Some words on the largest crater in the World

The biggest, the first, one of the some multi-ringed craters on Earth. This term scientiests say about Vredefort crater.

The object of our conversation occurred 2 000 000 000 years BC. For careful people I would say 2023 billion years. The life wasn’t especially rich, all the members of life were just single-celled organisms. As you may know, they don’t boast of precise memory and do not keep own writings, so there are no witness of this event. It occurred in modern-day Southern Africa, but that day the modern city of Vredefort didn’t located in that continent and it was unlikely the South of it. That days a supercontinent had broken but another did not merged yet. But this exlosion occured in one good location. An asteroid with large enough size plopped just into geological plate, that was touched neither by tectonics nor destruction while many other similar objects wrinkled to unrecognizability.

It is believed to be the largest crater in the world, only the suppositional crater in Antarctica is wider, but it has not been proved jet. In the middle of Vredefort crater a mound arises, which appeared after the swash of ground when asteroid fell on the continent and sunk. Vredefort crater is consider the oldest as well, though some expert tell Saharwi crater is more ancient than South Africa’s one.

Many years later, the offspring of European colonists built within this crater the city of Vredefort, after that our crater is called. Vredefort crater hosts other two cities inside themself, the most populous settlement in Shouthern Africa is just on the rim. Some years ago United Nations elected Vredefort crater a Heritage site.

4 Righteous Caliphs

The rule of the first four caliphs is called Rashidun Chaliphate. Do you know what in this period wonder me? The quickness of the spread of Islam. Before raise of Islam the Arabian tribes were scattered wild peoples who worshiped a variety of gods and objects. Some people claim that the worship of the Kaaba, the box on the main square in Mecca, which every Muslim must visit, originates in those early times, when the tribes on the Arabian Peninsula worshiped stones and trees. And in the beginning of 7th century the people living mainly in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula became suddenly organized, moving to a new step of development and creating a new state – the Caliphate. Just for several decades they conquered vast territories on three continents. At first glance it seems that everything ran smoothly, but if we look closely, we will see another picture.

Remains of Alexandrian LIbrary

The history of the Caliphate goes back to the death of Muhammad, who founded a new religion – Islam. And the early period of this state is called Rashidun Caliphate. Muslims believe that the period of the Rashidun Caliphate covers the rule of the first four caliphs, but it is not clear why they are “more righteous” than future ones. Immediately after the Prophet ‘s death the next Caliph, Abu Bakr, encounter some difficulties. Islam had not sit firmly in the minds of the local people and many began to look towards other active preachers. Almost every tribe had an own prophet, whom the Arabs, with the exception of Medina and Mecca, were ready to follow to. Apparently, if Muhammad had not appeared there, his place was targeted by many local rivals, and who knows how would look the Arab world, if the place of the prophet was taken by one of them. Abu Bakr had to suppress dissent and conquer apostates. After two years of internal struggle, he died and left the post of the Caliph to his protégé – Umar. This guy carried out a variety of economic and administrative reforms. He founded the treasury, the first courts and some sort of government. During his reign the Koran was completed and the Islamic calendar, started since the Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina, was introduced. Umar also had to contend with internal renegades, but he was able to significantly expanded the territory of the Caliphate. Probably because of the active military activity, he was killed by a Persian slave at the time of prayer.

Umayyad arab-byzantine Solidus

The third caliph, Uthman, also died not by natural couses. During his twelve-year rule opposite movement against him increased, despite of military success in the campaigns aginst Persia. After a series of protests, that nearly escalated into a civil war, the opponents of the Caliph rushed into Uthman’s house and assassinated him when he was reading the Koran. Usman’s followers also decided to take revenge for their ruler and killed more than 4,000 suspects. The new caliph, Ali, had to fight with the protesters in a battle, which became known as the battle of the Camel. Soon Ali was killed by comrades were dissatisfied with the split of the Muslim community. But Muawiya, a relative of the previous Caliph Uthman who came to power, bequeathed the throne to his son, thus ending the period of the Rashidun Caliphate and founding the Umayyad Caliphate.

9 Key Moments in Twenty-seventh Century BCE

Today we are going to share with you another list. Inspiration for this list we took on our site, where you can find the full list of events happened in 27th century BC.

2700 BC, Knossos, Ancient Greece
Minoan Civilization’s ancient city of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, reaches 80,000 inhabitants

Examples of Minoan pottery

2700 BC, Asia
Rise of Elam, an ancient civilization in the southwest of modern-day Iran, marks the the period known as Old Elamite period

2700 BC, Europe
One of the earliest known civilizations in the Aegean world, the Minoan civilization, rise on the island of Crete beginning the period of flourishing

2686 BC, Ancient Egypt
Nebka, an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, begins to rule in Ancient Egypt, starting Third Dynasty of Egypt and the Old Kingdom

2675 BC, Mesopotamia
Aga of Kish, the last king in the first Dynasty of Kish, is defeated by Gilgamesh of Uruk, the fifth king of that city, marking start of Uruk hegemony in Sumer

2650 BC, Ancient China
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period in China, the first period in history of ancient China, characterized by semi-mythological rulers considered as demigods and wise characters, begins

2650 BC, Asia
The ancient city of Harappa in modern-day Pakistan, one of the largest metropolises of ancient world with superior urban planning and sewage systems, begins to flourish during urbanization in the Indus Valley civilization

View of Granary and Great Hall at the archaeological site of Harappa

2650 BC, Ancient Egypt
The first step pyramid in Egypt is built for pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara by his vizier Imhotep, who becomes the first known architect

2613 BC, Ancient Egypt
Sneferu, builder of three survived pyramids in Egypt, founds the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, following his father pharaoh Huni

Granite head of an Old Kingdom pharaoh, supposed to be Huni

7 Best Historic Castles

Today I will talk about the most historic castles. The castle that played significant role in history of Europe. This article is based on this wonderful list and you can follow the link to see much more beautiful castles.

1. Let’s start with my favorite castle. Personally I has never seen it in real life, but history of this castle and photos of it are amazing. It is Edinburgh Castle. The symbol of the city of Edinburgh and the stronghold nobody managed to conquer. It was founded in the 12th century by Scottish king David and was involved in many military engagements including Wars of Scottish Independence. Today it is very popular and more than 70% of visitors to Edinburgh visited the castle.
2. New nice object is gonna be Krak des Chevaliers. It is notable for being outside Europe, where majority of castle are located. Krak des Chevaliers was built just after the third Crusade by Knights Hospitaller as a major stronghold in Holy Land. They lost it in 1271 when Mamluk Sultan Baibars captured Krak des Chevaliers after a siege lasting 36 days. Unfortunately it is now a bit damaged during the Syrian civil war.
3. Next castle is also very popular tourist attraction and sometimes is listed as one of symbols of France. It is located about one kilometer  off the country’s northwestern coast and is strategic fortifications since ancient times where the castle was founded by an Irish hermit who gathered a following from the local community. gained strategic significance again in 933 when William I Longsword annexed the Cotentin Peninsula from the weakened Duchy of Brittany. 
4. Cité de Carcassonne. One of the oldest castle in the list. Originally it was founded as an ancient Roman citadel. It played significant role in local fortifications for may centuries. After 1226, an additional line of fortifications was added outside of the Roman walls. The town was finally annexed to the kingdom of France in 1247 A.D. It provided a strong French frontier between France and the Crown of Aragon. The citadel was restored at the end of the 19th century.
5. I thing everyone has listened to something about next castle at least once. Tower of London. Initially was built by William the Conqueror after conquest of the kingdom of England in 1066. The Tower was built to afraid English people and force to obey them and control River Thames. For many centuries the castle was symbol of King’s power and was used as prison for political opponents. Now it is one of the most popular tourist attraction in London.
6. Do you know the World’s largest castle? It is located in Poland and is called Malbork Castle. It was built when this territory belonged to Teutonic order, which has a lot of power in Central and Eastern Europe. The order, which had many posts throughout Europe and Asia chose Malbork to be their capital. After the battle of Grunewald in 1410 Teutons lost their power and influence. At the conclusion of the war, the city of Malbork and castle became again a part of Poland and was rename Marienburg.
7. One more English castle, Windsor Castle. As well as Tower of London it was founded after conquest of England by the Normans. For many year Windsor Castle is residence of English and British kings. Many of them built or change a little something in the castle was formed throughout all eight centuries. William the Conqueror, who ordered the construction of the castle, built it wooden, but today it is one of the most beautiful castles in the World. On the picture you can see Round Tower, the oldest part of Windsor Castle.

 

 

Murderer of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia

Do you know who of the famous rulers was assassinated during an attempt? Caesar, Lincoln, Alexander II… This sequence can be continued by one more man, ruler of Saudi Arabia Faisal ibn Abdul-Aziz. But this time the speech is going to be not about the Faisal, but about his murderer, as you see in title of the post.

He, by the way, was Faisal ibn Abdul-Aziz‘s nephew and his name was Faisal bin Musaid. Faisal came from a noble family of Saudis, and his brother, Abdurrahman ibn Musaid, was even an influential tycoon and president of Al-Hilal, an Arabian football club from Riyadh. One of his brothers was zealous Wahhabi and was assassinated during a protest against the introduction of a television channel. You know, Islam forbids images of living beings. Muslims do not depict either people or animals on the walls of their mosques, instead they usually decorate them with comprehensive ornate patterns. This is the reason for the comrades of our hero’s brother to organize a protest, during which Khalid was killed.

In the United Arab Emirates, citizens have the right to study at any university on the Earth. I do not know what about the people in Saudi Arabia, but the guys of the royal family are also excellent in this respect. The above-mentioned Abdurrahman studied at the Sorbonne, and Khalid managed to study at some colleges in the United States. And while studying, this young fellow was arrested for the distribution of LSD, for which, upon his return from the United States, the Saudi authorities revoked his passport.

Whether because of the passport, or for other reasons, the prince had planned something bad. On a spring day, the Faisal ibn Abdul-Aziz spent majlis. Mejlis is something like a ruler’s communicating with the people. That time the ruler communicated with the Kuwaiti delegation, to which prince joined. Soon the Abdul-Aziz saw his relative among the crowd, he tilted his head so that his prince would kiss his cheek, but those shot his uncle twice in the head. The guard of the ruler bare their swords (these fellows are armed with swords and automatic weapons), and grabbed the scoundrel.

Initially Faisal was considered to be mad, but having thought about him, fellows decided to execute the prince. On the day of the verdict, the cars with loudspeakers urged the people to come and see the the prince’s execution. After the crowd assembled the prince was beheaded with a only stab of the gilded sword, and then his head was put up for a short time on a wooden stake for everyone to see. Then fellows took the body, the head on the stake, and took it all in the ambulance. Probably to provide first aid.

Konrad von Gochstaden. A man making autofalacio.

Mr. Konrad von Gochstaden was a son of the canon of the cathedral in Cologne. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about his childhood. We don’t even imagine in which year this guy was born, in 1198 or 1205. However, already in 1216 he was appointed a canon, and 10 years later the rector of the cathedral in Cologne. during the years of his ministry, he gained the fame of an uncompromising and severe fellow. In 1238 the archbishop of Cologne died, and the clergy of the cathedral elected Konrad. He immediately rolled up his sleeves and decided to take all this stuff into his own hands, which forced him to enter into a series of skirmishes with neighboring secular rulers and aristocracy, who tried the cleric to prevent reigning alone in Cologne. In the end, he succeeded, the craftsmen raised their heads, but the practically independent city moved under the authority of the church.

In 1239, another round of confrontation between secular power and Rome started. Initially, the bishop took Frederick’s position, but then, for unclear reasons, he moved to the camp of the Gregory IX. After the death of the former opponent of the pope, Frederick II, Mr. Gochstaden managed to appoint the Roman protege, Henry Raspe, on the position of the ruler of the Germans. And when the latter died six months later, the cleric placed on the this throne another Pope Gregory IX’s ruler – William of Holland. Among these clashes, archbishop was able to build something new. In 1248, von Gochstaden laid the new Cologne Cathedral, the construction of which lasted for several hundred years. This really impressive cathedral is one of the biggest in Europe, and the German government have today to spend a lot of money every year to maintain the cathedral. 15 years later by order of Mr. Gochstaden the cathedral in the neighboring city of Xanten also was laid.

Henry Raspe

Soon the archbishop and the pope had a tiff. After the death of Archbishop of Mainz, the public demanded Konrad, who gained a serious weight, to be placed on this position, but the pope decided that he would not reside in two important German provinces simultaneously, and even deprived him the title of papal legate in Germany. Soon the friendship between the archbishop and ruler Wilhelm also deteriorated. The bishop did not give up, and awaited Wilhelm’s death and in the election of the next German ruler, he sold his vote for a considerable sum of money to Richard Cornwallis, the brother of the king of England Henry III. As a result, Richard became Emperor, and a couple of months later the bishop solemnly crowned him in Aachen.

 

Statue of Konrad

In 1261 the archbishop died, and grateful citizens decorated the town hall with a sculpture of him. The sculpture of Konrad stands on a balloon depicting auto-fellatio. Auto-fellatio is an act when a fellow dandle his own penis with his mouth. Why? Nobody knows.

Brief History of Ethiopia

It’s time to discuss about history of Ethiopia. Generally we bypass history of African states, but this time we’ll change this tradition. We use information from this page, and you can visit the site to get information about the topic.

This place is claimed to be cradle of human, thus men lived here since the Paleolithic. The early Ethiopians spread from this place everywhere. The neighboring Egyptians came to them and named this place Punt. Aksum kingdom, the first Ethiopian kingdom, was founded in the first century and was among the earliest states which accepted Christianity. Ethiopian Orthodox Church goes back to fourth century, about six centuries earlier that Northern Europe accepted this religion. In the end of eleventh century the queen of native Jews, who were expelled when converted Christians ordered them to abandon their country, took the state and held the country with her successor this territory for forty years.

This moment became the key one in the history of the kingdom. A military leader, who managed to expel once again invaders, founded new Ethiopian royal family. This guy’s name was Mara Takla. The moment is thought an establishment of the Empire of Ethiopia, which lasted until 1974. However the year when this coup happened is unknown. The new ruler moved the capital in Lalibela, which exhibits a few churches made of rock and a cross produced from a part of iron.

About hundred years later other military leader went out, and declared himself an offspring of Solomonic, Jewish king united state of Israel, and so he must be the king. The guy was a native Habesha. In honor of this people the country had received the name by which it was famous for centuries, Abyssinia. Solomonic line remained the ruling house in the country for lion’s share of the Ethiopian history,  more than 7 centuries, despite the fact that the country resisted the Arabian, Turkish and European invasion. So, from 1529 to 1543 the empire successfully wage war against the state of Adal, that managed to annex Ethiopia for a short time, the battle of Shimbra Kure even ended with death of the emperor. Later emperor Fasilides laid a capital of the country – Gondar, which preserved some beautiful buildings.

Some centuries later Italy joined carve-up of Africa’s cake, commencing an important campaign in African history. The war started after Italy concluded a peace with Ethiopia, but every country treated it in their own way because of incorrect translation of “may” in the treaty as “must”. Italian Kingdom invaded Ethiopian empire, but the key battle ended with the Italian epic defeat, paving the way for the first triumph of an African country in a campaign against a Western country. The Mussolini, who wish renascence of the power of his country, arrived in rule, he started a new campaign against Ethiopia. This time, the Italian were successful, in part because of prohibited usage of chemical warfare. Haile Selassie I, the most famous ruler of Ethiopia ever, was managed to escape to England, while the Italian king occupied the post of Emperor of Abyssinia. In the Second World War, the British army chased Italian forces out and invited to rule Haile Selassie back, who would remain the Emperor for another thirty years. I should to mention that Rastafarian movement honor him as god and look at him like at Jesus Christ.

In 30 years communism touched Black continent… Marxist junta, backed by USSR, dethroned the Emperor, and throw him in prison, where he soon died. This was the end of the monarchy and start of the long period of wars.

The worst disasters in Roman military history

One of the most tragic page of the history of Roman Empire was the Battle of Edessa. Let’s start with introduction of main characters of the event. So..

Roman Emperor Valerian was member of a noble Roman family and assumed his post during the Crisis of the Third Century. Civil wars were common in Roman Empire in that time and the soldiers proclaimed Valerian emperor after emperor Trebonianus Gallus was killed by his own troops. During his reign he followed the policy of persecution of Christians and even ordered the execution of bishop of Rome Pope Sixtus II.

Shapur I was King of Kings of Iran and Aniran, or simply the King of Persia. Since his raise to power in 241 he began to centralize power in the Empire. Initially he shared the throne with his father, but after death of the latter be became the sole ruler of the Sasanian Empire. Shapur liked reliefs and inscription on rocks and left many of them. He called himself worshiper of Mazda. Mazda here is not a Japanese car, but the sole God of Zoroastrianism.

Shapur I also was a quite bellicose and launched some attacks on Roman Empire. Some of them were successful. Thus he managed to conquest Antioch in 253. Valerian began to prepare for the reply, and combine Roman army including praetorians. In 206 he invaded Persia and met the forces of Shapur I near the city of Edessa. After initial troubles Valerian tried to negotiate with Shapur, but it seems that during Shapur negotiations the Roman Emperor was seized while Roman army was forced to surrender. The most Lactantius pessimistic sources said about unpleasant consequences. Persian Emperor kept Valerian in cruel conditions and was humiliated there. Shapur used him as a step to climb into his horse. It also said that Valerian was kept in a cage. After Valerian’s death Shapur ordered to skin him and stuffed with manure.

After the battle Shapur tried to capture Cilicia but was defeated by Roman army. One of generals who participated in this operation proclaimed his sons as Emperors.

Seleucus I Nicator in Pictures

Roman artwork showing Seleucus I, read more on Historystack

A coin depicting face Seleucus’ son Antiochus I

Alexander’s Macedonian army with Seleucus in India

Field of battle of Corupendium, where Seleucus defeated king of Macedonia Lysimachus during wars of Deadochi

Map of Seleucus Empire at its greatest extend

 

 

Dessalines and Haitian Revolution

Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first emperor of Haiti

Map of colony of Saint-Domingue, just before the Revlution

The initial rebellion of Slaves

Battle of the Crete-a-Pierrot

Massacre of whites by former slaves