Jewish American Heritage Month

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The Dead Sea (Hebrew: , Ym HaMla, "Sea of Salt", also Hebrew: , Ym HaMwe, "The Sea of Death",[5] and Arabic: al-Bar al-Mayyit(helpinfo),), also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, and Palestine and Israel to the west. Its surface and shores are 429 metres (1,407ft) below sea level,[6] Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is 304m (997ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, though Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%), Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%), Lagoon Garabogazkl in the Caspian Sea (up to 35%) and some hypersaline ponds and lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond (44%)) have reported higher salinities. It is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean.[7] This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres (31mi) long and 15 kilometres (9mi) wide at its widest point.[2] It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. In the Bible, it is a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

The Dead Sea water has a density of 1,240kg/m3, which makes swimming similar to floating.[8][9]

In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Ym ha-Mela(helpinfo) ( ), meaning "sea of salt" (Genesis 14:3). In the Bible, the Dead Sea is called the Salt Sea, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation "Dead Sea" never appears in the Bible.

In prose sometimes the term Ym ha-Mvet ( , "sea of death") is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there.[10] In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit(helpinfo)[5] ("the Dead Sea"), or less commonly bar l ( , "the Sea of Lot"). Another historic name in Arabic was the "Sea of Zoar", after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites (Attic Greek , h Thlatta asphaltts, "the Asphaltite[11] sea"). The Bible also refers to it as Ym ha-Mizra ( , "the Eastern sea") and Ym ha-rv ( , "Sea of the Arabah").

The Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform (DST). This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the northern end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end.

The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges.[12] There are no outlet streams.

Rainfall is scarcely 100mm (4in) per year in the northern part of the Dead Sea and barely 50mm (2in) in the southern part.[13] The Dead Sea zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judaean Mountains. The highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea itself.

To the east of the Dead Sea, the Judaean mountains rise less steeply and are much lower than the mountains to the east. Along the southwestern side of the lake is a 210m (700ft) tall halite formation called "Mount Sodom".

There are two contending hypotheses about the origin of the low elevation of the Dead Sea. The older hypothesis is that it lies in a true rift zone, an extension of the Red Sea Rift, or even of the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. A more recent hypothesis is that the Dead Sea basin is a consequence of a "step-over" discontinuity along the Dead Sea Transform, creating an extension of the crust with consequent subsidence.

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In name only, the Dead Sea may not sound like the most charming place in the world to visit. Despite its gloomy moniker, however, the salty body of water is known for its ability to bolster the mind, body and soul. Only one of the many fascinating aspects of the Dead Sea is the fact that, since its surface is 1,300 feet (396 m) below sea level, its shore is the lowest dry point on Earth [source: Ancient Sandals]. Located in a valley that is surrounded by the West Bank, Jordan and Israel, the Dead Sea covers roughly 250 square miles (402 square km) [source: Washington Post]. Given its location, it's no real surprise that the Dead Sea (or the "Salt Sea," as it was referred to in the Old Testament) has an extensive religious history. Also, its onetime main tributary, the Jordan River, is believed by many to be the place where Jesus was baptized [source: Washington Post].

So what exactly gives the Dead Sea its name? The Dead Sea is different from all other bodies of water on Earth because it's incredibly salty, with a saline level between 28 and 35 percent. By comparison, the world's saltiest oceans are only 3 to 6 percent [source: Ancient Sandals]. The Dead Sea owes its high mineral salt content to several factors. First, it's completely landlocked, so any fresh or saltwater that flows into it from the Jordan River and other tributaries (estimated at six and a half million tons per day) is trapped -- until it evaporates [source: Catholic Encyclopedia]. Evaporation happens quickly because that portion of the world is, to put it mildly, extremely hot. When the water evaporates, the salty minerals are left behind, causing the remaining water to become more and more concentrated with salt [source: Extreme Science].

Of course, plain old table salt isn't what gives the Dead Sea its oomph. Rather, at least 35 different kinds of mineral salts (like those found in oceans) are present in massive quantities. Some of the minerals present include potassium, bromine, calcium, magnesium and iodine [source: Atlas Tours]. These are the salts that give the Dead Sea its name. Any living creature or plant (even seaweed) that dares enter these saline-charged waters dies pretty much instantly. Only simple organisms like microbes can survive the harsh conditions [source: Extreme Science]. The Dead Sea is simply too salty for anything else to exist.

On the next page, we'll discuss how the Dead Sea itself is "dying."

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The Golan Heights (Arabic: Habatu 'l-Jawln or Murtafatu l-Jawln, Hebrew: , Ramat ha-Golan (audio)(helpinfo)), or simply the Golan or the Syrian Golan,[3] is a region in the Levant.

The exact region defined as the Golan Heights is different in different disciplines:

The earliest evidence of human habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period.[4] According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og.[5] Throughout the Old Testament period, the Golan was "the focus of a power struggle between the Kings of Israel and the Aramaeans who were based near modern-day Damascus."[6] The Itureans, an Arab or Aramaic people, settled there in the 2nd century BCE and remained until the end of the Byzantine period.[7][8][9] Organized Jewish settlement in the region came to an end in 636 CE when it was conquered by Arabs under Umar ibn al-Khattb.[10] In the 16th century, the Golan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and was part of the Vilayet of Damascus until it was transferred to French control in 1918. When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic.

Internationally recognized as Syrian territory, the Golan Heights has been occupied and administered by Israel since 1967.[1] It was captured during the 1967 Six-Day War, establishing the Purple Line.[11]

On 19 June 1967, the Israeli cabinet voted to return the Golan to Syria in exchange for a peace agreement. Such overtures were dismissed by the Arab world with the Khartoum Resolution on September 1, 1967.[12][13] In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel agreed to return about 5% of the territory to Syrian civilian control. This part was incorporated into a demilitarised zone that runs along the ceasefire line and extends eastward. This strip is under the military control of UN peace keeping forces.

Construction of Israeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel, which was under military administration until Israel passed the Golan Heights Law extending Israeli law and administration throughout the territory in 1981.[14] This move was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in UN Resolution 497,[15][2] which said that "the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect." Israel asserts it has a right to retain the Golan, citing the text of UN Resolution 242, which calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".[16] However, the international community rejects Israeli claims to title to the territory and regards it as sovereign Syrian territory.[1][18]

Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, and Ehud Olmert each stated that they were willing to exchange the Golan for peace with Syria. However, in 2010, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman told Syria to abandon its dreams of recovering the Golan Heights.[19] Approximately 10% of Syrian Golan Druze have accepted Israeli citizenship.[20] According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 2010, "there are 41 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights."[21]

Arabic names are Jawln[22] and Djolan (Arabic: ).[23] In the Bible Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan: Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8, 1Chronicles 6:71.[24] Nineteenth-century authors interpreted the word "Golan" (Hebrew: ) as meaning "something surrounded, hence a district".[25][26] The Greek name for the region is Gaulanitis (Greek: ).[22] In the Mishna the name is Gabln similar to Aramaic language names for the region: Gawlna, Guwlana and Gubln.[22]

Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period referred to the area as jabal (mountain), though the region is a plateau.[27] The Muslims took over in 7th century CE.[22] The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia refers to the region as Gaulonitis.[28] The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century.[24]

The Golan Heights borders Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. According to Israel, it has captured 1,150 square kilometres (440sqmi). [29] According to Syria the Golan Heights measures 1,860 square kilometres (718sqmi), of which 1,500km2 (580sqmi) are occupied by Israel.[30] According to the CIA, Israel holds 1,300 square kilometres (500sqmi)[21]

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Its hard to describe what exactly makes the Golan Garden Hostel so special. Is it the lush green of the Golan Heights? The amazing view over the Sea of Galilee? The open-minded warmth and hospitality of the owners? The super comfortable beds with the cozy bedding thatll send you right off to a wonderful sleep? The beautiful national parks only a stones throw away? Fact is, if youre in Israel and dont plan to spend some time at this place, youre missing out. ( And Im not just talking about the FREE super delicious home-made Pancakes in the morning! ) Milou and Alon have created something special in the Golan Heights. Their hostel is an amazing place filled with happy people and they live hospitality with all their heart. I felt extremely comfortable at their place, I only wish I had stayed for longer.

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

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Biblical to Contemporary History

In Biblical times, the Golan Heights was referred to as "Bashan;" the word "Golan" apparently derives from the biblical city of "Golan in Bashan," (Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 21:27). The area was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29-31). In early First Temple times (953-586 BCE), the area was contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based on Damascus. King Ahab of Israel (reigned c. 874-852 BCE) defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan (I Kings 20:26-30), and the prophet Elisha prophesied that King Jehoash of Israel (reigned c. 801-785 BCE) would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik (11 Kings 13:17). In the late 6th and 5th centuries BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylonia (modern Iraq). In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee and his brothers came to the aid of the local Jewish communities when the latter came under attack from their non-Jewish neighbors (I Maccabees 5). Judah Maccabee's grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai (reigned 103-76 BCE) later added the Heights to his kingdom. The Greeks referred to the area as "Gaulanitis", a term also adopted by the Romans, which led to the current application of the word "Golan" for the entire area. Gamla became the Golan's chief city and was the area's last Jewish stronghold to resist the Romans during the Great Revolt, falling in the year 67 (see Josephus, The Jewish War, Chap. 13, Penguin edition). Despite the failure of the revolt, Jewish communities on the Heights continued, and even flourished; the remains of no less than 25 synagogues from the period between the revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. (Several Byzantine monasteries from this period have also been excavated on the Heights.) The decisive battle in which the Arabs under Caliph Omar, crushed the Byzantines and established Islamic control over what is now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, was fought in the Yarmouk Valley, on the southern edge of the Heights, in August 636. Organized Jewish settlement on the Golan came to an end at this time.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Druze began to settle in the northern Golan and on the slopes of Mt. Hermon. During the brief period of Egyptian rule (1831-1840) and in the ensuing decades, Sudanese, Algerians, Turkomans and Samarian Arabs settled on the Heights. The Turks brought in Circassians in the 1880's to fight against Bedouin brigands.

The Jewish presence on the Golan was renewed in 1886, when the B'nei Yehuda society of Safed purchased a plot of land four kilometers north of the present-day religious moshav of Keshet, but the community -- named Ramataniya -- failed one year later. In 1887, the society purchased lands between the modern-day B'nei Yehuda and Kibbutz Ein Gev. This community survived until 1920, when two of its last members were murdered in the anti-Jewish riots which erupted in the spring of that year. In 1891, Baron Rothschild purchased approximately 18,000 acres of land about 15 km. east of

Ramat Hamagshimim, in what is now Syria. First Aliyah (1881-1903) immigrants established five small communities on this land, but were forced to leave by the Turks in 1898. The lands were farmed until 1947 by the Palestine Colonization Association and the Israel Colonization Association, when they were seized by the Syrian army. Most of the Golan Heights were included within Mandatory Palestine when the Mandate was formally granted in 1922, but Britain ceded the area to France in the Franco-British Agreement of 7 March 1923. The Heights became part of Syria upon the termination of the French mandate in 1944.

From the western Golan, it is only about 60 miles -- without major terrain obstacles -- to Haifa and Acre, Israel's industrial heartland. The Golan -- rising from 400 to 1700 feet in the western section bordering on pre1967 Israel -- overlooks the Huleh Valley, Israel's richest agricultural area. In the hands of a friendly neighbor, the escarpment has little military importance. If controlled by a hostile country, however, the Golan has the potential to again become a strategic nightmare for Israel.

From 1948-67, when Syria controlled the Golan Heights, it used the area as a military stronghold from which its troops randomly sniped at Israeli civilians in the Huleh Valley below, forcing children living on kibbutzim to sleep in bomb shelters. In addition, many roads in northern Israel could be crossed only after probing by mine-detection vehicles. In late 1966, a youth was blown to pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border. In some cases, attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat's Fatah, which Syria allowed to operate from its territory.

Israel's options for countering the Syrian attacks were constrained by the geography of the Heights. "Counterbattery fires were limited by the lack of observation from the Huleh Valley; air attacks were degraded by well-dug-in Syrian positions with strong overhead cover, and a ground attack against the positions...would require major forces with the attendant risks of heavy casualties and severe political repercussions," U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Irving Heymont observed.

Israel repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, protested the Syrian bombardments to the UN Mixed Armistice Commission, which was charged with policing the cease-fire. For example, Israel went to the UN in October 1966 to demand a halt to the Fatah attacks. The response from Damascus was defiant. "It is not our duty to stop them, but to encourage and strengthen them," the Syrian ambassador responded. Nothing was done to stop Syria's aggression. A mild Security Council resolution expressing "regret" for such incidents was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Israel was condemned by the UN when it retaliated. "As far as the Security Council was officially concerned," historian Netanel Lorch wrote, "there was an open season for killing Israelis on their own territory."

After the Six-Day War began, the Syrian air force attempted to bomb oil refineries in Haifa. While Israel was fighting in the Sinai and West Bank, Syrian artillery bombarded Israeli forces in the eastern Galilee, and armored units fired on villages in the Huleh Valley below the Golan Heights.

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The Golan Heights look like mountains to most of us, but actually they are a rocky plateau with an average altitude of 3,300 feet (1000 meters). This plateau straddles the borders of Israel and Syria. The Golan provides about 15% of Israel's water supply.

About 3 million tourists a year visit the Golan; this includes both foreign and domestic travelers.

Syria controlled the Golan until 1967. From the time of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 until then, the Syrians attacked the Jewish settlements below from the Golan Heights. Syrian army snipers opened fire almost every day, wounding and killing many innocent Israelis. The residents of northern Israel slept in bomb shelters for protection from Syrian fire.

In the Six-Day War, Israel conquered the Golan and pushed the Syrian army back to Damascus, and the Syrian threat had disappeared. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Syrian army attacked and recaptured almost all of the Golan. Israel attached once again during that terrible war, and at great cost in lives of Israeli soldiers, recaptured the Golan.

Syria is still in a state of war with Israel. Both Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) have signed peace treaties with Israel.

The Golan is a vital strategic asset for Israel, and Syrian is demanding a return to the 1967 borders in return for peace. This would mean returning to the situation of the Golan Heights being in the hands of the Syrians.

Kursi excavations restored the ruins of a 5th-6th century CE church and monastery, the largest Byzantine monastery in Israel; the area is now a national park. The excavations were completed for the Israel Antiquities Authority, mostly between 1971 and 1974.

Katzrin an ancient Jewish town dating back to between the 4th and 7th centuries. It has been uncovered and partially restored. At the entrance there is an oil press, quite common in those days. You will also see the remnants of ancient homes. The black lines on the walls differentiate between the original stones and the reconstructed ones.

Today, Katzrin is a small town (pop. 2,000) in the center of the Golan, which is the administrative center for the Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights, a short distance away are the excavated remains of a 4th century synagogue. There is an interesting archeological museum in Katzrin.

The Gamla Nature Reserve located in the central Golan Heights. Nature, history and landscape all combine in this beautiful and interesting site. A canyon and waterfalls are part of the beauty. The Gamla reserve has trails for all, some easy for family walks and some more challenging for experienced hikers.

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This article is about the modern country. For the ancient realm, see Ancient Egypt. Arab Republic of Egypt Jumhriyyat Mir al-Arabiyyah (Arabic) Gomhoreyyet Mar el-Arabeyya (Egyptian Arabic) Anthem:Bilady, Bilady, Bilady My country, my country, my country Capital and largest city Cairo 302N 3113E / 30.033N 31.217E / 30.033; 31.217 Official languages Arabic[a] National language Egyptian Arabic Demonym Egyptian Government Unitary semi-presidential republic - President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi - Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab Legislature Legislation by presidential decree (Temporarily until the House of Representatives is elected) Establishment - Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt[1][2][c] c. 3150 BC - Muhammad Ali Dynasty inaugurated 9 July 1805[3] - Independence from the United Kingdom 28 February 1922 - Republic declared 18 June 1953 - Revolution Day 23 July 1952 - Current Constitution 18 January 2014 Area - Total 1,010,407.87 [4]km2 (30th) 387,048sqmi - Water(%) 0.632 Population - 2015estimate 88,500,000[5] (15th) - 2006census 72,798,000[6] - Density 84/km2 (126th) 218/sqmi GDP(PPP) 2015estimate - Total $989.886 billion[7] (24th) - Per capita $11,194[7] (100th) GDP(nominal) 2015estimate - Total $324.267 billion[8] (34th) - Per capita $3,724[8] (115th) Gini(2008) 30.8[9] medium HDI (2013) 0.682[10] medium 110th Currency Egyptian pound (EGP) Time zone EET (UTC+2) - Summer(DST) EEST(UTC+3[b]) Drives on the right Calling code +20 ISO 3166 code EG Internet TLD a. ^ Literary Arabic is the sole official language.[11] Egyptian Arabic is the national spoken language. Other dialects and minority languages are spoken regionally. b. ^ Summer time was reintroduced in 2014. c. "Among the peoples of the ancient Near East, only the Egyptians have stayed where they were and remained what they were, although they have changed their language once and their religion twice. In a sense, they constitute the world's oldest nation".[12][13] Arthur Goldschmidt Jr.

Egypt (i//; Arabic: Mir, Egyptian Arabic: Mar) is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia, via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is the world's only contiguous Eurafrasian nation and most of Egypt's territory of 1,010,408 square kilometres (390,000sqmi) lies within the Nile Valley. It is a Mediterranean country and is bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.

With over 88 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab World, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres (15,000sqmi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt has one of the longest histories of any modern country, arising in the tenth millennium BCE as one of the world's first nation states.[14] Considered a cradle of civilization, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government in history. Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain a significant focus of archaeological study and popular interest worldwide. Egypt's rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, having endured and at times assimilated various foreign influences, including Greek, Persian, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and European.

Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world.[15] Its economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and services at almost equal production levels. In 2011, longtime President Hosni Mubarak stepped down amid mass protests. Later elections saw the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was ousted by the army a year later amid mass protests.

The English name Egypt is derived from the Ancient Greek Agyptos (), via Middle French Egypte and Latin Aegyptus. It is reflected in early Greek Linear B tablets as a-ku-pi-ti-yo. The adjective aigpti-, aigptios was borrowed into Coptic as gyptios, and from there into Arabic as qub, back formed into qub, whence English Copt. The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hwt-ka-Ptah (wt-k-pt), meaning "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis.[16]Strabo attributed the word to a folk etymology in which Agyptos () evolved as a compound from Aigaiou huptis (A ), meaning "below the Aegean".

Mir (IPA:[misr] or Egyptian Arabic pronunciation:[mes]; Arabic: ) is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while Mar (IPA:[ms]; Egyptian Arabic: ) is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew (Mitzryim).[17] The word originally connoted "metropolis" or "civilization" and means "country", or "frontier-land".

The ancient Egyptian name of the country was km.t, which means black ground or black soil, referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile flood plains, distinct from the deshret (dt), or "red land" of the desert.[18] This name is commonly vocalised as Kemet, but was probably pronounced [kumat] in ancient Egyptian.[19] The name is realised as kme and km in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian language, and appeared in early Greek as (Khma).[20] Another name was t-mry "land of the riverbank".[21] The names of Upper and Lower Egypt were Ta-Sheme'aw (t-mw) "sedgeland" and Ta-Mehew (t mw) "northland", respectively.

There is evidence of rock carvings along the Nile terraces and in desert oases. In the 10th millennium BC, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers was replaced by a grain-grinding culture. Climate changes or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralised society.[22]

By about 6000 BC, a Neolithic culture rooted in the Nile Valley.[23] During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt. The Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are generally regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BC.[24]

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Alternate titles: Arab Republic of Egypt; Arab Socialist Republic; Jumhryat Mir al-Arabyah; Mir

Egypt,country located in the northeastern corner of Africa. Egypts heartland, the Nile River valley and delta, was the home of one of the principal civilizations of the ancient Middle East and, like Mesopotamia farther east, was the site of one of the worlds earliest urban and literate societies. Pharaonic Egypt thrived for some 3,000 years through a series of native dynasties that were interspersed with brief periods of foreign rule. After Alexander the Great conquered the region in 323 bc, urban Egypt became an integral part of the Hellenistic world. Under the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, an advanced literate society thrived in the city of Alexandria, but what is now Egypt was conquered by the Romans in 30 bc. It remained part of the Roman Republic and Empire and then part of Romes successor state, the Byzantine Empire, until its conquest by Arab Muslim armies in ad 639642.

Until the Muslim conquest, great continuity had typified Egyptian rural life. Despite the incongruent ethnicity of successive ruling groups and the cosmopolitan nature of Egypts larger urban centres, the language and culture of the rural, agrarian masseswhose lives were largely measured by the annual rise and fall of the Nile River, with its annual inundationhad changed only marginally throughout the centuries. Following the conquests, both urban and rural culture began to adopt elements of Arab culture, and an Arabic vernacular eventually replaced the Egyptian language as the common means of spoken discourse. Moreover, since that time, Egypts history has been part of the broader Islamic world, and though Egyptians continued to be ruled by foreign elitewhether Arab, Kurdish, Circassian, or Turkishthe countrys cultural milieu remained predominantly Arab.

Egypt eventually became one of the intellectual and cultural centres of the Arab and Islamic world, a status that was fortified in the mid-13th century when Mongol armies sacked Baghdad and ended the Abbsid caliphate. The Mamlk sultans of Egypt, under whom the country thrived for several centuries, established a pseudo-caliphate of dubious legitimacy. But in 1517 the Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamlks and established control over Egypt that lasted until 1798, when Napoleon I led a French army in a short occupation of the country.

The French occupation, which ended in 1801, marked the first time a European power had conquered and occupied Egypt, and it set the stage for further European involvement. Egypts strategic location has always made it a hub for trade routes between Africa, Europe, and Asia, but this natural advantage was enhanced in 1869 by the opening of the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The concern of the European powers (namely France and the United Kingdom, which were major shareholders in the canal) to safeguard the canal for strategic and commercial reasons became one of the most important factors influencing the subsequent history of Egypt. The United Kingdom occupied Egypt in 1882 and continued to exert a strong influence on the country until after World War II (193945).

In 1952 a military coup installed a revolutionary regime that promoted a combination of socialism and Pan-Arab nationalism. The new regimes extreme political rhetoric and its nationalization of the Suez Canal Company prompted the Suez Crisis of 1956, which was only resolved by the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, whose presence in the Mediterranean region thereafter kept Egypt in the international spotlight.

During the Cold War, Egypts central role in the Arabic-speaking world increased its geopolitical importance as Arab nationalism and inter-Arab relations became powerful and emotional political forces in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt led the Arab states in a series of wars against Israel but was the first of those states to make peace with the Jewish state, which it did in 1979.

Egypts authoritarian political system was long dominated by the president, the ruling party, and the security services. With opposition political activity tightly restricted, decades of popular frustration erupted into mass demonstrations in 2011. The uprising forced Pres. osn Mubrak to step down, leaving a council of military officers in control of the country. Power was transferred to an elected government in 2012, and a new constitution was adopted at the end of the year. This elected government, however, was toppled a year later when the military intervened to remove the newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, following a series of massive public demonstrations against his administration. (For a discussion of unrest and political change in Egypt in 2011, see Egypt Uprising of 2011.)

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt the gift of the Nile. Indeed, the countrys rich agricultural productivityit is one of the regions major food producershas long supported a large rural population devoted to working the land. Present-day Egypt, however, is largely urban. The capital city, Cairo, is one of the worlds largest urban agglomerations, and manufacturing and trade have increasingly outstripped agriculture as the largest sectors of the national economy. Tourism has traditionally provided an enormous portion of foreign exchange, but that industry has been subject to fluctuations during times of political and civil unrest in the region.

Egypts land frontiers border Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel to the northeast. In the north its Mediterranean coastline is about 620 miles (1,000 km), and in the east its coastline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba is about 1,200 miles (1,900 km).

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2015

Syria (i// SIH-ree-; Arabic: or , Sriy or Sryah), officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. Its capital Damascus is among the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.[7] A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, it is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Circassians,[8]Mandeans[9] and Turks. Religious groups include Sunni, Christians, Alawite, Druze religion, Mandeanism and Yezidi. Sunni Arabs make up the largest population group in Syria.

In English, the name "Syria" was formerly synonymous with the Levant (known in Arabic as al-Sham) while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BC. In the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt.

The modern Syrian state was established after World War I as a French mandate, and represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Arab Levant. It gained independence in April 1946, as a parliamentary republic. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a large number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country in the period 19491971. Between 1958-61, Syria entered a brief union with Egypt, which was terminated by a military coup. The Arab Republic of Syria came into being in 1963, transforming from the Republic of Syria in the Ba'athist coup d'tat. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, and its system of government is considered to be non-democratic.[10]Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000.[11]

Syria is a member of one international organization other than the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement; it is currently suspended from the Arab League[12] and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,[13] and self-suspended from the Union for the Mediterranean.[14] Since March 2011, Syria has been embroiled in an uprising against Assad and the Ba'athist government as part of the Arab Spring, a crackdown which contributed to the Syrian Civil War and Syria becoming among the least peaceful countries in the world.[15] The Syrian Interim Government was formed by the opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, in March 2013. Representatives of this government were subsequently invited to take up Syria's seat at the Arab League.[16]

The name Syria is derived from the 8th century BC Luwian term "Sura/i", and the derivative ancient Greek name: , Srioi, or , Sroi, both of which originally derived from and specifically and originally meant Aryu (Assyria) in northern Mesopotamia.[17][18] However, from the Seleucid Empire (323-150 BC), this term was also applied to The Levant, and from this point the Greeks applied the term without distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant.[19][20] Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word related to the cognate , Assyria, ultimately derived from the Akkadian Aur.[21] In the past others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon.[22] However, the discovery of the ineky inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria, whose ancient homeland was located in modern northern Iraq.

The area designated by the word has changed over time. Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, between Arabia to the south and Asia Minor to the north, stretching inland to include parts of Iraq, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene.[23]

By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire (but politically independent from each other): Judaea, later renamed Palaestina in AD 135 (the region corresponding to modern-day Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Jordan) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and Iraq.[24]

Since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture (known as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period (PPNB) is represented by rectangular houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps and burnt lime (Vaisselle blanche). Finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps only preceded by those of Mesopotamia.

The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla[26] near present-day Idlib, northern Syria. Ebla appears to have been founded around 3500 BC,[27][28][29][30][31] and gradually built its fortune through trade with the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Assyria and Akkad, as well as with the Hurrian and Hattian peoples to the northwest, in Asia Minor.[32] Gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Ebla's contact with Egypt.

One of the earliest written texts from Syria is a trading agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c. 2300 BC.[33][34] Scholars believe the language of Ebla to be among the oldest known written Semitic languages after Akkadian, Recent classifications of the Eblaite language have shown that it was an East Semitic language, closely related to the Akkadian language.[35]

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2015

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

al-Mamlakah al-Urdunyah al-Hshimyah

Jordan (//; Arabic: al-Urdun), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: al-Mamlakah al-Urdunyah al-Hshimyah), is an Arab kingdom in the Middle East, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, and Israel and Palestine to the west.

After the post-World War I division of West Asia by Britain and France, the Emirate of Transjordan was officially recognized by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank during the 1948 ArabIsraeli War, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan. The name of the state was changed to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on 1 December 1948.[10]

Although Jordan is a constitutional monarchy, the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is classified as a country of "high human development"[8] by the 2014 Human Development Report. Jordan has an "upper middle income" economy.[11] Jordan enjoys "advanced status" with the European Union since December 2010,[12] and it is a member of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area. It is also a founding member of the Arab League[13] and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In antiquity, the present day Jordan became a home for several Semitic Canaanite-speaking ancient kingdoms, including the kingdom of Edom, the kingdom of Moab, the kingdom of Ammon, the kingdom of Israel, and also the Amalekites. Throughout different eras of history, the region and its nations were subject to the control of powerful foreign empires; including the Akkadian Empire (2335-2193 BC), Ancient Egypt (15th to 13th centuries BC), Hittite Empire (14th and 13th centuries BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365-1020 BC), Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC), the Neo-Babylonian Empire (604-539 BC), the Achaemenid Empire (539-332 BC), and, for discrete periods of times, by Israelites. The Mesha Stele recorded the glory of King Mesha of Moab and his victory over the Israelites. The kingdoms of Ammon and Moab are mentioned in ancient maps, Near Eastern documents, ancient Greco-Roman artifacts, and Christian and Jewish religious scriptures.[14]

Due to its strategic location in the middle of the ancient world, Transjordan came to be controlled by the ancient empires of Persians and later the Macedonian Greeks, who became the dominant force in the region, following the conquests of Alexander the Great. It later fell under the changing influence of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire from the North and the Parthians from the East.

The Aramaic speaking Nabatean kingdom was one of the most prominent states in the region through the middle classic period, since the decline of the Seleucid control of the region in 168 BC. The Nabateans were most probably people of mixed Aramean, Canaanite and Arabian ancestry, who fell under the early influence of the Hellenistic and Parthian cultures, creating a unique civilized society, which roamed the roads of the deserts. They controlled the regional and international trade routes of the ancient world by dominating a large area southwest of the Fertile Crescent, which included the whole of modern Jordan in addition to the southern part of Syria in the north and the northern part of Arabian Peninsula in the south. The Nabataeans developed the Nabatean Alphabet, a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet, which was eventually to lead to the formation of the Arabic Script in the 4th century AD.[16] Their language was originally Aramaic (a West Semitic language), but became infused with South Semitic Arabic with the migration of Arab tribes into Nabatea in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.[17] It acted as an intermediary between Aramaean and Classical Arabic, the latter of which evolved into Modern Arabic.

The Nabateans were largely conquered by the Hasmonean rulers of Judea and many of them forced to convert to Judaism in the late 2nd century BC. However, the Nabataeans managed to maintain a sort of semi-independent kingdom, which covered most parts of modern Jordan and beyond, before it was taken by the Herodians and finally annexed by the still expanding Roman Empire in 106 AD. However, apart from Petra, the Romans maintained the prosperity of most of the ancient cities in Transjordan which enjoyed a sort of city-state autonomy under the umbrella of the alliance of the Decapolis. Nabataean civilization left many magnificent archaeological sites at Petra, which is considered one of the New 7 Wonders of the World as well as recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Following the establishment of Roman Empire at Syria, the country was incorporated into the client Judaean Kingdom of Herod, and later the Judaea Province. With the suppression of Jewish Revolts, the eastern bank of Transjordan was incorporated into the Syria Palaestina province, while the eastern deserts fell under Parthian and later Persian Sassanid control. During the Greco-Roman period, a number of semi-independent city-states also developed in the region of Transjordan under the umbrella of the Decapolis including: Gerasa (Jerash), Philadelphia (Amman), Raphana (Abila), Dion (Capitolias), Gadara (Umm Qais), and Pella (Irbid).

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