The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, Hungarian: Alföld[ˈɒlføld] or Nagy Alföld) is a plain occupying the majority of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain.
Its territory significantly shrunk due to its eastern and southern
boundaries being rewritten by the new political borders created after World War I when the Treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920.
Boundaries
Hydrography of the Pannonian basin before the river and lake regulations in the 19th century.
Its territory covers approximately 52,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi) of Hungary, approximately 56% of its total area of 93,030 km2 (35,920 sq mi). The highest point of the plain is Hoportyó (183 m (600 ft)); the lowest point is the Tisza River. The terrain ranges from flat to rolling plains.
Hungarian scientists born on the plain include Zoltán Bay, physicist; János Irinyi, chemist, inventor of the noiseless match; János Kabay, pharmacologist; Gábor Kátai, physician and pharmacist; and Frigyes Korányi, physician and pulmonologist.
The most important river of the plain is the Tisza.
Among the cultural festivals and programmes characteristic of the region are the Csángófesztivál (Csángó Festival) in Jászberény, the Cseresznyefesztivál (Sweet Cherry Festival) in Nagykörű, the Gulyásfesztivál (Goulash Festival) in Szolnok, the Hídi Vásár (Bridge Fair) in Hortobágy National Park, the Hunniális at Ópusztaszer, the Szabadtéri Játékok (Open-air Games) in Szeged, the Várjátékok (Castle Games) in Gyula, the Virágkarnevál (Flower Carnival) in Debrecen and the Bajai Halászléfőző Népünnepély (Fisherman's Soup Boiling Festival) in Baja.
A farm in Great Hungarian Plain, 19th century, by Géza Mészöly
The term is used in Serbia to denote the Hungarian portion of the Pannonian plain.
The portion of the Pannonian plain in Serbia is mostly divided into 3 large geographical areas: Bačka, Banat and Srem (Syrmia), most of which are located in the Vojvodina province.
Plain in Croatia
The term is rarely used in Croatia, and is usually associated there with the geography of Hungary.
Parts of Pannonian Croatia can be considered an extension of Alföld, particularly eastern Slavonia and the connected parts of Syrmia.
In Romania, the plain (Rom. câmp or câmpia, from Lat. campus) includes the regions of Banat and Crişana. It is referred to in Romanian as The Western Plain (Câmpia de Vest).
During
the prehistoric era, the Great Hungarian Plain was a place of cultural
and technological changes, as well as an important meeting point of
cultures of Eastern and Western Europe. It is a region of great archaeological importance to major European cultural transitions.
Agriculture began in the Great Hungarian Plain with the Early NeolithicKörös culture, located in present-day Serbia, 6.000-5.500 B.C.E. followed 5.500 B.C.E. by the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) which later became the dominant agricultural culture of Europe. The LBK was followed by the Lengyel culture in the Late Neolithic 5000-3400 BC.
During the Early Bronze Age
(2.800 - 1.800 BC), the growing demand for metal ores in Europe
resulted in the new pan-European and intercontinental trade networks.
During that period cultures of the Great Hungarian Plain incorporated
many elements from the other cultures of Bronze Age Near Eastern, Steppe
and Central Europe
During the early Iron Age (first millennium BC), a variant of the Central European Hallstatt culture inhabited Transdanubia, while pre-Scythian and later Scythian cultures were found in the eastern region of the Great Hungarian Plain.
In 2014, a major study of DNA from burials in the Great Hungarian Plain was published.
The 5,000-year record indicated significant genomic shifts at the
beginning of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, with periods of
stability in between. The earliest Neolithic genome was similar to other
European hunter-gatherers and surprisingly there was no evidence of lactase persistence
at that period. The most recent samples, from the Iron Age, showed an
eastern genomic influence contemporary with introduced Steppe burial
rites. There was also a transition towards lighter pigmentation.
The Iberian Peninsula is on the left and North Africa is on the right.
Strait of Gibraltar
Location
of the Strait of Gibraltar between Africa (centre right) and Europe
(top right), connecting the Atlantic Ocean in the centre to the
Mediterranean Sea on the right
The two continents are separated by 13 kilometres (8.1 miles; 7.0 nautical miles) of ocean at the Strait's narrowest point between Point Marroquí in Spain and Point Cires in Morocco.
Ferries cross between the two continents every day in as little as 35
minutes. The Strait's depth ranges between 300 and 900 metres (980 and
2,950 feet; 160 and 490 fathoms) which possibly interacted with the lower mean sea level of the last major glaciation 20,000 years ago when the level of the sea is believed to have been lower by 110–120 m (360–390 ft; 60–66 fathoms).
The name comes from the Rock of Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jabal Ṭāriq (meaning "Tariq's Mount"), named after Tariq ibn Ziyad. It is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, the Gut of Gibraltar (although this is mostly archaic), the STROG (STRait Of Gibraltar) in naval use, and Bāb al-Maghrib (Arabic: باب المغرب), "Gate of Morocco" or "Gate of the West".
In the Middle Ages, Muslims called it Az-Zuqāq (الزقاق), "the Passage", the Romans called it Fretum Gaditanum (Strait of Cadiz), and in the ancient world it was known as the "Pillars of Hercules" (Ancient Greek: αἱ Ἡράκλειοι στῆλαι, romanized: hai Hērákleioi stêlai).
Location
Europe (left) and Africa (right)
On the northern side of the Strait are Spain and Gibraltar (a British overseas territory in the Iberian Peninsula), while on the southern side are Morocco and Ceuta (a Spanish autonomous city in northern Africa). Its boundaries were known in antiquity as the Pillars of Hercules.
Due to its location, the Strait is commonly used for illegal immigration from Africa to Europe.
A view across the Strait of Gibraltar taken from the hills above Tarifa, Spain
The seabed of the Strait is composed of synorogenicBetic-Rif clayey flysch covered by Pliocene and/or Quaternary calcareous sediments, sourced from thriving cold water coral communities.
Exposed bedrock surfaces, coarse sediments and local sand dunes attest
to the strong bottom current conditions at the present time.
Around 5.9 million years ago, the connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean along the Betic
and Rifan Corridor was progressively restricted until its total
closure, effectively causing the salinity of the Mediterranean to rise
periodically within the gypsum and salt deposition range, during what is known as the Messinian salinity crisis. In this water chemistry environment, dissolved mineral concentrations, temperature and stilled water currents combined and occurred regularly to precipitate
many mineral salts in layers on the seabed. The resultant accumulation
of various huge salt and mineral deposits about the Mediterranean basin
are directly linked to this era. It is believed that this process took a
short time, by geological standards, lasting between 500,000 and
600,000 years.
It is estimated that, were the Strait closed even at today's higher sea level, most water in the Mediterranean basin would evaporate within only a thousand years, as it is believed to have done then,
and such an event would lay down mineral deposits like the salt
deposits now found under the sea floor all over the Mediterranean.
After a lengthy period of restricted intermittent or no water
exchange between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean basin,
approximately 5.33 million years ago, the Atlantic-Mediterranean connection was completely reestablished through the Strait of Gibraltar by the Zanclean flood, and has remained open ever since.
The erosion produced by the incoming waters seems to be the main cause
for the present depth of the Strait (900 m (3,000 ft; 490 fathoms) at
the narrows, 280 m (920 ft; 150 fathoms) at the Camarinal Sill). The Strait is expected to close again as the African Plate moves northward relative to the Eurasian Plate, but on geological rather than human timescales.
A resident killer whale
pod of some 36 individuals lives around the Strait, one of the few that
are left in Western European waters. The pod may be facing extinction
in the coming decades due to long term effects of PCB pollution.
History
Historic map of the Strait of Gibraltar by Piri Reis
Evidence of the first human habitation of the area by Neanderthals dates back to 125,000 years ago. It is believed that the Rock of Gibraltar
may have been one of the last outposts of Neanderthal habitation in the
world, with evidence of their presence there dating to as recently as
24,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence of Homo sapiens habitation of the area dates back c. 40,000 years.
The relatively short distance between the two shores has served
as a quick crossing point for various groups and civilizations
throughout history, including Carthaginians campaigning against Rome,
Romans travelling between the provinces of Hispania and Mauritania,
Vandals raiding south from Germania through Western Rome and into North
Africa in the 5th century, Moors and Berbers in the 8th–11th centuries,
and Spain and Portugal in the 16th century.
Beginning in 1492, the Strait began to play a certain cultural
role in acting as a barrier against cross-channel conquest and the flow
of culture and language that would naturally follow such a conquest. In
that year, the last Muslim government north of the Strait was overthrown
by a Spanish force. Since that time, the Strait has come to foster the
development of two very distinct and varied cultures on either side of
it after sharing much the same culture for over 500 years from the 8th
century to the early 13th century.
On the northern side, Christian-European culture has remained
dominant since the expulsion of the last Muslim kingdom in 1492, along
with the RomanceSpanish language,
while on the southern side, Muslim-Arabic/Mediterranean has been
dominant since the spread of Islam into North Africa in the 700s, along
with the Arabic
language. For the last 500 years, religious and cultural intolerance,
more than the small travel barrier that the Strait presents, has come to
act as a powerful enforcing agent of the cultural separation that
exists between these two groups.
The small British enclave of the city of Gibraltar
presents a third cultural group found in the Strait. This enclave was
first established in 1704 and has since been used by Britain to act as a
surety for control of the sea lanes into and out of the Mediterranean.
In December 2003, Spain and Morocco agreed to explore the construction of an undersearailtunnel
to connect their rail systems across the Strait. The gauge of the rail
would be 1,435 mm (4 ft 8.5 in) to match the proposed construction and
conversion of significant parts of the existing broad gauge system to standard gauge. While the project remains in a planning phase, Spanish and Moroccan officials have met to discuss it as recently as 2012, and proposals predict it could be completed by 2025.
Special flow and wave patterns
The
Strait of Gibraltar links the Atlantic Ocean directly to the
Mediterranean Sea. This direct linkage creates certain unique flow and
wave patterns. These unique patterns are created due to the interaction
of various regional and global evaporative forces, water temperatures,
tidal forces, and wind forces.
Inflow and outflow
The Strait of Gibraltar with the Mediterranean Sea in upper right. Internal waves (marked with arrows) are caused by water flowing through the Strait (bottom left, top right).
Water flows through the Strait more or less continuously eastwards
and westwards. A smaller amount of deeper saltier and therefore denser
waters continually work their way westwards the Mediterranean outflow, while a larger amount of surface waters with lower salinity and density continually work their way eastwards the Mediterranean inflow.
These general flow tendencies may be occasionally interrupted for brief
periods by temporary tidal flows, depending on various lunar and solar
alignments. Still, on the whole and over time, the balance of the water
flow is eastwards, due to an evaporation rate within the Mediterranean
basin higher than the combined inflow of all the rivers that empty into
it. At the Strait's far western end is the Camarinal Sill,
the Strait's shallowest point which limits mixing between the cold,
less saline Atlantic water and the warm Mediterranean waters.
The Mediterranean waters are so much saltier than the Atlantic
waters that they sink below the constantly incoming water and form a
highly saline (thermohaline,
both warm and salty) layer of bottom water. This layer of bottom-water
constantly works its way out into the Atlantic as the Mediterranean
outflow. On the Atlantic side of the Strait, a density boundary
separates the Mediterranean outflow waters from the rest at about 100 m
(330 ft; 55 fathoms) depth. These waters flow out and down the
continental slope, losing salinity, until they begin to mix and
equilibrate more rapidly, much farther out at a depth of about 1,000 m
(3,300 ft; 550 fathoms). The Mediterranean outflow water layer can be
traced for thousands of kilometres west of the Strait, before completely
losing its identity.
Simplifed and stylized diagram of currents at the Camarinal Sill
During the Second World War, German U-boats used the currents to pass into the Mediterranean Sea without detection, by maintaining silence with engines off.
From September 1941 to May 1944 Germany managed to send 62 U-boats
into the Mediterranean. All these boats had to navigate the
British-controlled Strait of Gibraltar where nine U-boats were sunk
while attempting passage and 10 more had to break off their run due to
damage. No U-boats ever made it back into the Atlantic and all were
either sunk in battle or scuttled by their own crews.
Internal waves
Internal waves
(waves at the density boundary layer) are often produced by the Strait.
Like traffic merging on a highway, the water flow is constricted in
both directions because it must pass over the Camarinal Sill. When large
tidal flows enter the Strait and the high tide relaxes, internal waves
are generated at the Camarinal Sill and proceed eastwards. Even though
the waves may occur down to great depths, occasionally the waves are
almost imperceptible at the surface, at other times they can be seen
clearly in satellite imagery. These internal waves continue to
flow eastward and to refract around coastal features. They can sometimes
be traced for as much as 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi), and sometimes create interference patterns with refracted waves.
Territorial waters
Except for its far eastern end, the Strait lies within the territorial waters of Spain and Morocco. The United Kingdom
claims 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) around Gibraltar on the
northern side of the Strait, putting part of it inside British
territorial waters. As this is less than the 12 nautical miles (22 km;
14 mi) maximum, it means, according to the British claim, that part of
the Strait lies in international waters. The ownership of Gibraltar and its territorial waters is disputed by Spain. Similarly, Morocco disputes Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta on the southern coast. There are several islets, such as the disputedIsla Perejil, that are claimed by both Morocco and Spain.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, vessels passing through the strait do so under the regime of transit passage, rather than the more limited innocent passage
allowed in most territorial waters. Therefore, a vessel or aircraft has
the freedom of navigation or overflight for the purpose of crossing the
strait of Gibraltar.
Power generation
Some studies have proposed the possibility of erecting tidal power generating stations within the Strait, to be powered from the predictable current at the Strait.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Atlantropa
project proposed damming the Strait to generate large amounts of
electricity and lower the sea level of the Mediterranean by several
hundreds of meters to create large new lands for settlement. This proposal would however have devastating effects on the local climate and ecology and would dramatically change the strength of the West African Monsoon.
A triumvirate (Latin: triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political regime ruled or dominated by three powerful individuals known as triumvirs (Latin: triumviri).
The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three are
notionally equal, this is rarely the case in reality. The term can also
be used to describe a state with three different military leaders who
all claim to be the sole leader. In the context of the Soviet Union and Russia, the term troika (Russian for "group of three") is used for "triumvirate".
Despite the Three Excellencies—including the Chancellor,
Imperial Secretary, and irregularly the Grand Commandant—representing
the most senior ministerial positions of state, this triumvirate was
supported by the economic technocrat and Imperial Secretary Sang Hongyang
(d. 80 BCE), their political lackey. The acting Chancellor Tian Qianqiu
was also easily swayed by the decisions of the triumvirate.
The Three Excellencies existed in Western Han (202 BCE – 9 CE) as
the Chancellor, Imperial Secretary, and Grand Commandant, but the
Chancellor was viewed as senior to the Imperial Secretary while the post
of Grand Commandant was vacant for most of the dynasty. After Emperor Guangwu established the Eastern Han (25–220 CE), the Grand Commandant was made a permanent official while the Minister over the Masses
replaced the Chancellor and the Minister of Works replaced the Imperial
Secretary. Unlike the three high officials in Western Han when the
Chancellor was senior to all, these new three senior officials had equal
censorial and advisory powers. When a young or weak-minded emperor
ascended to the throne, these Three Excellencies could dominate the
affairs of state. There were also other types of triumvirates during the
Eastern Han; for example, at the onset of the reign of Emperor Ling of Han (r. 168–189), the General-in-Chief Dou Wu
(d. 168), the Grand Tutor Chen Fan (d. 168), and another prominent
statesman Hu Guang (91–172) formed a triumvirate nominally in charge of
the Privy Secretariat, when in fact it was a regent triumvirate that was overseeing the affairs of state and Emperor Ling.
Hinduism triumvirates
In Hinduism, the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva form the triumvirate Trimurti "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified" respectively by those gods."
Pagaruyuang triumvirates
Triumvirates during the Pagaruyuang era in the Minangkabau Highlands was known as Rajo Tigo Selo or the three reigning kings. The Rajo Tigo Selo was descended from the same line in the same dynasty and ruled at the same reigning time. It consisted of three kings, the Rajo Alam who ruled the government and diplomatic affairs, the Rajo Adaik who ruled the customs and the Rajo Ibadaik who acted as a Grand Mufti.
During the Roman Republic, triumviri (or tresviri) were special commissions of three men appointed for specific administrative tasks apart from the regular duties of Roman magistrates.
The triumviri capitales oversaw prisons and executions, along with other functions that, as Andrew Lintott notes, show them to have been "a mixture of police superintendents and justices of the peace." The capitales were first established around 290 to 287 BC. They were supervised by the praetor urbanus. These triumviri, or the tresviri nocturni, may also have taken some responsibility for fire control. They went the rounds by night to maintain order, and among other things they assisted the aediles
in burning forbidden books. It is possible that they were entrusted by
the praetor with the settlement of certain civil processes of a
semi-criminal nature, in which private citizens acted as prosecutors.
They also had to collect the sacramenta
(deposits forfeited by the losing party in a suit) and examined the
plea of exemption put forward by those who refused to act as jurymen. Julius Caesar increased their number to four, but Augustus reverted to three. In imperial times most of their functions passed into the hands of the Vigiles.
The triumviri monetalis
("triumviri of the temple of Juno the Advisor" or "monetary triumvirs")
supervised the issuing of Roman coins. Their number was increased by
Juliue Caesar to four, but again reduced by Augustus. As they acted for
the senate they only coined copper money under the empire, the gold and
silver coinage being under the exclusive control of the emperor.
Tresviri epulones, a
priestly body, assisted at public banquets. Their number was
subsequently increased to seven, and by Caesar to ten, although they
continued to be called septemviri, a name which was still in use at the end of the 4th century. They were first created in 196 BC to superintend the Epulum Jovis feast on the Capitol,
but their services were also requisitioned on the occasion of triumphs,
imperial birthdays, the dedication of temples, games given by private
individuals, and so forth, when entertainments were provided for the
people, while the senate dined on the Capitol. Their number was later increased to seven (septemviri epulones).
Three-man commissions were also appointed for purposes such as establishing colonies (triumviri coloniae deducendae) or distributing land. Triumviri mensarii served as public bankers; the full range of their financial functions in 216 BC, when the commission included two men of consular rank, has been the subject of debate.
At the end of the 1700s, when the French revolutionaries turned to several Roman Magistrature names for their new institutions, the three-headed collective Head of State was named Consulat, a term in use for two-headed magistratures since Antiquity; furthermore it included a "First Consul" who was not an equal, but the de facto solo head of state and government – a position Napoleon Bonaparte chose to convert openly into the First French Empire.
Prior to Napoleon and during the Terror Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just, and Couthon, as members of the governing Committee of Public Safety,
were purported by some to have formed an unofficial triumvirate.
Although officially all members of the committee shared equal power the
three men's friendship and close ideological base led their detractors
to declaim them as triumvirs which was used against them in the coup of 9 Thermidor.
Pre-Independent India
In
the early days of the national struggle and before Gandhi, the Indian
National Congress was known to be under Lal-Bal-Pal i.e. Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and the leader of the three Balgangadhar Tilak often dubbed Lokmanya Tilak.
Modern Israel
2008–2009: Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni were sometimes referred to as a triumvirate.
2012: The leadership of Shas, the ultra-orthodox Sepharadi political party of Israel, was given by its spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Council of Torah Sages, to a triumvirate formed by the convicted Aryeh Deri, who decided to return to politics after a thirteen-year hiatus, the former party leader Eli Yishai and Ariel Atias.
People's Republic of China
(L-R) Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, and Liu Shaoqi in 1964
13 April 1970 until 26 October 1972: After the contentious 1970 presidential elections, the country of Benin (then known as the Republic of Dahomey) adopted a Presidential Council which included the three main political figures in the country: Hubert Maga, Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and Sourou-Migan Apithy.
In addition, the formal office of President would rotate between the
three of them beginning with Hubert Maga. After one successful change of
leadership, military leader Mathieu Kérékou staged a coup and overthrew the Presidential Council becoming the leader of the country until 1991.
Soviet Union
May 1922 – April 1925: When Vladimir Lenin suffered his first stroke
in May 1922, a Troika was established to govern the country in his
place, although Lenin briefly returned to the leadership from 2 October
1922 until a severe stroke on 9 March 1923 ended Lenin's political
career. The Troika consisted of Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, and Grigory Zinoviev.
The Troika broke up in April 1925, when Kamenev and Zinoviev found
themselves in a minority over their belief that socialism could only be
achieved internationally. Zinoviev and Kamenev joined forces with Leon Trotsky's Left Opposition in early 1926. Later, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky would all be murdered on Stalin's orders.
After the downfall of the first King of Greece, the Bavarian Otto, on 23 October 1862, and Dimitrios Voulgaris'
unsuccessful term (23 October 1862 – 30 January 1863) as president of
the Provisional Government, a Triumvirate (30 January – 30 October 1863)
was established consisting of the same Dimitrios Voulgaris, the renowned Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris and Benizelos Rouphos, which acted as a regency until the arrival of the new monarch, the first "King of the Hellenes", George I.
A triumvirate was established to head the Theriso revolt of 1905 in autonomous Crete, consisting of Eleftherios Venizelos
(later Prime Minister of Greece) in charge of organisational matters,
Konstantinos Foumis in charge of finances and Konstantinos Manos, the
former mayor of Chania, in charge of military affairs.
The "Triumvirate of National Defence": (L-R) Admiral Kountouriotis, Venizelos, and General Danglis
A triumvirate was set up during the First World War in September 1916, to head the "Provisional Government of National Defence" in Thessaloniki. It consisted of the popular liberal statesman Eleftherios Venizelos, General Panagiotis Danglis and Admiral Pavlos Koundouriotis.
This "Triumvirate of National Defence" functioned as a collective head
of government, although effective control was in Venizelos' hands. With
the abdication of King Constantine I in June 1917 and the reunification of the country under Venizelos, the triumvirate was dissolved. The Triandria municipality in Thessaloniki is named after this triumvirate.
A triumvirate was set up on 13 September 1922 to lead the military
revolt against the royalist government in Athens in the aftermath of the
Asia Minor Disaster. It was composed of Colonels Nikolaos Plastiras and Stylianos Gonatas, and Commander Dimitrios Fokas.
The triumvirate assumed the government of Greece on 15 September, and
would control the country until it laid down its powers on 2 January
1924. Plastiras however quickly became the dominant figure among the
triumvirate, and was eventually labelled as the "Chief of the
Revolution".
Venezuela: by decree of the Caracas Junta and ratified in the Federal Constitution of 1811 the executive power was vested in "three individuals" (1810–12)
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google has referred to himself, along with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as part of a triumvirate, stating, "This triumvirate has made an informal deal to stick together for at least 20 years".
Other triumvirates
The word has been used as a term of convenience, though not an official title, for other groups of three in a similar position:
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