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City-wall

City-wall

.]] A defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose vast regions. Walls are usually made of stone or clay and are generally as tall as a man's own height, although oftentimes much taller. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain (e.g. rivers or rocks) may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. In the middle ages, it was a privilege to be granted to build a defensive wall, and was granted by the so-called "right of fortification". The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states, and energetic wall-building continued into the medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe.

History

Defensive walls are an evolved form of the palisades and other defensive measure employed to protect early settlements. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Exceptions were few - notably, ancient Rome did not have a wall for a long time, choosing to rely on its legions for defense instead. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified towns known as oppida, whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continously expanded and improved, until the Celts were driven away by the immigrating German tribes. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous remainder of this type is the Porta Nigra in Trier, though there also some left in Regensburg and Cologne. Apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some cities built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, who very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. The founding of cities was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe, were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation. These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continously improved to reflect the current level of military development.

Composition

At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons. North of the Alps, this passegeway at the top of the walls even had a roof. Occasionally, instead of a passageway, loose rocks were placed on top of the wall - these warned the defenders when the assailants were trying to climb the walls. Examples of this can be found in the fortifications of the cities Seßlach and Fladungen. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries:
- City ditch: a ditch dug in front of the walls, occasionally filled with water.
- Gate tower: a tower built next to, or on top of the city gates to better defend the city gates
- Wall tower: a tower built on top of a segment of the wall, which usually extended outwards slightly, so as to be able to cover the walls.
- Pre-wall: wall built outside the wall proper, usually of lesser height - the space inbetween was usually further subdivided by additional walls.
- Additional obstacles in front of the walls, e.g. hedges. The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Avila, Provins), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases, the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from the purely military, defensive purpose, towers also played an important representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. In many senses, the architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noble men and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte, were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into the defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen, and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nürnberg. Additional constructions prevented the circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were payed when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signalling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of the city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and/or hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. A famous examples of this practice is the Rumanian "Dracula Castle" Bran in Törzburg, which was intended to protect Kronstadt (today's Brasov). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls . Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim, Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into the defensive strategy of the city (e.g Nürnberg, Zons, Carcassonne), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards - for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a bishopal (clerical) city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. With the development of firearms came the necessity to expand the existing installation, which occured in multiples stages. Firstly, additional, half-circular towers were added in the interstices between the the walls and pre-walls (s.a.) in which a handful of cannons could be placed. Soon after, reinforcing structures - or "bastions" - were added in strategically relevant positions, e.g. at the gates or corners. A well-preserved example of this is the Spitalbastei in Rothenburg. However, at this stage the cities were still only protected by relatively thin walls which could offer little resistance to the cannons of the time. Therefore new, star-shaped forts with numerous cannons and thick earth walls reinforced by stone were built. These could resist cannon fire for prolonged periods of time. However, these massive fortifications severly limited the growth of the cities, as it was much more difficult to move them as compared to the simple walls previously employed - to make matters worse, it was forbidden to build "outside the city gates" for strategic reasons and the cities became more and more densely populated as a result.

Decline

In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focussing more on the defense of forts around cities, most city walls were demolished. Nowadays, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "gate", "wall, or "glacis" occur. In the 19. century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value - on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored (Carcassone), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernise the cities. An notable exception in this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I., which led to the nearly complete preservation of many impressive monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franken region were also preservered as a consequence of this edict.

Modern Era

Walls and fortified wall structures were built in the modern era, too. They did not, however have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. The Berlin's city wall from the 1730s to the 1860s was partially made of wood. Its primary purpose was to enable the city to impose tolls on goods and, secondarily, also served to prevent the desertion of soldiers from the garrison in Berlin. The Berlin wall was a different form of wall, in that it did not primarily serve the purpose of protection of an enclosed settlment. It's primary purpose was to prevent the crossing of the Berlin border between the DDR and the BRD exclave of west-Berlin. Further walls of the 20. century are found in Israel where many exclaves of Jewish settlements are surrounded by fortified walls. Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in a single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers - this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. Most of these "modern" city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow the least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls, i.e. two walls with an interstitial "zone of fire" (cf. the Berlin wall) are rare.

Africa


- Zinder, Nigeria was well known for its city wall, the remains of which can still be seen.

Austria


- Vienna (destroyed)

Canada


- Quebec City, Quebec is the only fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, in the Americas.

China


- Great Wall of China
- Chinese cities occasionally have remnants of city walls that were built in the Ming Dynasty and designed to withstand artillery bombardment. Chinese cities generally outgrew their walls, which fell into disrepair in the Qing dynasty. The city of Xi'an has well-preserved walls with a water filled moat that is a tourist attraction incorporating small parks surrounding a busy and modern area of the city.
- The walls of Beijing were demolished during the 1960s to open large streets around the city. A metro line also follows the location of the former city walls.
- Jingzhou
- Pingyao
- Walled villages can still be found in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Croatia


- Dubrovnik has well-preserved city fortifications including towers, gate, rampart walk and two citadels guarding the docks.
- Stone walls built in 14th-16th century, at the isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula, to the north of Dubrovnik; 890 meters long town wall and 5 km Great Wall outside the town
- Karlovac city walls, built in 1579 as a six-point star with bastions.
- The town of Split retains much of its ancient wall.

France


- Aigues-Mortes
- Arles (partial remains)
- Avignon
- Carcassonne
- Dinan
- La Couvertoirade
- Langres
- Maginot Line
- Saint-Malo's old town

Germany

Saint-Malo]
- Ahrweiler
- Annaberg-Buchholz
- Amberg
- Andernach
- Bad Münstereifel
- Bautzen/Sa.
- Berching/Opf.
- Bernau bei Berlin
- Blankenburg (Harz)
- Boppard
- Brandenburg
- Büdingen
- Dettelbach/Ufr.
- Dinkelsbühl/Mfr.
- Dollnstein/Altmühltal
- Donauwörth/Bay.
- Ebern/Ufr.
- Eibelstadt/Ufr.
- Eichstätt/Altmühltal
- Fladungen/Rhön, Ufr.
- Forchheim/Ofr.
- Freiberg/Sa.
- Freinsheim
- Frickenhausen/Ufr.
- Fritzlar/Hess.
- Gerolzhofen/Ufr.
- Greding/Altmühltal
- Heidingsfeld(Würzburg)/Ufr.
- Ingolstadt/Obb.
- Iphofen/Ufr.
- Jena
- Karlstadt am Main/Ufr.
- Kaufbeuren/Allgäu
- Korbach
- Kronach/Ofr.
- Landsberg am Lech/Obb.
- Mainbernheim/Ufr.
- Memmingen/Allgäu
- Merkendorf/Mfr.
- Mühlhausen/Thür.
- Müncheberg
- Münnerstadt/Ufr.
- Nabburg/Opf
- Neubrandenburg
- Neuburg an der Donau/Obb.
- Neustadt an der Saale/Ufr.
- Nördlingen
- Nürnberg
- Oberwesel/Rhein
- Ochsenfurt/Ufr.
- Ornbau/Mfr.
- Pappenheim/Altmühltal
- Rodach/Ofr.
- Rostock
- Röttingen/Ufr.
- Rothenburg ob der Tauber/Mfr.
- Schongau/Obb.
- Seßlach/Ofr.
- Soest
- Sommerhausen/Ufr
- Stralsund,
- Templin
- Ulm an der Donau
- Vellberg/BW
- Warburg (Westfalia)
- Wemding/Bavaria
- Weißenburg/Mfr.
- Wittstock
- Wolframs-Eschenbach/Mfr.
- Würzburg/Ufr.
- Zerbst/Sa.-Anh.
- Zeil am Main/Ufr.
- Zons
- Zwickau
- The German Democratic Republic claimed that the Berlin Wall (and the whole DDR border system) was defensive; but it was rather intended to prevent unauthorized emigration.

Greece


- Thessaloniki
- Iraklion
- Rhodes
- Monemvassia
- Ioannina This is just a short list

Hungary


- Buda

Israel


- Jerusalem's Old City Walls
- The walls of Akko (Acre) - 18th century modern Ottoman fortification able to withstand cannons attack. The wall has been restored and now includes rampart for tourists.

Ireland


- Pale

Middle East


- Jericho's Ancient City Walls - probably the most ancient stone wall ever discovered.

Morocco and Western Sahara


- In the 1980s, Morocco built a system of sand wall defenses, the Moroccan Wall (also known as the "Western Sahara walls" or "berm"), to keep the Polisario out of the Western Sahara.

the Netherlands


- 's-Hertogenbosch
- Maastricht

Philippines


- Intramuros - partially preserved, partially restored after WWII. Original walls are still on are well preserved.
- Fort San Pedro - in Cebu
- Fort San Antonio Abad - in Manila
- Fort Pillar- a Spanish defence fort in the island of Mindanao Mindanao

Poland


- Warsaw - partially preserved, partially restored after World War II, barbican restored
- Kraków - only the barbican and some traces preserved
- Zamość - complete renaissance and 19th century walls preserved
- Toruń
- Grudziądz
- Włocławek
- Tyniec

Spain


- Ávila
- Barcelona has portions of a Roman wall.
- Girona
- Lugo has a complete ringwall, some parts dating back to Roman times.
- Toledo

Sweden


- Visby
- Gothenburg has a part of the western city wall left, the bastion Carolus Rex at Esperanto platsen (Esperanto square) and most of the city moat is still left.
- Stockholm has a small remainder of the medeival city wall preserved.

Turkey


- Istanbul

United Kingdom


- Fragments of London Wall, the wall that once surrounded the Roman town of Londinium, are still visible just outside the Museum of London and at Tower Hill.
- The extensive remnains of the York city walls are both a shortcut above the streets and, as in many places, a tourist attraction.
- The walls of Coventry were demolished in 1662 and now only a few fragments survive.
- Berwick-upon-Tweed
- Canterbury
- Chester
- Chichester
- Conwy
- Londonderry
- Stirling
- Warwick
- Antonine Wall
- Hadrian's Wall

United States


- Wall Street, in New York City, is named after New York's old city wall, long since dismantled.

See also


- Citadel
- City gate
- Fortification
- List of walls
- Wall
- Medieval fortification
- Rampart
- Siege
- 城壁(Japanese citadel defensive wall) Category:Fortification Walls, defensive Walls, defensive

Wall

A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects space. Most commonly, a wall separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. There are three principal types of structural walls: building walls, exterior boundary walls, and retaining walls. rooms Building walls have two main purposes: to support roofs and ceilings, and to divide space, providing security against intrusion and weather. Such walls most often have three or more separate components. In today's construction, a building wall will usually have the structural elements (such as 2×4 studs in a house wall), insulation, and finish elements, or surface (such as drywall or panelling). In addition, the wall may house various types of electrical wiring or plumbing. Electrical outlets are usually mounted in walls. Building walls frequently become works of art, such as when murals are painted on them. On a ship, the walls separating compartments are termed 'Bulkheads', whilst the thinner walls separating cabins are termed 'Partitions'. Boundary walls include privacy walls, boundary-marking walls, and city walls. These intergrade into fences; the conventional differentiation is that a fence is of minimal thickness and often is open in nature, while a wall is usually more than a nominal thickness and is completely closed, or opaque. More to the point, if an exterior structure is made of wood or wire, it is generally referred to as a fence, while if it is made of masonry, it is considered a wall. A common term for both is barrier, convenient if it is partly a wall and partly a fence, e.g. the Berlin Wall or the Israeli West Bank barrier. Before the invention of artillery, many European cities had protective walls. Since they are no longer relevant for defense, the cities have grown beyond their walls, and many of the walls have been torn down. Extreme examples of boundary walls include the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall. Hadrian's Wall In areas of rocky soils around the world, farmers (and their slaves, as in the United States before slavery was abolished) have often pulled large quantities of stone out of their fields to make farming easier, and have stacked those stones to make walls that either mark the field boundary, or the property boundary, or both. Retaining walls are a special type of wall, that may be either external to a building or part of a building, that serves to provide a barrier to the movement of earth, stone or water. The ground surface or water on one side of a retaining wall will be noticeably higher than on the other side. A dike is one type of retaining wall, as is a levee. Special laws often govern walls shared by neighbouring properties. Typically, one neighbour cannot alter the common wall if it is likely to affect the building or property on the other side.

See also


- List of walls
- Dry-stone wall
- Separation wall
- Fence
- Wallpaper Category:Architectural elements Category:Property law ja:壁 simple:Wall

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China (, literally the Long City/Fortress of 10,000 Li¹), is an ancient Chinese fortification built from the end of the 14th century until the beginning of the 17th century, during the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect China from raids by the Mongols and Turkic tribes. It was preceded by several walls built since the 3rd century BC against the raids of nomadic tribes coming from areas in modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria. The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,350 km (3,945 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Gulf in the east, at the limit between China proper and Manchuria, to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (refer to [http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/appendices.html University of Washington: A. The Main Caravan Routes (b) The “Central Route” or “Middle Route.”]). Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

History

A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history. There have been five major walls: # 208 BC (Qin Dynasty) # 1st century BC (Han Dynasty) # 7th century CE (Sui Dynasty) # 1138 - 1198 (Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period) # 1368 - 1620 (from Hongwu Emperor until Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty) The first major wall was built during the reign of the First Emperor, the main emperor of the short-lived Qin dynasty. This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but by joining several regional walls built by the Warring States. It was located much further north than the current Great Wall with its eastern end all the way to modern day North Korea, and very little remains of it. The Great Wall seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty, on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall built before. The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could climb the wall, but make it difficult for semi-nomadic people outside the wall to cross with their horses or return with stolen property. The Ming Dynasty Great Wall starts on the eastern end at Shanhai Pass, near Qinhuangdao, in Hebei Province, next to Bohai Gulf. Spanning nine provinces and 100 counties, the final 500 kilometers have all but turned to rubble, and today it ends on the western end at the historic site of Jiayu Pass (嘉峪关), located in northwest Gansu Province at the limit of the Gobi Desert and the oases of the Silk Road. Jiayu Pass was intended to greet travelers along the Silk Road. Even though The Great Wall ends at Jiayu Pass, there are many watchtowers (烽火台 fēng huǒ tái) extending beyond Jiayu Pass along the Silk Road. These towers communicated by smoke to signal invasion. communicated by smoke The Kokes Manchus crossed the Wall by convincing an important general Wu Sangui to open the gates of Shanhai Pass and allow the Manchus to cross. Legend has it that they took three days for the Manchu armies to pass. After they conquered China, the Wall was of no strategic value as the people whom the Wall was intended to keep out were ruling the country (becoming the Qing Dynasty). The government ordered people to work on the wall, and workers were under perpetual danger of being attacked by brigands. Because many people died while building the wall, it has obtained the gruesome title, "longest cemetery on Earth" or "the long graveyard".

Condition

Qing DynastyQing DynastyWhile some portions near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in most locations the Wall is in disrepair, serving as a playground for some villages and a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction sites. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often plagued with hawkers of tourist kitsch. The Gobi Desert is also encroaching on the wall in some places. Some estimates say that only 20% of the wall is in a good condition. In 2005, pictures of a rave party on the Great Wall surfaced in the Chinese media. There was widespread public outrage, as photos of foreign, as well as Chinese, youths, drinking, urinating, defecating and engaging in sexual activities on the wall were shown throughout the country.

Walls

Significant passes () include:
- Shānhǎi Pass (Shanhaiguan) (山海關)
- Jiayu Pass (嘉峪關),
- Jūyōng Pass (居庸關)
- Niángzi Pass (娘子關)

Watchtowers and Barracks

Shānhǎi PassThe wall is complemented by defensive fighting stations, to which wall defenders may retreat if overwhelmed. Each tower has unique and restricted stairways and entries to confuse attackers. Barracks and administrative centers are located at larger intervals.

Materials

Shānhǎi PassThe materials used are those available near the site of construction. Near Beijing the wall is constructed from quarried limestone blocks. In other locations it may be quarried granite or fired brick. Where such materials are used, two finished walls are erected with packed earth and rubble fill placed in between with a final paving to form a single unit. In some areas the blocks were cemented with a mixture of glutinous rice and eggwhite. In the extreme western desert locations, where good materials are scarce, the wall was constructed from dirt rammed between rough wood tied together with woven mats.

Specialized defense weapons

brickIn addition to the usual military weapons of the period, specialized wall defense weapons were used. Reproductions of weapons are displayed at the wall.

Recognition

brick brick The Wall is included in lists of the "Seven Medieval Wonders of the World" but was of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks. The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The Chinese have a saying, 不到长城非好汉 bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn, roughly meaning "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall". There is a longstanding disagreement about how visible the wall is in space. The notion of its visibility from outer space greatly predates manned space flight. Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels said the Great Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon, and a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon from the same decade makes a similar claim. This myth has persisted, assuming urban legend status, sometimes even entering school textbooks. Arthur Waldron, author of the single most authoritative history of the Great Wall written in any language, has speculated that the myth of the Great Wall's visibility from outer space might go all the way back to the fascination with the "canals" some people during the late nineteenth century believed to exist on Mars. (The logic was strange and simple: If Earthlings can see the Martians' canals, the Martians might be able to see the Great Wall.) But in fact, the Great Wall simply cannot be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the moon, much less that of Mars. The distance from the earth to the moon is about a thousand times greater than the distance from the earth to a spacecraft in near-earth orbit. If the Great Wall were visible from the moon, it would be easy to see from near-earth orbit. In fact, from near-earth orbit, it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions. And it is no more conspicuous than many other manmade objects. One shuttle astronaut reported that "we can see things as small as airport runways [but] the Great Wall is almost invisible from only 180 miles (290 km) up." Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." An Apollo astronaut said no human structures were visible at a distance of a few thousand miles. U.S Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several professional U.S. astronauts. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he couldn't see it at all. From low-earth orbit it may be visible under favorable conditions. Features on the moon that are dramatically visible at times can be undetectable on others, due to changes in lighting direction. The Great Wall is only a few meters wide — sized similar to highways and airport runways — and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 160 km to 320 km high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "...it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look." Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the state-run China Daily newspaper concluded that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look. ([http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4459311.stm]) International Space Station

See also


- Great Wall of China hoax
- List of walls
- Badaling
- Jumenbu
- Great Firewall of China

Further reading

Roland Michaud (Photographer), Sabrina Michaud (Photographer), Michel Jan, The Great Wall of China (2001) ISBN 0789207362 Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1990.

External links


- [http://www.code-d.com/china/simatai.html Photos of Great Wall in Simatai]
- [http://www.chinahighlights.com/greatwall/index.htm Great Wall of China]
- [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/picture/china_great_wall/index.htm Pictures of Great Wall of China]
- [http://www.chinahighlights.com/greatwall/greatwallhikingroutes.htm Great Wall Hiking ]
- [http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/12/world/great_wall040312 CBC.ca News: "Great Wall invisible from space": Chinese astronaut]
- [http://www.snopes.com/science/greatwal.htm Snopes urban legend site] Great Wall's lack of visibility from space
- [http://www.thegreatwall.com.cn/en Great Wall of China & Volunteer of Great Wall]
- [http://www.beijingservice.com/greatwall.htm Great Wall of China]
- [http://www.chinahighlights.com/greatwall/greatwallmap.htm Map of Great Wall]

Notes

¹ 10,000 li = 5,760 km. (3,580 miles). In Chinese, 10,000 figuratively means "infinite", and the number should not be interpreted for its actual value, but rather as meaning the "infinitely long wall".

More Photos

Image:IMGP0048.JPG|September 2004. Albert Hazan Image:IMGP0059.JPG|September 2004. Albert Hazan Image:GreatWall_2004_Summer_1.jpg|Great Wall, Beijing. Summer 2004 Image:GreatWall_2004_Summer_2.jpg|Great Wall, Beijing. Summer 2004 Image:GreatWall_2004_Summer_3.jpg|Great Wall, Beijing. Summer 2004 Image:GreatWall_2004_Summer_4.jpg|Great Wall, Beijing. Summer 2004
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- ko:만리장성 ja:万里の長城 th:กำแพงเมืองจีน

Atlantic Wall

The Atlantic Wall (Gr Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal fortifications built by the German Third Reich during the Second World War along the western coast of Europe (1942-44) in order to defend against an anticipated Anglo-American invasion of the continent from Great Britain. Fritz Todt, who had designed the Siegfried Line (Westwall) along the Franco-German border, was the chief engineer employed in the design and construction of the wall's major fortifications. Thousands of forced laborers were impressed to construct these permanent fortifications along the Belgian and French coasts facing the English Channel. Early in 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assigned to improve the defenses of the Wall. Rommel believed the existing coastal fortifications were entirely inadequate, and he immediately began strengthening them. Under his direction, a string of reinforced concrete pillboxes were built along the beaches, or sometimes slightly inland, to house machine guns, antitank guns, and light artillery. Minefields and antitank obstacles were planted on the beaches themselves, and underwater obstacles and mines were planted in the waters just off shore. The intent was to destroy the Allied landing craft before they could even unload. By the time of the invasion, the Germans had laid almost 6 million mines in northern France. More gun emplacements and minefields extended inland, along the roads leading out from the beaches. In likely landing spots for gliders and parachutists, the Germans emplaced slanted poles, which the troops called Rommelspargel ("Rommel's asparagus"), and low-lying river and estuarine areas were permanently flooded. One of Germany's most clear-sighted Field Marshals, Rommel firmly believed that the invasion would have to be stopped at the beach itself, or the situation would otherwise inevitably lead to the defeat of Germany. The defensive wall was never completed; consisting primarily of batteries, bunkers, and minefields, which during 1942-1944 stretched from the French-Spanish border into Norway. A number of the bunkers are still present, for example near Scheveningen, The Hague, and in Normandy. After WWII some bunkers sank into the sand and there were efforts by governments to blow up these bunkers without any effect. The Channel Islands were heavily fortified, particularly the island of Alderney which is the closest to France. Hitler had decreed that 10% of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall got to the Channel Islands, because of the propaganda value of controlling British territory. Despite the mooting of Operation Constellation et al, the Allies bypassed the islands for this reason and did not try to liberate them when they liberated Normandy. The islands' German garrisons did not surrender until 9 May 1945 one day after the rest of the German armed forces. The German garrison on Alderney did not surrender until the 16 May.

See also

External links


- [http://www.atlantikwall.net/ Atlantikwall.net]
- [http://search.eb.com/normandy/articles/Atlantic_Wall.html Britannica Online]
- [http://www.museumscenterhanstholm.dk Museumscenter Hanstholm]
- [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/a/alderney/index.shtml Fortress Alderney]
- [http://www.bunkerpictures.nl Bunkerpictures] Category:World War II defensive lines Category:Walls Category:Fortification Category:Nazi architecture Category:Alderney ja:大西洋の壁

Topography

Topography, a term in geography, has come to refer to the "lay of the land", or the physiogeographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation. "Terrain" is a similar concept, used more to describe the land itself than the study of it. "Relief" is often used to refer to the third dimension of a map whether in actuality (as in a "raised relief" map, or drawn, as with contours, hachures or shading) or the territory it describes. shading Topography is similar to topology, popularly thought of as the mathematical study of surfaces. This may help explain its adoption in the world of geographers. Its actual original meaning, from Greek "topos" (place) and "graphein" (to draw), relates to the description of places rather than broad regions, in topographic surveys. Most 18th and early 19th century national surveys did not record relief across the entire area of coverage, calculating only spot elevations at survey points. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographical survey maps included contour representation of relief, and so maps that show relief, especially with exact representation of elevation, came to be called topographic maps (or "topo" maps) in the United States, and the usage has spread internationally. The understanding of topography is critical for a number of reasons. In terms of environmental quality, agriculture, and hydrology, understanding the topography of an area enables the understanding of watershed boundaries, drainage characteristics, water movement, and impacts on water quality. Understanding topography also impinges on soil conservation, especially in agriculture. Contour plowing is an established practice of enabling sustainable agriculture on sloping land, and is the practice of plowing along topographic lines. Topography is critical militarily because it determines the ability of armed forces to take and hold areas, and to move troops and material into and through areas. Topography is important in determining weather patterns. Two areas in fairly close proximity geographically may differ radically in characteristics such as precipitation because of elevation differences or because of a "rain shadow" effect. Tectonic processes and erosional processes are the determiners of topography. Tectonic processes such as orogenies cause land to be elevated, and erosional (and weathering) processes cause land to be worn away to lower elevations.

See also


- Geomorphology
- Landform
- bathymetry Category:Geomorphology Category:Cartography Category:Physical geography

City gates

: City gate

City-state

A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city, and usually having sovereignty. City-states were common in ancient times. Though sovereign, many such cities joined in formal or informal leagues under a high king. In some cases historical empires or leagues were formed by the right of conquest (e.g., Mycenae, or Rome), but many were formed under peaceful alliances or for mutual protection (e.g., the Peloponnesian League). In the Middle Ages, city-states were particularly a feature of what are now Germany and Italy. A number of them formed the Hanseatic League, which was a significant force in trade for a number of centuries.

Modern-day city-states

Monaco

The Principality of Monaco is a perfect exemple of a city-state, Monaco-Ville (the ancient fortified city, which is not a city even though its name means "Monaco-City") and the well known district Monte-Carlo are actually districts and not cities. The territory of the country correspond to the city limits (one government and one town hall, each having specific powers): the Principality of Monaco and the city of Monaco.

Singapore

The port city of Singapore was established by the British East India Company in 1819, and became a British crown colony in 1867. Except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II, Singapore remained a British colony until 1963. In that year, Singapore joined Malaya, Sarawak, and Sabah in the new federation of Malaysia. Unrest marked the two short years during which Singapore was part of Malaysia. Race-riots between the majority Chinese and minority Malays in the city were frequent, and the federal government, dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), clashed with the state government, which was dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP). The UMNO feared that the PAP would challenge their dominant position in the federal government and tip the racial demographics of Malaya. Finally, Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965, becoming an independent sovereign state. After Singapore's involuntary independence, it rapidly industrialized and modernized, becoming one of the four "Asian Tigers".

Vatican City State

Until 1870, the city of Rome had been controlled by the pope as part of his "papal states". When King Victor Emmanuel II annexed the city in 1870, Pope Pius IX refused to recognise the newly-formed Kingdom of Italy. Because he could not travel through a place that he did not admit existed, Pius IX and his successors each claimed to be a "Prisoner in the Vatican", unable to leave the 0.17-square mile (440,000 m²) papal enclave once they had ascended the papal throne. The impasse was resolved in 1929 by the Lateran Treaties negotiated by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini between King Victor Emmanuel III and Pope Pius XI. Under this treaty, the Vatican was recognized as an independent state, with the pope as its head. The Vatican City State has its own citizenship, diplomatic corps, flag, and postal system.

Other examples

As well as the above sovereign states, the term "city-state" can also refer to federal states such as the German states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, the Austrian state of Vienna, the Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the Ethiopian chartered cities (astedader akababiwach) of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Countries that have a very high proportion of their population within a single city are sometimes referred to as virtual or near city-states, Kuwait being one such example. In China, the term is sometimes used for the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The term "city-state" should not be confused with that of "independent city", which refers to a city which is not administered as part of another local government area (eg, a county).

City-states in history

The recent past

In the 19th and 20th centuries, a variety of changing political circumstances left several self-governing city-states as enclaves surrounded by the territory of another state. In Europe, they have included Fiume, Danzig, Memel and Trieste. On the edges of Europe they have included Batumi and Tangiers. For others which are still in existence, see above under "Modern-day city states". Elsewhere in the world, European colonialism resulted a number of tiny colonies that were no bigger than a port and its immediate surroundings, such as Zanzibar, Pondicherry, Weihai, and others. A few of these continue to exist as separate political entities, either as fully independent city-states, like Singapore, or highly autonomous territories of the country to which they are now part, such as Hong Kong.

Fiume (Rijeka)

The Adriatic port of Fiume, on the Istrian peninsula, was the main port of Hungary (under Habsburg rule since 1466). The city's population was predominately made up of Croats until the 19th century, when the Austro-Hungarian monarchy began to encourage Italian immigration as a counter-balance to the rise of Slavic nationalism. During World War I, Italy signed a secret treaty with the Allies in 1915, in which it was promised the Habsburg lands on the Adriatic in return for active military support. However, at the end of the war, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson believed the city should be given to the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). The Italians felt bitterly cheated out of what had been promised to them. The Fascist and poet Gabriele D'Annunzio organized a paramilitary force of demobilized soldiers and thugs, the Arditi, who he dressed in black shirts. On September 12, 1919, D'Annunzio led the Arditi into Fiume, and seized control of the city. D'Annunzio was proclaimed dictator. He remained dictator of Fiume until December 1920, when the Italian government sent a battleship into Fiume to bombard the municipal palace. D'Annunzio surrendered, and Fiume was proclaimed a "Free State" under a provisional government. Mussolini, emboldened by D'Annunzio's temporarily successful seizure of Fiume, marched on Rome with his own Fascist "black shirts", and seized control of the Italian government in March 1922. Local Fascists seized control of Fiume at the same time. In 1924, Mussolini negotiated the Treaty of Rome by which the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ceded Fiume to Italy. The city was formally annexed to Italy on March 16, 1924. Fiume was occupied by the Germans in 1943, and was then liberated by Yugoslav partisans in 1945. After World War II, the Italian population was evacuated and the city was annexed to Yugoslavia. Today, it is the Croatian city of Rijeka.

Danzig (Gdańsk)

The Baltic port city of Danzig (the German name for the city called "Gdańsk" in Polish) was made into the "Free City of Danzig", a so-called free city, in 1920. The city, formerly part of the German province of West Prussia, had an overwhelmingly German population of about 400,000. With the re-emergence of a Polish nation in the aftermath of World War I, West Prussia became the "Polish Corridor", giving that country access to the Baltic Sea, but dividing East Prussia from the rest of Germany. This left a large German minority living on Polish territory. Because of Danzig's importance, the League of Nations created the free city as a compromise, so that it would be part of neither nation; this compromise failed to satisfy Poland, which wanted the city's port facilities (and to regain a one-time Polish city), nor the local population, who wanted to remain a part of Germany. Resentment over the status of Danzig was a factor in Adolf Hitler's coming to power, and the city-state came under the control of a local Nazi party. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Danzig was annexed to Germany. In March 1945, though, the city was occupied by the Red Army. The German population was largely expelled to Germany, and the city was finally restored to Polish sovereignty under its old name of Gdańsk. Danzig had also been briefly a "free city" from 1807 to 1813, during the Napoleonic era.

Memel (Klaipėda)

The port city of Memel had a similar history to Danzig. Originally founded in 1252 by the Teutonic Knights on the Baltic Sea, it eventually became part of Prussia, and thus Germany. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) detached the city from Germany, and it came under administration by the Allied and Associated Powers Commission. In January 1923, the newly-independent Lithuania, invaded Memel (which had once been Lithuanian territory) and expelled the French garrison without a fight. In 1924 the League of Nations acknowledged the fait accompli, and Memel was incorporated into Lithuania as a semi-autonomous district. In March 1939, Hitler sent German warships to Memel, and delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania to surrender the city or face war. The Lithuanians surrendered, in Hitler's last bloodless conquest before World War II. After the war, the German population was expelled, and the city was returned to Lithuania as the city of Klaipėda.

Trieste

The Adriatic port of Trieste, was the chief port of the Austria-Hungary prior to World War I. The population of the region was predominantly Italian. The Italian army conquered what became the province of Venezia Giulia during the war, and it was annexed to Italy once peace came. At the end of the European war in May 1945, Yugoslav troops captured the city. In 1947, as part of the post-war peace negotiations, the city and its surrounding territory became the Free Territory of Trieste, under United Nations protection. The territory was divided into "Zone A", which included the city of Trieste and was under Allied control administered by the United States and the United Kingdom, and "Zone B", the surrounding territory, administered by Yugoslavia. In 1954, Yugoslavia annexed Zone B to its constituent republic of Slovenia, and Zone A reverted to Italy.

Batumi

Batumi, a seaport on the Black Sea, was controlled by the Ajaris, who were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. Russia annexed Ajara in 1878, but the Ottomans retook it during World War I. In 1918, British forces took the petroleum port of Batumi from the Ottomans and declared it a free port. As Allied intervention in Russia wound down, the city was taken by the Bolsheviks after the British withdrawal in 1920. The port became part of the Ajari ASSR, within what is now the independent Republic of Georgia.

Tangiers

Republic of Georgia When the Sultanate of Morocco was divided into French and Spanish zones under the Treaty of Fez in 1912, Tangiers was given special status. The Convention of 1923 made Tangiers an "international city" governed by a legislative assembly of 26 foreign representatives (from Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and the United States). Executive power was vested in the "Committee of Control", composed of the consuls of the signatory powers. Mixed courts with French, Spanish, British and Belgian judges administered justice; Arabs and Jews had their own separate court systems. Foreign powers operated a number of postal systems in the city, and Spain, France and Britain issued stamps for Tangiers. When Morocco gained independence in 1956, Tangiers was restored to it.

The Middle Ages and the early-modern era

The Holy Roman Empire

:For further details, see under: Imperial Free City. During the long history of the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany and neighbouring countries), dozens of towns and cities obtained local independence. By the late 18th century, their number had slowly been reduced to around 50, but almost all were eliminated ("mediatized") in 1803; in 1815, once peace had returned at the end of the Napoleonic era, only Bremen and Hamburg remained independent. Those two cities became members of the German Confederation (effectively the empire's successor), and joined the North German Confederation in 1867 (and thence the German Empire. They have continued until today as states in the modern Federal Republic of Germany.

Italy

In the early Middle Ages, Italy split up into a miriad of local and regional states. With the northern regions of the country having been heavily-urbanised for centuries, it was a natural consequence that a number of cities not only established themselves as city-states, but were able to compete effectively with other states. Examples include Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi, and perhaps most famously, Venice.

Ragusa (Dubrovnik)

The Adriatic port of Ragusa (today the Croatian city of Dubrovnik) was a sporadically-independent city until the early 19th century. Briefly a Russian possession, it was then annexed to Napoleon's French Empire. In 1815 it became part of the Austrian Empire.

Cracow (Kraków)

The formerly Polish city of Kraków was briefly a nominally independent republic between 1815 and 1846, when it was annexed to the Austrian Empire.

Ancient city-states

The many poleis of Ancient Greece are classical examples. The city-states of the Maya in Meso-America are also noteworthy. Examples include:
- Ancient Rome
- Jericho, in the Levant
- Mayan city-states
- Phoenician cities (incl. Carthage)
- Sumer, in Mesopotamia

See also


- nation-state
- microstate Category:Cities Category:Lists of cities Category:Ancient Greece Category:Political geography Category:Special territories ko:도시 국가 ja:都市国家

Palisades

The term Palisades may refer to:
- The Palisades, a stretch of the New Jersey bank of the Hudson River north-west of Manhattan; or
- Palisades is also a general term for steep cliffs next to a river; or
- The Palisades, a neighborhood in Washington, D.C.; or
- Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Michigan; or
- Palisades, a wooden fence of variable height used as a defensive fortification; or
- Palisade cell, which are commonly found in plant leaves; or
- Palisades Amusement Park, a defunct amusement park in Cliffside Park and Fort Lee,New Jersey, on The Palisades along the Hudson River; or
- Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, commonly called by residents "The Palisades," an affluent neighborhood in west Los Angeles, California.

Settlements

A settlement may refer to
- A balloon to colonization, or the resulting communities; see hamlet (place).
- A legal term, an agreement resolving disputes; see settlement (law).
- The process of swapping the consideration for the deeds, shares, securities, or other financial instrument once the trade, deal, or bargain has been executed; see settlement (finance).
- An Israeli settlement refers to a housing development for Israeli Jewish settlers.

Celts

:This article is about the European people. For the tool, see celt (tool). celt (tool) The term Celts (pronounced "kelts") refers to any of a number of ancient peoples in Europe using the Celtic languages, which form a branch of Indo-European languages, as well as others whose language is unknown but where associated cultural traits such as Celtic art are found in archaeological evidence. Historical theories were developed that these factors were indicative of a common origin, but later theories of culture spreading to differing indigenous peoples have recently been supported by genetic studies. Though the spread of the Roman empire led to continental Celts adopting Roman culture, the development of Celtic Christianity in Ireland and Britain brought an early medieval renaissance of Celtic art between 400 and 1200. Antiquarian interest from the 17th century led to the term Celt being developed, and rising nationalism brought Celtic revivals from the 19th century in areas where the use of Celtic languages had continued. Today, "Celtic" is often used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and the French region of Brittany, but correctly corresponds to the Celtic language family in which are still spoken Scottish, Irish and Manx (Gaelic languages) and Welsh, Breton and Cornish (Brythonic languages).

Development of the term "Celt"

The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as keltoi or hidden people, is by the Greek historian Hecataeus in 517 BC. According to Greek mythology, Celtus was the son of Heracles and Celtine, the daughter of Bretannus. Celtus became the primogenitor of Celts (Ref.: Parth. 30.1-2). In Latin Celta, in turn from Herodotus' word for the Gauls, Keltoi. The Romans used Celtae to refer to continental Gauls, but apparently not to insular Celts, which were divided into Goidhels and Britons, and possibly other peoples. This is likely due to the possibility that, at those times, the term "Celta/Keltos" was tied to those cultures or people descendant from the Central Europe Celts, while no ties were known to the insular people (especially the Gaels whose language was extremely different from that of Brythonic Celts). The English word is modern, attested from 1707. In the late 17th century the work of scholars such as Edward Lhuyd brought academic attention, then in the 18th century the interest in "primitivism" which led to the idea of the "noble savage" brought a wave of enthusiasm for all things Celtic and Druidic. The "Irish revival" came after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 as a conscious attempt to demonstrate an Irish national identity, and with its counterpart in other countries subsequently became the "Celtic revival". Nowadays "Celt" is usually pronounced as and "Celtic" as (in IPA) when referring to the ethnic group and its languages, while the pronunciation remains in use mainly for certain sports teams (eg. the NBA team, Boston Celtics, and the SPL side, Celtic F.C., in Glasgow). (The pronunciation with /s/ reflects historical palatalization of the letter 'C' when it occurs before 'I' or 'E' in words of Latin origin; in the Classical era Latin 'C' was always pronounced as /k/. The modern pronunciation with /k/ is a reversion to the original, whereas the pronunciation with /s/ has not been reverted.) The word spelt as "Celtic" is (arguably) English, as the Latin was "Celticus" or "Celticum", the Welsh is "Celtaidd", and the Irish Gaelic is "Ceilteach". By this argument, a pronunciation with /s/ should therefore be acceptable. The term "Celt" or "Celtic" can be used in several senses: it can denote a group of peoples who speak or descend from speakers of Celtic languages; or the people of prehistoric and early historic Europe who share common cultural traits which are thought to have originated in the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures. In contemporary terms, there are typically six nations defined as 'Celtic Nations'. To be defined as a Celtic nation, that nation must have ownership of a Celtic language. The first six are usually defined as Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany. The additional nations of Galicia and Asturias in Spain are sometimes considered to be modern Celtic nations based on the survival of Celtic traditions similar to the traditions of other Celtic nations, however, the Celtic language has not survived in either. England retains many Celtic influences but is not Celtic, but the languages of Pre-Anglo Celtic peoples influences dialects of some of its more rural regions, particularly those bordering Scotland and Wales, the best known of which are Cumbric which was spoken from Strathclyde to Derbyshire as recently as the 11th century, and the language centred on Devon — both languages are under-going a modern revival. Other areas of Europe are associated with being Celtic as well, including France, which traces its roots to the Gauls. In Scotland, the Gaelic language traces at least some of its roots to migration and settlement by the Irish Dalriada/Scotti. Due to the settlement of English speaking Angles in the lowlands, which — among other things — drove out the Gaelic language, Scots Gaelic survives only in the country's northern and western fringes in the areas where Scotti tribes settled and dominated over the indigenous Brythonic culture. The use of the word 'Celtic' as a valid umbrella term for the pre-Roman peoples of Britain has been challenged by a number of writers — including Simon James of the British Museum. His book The Atlantic Celts - Ancient People Or Modern Invention? makes the point that the Romans never used the term 'Celtic' in reference to the peoples of the Atlantic archipelago, i.e. the British Isles, and points out that the modern term "Celt" was coined as a useful umbrella term in the early 18th century to distinguish the non-English inhabitants of the archipelago when England united with Scotland in 1707 to create the United Kingdom. Nationalists in Scotland, Ireland and Wales looked for a way to differentiate themselves from England and assert their right to independence. James then argues that, despite the obvious linguistic connections, archaeology does not suggest a united Celtic culture and that the term is misleading, no more (or less) meaningful than 'Western European' would be today. This is somewhat misleading, however, since the Romans and Greeks did describe the Atlantic and continental Celts as being related to each other, having military alliances (and rivalries) with one another, sharing similar languages and traditions, as well as having a common religion and priest class. Additionally, archeological evidence shows quite clearly that the Atlantic and continental Celts were engaged in commerce with each other via regular trade routes. No one on either side of the debate argues that Celtic people have ever been a single homogenous political or social unit, but to argue that the Atlantic Celts were not Celts at all simply because hostile Romans never described them as such betrays a rather unscholarly bias. Miranda Green, author of Celtic Goddesses, describes archaeologists as finding "a certain homogeneity" in the traditions in the area of Celtic habitation including Britain and Ireland — an assertion backed up by recent genetic evidence which shows the populations of Ireland and Wales to be virtually indistinguishable from each other. She sees the inhabitants of the British Isles and Ireland as having become thoroughly Celticized by the time of the Roman arrival, mainly through spread of culture rather than a movement of people. In his book Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe concludes that "...there is no evidence in the British Isles to suggest that a population group of any size migrated from the continent in the first millennium BC...". Cunliffe tempers his remarks by pointing out that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but modern archaeological thought tends to disparage the idea of large population movements without facts to back them up, a caution which appears to be vindicated by genetic studies. In other words, Celtic culture in the Atlantic Archipelago and continental Europe most probably emerged through the peaceful convergence of local tribal cultures bound together by networks of trade and kinship — not by war and conquest. This type of peaceful convergence and cooperation is actually relatively common among tribal peoples; other well known examples of the phenomenon include the Six Nations of the Iroquois League and the Nuer of East Africa. The ancient Celts are thus best depicted as a loose and highly diverse collection of indigenous tribal societies bound together by trade, a common druidic religion, and similar political institutions — but each having its own local language and traditions. Michael Morse in the conclusion of his book How the Celts came to Britain concedes that the concepts of a broad Celtic linguistic area and recognizably Celtic art have their uses, but argues that the term implies a greater unity than existed. Despite such problems he suggests that the term Celt is probably too deep-rooted to be replaced and — what is more important — it has the definition that we choose to give it. The problem is that the wider public reads into the term quite anachronistic concepts of ethnic unity that no one on either side in the academic debate holds.

Population genetics

With the information gathered recently by population geneticists, it is becoming increasingly clear that the old idea of large-scale replacement by newer invaders is often a misleading concept. The Celtic ethnicity debate took off at a particularly early stage in population genetic studies. In his book, "Neanderthal", the archaeologist, Douglas Palmer, refers to genetic research conducted across Europe, and then states that the original modern genetic group in Europe arrived between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago with the spread of farming, displacing the earlier hunter gatherer populations. Such displacement occurred by population explosion, since farming is capable of supporting up to a 60 times greater population than the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the same area; :"None of Europe's subsequent historic upheavals - even catastrophic wars and famines - has seriously dented the old pattern set by the influx of farmers. The Goths, Huns and Romans have come and gone without any significant impact on the ancient gene map of Europe". -Douglas Palmer It seems futile to suggest that people who were once part of a wider Celtic cultural group, cannot be considered Celtic, in the same way that it would seem futile to suggest that their direct descendants in places like Devon or Cumbrian cannot be considered English in modern times. Perhaps our percepion of race and culture need to change, as European population genetic history seems to indicate that the latter is independent of the former.

Origins and geographical distribution

Huns style. The red area indicates an idea of the possible region of Celtic influence around 400 BC.]] The Celtic language family is a branch of the larger Indo-European family, which leads some scholars to a hypothesis that the original speakers of the Celtic proto-language may have arisen in the Pontic-Caspian steppes (see Kurgan). However, as the Celts enter history from around 600 BC, they are already split into several languages groups, and spread over much of Central Europe, the Iberian peninsula, Ireland and Britain, and studies now suggest that some of the Celtic peoples - including the ancestors of all the modern Celtic nations - had a largely pre-Celtic genetic ancestry, shared with the Basque people and possibly going back to the Palaeolithic. . Some scholars think that the Urnfield culture represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family. This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from ca. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology and agricultural practices. The spread of iron-working led to the development of the Hallstatt culture directly from the Urnfield (c. 700 to 500 BC). Proto-Celtic, the latest common ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is thought to have been spoken at the time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures, in the early 1st millennium BC. The spread of the Celtic languages to Britain and to Iberia would have occurred during the first half of the 1st millennium, the earliest chariot burials in Britain dating to ca. 500 BC. Over the centuries they developed into the separate Celtiberian, Goidelic and Brythonic languages. Whether Goidelic and Brythonic are descended from a common Insular-Celtic language, or if they reflect two separate waves of migration is disputed. The La Tène culture, in any case, can be associated with the Gauls, but it is entirely too late for a candidate for the Proto-Celtic culture. The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by the La Tène culture, and during the final stages of the Iron Age gradually transformed into the explicitly Celtic culture of early historical times. The La Tène culture was distributed around the upper reaches of the Danube, Switzerland, Austria, southern and central Germany, eastern France, Bohemia and Moravia, and parts of Hungary. The technologies, decorative practices and metal-working styles of the La Tène were to be very influential on the continental Celts. The La Tène style was highly derivative from the Greek, Etruscan and Scythian decorative styles with whom the La Tène settlers frequently traded. It is not known whether the Picts of Scotland were Celts or the remnant of an earlier population of the British Isles who had been pushed to the margin by Celtic invasions, or indeed whether they spoke a Brythonic language. The lack of any evidence to support the Celtic Invasion model, however, leads many scholars to favor the former model. In historical times western Scotland was colonised by Celtic Scotti from Ireland, who subsequently formed a political union with the Picts under Kenneth mac Alpin who had both Scots and Pictish ancestry. Additional forays into Greece and central Italy during the historical period did not result in settlement, though the same movement that brought Celtic invaders to Greece pushed on through to Anatolia, where they settled as the Galatians. As there is no archaeological evidence for large scale invasions in some of the other areas, one current school of thought holds that Celtic language and culture spread to those areas by contact rather than invasion. However, the Celtic invasions of Italy, Greece, and western Anatolia are well documented in Greek and Latin history. Examine the Map of Celtic Landsfor more information. Stonehenge and the other megalithic monuments long predate the Iron Age Celtic culture, but Genetic evidence indicates that the Celtic populations of the Atlantic Archipelago have been relatively stable for at least 6,000 years, in which case the modern Celts would be the direct descendants of their builders. There is no evidence that they used these sites as areas of worship from the Iron Age on, however, and indeed most evidence suggest that the Druidic Celtic religion(s) preferred to use groves of Oak trees as places of worship. The connection between these monuments and the Celts largely stems from 18th century romantics such as William Stukely.

Celts in Ireland and Britain

The indigenous populations of Britain and Ireland today are primarily descended from the ancient peoples that have always inhabited these lands. As to their culture, little is known but remnants remain primarily in the naming of certain geographical features, such as the rivers Clyde, Tamar, Thames and Tyne. By the Roman period most of the inhabitants of the isles of Ireland and Great Britain (the ancient Britons) were speaking Goidelic or Brythonic languages, close counterparts to Gaulish languages spoken on the European mainland. Historians explained this as the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries. In 1946 the Celtic scholar T. F. O'Rahilly published his extremely influential model of the early history of Ireland which postulated four separate waves of Celtic invaders. What languages were spoken by the peoples of the British Isles before the arrival of the Celts is unknown. early history of Ireland Later research indicated that the language and culture had developed gradually and continuously, and in Ireland no archaeological evidence was found for large intrusive groups of Celtic immigrants, suggesting to historians such as Colin Renfrew that the native Late Bronze Age inhabitants gradually absorbed influences to create "Celtic" culture. The very few continental La Tène culture style objects which had been found in Ireland could have been imports, or the possessions of a few rich immigrants. Julius Caesar had written of people in Britain who came from Belgium (the Belgae), but archaeological evidence which was interpreted in the 1930s as confirming this was contradicted by later interpretations and it was suggested that there might have been only a handful of élite Belgae in Britain. In the 1970s this model was popularised by Colin Burgess in his book The Age of Stonehenge which theorised that Celtic culture in Great Britain "emerged" rather than resulted from invasion and that the Celts were not invading aliens, but the descendants of the people of Stonehenge. More recently a number of genetic studies have supported this model of culture being absorbed by native populations. The study by Cristian Capelli, David Goldstein and others at University College, London showed that genes associated with Gaelic names in Ireland and Scotland are also common in Wales, Cornwall and most parts England, and are similar to the genes of the Basque people, who speak a non-Indo-European language. This similarity supported earlier findings in suggesting a largely pre-Celtic genetic ancestry, possibly going back to the Paleolithic. They suggest that 'Celtic' culture and the Celtic language were imported to Britain by cultural contact not mass invasions, either by Indo-Europeans bringing farming or by Celts in 600 BC. Recent studies have proven that, contrary to long-standing beliefs, the Teuton tribes did not wipe out the Romano-British of England but rather, over the course of six centuries, conquered the native Brythonic people of what is now England and south east Scotland and imposed their culture and language upon them, in a manner similar to the Irish spread over the west of Scotland.

Roman influence

At the dawn of history in Europe, the Celts in present-day France were known as Gauls. Their descendants were described by Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars. There was also an early Celtic presence in northern Italy. Other Celtic tribes invaded Italy, establishing there a city they called Mediolanum (modern Milan) and sacking Rome itself in 390 BC following the Battle of the Allia. A century later the defeat of the combined Samnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the Third Samnite War sounded the end of the Celtic domination in Europe, but it was not until 192 BC that the Roman armies conquered the last remaining independent Celtic kingdoms in Italy. Under Caesar the Romans conquered Celtic Gaul, and from Claudius onward the Roman empire absorbed parts of the Celtic British Isles. Roman local government of these regions closely mirrored pre-Roman 'tribal' boundaries, and archaeological finds suggest native involvement in local government. Latin was the official language of these regions after the conquests. The native peoples under Roman rule became Romanized and keen to adopt Roman ways. Celtic art had already incorporated classical influences, and surviving Gallo-Roman pieces interpret classical subjects or keep faith with old traditions despite a Roman overlay.

Examples of Romanization

Examples of Romanization include the slow dissapperence of druid