gained access to libraries that included classical literature and philosophy. Through translations these libraries gave rise to a vogue for the philosophy of Aristotle. Meanwhile, trade grew throughout Europe as the dangers of travel were reduced, and steady economic growth resumed. This period saw the formation of the Hanseatic league and other trading and banking institutions that operated across western Europe. The first universities were established in major European cities from 1080 onwards, bringing in a new interest and inquisitiveness about the world. Literacy began to grow, and there were major advances in art, sculpture, music and architecture. Large cathedrals were built across Europe, first in the romanesque, and later in the more decorative gothic style.
The Crusades
:Main article: Crusade Following the Great Schism, prime examples of the force of the divided cultural identities of Christendom can be found in the unfolding developments of the Crusades, during which Popes, kings, and emperors drew on the concept of Christian unity to inspire the population of Western Europe to unite and defend Christendom from the aggression of Islam, often at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. From the 7th century onward, Islam had been gaining ground along Europe's southern and eastern borders. Muslim armies conquered Egypt, the rest of North Africa, Jerusalem, Spain, Sicily, and most of Anatolia (in modern Turkey), although they were finally turned back in western Europe by Christian armies at the Battle of Tours in southern France. Political unanimity in Europe was less secure than it appeared, however, and the military support for most crusades was drawn from limited regions of Europe. Substantial areas of northern Europe also remained outside Christendom until the twelfth century or later; these areas also became crusading venues during the expansionist High Middle Ages.
Technology
:Main article: Medieval technology During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the invention of cannons, spectacles and artesian wells; and the cross-cultural introduction of gunpowder, silk, compass and astrolabe from the east. There was also great improvements with ships and upon the clock. The latter advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Exploration.
The Late Middle Ages (circa 1300-1500)
:Main article: Late Middle Ages The 14th century witnessed a decline that began with the first economic retrenchment after the long, gently inflationary rise of a unified economy that had been under way since the 11th century. The European climate itself was worsening, after the long Medieval Warm Period, leading to the onset of the Little Ice Age. In the Black Death, large areas of Western Europe lost up to a third of their population, especially in the crowded conditions of the towns, where the heart of innovations lay. The Black Death sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive change, which resumed centuries later in the Early Modern Period. Politically, the later Middle Ages were typified by the decline of feudal power replaced by the development of strong, royalty-based nation-states. Wars between kingdoms, such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France, weakened the Christian nations in their confrontations with Islam. Religously Christendom was increasingly divided during the Western Schism, which resulted in greater loyalty to national churches, though lay piety rarely wavered. The Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Black Death of 1348, popular uprisings all produced stresses while encouraging creative social, economic, and technological responses that signalled the end of the old medieval order and laying the groundwork for further great changes in the Early Modern Period. In the east, the Byzantine Empire followed a separate destiny, with its strongest period coinciding with the Western collapse during the Early Medieval period. After the Battle of Manzikert (1071), the former empire was reduced to a shell; it survived until 1453, but in a diminished and weakened form.
Historiography

Middle Ages in history
:Main article: Middle Ages in history After the Middle Ages ended subsequent generations imagined, portrayed and interpreted the Middle Ages in different ways. Every century has created its own vision of the Middle Ages, the 18th century view of the Middle Ages was entirely different from the 19th century which was different from the 16th century view. The reality of these images remains with us today in the form of film, architecture, literature, art and popular conception.
Medieval and Middle Ages

"Middle Age"
The term "Middle Age" ("medium ævum") was first coined by Flavio Biondo, an Italian humanist, in the early 15th Century. Until the Renaissance (and some time after) the standard scheme of history was to divide history into six ages, inspired by the biblical six days of creation, or four monarchies based on Daniel 2:40. The early Renaissance historians instead talked about two periods in history, that of Ancient times and that of the period referred to as the "Dark Age". In the early 15th Century it was believed history had evolved from the Dark Age to a Modern period and scholars began to write about a middle period between the Ancient and Modern, which became known as the Middle Age. This is known as the three period view of history. The plural form of the term, Middle "Ages", is used in English, Dutch, Russian and Icelandic while all other European languages uses the singular form. This difference originates in different Neo-Latin terms used for the Middle Ages before media aetas became the standard term. Some were singular (media aetas, media antiquitas, medium saeculum and media tempestas), others plural (media saecula and media tempora). There seem to be no simple reason why a particular language ended up with the singular or the plural form. Further information can be found in Fred C. Robinson: "Medieval, the Middle Ages" in Speculum, Vol. 59:4 (Oct. 1984), p. 745-56. The common subdivision Early, High and Late Middle Ages came into use after World War I. It was caused by the works of Henri Pirenne (in particular the article "Les periodes de l'historie du capitalism" in Academie Royale de Belgique. Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres, 1914) and Johan Huizinga (The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 1919). A medieval era can also be applied to other parts of the world that historians have seen as embodying the same feudal characteristics as Europe in this period. The pre-westernization period in the history of Japan is sometimes referred to as medieval. The pre-colonial period in the developed parts of sub-Saharan Africa is also sometimes termed medieval. Today historians are far more reluctant to try to fit the history of other regions to the European model and these terms are less often used.
"Medieval"
The term "medieval" was first contracted from the Latin medium ævum, or more precisely "middle epoch", by Enlightenment thinkers as a pejorative descriptor of the Middle Ages. The spelling of "medieval" may depend on context. Medieval is the modern English spelling, used in normal discourse in England and elsewhere. Mediaeval is a legacy of the Latin spelling Mediæval, which uses the diphthong ae rendered as a ligature; it is an antiquated spelling found in older works, or those that emphesis the words Latin origins. Medieval was originally a pejorative description, and as such it has taken on broader meanings that usually impart some kind of value judgement, such as things that are old, "byzantine", "gothic", crude, heavy, harsh, or dark in nature.
Periodization issues
:See also: Periodization It is extremely difficult to decide when the Middle Ages ended, and in fact scholars assign different dates in different parts of Europe. Most scholars who work in 15th century Italian history, for instance, consider themselves Renaissance or Early Modern historians, while anyone working on England in the early 15th century is considered a medievalist. Others choose specific events, such as the Turkish capture of Constantinople or the end of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (both 1453), the invention of printing by Johann Gutenberg (around 1455) or the fall of Muslim Spain or Columbus's voyage to America (both 1492), or the Protestant Reformation starting 1517 to mark the period's end. In England the change of monarchs which occurred on 22 August 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth is often considered to mark the end of the period, Richard III representing the old medieval world and the Tudors, a new royal house and a new historical period. Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages is said to begin when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476. However, that date is not important in itself, since the West Roman Empire had been very weak for some time, while Roman culture was to survive at least in Italy for yet a few decades or more. Today, some date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the division and Christianization of the Roman Empire (4th century) while others, like Henri Pirenne see the period to the rise of Islam (7th century) as "late Classical". The Middle Ages are often subdivided into an early period (sometimes called the "Dark Ages", at least from the fifth to eighth centuries) of shifting polities, a relatively low level of economic activity and successful incursions by non-Christian peoples (Slavs, Arabs, Scandinavians, Magyars); a middle period (the High Middle Ages) of developed institutions of lordship and vassalage, castle-building and mounted warfare, and reviving urban and commercial life; and a later period of growing royal power, the rise of commercial interests and weakening customary ties of dependence, especially after the 14th-century plague.
Religion in the Middle Ages

- Holy Roman Empire
- The Crusades
- Pilgrimage
- Papacy
- Medieval Inquisition
- Heresy (for example, Arian; Cathar; John Wyclif)
- Alchemy
- Monastic orders
- Benedictines
- Carthusians
- Cistercians
- Mendicant friars
- Franciscans
- Dominicans
- Carmelites
- Augustinians
- Judaism
- Islam (Western Europe): Moors
- Islam (Eastern Europe): Sultanate of Rum & Ottoman Empire
See also

- Medieval art
- Medieval architecture
- Medieval climate optimum
- Medieval communes
- Medieval Chronological Timeline
- Medieval demography
- Middle Ages in film
- Medieval guilds
- Medieval hunting
- Medieval medicine
- Medieval music
- Medieval tournament
- Slave trade in the Middle Ages
- History of the Jews in the Middle Ages
Selected bibliography

- Monumenta Germaniae Historica
- Migne's Patrologiae
- Liber Pontificalis
- C. Warren Hollister and Judith M. Bennett, Medieval Europe, A Short History. McGraw-Hill, 2002.
- David Abulafia et al., The New Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge, 1995.
External links

- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project] Primary source archive of the Middle Ages. See also Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
- [http://www.the-orb.net/ The Online Reference Book of Medieval Studies] Academic peer reviewed articles. See also Online Reference Book of Medieval Studies.
- [http://the-orb.net/ The Labyrinth] Resources for Medieval Studies.
- [http://www.netserf.org/ NetSERF] The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources.
- [http://www.medievalmap.net Interactive Medieval Map] (Flash Plug-in Required.)
- [http://www.sca.org.au/cunnan/ Cunnan: A Wiki collecting information for re-enactors of the Middle Ages and Renaissance] with a heavy slant towards members of the SCA
- [http://www.shadowedrealm.com/ Shadowed Realm - Medieval Content and Discussion] Contains hundreds of glossary terms, a timeline, quotations, quizzes, a wiki, forums, and more.
- [http://www.medieval-castles.org Contains Medieval Castles and their history.] ja:中世 simple:Middle Ages

Central Europe

] Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term has come back into fashion since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (which had divided Europe into East and West). The region is generally considered to contain (from North to South): Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and more rarely Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Albania, and the Republic of Macedonia. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are sometimes also included, although in the UK they are usually considered part of Western Europe (in Germany itself Germany is usually considered part of Central Europe). Historically, there are no physical landmarks that would commonly be seen as its borders. Rather, it is a concept of shared history, in opposition against the East represented by the Ottoman Empire and Imperial Russia, and up to World War I distinguished from the West as the area of relative political conservatism opposing the modern liberal ideas acquired by overseas trading; and ultimately from the French Revolution. Following World War I, and even more so after World War II, these modern ideas in general, and liberal democracy in particular, expanded its dominance to Austria and Germany. The concept of Central Europe fell out of usage during Cold War, shadowed by notions of Eastern and Western Europe. It may be seen in historical and cultural contexts, where it denotes areas where Germans settled and mixed with Slavs and Magyars, and where Roma and Jewish minorities made important cultural contributions. This notion has lost much of its relevance due to the Holocaust and the following ethnic division over the Oder-Neisse line with Germans transferred to the West both physically and ideologically. The term is being increasingly used again, with the recent expanses of European Union. It is sometimes joked that Central Europe is the part of the continent that is considered Eastern by Western Europeans and Western by Eastern Europeans.

Between the Alps and the Baltics

European Union According to several English-language encyclopedias, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica, the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica and the Columbia Encyclopedia, as well as the CIA World Factbook, the term Central Europe is taken to include: In the article on Europe, the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia counts Germany (that then reached east of the Baltic) but not Switzerland to Central Europe; Liechtenstein is not mentioned. In other articles of that encyclopedia, France and Switzerland are included. The notion of Alpine Countries extending to the Baltic Sea and the North Sea is not uncontroversial. While Germany without any doubt formerly has been considered a Central European land, both by Germans and by others, it has at least for the 19th and 20th century had an identity and self-image as located North of the Alps rather than in the Alps. This holds true even for Bavaria, the most Alpine of the German states, where most people live below the Alps.

Culturally Central-European

Several other countries also have regions that retain a Central European character, having historically been part of the central European kingdoms and empires such as the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg monarchy, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Imperial Germany. They include:
- Belarus (western parts)
- Croatia
- Lithuania
- Romania
- Serbia (Vojvodina)
- Ukraine (Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia)

Central Europe behind the Iron Curtain

Following World War II, large parts of Europe that were culturally and historically Western became part of the Eastern bloc, which effectively neutralized the concept of Central Europe. Following the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the end of the Cold War, this distinction has again come into use, often to cover those countries that had been Warsaw Pact members but are now members of NATO and the European Union, reflecting remaining differences between countries that were socialist or capitalist. The English term Central Europe was increasingly applied only to the western-most former Warsaw Pact countries (Poland to Hungary) to specify them as culturally-akin socialist countries. This usage continued after the end of the Warsaw Pact when these countries started to undergo transition. In everyday usage, this is the most common meaning of Central Europe, not least among Central Europeans for whom it is often important to point out the difference to that "Eastern Europe" that they otherwise are grouped together with. So defined, the following countries are entirely included:
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Romania
- Slovenia Usually excluded are:
- the Baltic countries
- Russian Orthodox and Muslim lands
- the Balkans Although Slovenia as a part of Yugoslavia was strictly speaking not a member of the Warsaw Pact, Slovenia's 20th century history has much in common with that of the other Central European countries. East Germany, on the other hand, was from 1949–1990 a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact, but would now rather be seen as the inheritors of Protestant Prussian culture than of Catholic Central Europe.

The new members of the European Union

After the enlargement of the European Union of 1 May 2004, the term Central Europe is sometimes used in a way that means "the new members of EU"— from Estonia to Malta— perhaps in particular by writers who want to avoid the term coined by Donald Rumsfeld, New Europe, which may be perceived to carry too much American ignorance of matters European. Malta and Cyprus, as well as Estonia and Latvia, are sometimes now also included, but as these new members of the EU are clearly more differentiated from most of the western EU members economically it is arguably an inaccurate construction in its own right. It can be also questioned what there is that unites the nations of a region so constructed apart from a less advanced economy. A usage that closer adheres to the common cultural traits, and also the shared experience of post-war Stalinist rule, may be less prone to cause confusion.

Remnants of the Holy Roman Empire

The German term Mitteleuropa (or alternatively its literal translation into English, Middle Europe) is sometimes used in English to refer to an area somewhat larger than most conceptions of 'Central Europe'; it refers to territories under German(ic) cultural hegemony until World War I (encompassing Austria and Germany in their interbellum-formations but usually excluding Balticum north of East Prussia). ko:중앙유럽 ja:中央ヨーロッパ

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote:
- European countries of the former "Eastern Bloc"
- the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Central Europe and Russia. This new Eastern Europe has become more commonly used to identify the region since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
- a diverse area of land stretching from east to west as follows: ::- its eastern limit is either the Ural Mountains within Russia or from the Pacific coast of the Russian Far East ::- its western limit is the boundary between the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States (sometimes excluding Kaliningrad). Politically, however, this region covers northeastern Eurasia, since Russia is one single transcontinental geo-political entity. The following countries are considered Eastern European by the United Nations:
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Moldova
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Ukraine The boundaries of Eastern Europe can be subject to considerable overlap and fluctuation depending on the context they are used in, which makes differentiation difficult. As is also true of continents, regions are only social constructs and should not be understood as physical features defined by abstract, neutral criteria. In many sources the term "Eastern Europe" still encompasses most, or all, such European countries that until the end of the "Cold War" (around 1989) were under communist regimes or direct Soviet control, i.e., the former "Eastern Bloc". However, it is currently common to include many former "Eastern Bloc" nations in the categories of Southeastern Europe/Balkans, Central Europe and Northern Europe. Today Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia are not Eastern Europe but Central Europe, because the so called "Eastern Bloc" no longer exists and in geographical terms these countries are situated more centrally in Europe.

History

As a term, the origins of "Eastern Europe" are fairly recent. For many years Europe was divided on a North-South axis, with the southern Mediterranean states having much in common, and the northern Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea bordering states also having much in common (see also Northern Europe, Nordic Countries). The term "Eastern Europe" first arose in the 19th century and was used to describe an area that was falling behind the rest of Europe economically. It was seen as a region where serfdom and reactionary autocratic governments persisted long after those things faded in the West. It was always a very vague notion, however, and many countries in the region did not fit the stereotypical view. More recently, the term "Eastern Europe" has been used to refer to all European countries that were previously under communist regimes, the so-called "Eastern Bloc". The idea of an "Iron Curtain" separating "Western Europe" and Soviet-controlled "Eastern Europe" was dominant throughout the period of Cold War which followed the Second World War. This dualism failed to account fully for some exceptions, as Yugoslavia and Albania were communist states, yet refused to be controlled by the Kremlin. In recent years, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), freeing its captive states, the term "Eastern Europe" is sometimes used to identify the region, in effect retroactively, as consisting only of these European countries that were during the decades prior to 1991 known as parts of the Soviet Union (see list below). As a cultural and ethnic difference, the rise of nationalism in the 1800s and onward coined the term Eastern Europe to by synonymous with "Slavic Europe", as opposed to Germanic (Western) Europe. This concept was re-enforced during the years leading up to World War II and was often used in a racist terminology to characterize Eastern/Slavic culture as being backwards and inferior to Western/Germanic culture, language, and customs. Eastern Europe would then refer to imaginary line which divided predominantly German lands from predominantly Slavic lands. The dividing line has thus changed over time as a result of the World Wars, as well as numerous expulsions and genocides. As the ideological division has now disappeared, the cultural division of Europe between Western Christianity, on the one hand, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Islam, on the other, has reemerged. It follows the so-called Huntington line of "clashing civilizations" corresponding roughly to the eastern boundary of Western Christianity in the year 1500. This line runs along what are now the eastern boundaries separating Norway, Finland, Estonia and Latvia from Russia, continues east of Lithuania, cuts in northwestern Ukraine, swings westward separating Transylvania from the rest of Romania, and then along the line now separating Slovenia and Croatia from the rest of ex-Yugoslavia. In the Balkans this line coincides with the historic border between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, whereas in the north it marks the then eastern boundaries of Kingdom of Sweden and Teutonic Order, and the subsequent spread of Lutheran Reformation. The peoples to the west and north of the Huntington line are Protestant or Catholic; they shared most of the common experiences of Western European history -- feudalism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. The 1995 and 2004 enlargements arguably brought the European Union's eastern border up to the boundary between Western and Eastern Orthodox civilizations. Most of Europe's historically Protestant and Roman Catholic countries (with the exception of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and the various European microstates) were now EU members, while most of Europe's historically Eastern Orthodox countries (with the exception of Greece and Cyprus) were outside the EU. A view that Europe is divided strictly into the West and the East is considered pejorative by many in the nominally eastern countries, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe overall. Europeans from the formerly communist-controlled countries tend not to classify themselves as "East Europeans" but prefer to include themselves in other groups, associating themselves with Central Europe, with Northern Europe, or with Southern Europe. For example, many people in Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic or Slovenia may feel the label stigmatizing in comparison with countries that successfully have asserted their belonging to "the West" despite their equally, or more, "eastern" location — and history as parts of Imperial Russia (Finland) or Eastern Orthodoxy (Greece).

Former Eastern Bloc

The [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm United Nations Statistics Division] defines Eastern Europe as:
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Moldova
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Ukraine In addition, these countries were all formerly within the

Rye

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Tell Abu Hureyra

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