Nonviolent revolution

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_revolution

A nonviolent revolution is a revolution conducted primarily by unarmed civilians using tactics of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian without the use or threat of violence. While many campaigns of civil resistance are intended for much more limited goals than revolution, generally a nonviolent revolution is characterized by simultaneous advocacy of democracy, human rights, and national independence in the country concerned.

An effective campaign of civil resistance, and even the achievement of a nonviolent revolution, may be possible in a particular case despite the government in power taking brutal measures against protesters. The commonly held belief that most revolutions that have happened in dictatorial regimes were bloody or violent uprisings is not borne out by historical analysis. Nonviolent Revolutions came to the international forefront in the 20th century by the independence movement of India under the leadership of Gandhi with civil disobedience being the tool of nonviolent resistance. Later it become more successful and more common in the 1980s as Cold War political alliances which supported status quo governance waned.

In the 1970s and 1980s, intellectuals in the Soviet Union and other Communist states, and in some other countries, began to focus on civil resistance as the most promising means of opposing entrenched authoritarian regimes. The use of various forms of unofficial exchange of information, including by samizdat, expanded. Two major revolutions during the 1980s strongly influenced political movements that followed. The first was the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines, from which the term 'people power' came to be widely used, especially in Hispanic and Asian nations. Three years later, the Revolutions of 1989 that ousted communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc reinforced the concept (with the notable exception of the notoriously bloody Romanian Revolution), beginning with the victory of Solidarity in that year's Polish legislative elections. The Revolutions of 1989 provided the template for the so-called color revolutions in mainly post-communist states, which tended to use a color or flower as a symbol, somewhat in the manner of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia.

In December 1989, inspired by the anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, the Mongolian Democratic Union (MDU) organized popular street protests and hunger strikes against the communist regime. In 1990, dissidents in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic started civil resistance against the government, but were initially crushed by the Soviet Armed Forces in the Black January massacre.

Recent nonviolent revolutions include the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.

Overview

See also: Nonviolent resistance

Historical examples of nonviolent resistance for significant political change go back as far as Ancient Rome. The majority plebian class of Rome held general strikes and abandoned the city to force changes in the written constitution of the Republic.

Nonviolent revolution was popularized in the 20th century by the satyagraha philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, who guided the people of India to independence from Britain. Despite the violence of the Partition of India following independence, and numerous revolutionary uprisings which were not under Gandhi's control, India's independence was achieved through legal processes after a period of national resistance rather than through a military revolution.

According to the socialist Fourth International, Karl Marx acknowledged a theoretical possibility of "peaceful" revolutions, but the Fourth International articles also say "The development and preservation of good relations with the military forces is one of the absolute priorities of preparatory revolutionary work". Some have argued that a nonviolent revolution would require fraternisation with military forces, like in the relatively nonviolent Portuguese Carnation Revolution.

Peaceful revolution

A peaceful revolution or bloodless coup is an overthrow of a government that occurs without violence. If the revolutionists refuse to use violence, it is known as a nonviolent revolution. If the revolutionists are willing to use force, but the loyalists (government) negotiate or surrender to divert armed conflict, it is called a bloodless war.

Peaceful revolutions that have occurred are the Carnation Revolution of 1974 in Portugal, the People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines, and the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 in Germany.

As it relates to democracy

One theory of democracy is that its main purpose is to allow peaceful revolutions. The idea is that majorities voting in elections approximate the result of a coup. In 1962, John F. Kennedy famously said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

George Lakey in his 1973 book and in his 1976 "A Manifesto for Nonviolent Revolution", laid out a five-stage strategy for nonviolent revolution:

• Stage 1 – Cultural Preparation or "Conscientization": Education, training and consciousness raising of why there is a need for a nonviolent revolution and how to conduct a nonviolent revolution.
• Stage 2 – Building Organizations: As training, education and consciousness raising continues, the need to form organizations. Affinity groups or nonviolent revolutionary groups are organized to provide support, maintain nonviolent discipline, organize and train other people into similar affinity groups and networks.
• Stage 3 – Confrontation: Organized and sustained campaigns of picketing, strikes, sit-ins, marches, boycotts, die-ins, blockades to disrupt business as usual in institutions and government. By putting one's body on the line nonviolently the rising movement stops the normal gears of government and business.
• Stage 4 – Mass Non Cooperation: Similar affinity groups and networks of affinity groups around the country and world, engage in similar actions to disrupt business as usual.
• Stage 5 – Developing Parallel Institutions to take over functions and services of government and commerce. In order to create a new society without violence, oppression, environmental destruction, discrimination and one that is environmentally sustainable, nonviolent, democratic, equitable, tolerant, and fair, alternative organizations and structures including businesses must be created to provide the needed services and goods that citizens of a society need.

Gene Sharp, who influenced many in the Arab Spring revolutions, has documented and described over 198 different methods of nonviolent action that nonviolent revolutionaries might use in struggle. He argues that no government or institution can rule without the consent of the governed or oppressed as that is the source of nonviolent power. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. argued this as well.

List of nonviolent revolutions by era

Decolonization

• 1919 – March 1st Movement in Korea in an attempt to annul the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910 and declare independence.
• 1930 – Salt Satyagraha in India in an attempt to overthrow British colonial rule.
• 1942 – Quit India movement demanding immediate independence for India from British rule.

Cold War

In nations of the Warsaw Pact

• 1968 – The Prague Spring, a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia.
• The Revolutions of 1989: Even though many of these revolutions did not take place entirely in 1989, they are usually grouped together as such.
  • 1980–1989 – The Solidarity movement in April marshals popular resistance to communist rule, though progress is halted by the imposition of martial law.
  • 1987–1989/1991 – The Singing Revolution – a cycle of singing mass demonstrations, followed by a living chain across the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia), known as the Baltic Way.
  • 1989 – The Peaceful Revolution in the German Democratic Republic leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall
  • 1989 – The Velvet Revolution – the bloodless revolution in Czechoslovakia leading to the downfall of the communist government there.
  • 1989 – The bloodless revolution in Bulgaria that resulted in the downfall of the communist government.
• 1990 – The Golaniad – a protest in Romania in April by Bucharest students who demanded a non-communist government. The protests ended in bloodshed after an intervention of miners called in by President Ion Iliescu (June 1990 Mineriad).
• The successful resistance to 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, which had the effect of a revolution, was mostly non-violent.

Outside of the Warsaw Pact

• 1952 – The Egyptian Revolution
• 1969 – The al-Fateh Revolution in Libya
• 1973 – The 1973 Afghan coup d'état in Afghanistan, which its leader called a White Revolution.
• 1974 – The Carnation Revolution that effectively turned Portugal in a democracy.
• 1986 – The People Power Revolution in the Philippines, where the term people power was coined. The nonviolent revolution led to the removal of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the end of his 21-year regime, and the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.
• 1990 – The Mongolian Revolution of 1990.

Post–Cold War period

Colour revolutions

Main article: Colour revolution

These are revolutions in post-communist authoritarian Europe and other new countries that were part of the former Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact. Each of these had massive street protests and/or followed disputed elections and led to the resignation or overthrow of leaders considered by their opponents to be authoritarian. Almost all of them used a particular colour or a flower to be their symbol of unity.

• 2000 – The Bulldozer Revolution in Yugoslavia, which led to the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević. These demonstrations are considered by many to be the first example of the revolutions that followed in Georgia and Ukraine; however, the Serbs adopted an approach that had already been used in parliamentary elections in Slovakia and Croatia in 1998 and 2000, respectively, characterized by civic mobilization through get-out-the-vote campaigns and unification of the political opposition. The protesters in Serbia didn't adopt a colour or specific symbol (the most recognizable symbol of the revolution was a stylized fist), and despite the commonalities, many others refer to Georgia as the most definite beginning of the series of "colour revolutions." The demonstrations were supported by youth movement Otpor!.
• 2003 – The Rose Revolution in Georgia, following the disputed 2003 Georgia legislative election, led to the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze and his replacement by Mikhail Saakashvili after new elections were held in March 2004. The Rose Revolution was supported by the civic resistance movement, Kmara.
• 2004 – The Orange Revolution in Ukraine, followed the disputed second round of the 2004 presidential election and led to the annulment of the result and the repeat of the round—the leader of the opposition Viktor Yushchenko was declared President, defeating Viktor Yanukovych. The Orange Revolution was supported by PORA.
• 2018 - The Velvet Revolution in Armenia, which began with the nomination of President Serzh Sargsyan for the post of Prime Minister and against the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, achieved a non-violent transition of power to the opposition, which received widespread public support throughout the country. In elections to the National Assembly, held seven months after the resignation of the former leader, the party of the new government won 88% of the vote. However, it is not common to refer to it as a Colour Revolution, nor do its leaders use the term.

List of nonviolent revolutions by region

Middle East

The media attention given to the color revolutions has inspired movements in the Middle East, and their supporters, to adopt similar symbology.

• The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon followed the assassination of opposition leader Rafik Hariri in 2005. Chiefly, the movement demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, ending a de facto occupation. Unlike the revolutions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, this movement did not seek to overturn disputed election results, but did cause the pro-Syrian government of Lebanon to fall. Due to similarities in motivation and organization strategies, it is considered a cousin of the colour revolutions.

Latin America

Drawing inspiration from the People Power Revolution of 1986 in the Philippines, as well as other succeeding color revolution movements, several South American countries experienced what were effectively non-violent revolutions.

• Dominican Republic – "The Butterflies" or "Las Mariposas". The Mirabal sisters fought to change their government, by underground movements. Also, by rejecting sexual advances from the president himself. Three sisters were ordered to be killed by the president at the time, Rafael Trujillo, and only one survived to tell the story. There is also a movie made about their ordeal.
• Ecuador – The impeachment of President Lucio Gutiérrez, by the Congress of that country after days of increasing demonstrations and protests by citizens led by the citizens of Quito, the capital. Thousands of demonstrators were present in the Plaza of Independence. Flags were waved in celebration shortly after Congress voted out Gutierrez 62–0. Airport runways were blocked by demonstrators to prevent Gutierrez from leaving the country. The former president was later given asylum by Brazil and was transported out of the country on April 24. Protesters also intended to depose the Congress after accusing the body of alleged corruption as well.

Asia

• South Korea – The June Struggle of 1987. It led to the end of military rule in South Korea and the establishment of democracy.
• Taiwan – The Wild Lily student movement of 1990. Prior to the demonstrations, Taiwan was under one-party rule by the Kuomintang. The student protesters demanded popular elections for the president and members of the National Assembly. Previously, the National Assembly was dominated by representatives from provinces of mainland China who effectively held lifelong terms since the Republic of China could not hold elections in mainland China after the Kuomintang lost the Chinese Civil War. President Lee Teng-hui, who was not a waishengren from mainland China, supported the students' goals and instituted constitutional reforms which effectively transformed Taiwan into a democracy.
• The Philippines – The Second EDSA Revolution of 2001, a four-day popular revolt that peacefully overthrew Philippine president Joseph Estrada in January 2001, self-organized through SMS messaging.

Current nonviolent resistance

Several countries are experiencing the rise of non-violent resistance movements with the intent of effecting a non-violent revolution.

Sudan

The Sudanese Revolution was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with protests throughout the streets on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 11 April 2019 Sudanese coup d'état deposed President Omar al-Bashir after thirty years in power, the 3 June Khartoum massacre took place under the leadership of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) that replaced al-Bashir, and in July and August 2019 the TMC and the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) signed a Political Agreement and a Draft Constitutional Declaration legally defining a planned 39-month phase of transitional state institutions and procedures to return Sudan to a civilian democracy. In August and September 2019, the TMC formally transferred executive power to a mixed military–civilian collective head of state, the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, and to a civilian prime minister (Abdalla Hamdok) and a mostly civilian cabinet, while judicial power was apparently (according to Sudan Daily and Khartoum Star) transferred to Nemat Abdullah Khair, Sudan's first female Chief Justice.

Bahrain

Main article: Bahraini uprising (2011–2014)

 

Over 100,000 protesters took part in a pro-democracy march on February 22, 2011.

Inspired by the regional Arab Spring, protests started in Bahrain on February 14. The government responded harshly, killing four protesters camping in Pearl Roundabout. Later, protesters were allowed to reoccupy the roundabout where they staged large marches amounting to 150,000 participants.

On March 14, Saudi-led GCC forces were requested by the government and entered the country, which the opposition called an "occupation". The following day state of emergency was declared and protests paused after a brutal crackdown was launched against protesters including doctors and bloggers. More than 2,929 people have been arrested, and at least five people died due to torture while in police custody.

Protests resumed after lifting emergency law on June 1, several large rallies were staged by the opposition parties including a march on March 9, 2012 attended by over 100,000. Smaller-scale protests and clashes outside of the capital have continued to occur almost daily. More than 80 people had died since the start of the uprising.

Belarus

There have been a number of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, with participation from student group Zubr. The most recent major protests were on March 25, 2005. This was a self-declared attempt to emulate the Kyrgyzstan revolution, and involved over a thousand citizens. However, it was severely suppressed by the police which arrested over 30 people.

Mikhail Marinich, a leader of the opposition, was arrested and placed in prison for 3.5 years. The opposition uses as a symbol the white-red-white former flag of Belarus. The movement has had significant connections with that in neighboring Ukraine, and during the Orange Revolution some white-red-white flags were seen being waved in Kiev.

Lukashenko has said in the past: "In our country, there will be no pink or orange, or even banana revolution." More recently he's said "They [the West] think that Belarus is ready for some 'orange' or, what is a rather frightening option, 'blue' or 'cornflower blue' revolution. Such 'blue' revolutions are the last thing we need". On April 19, 2005, he further commented: "All these coloured revolutions are pure and simple banditry."

Georgia

The 2007 Georgian demonstrations against the government of president Mikheil Saakashvili. The demonstrations peaked on November 2, 2007, when 50,000–100,000 rallied in downtown Tbilisi, capital of Georgia. Protests were organized by the National Council, an ad hoc coalition of ten opposition parties, and financed by the media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. Demonstrations were initially largely peaceful, but turned violent the next day when the police used heavy-handed tactics, including tear gas and water cannon.

Moldova

The opposition in Moldova, is reported to have hoped and urged for some kind of Orange revolution, similar to that in Ukraine, in the followup of the 2005 Moldovan parliamentary elections, while the Christian Democratic People's Party adopted orange for its color in a clear reference to the events of Ukraine.

A name hypothesized for such an event was "grape revolution" because of the abundance of vineyards in the country; however, such a revolution failed to materialize after the governmental victory in the elections. Many reasons have been given for this, including a fractured opposition and that the government had already co-opted many of the political positions that might have united the opposition (such as a perceived pro-European and anti-Russian stance). Also, the elections themselves were declared fairer in the OSCE election monitoring reports than had been the case in other countries where similar revolutions occurred, even though the CIS monitoring mission strongly condemned them.

Mongolia

On March 25, 2005, activists wearing yellow scarves held protests in the capital city of Ulan Bator, disputing the results of the 2004 Mongolian parliamentary elections and calling for fresh elections. One of the chants heard in that protest was "Let's congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers for their revolutionary spirit. Let's free Mongolia of corruption."

Occupy Together

The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which started in New York City on September 17, 2011 with Occupy Wall Street and uses the occupation of public spaces without government permission as a means of protesting numerous issues, including notably social and economic inequality. By October 9 Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in over 95 cities across 82 countries and over 600 communities in the U.S. As of October 28 the Meetup page "Occupy Together" listed "Occupy" communities in 2,355 towns and cities worldwide.

Initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, the movement is partly inspired by the Arab Spring movement, especially Cairo's Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants. Occupy protests take their name from Occupy Wall Street, and commonly use the slogan We are the 99%, the #Occupy hashtag format, and organize through websites such as "Occupy Together" (website no longer being maintained). The protests, which have been described as a "democratic awakening," are difficult to distill to a few demands, and have included protests against the Federal Reserve and clashes with local police over the right to camp out in public spaces.

Uzbekistan

There has been longstanding opposition to President Islam Karimov, from liberals and Islamists. The revolution in neighboring Kyrgyzstan began in the largely ethnic Uzbek south, and received early support in the city of Osh. Nigora Hidoyatova, leader of the Free Peasants opposition party, has referred to the idea of a farmers' revolution. She also said that her party is collaborating with the youth organization Shiddat, and that she hopes it can evolve to an organization similar to Kmara or PORA.

Yin and yang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

 

The yin and yang symbol, with black representing yin and white representing yang

Yin and yang (/jɪn/ and /jæŋ/), yinyang, or yin-yang is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is the receptive and yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and difference such as the annual cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (north-facing shade and south-facing brightness), sex (female and male), the formation of both men and women as characters, and sociopolitical history (disorder and order).

Taiji or tai chi (simplified Chinese: 太极; traditional Chinese: 太極; pinyin: tàijí; lit. 'great pole') is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which yin and yang originate. It can be compared with the old wuji (無極, "without pole"). In the cosmology pertaining to yin and yang, the material energy which this universe was created from is known as qi. It is believed that the organization of qi in this cosmology of yin and yang has formed many things. Included among these forms are humans. Many natural dualities (such as light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting) are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by yin and yang. This duality lies at the origins of many branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy, as well as being a primary guideline of traditional Chinese medicine, and a central principle of different forms of Chinese martial arts and exercise, such as baguazhang, taijiquan (tʻai chi chʻüan) and qigong (chʻi kung), as well as appearing in the pages of the I Ching.

The notion of duality can be found in many areas, such as Communities of Practice. The term "dualistic-monism" or dialectical monism has been coined in an attempt to express this fruitful paradox of simultaneous unity and duality. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. According to this philosophy, everything has both yin and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin and yang symbol (or taijitu) shows a balance between two opposites with a portion of the opposite element in each section.

In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu (c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang.

Linguistic aspects

These Chinese terms yīn 陰 "dark side" and yáng 陽 "light side" are linguistically analyzable in terms of Chinese characters, pronunciations and etymology, meanings, topography, and loanwords.

Characters

"Yin-yang" in seal script (top), Traditional Chinese characters (middle), and Simplified Chinese characters (bottom)

The Chinese characters 陰 and 陽 for the words yīn and yáng are both classified as Phono-semantic characters, combining the semantic component "mound; hill" radical 阝(graphical variant of 阜) with the phonetic components jīn 今 (and the added semantic component yún 云 "pictographic: cloud") and yáng 昜. In the latter, yáng 昜 "bright" features 日 "sun" + 示 + 彡 "The rays of the sun".

Pronunciations and etymologies

The Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 陰 is usually the level first tone yīn "shady; cloudy" or sometimes the falling fourth tone yìn "to shelter; shade" while 陽 "sunny" is always pronounced with rising second tone yáng.

Sinologists and historical linguists have reconstructed Middle Chinese pronunciations from data in the (7th century CE) Qieyun rhyme dictionary and later rhyme tables, which was subsequently used to reconstruct Old Chinese phonology from rhymes in the (11th–7th centuries BCE) Shijing and phonological components of Chinese characters. Reconstructions of Old Chinese have illuminated the etymology of modern Chinese words.

Compare these Middle Chinese and Old Chinese (with asterisk) reconstructions of yīn 陰 and yáng 陽:

• ˑiəm < *ˑiəm and iang < *diang (Bernhard Karlgren)
  • ʔjəm and *raŋ (Li Fang-Kuei)
• ʔ(r)jum and *ljang (William H. Baxter)
• ʔjəm < *ʔəm and jiaŋ < *laŋ (Axel Schuessler)
• 'im < *qrum and yang < *laŋ (William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart)

Schuessler gives probable Sino-Tibetan etymologies for both Chinese words.

Yin < *ʔəm compares with Burmese ʔum^C "overcast; cloudy", Adi muk-jum "shade", and Lepcha so'yǔm "shade"; and is probably cognate with Chinese àn < *ʔə̂mʔ 黯 "dim; gloomy" and qīn < *khəm 衾 "blanket".

Yang < *laŋ compares with Lepcha a-lóŋ "reflecting light", Burmese laŋ^B "be bright" and ə-laŋ^B "light"; and is perhaps cognate with Chinese chāng < *k-hlaŋ 昌 "prosperous; bright" (compare areal words like Tai plaŋ^A1 "bright" & Proto-Viet-Muong hlaŋ^B). To this word-family, Unger (Hao-ku, 1986:34) also includes 炳 bǐng < *pl(j)aŋʔ "bright"; however Schuessler reconstructs 炳 bǐng's Old Chinese pronunciation as *braŋʔ and includes it in an Austroasiatic word family, besides 亮 liàng < *raŋh 爽 shuǎng < *sraŋʔ "twilight (of dawn)"; míng < *mraŋ 明 "bright, become light, enlighten"; owing to "the different OC initial consonant which seems to have no recognizable OC morphological function".

Meanings

Yin and yang are semantically complex words.

John DeFrancis's ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary gives the following translation equivalents.

Yin 陰 or 阴 — Noun: ① [philosophy] female/passive/negative principle in nature, ② Surname; Bound morpheme: ① the moon, ② shaded orientation, ③ covert; concealed; hidden, ④ vagina, ⑤ penis, ⑥ of the netherworld, ⑦ negative, ⑧ north side of a hill, ⑨ south bank of a river, ⑩ reverse side of a stele, ⑪ in intaglio; Stative verb: ① overcast, ② sinister; treacherous

Yang 陽 or 阳 — Bound morpheme: ① [Chinese philosophy] male/active/positive principle in nature, ② the sun, ③ male genitals, ④ in relief, ⑤ open; overt, ⑥ belonging to this world, ⑦ [linguistics] masculine, ⑧ south side of a hill, ⑨ north bank of a river

The compound yinyang 陰陽 means "yin and yang; opposites; ancient Chinese astronomy; occult arts; astrologer; geomancer; etc."

The sinologist Rolf Stein etymologically translates Chinese yin 陰 "shady side (of a mountain)" and yang 陽 "sunny side (of a mountain)" with the uncommon English geographic terms ubac "shady side of a mountain" and adret "sunny side of a mountain" (which are of French origin).

Toponymy

Many Chinese place names or toponyms contain the word yang "sunny side" and a few contain yin "shady side". In China, as elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, sunlight comes predominantly from the south, and thus the south face of a mountain or the north bank of a river will receive more direct sunlight than the opposite side.

Yang refers to the "south side of a hill" in Hengyang 衡陽, which is south of Mount Heng 衡山 in Hunan province, and to the "north bank of a river" in Luoyang 洛陽, which is located north of the Luo River 洛河 in Henan.

Similarly, yin refers to "north side of a hill" in Huayin 華陰, which is north of Mount Hua 華山 in Shaanxi province.

In Japan, the characters are used in western Honshu to delineate the north-side San'in region 山陰 from the south-side San'yō region 山陽, separated by the Chūgoku Mountains 中国山地.

Loanwords

English yin, yang, and yin-yang are familiar loanwords of Chinese origin.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines:

yin (jɪn) Also Yin, Yn. [Chinese yīn shade, feminine; the moon.]

a. In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also attrib. or as adj., and transf. Cf. yang.

b. Comb., as yin-yang, the combination or fusion of the two cosmic forces; freq. attrib., esp. as yin-yang symbol, a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang, each containing a 'seed' of the other.

yang (jæŋ) Also Yang. [Chinese yáng yang, sun, positive, male genitals.]

a. In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) of the two opposing cosmic forces into which creative energy divides and whose fusion in physical matter brings the phenomenal world into being. Also attrib. or as adj. Cf. yin.

b. Comb.: yang-yin = yin-yang s.v. yin b.

For the earliest recorded "yin and yang" usages, the OED cites 1671 for yin and yang, 1850 for yin-yang, and 1959 for yang-yin.

In English, yang-yin (like ying-yang) occasionally occurs as a mistake or typographical error for the Chinese loanword yin-yang— yet they are not equivalents. Chinese does have some yangyin collocations, such as 洋銀 (lit. "foreign silver") "silver coin/dollar", but not even the most comprehensive dictionaries (e.g., the Hanyu Da Cidian) enter yangyin *陽陰. While yang and yin can occur together in context, yangyin is not synonymous with yinyang. The linguistic term "irreversible binomial" refers to a collocation of two words A–B that cannot be idiomatically reversed as B–A, for example, English cat and mouse (not *mouse and cat) and friend or foe (not *foe or friend).

Similarly, the usual pattern among Chinese binomial compounds is for positive A and negative B, where the A word is dominant or privileged over B. For example, tiandi 天地 "heaven and earth" and nannü 男女 "men and women". Yinyang meaning "dark and light; female and male; moon and sun", is an exception. Scholars have proposed various explanations for why yinyang violates this pattern, including "linguistic convenience" (it is easier to say yinyang than yangyin), the idea that "proto-Chinese society was matriarchal", or perhaps, since yinyang first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was "purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions".

History

Joseph Needham discusses yin and yang together with Five Elements as part of the School of Naturalists. He says that it would be proper to begin with yin and yang before Five Elements because the former: "lay, as it were, at a deeper level in Nature, and were the most ultimate principles of which the ancient Chinese could conceive. But it so happens that we know a good deal more about the historical origin of the Five-Element theory than about that of the yin and the yang, and it will therefore be more convenient to deal with it first."

He then discusses Zou Yan (鄒衍; 305–240 BC) who is most associated with these theories. Although yin and yang are not mentioned in any of the surviving documents of Zou Yan, his school was known as the Yin Yang Jia (Yin and Yang School). Needham concludes "There can be very little doubt that the philosophical use of the terms began about the beginning of the 4th century, and that the passages in older texts which mention this use are interpolations made later than that time."

Nature

Yin and yang is a concept originated in ancient Chinese philosophy that describes how obviously opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the Tao Te Ching at chapter 42. It becomes sensible from an initial quiescence or emptiness (wuji, sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until quiescence is reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more.

Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities and create and control each other. Whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.

It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, traditionally it is said that Yin and Yang are known by the comparison of each other, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top). A way to illustrate this idea is to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation. Yet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to things, like manhood.

Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Thus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement. Then, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall. The growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness.

The cycles of the seasons and of plants that progresses or entropies depending on the season. In summer it seeks to procure healthier leaves, whittling (entropy) of the plant is in autumn, the degrown plants (destruction) is in winter, growth (creating) of the plant or tree during spring. Where it's gaining or progressing, fully progressed occurs during summer, summer seeks stability as it seeks to keep (progress) the leaves and branches that are healthy, growth and progress reaching its end point of a cycle. Creation as part of yang, and destruction as part of yin, progress on one side (yang) and entropy on the other side (yin), is represented in the cycles.

Modern usage

Yin is the black side, and yang is the white side. Other color arrangements have included the white of yang being replaced by red. The taijitu is sometimes accompanied by other shapes, such as bagua.

The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the "sunny place' or "south slope") is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.

Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, negativity, femininity, shadows/darkness, destruction, and night time.

Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot/warm, dry, and active; and is associated with fire, sky/air, the sun, positivity, masculinity, glowing/light, creation, and daytime.

Yin and yang also applies to the human body. In traditional Chinese medicine good health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang qualities within oneself. If yin and yang become unbalanced, one of the qualities is considered deficient or has vacuity.

I Ching

Symbol surrounded by trigrams

In the I Ching, originally a divination manual of the Western Zhou period (c. 1000–750 BC) based on Chinese Astronomy, yin and yang are represented by broken and solid lines: yin is broken (⚋) and yang is solid (⚊). These are then combined into trigrams, which are more yang (e.g. ☱) or more yin (e.g. ☵) depending on the number of broken and solid lines (e.g., ☰ is heavily yang, while ☷ is heavily yin), and trigrams are combined into hexagrams (e.g. ䷕ and ䷟). The relative positions and numbers of yin and yang lines within the trigrams determines the meaning of a trigram, and in hexagrams the upper trigram is considered yang with respect to the lower trigram, yin, which allows for complex depictions of interrelations.

Taijitu

The "taichi symbol" (taijitu).

 

Main article: Taijitu

The principle of yin and yang is represented by the Taijitu (literally "Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate"). The term is commonly used to mean the simple "divided circle" form, but may refer to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles, such as the swastika, common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Similar symbols have also appeared in other cultures, such as in Celtic art and Roman shield markings.

In this symbol the two teardrops swirl to represent the conversion of yin to yang and yang to yin. This is seen when a ball is thrown into the air with a yang velocity then converts to a yin velocity to fall back to earth. The two teardrops are opposite in direction to each other to show that as one increases the other decreases. The dot of the opposite field in the tear drop shows that there is always yin within yang and always yang within yin.

Tʻai chi chʻüan

Main article: Tʻai chi chʻüan

Tʻai chi chʻüan or Taijiquan (太極拳), a form of martial art, is often described as the principles of yin and yang applied to the human body and an animal body. Wu Jianquan, a famous Chinese martial arts teacher, described Taijiquan as follows:

Various people have offered different explanations for the name Taijiquan. Some have said: – 'In terms of self-cultivation, one must train from a state of movement towards a state of stillness. Taiji comes about through the balance of yin and yang. In terms of the art of attack and defense then, in the context of the changes of full and empty, one is constantly internally latent, to not outwardly expressive, as if the yin and yang of Taiji have not yet divided apart.' Others say: 'Every movement of Taijiquan is based on circles, just like the shape of a Taijitu. Therefore, it is called Taijiquan.

— Wu Jianquan, The International Magazine of Tʻai Chi Chʻüan

River

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River

 

Elwha River in the Olympic Peninsula

 

The Amazon River (dark blue) and the rivers which flow into it (medium blue).

A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually a freshwater stream, flowing on the surface or inside caves towards another waterbody at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, sea, bay, lake, wetland, or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground or becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to by names such as creek, brook, and rivulet. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities, a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and Northeast England, and "beck" in Northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always; the language is vague.

Melting toe of Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Rivers are an important part of the water cycle. Water from a drainage basin generally collects into a river through surface runoff from precipitation, meltwater released from natural ice and snowpacks, and other underground sources such as groundwater recharge and springs. Rivers are often considered major features within a landscape; however, they actually only cover around 0.1% of the land on Earth. Rivers are also an important natural terraformer, as the erosive action of running water carves out rills, gullies, and valleys in the surface as well as transferring silt and dissolved minerals downstream, forming river deltas and islands where the flow slows down. As a waterbody, rivers also serve crucial ecological functions by providing and feeding freshwater habitats for aquatic and semiaquatic fauna and flora, especially for migratory fish species, as well as enabling terrestrial ecosystems to thrive in the riparian zones.

Rivers are significant to humankind since many human settlements and civilizations are built around sizeable rivers and streams. Most of the major cities of the world are situated on the banks of rivers, as they are (or were) depended upon as a vital source of drinking water, for food supply via fishing and agricultural irrigation, for shipping, as natural borders and/or defensive terrains, as a source of hydropower to drive machinery or generate electricity, for bathing, and as a means of disposing of waste. In the pre-industrial era, larger rivers were a major obstacle to the movement of people, goods, and armies across regions. Towns often developed at the few locations suitable for fording, building bridges, or supporting ports; many major cities, such as London, are located at the narrowest and most reliable sites at which a river could be crossed via bridges or ferries.

In Earth science disciplines, potamology is the scientific study of rivers, while limnology is the study of inland waters in general.

Topography

The Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

Source and drainage basin

A river begins at a source (or more often several sources) which is usually a watershed, drains all the streams in its drainage basin, follows a watercourse, and ends either at a mouth or mouths which could be a confluence, river delta, etc. The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers, there is often also a wider floodplain shaped by floodwaters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in urban areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing and industry.

The terms "upriver" and "downriver" refer to the direction towards the source of the river and towards the mouth of the river, respectively.

Channels

Cross-section of a river channel and its valley

Rivers can flow down mountains and hills through valleys and can create canyons or gorges, especially when traversing plains. The river channel typically contains a single stream, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting streams, producing a braided river, which occur on peneplains and some of the larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite rare; they have multiple sinuous channel – one carrying large volumes of sediment. There are rare cases of river bifurcation in which a river divides into distributaries, and the resultant flows end in different seas. An example is the Nerodime River in Kosovo.

A river flowing in its channel is a source of energy that acts on the river channel to change its shape and form. In 1757, German hydrologist Albert Brahms empirically observed that the submerged weight of objects that may be carried away by a river is proportional to the sixth power of the river flow speed. This formulation is also sometimes called Airy's law. Thus, if the speed of flow is doubled, the flow would dislodge objects with 64 times as much submerged weight. In mountainous torrential zones, this can be seen as erosion channels through hard rocks and the creation of sands and gravels from the destruction of larger rocks. A river valley that was created from a U-shaped glaciated valley can often easily be identified by the V-shaped channel that it has carved.

In the middle reaches where a river flows over flatter land, meanders may form through erosion of the river banks and deposition on the inside of bends. Sometimes the river will cut off a loop, shortening the channel and forming an oxbow lake or billabong. Rivers that carry large amounts of sediment may develop conspicuous deltas at their mouths. Rivers whose mouths are in saline tidal waters may form estuaries.

Throughout the course of the river, the total volume of water transported downstream will often be a combination of the free water flow together with a substantial volume flowing through sub-surface rocks and gravels that underlie the river and its floodplain (called the hyporheic zone). For many rivers in large valleys, this unseen component of flow may greatly exceed the visible flow.

Types and ratings

Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit. The Nile is an example of a wave-dominated delta that has the classic Greek letter delta (Δ) shape after which river deltas were named.

 

A radar image of a 400-kilometre (250 mi) river of methane and ethane near the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan

Rivers have been classified by many criteria including their topography, their biotic status, and their relevance to white water rafting or canoeing activities.

Subsurface rivers: subterranean and subglacial

Most but not all rivers flow on the surface. Subterranean rivers flow underground in caves. Such rivers are frequently found in regions with limestone geologic formations. Subglacial streams are the braided rivers that flow at the beds of glaciers and ice sheets, permitting meltwater to be discharged at the front of the glacier. Because of the gradient in pressure from the overlying weight of the glacier, such streams can even flow uphill.

Permanence of flow: perennial and ephemeral

An intermittent river (or ephemeral river) only flows occasionally and can be dry for several years at a time. These rivers are found in regions with limited or highly variable rainfall or can occur because of geologic conditions such as a highly permeable river bed. Some ephemeral rivers flow during the summer months but not in the winter. Such rivers are typically fed from chalk aquifers which recharge from winter rainfall. In England, these rivers are called bournes and give their name to places such as Bournemouth and Eastbourne. Even in humid regions, the location where flow begins in the smallest tributary streams generally moves upstream in response to precipitation and downstream in its absence or when active summer vegetation diverts water for evapotranspiration. Normally dry rivers in arid zones are often identified as arroyos or other regional names.

The meltwater from large hailstorms can create a slurry of water, hail, and sand or soil, forming temporary rivers.

Stream order classification

See also: Main stem

The Strahler Stream Order ranks rivers based on the connectivity and hierarchy of contributing tributaries. Headwaters are first order while the Amazon River is twelfth order. Approximately 80% of the rivers in the world are of the first and second order.

The ways in which a river's characteristics vary between its upper and lower course are summarized by the Bradshaw model. Power-law relationships between channel slope, depth, and width are given as a function of discharge by "river regime".

In certain languages, distinctions are made among rivers based on their stream order. In French, for example, rivers that run to the sea are called fleuve, while other rivers are called rivière. For example, in Canada, the Churchill River in Manitoba is called la rivière Churchill as it runs to Hudson Bay, but the Churchill River in Labrador is called le fleuve Churchill as it runs to the Atlantic Ocean. As most rivers in France are known by their names only without the word rivière or fleuve (e.g. la Seine, not le fleuve Seine, even though the Seine is classed as a fleuve), one of the most prominent rivers in the Francophone commonly known as fleuve is le fleuve Saint-Laurent (the St. Lawrence River). Since many fleuves are large and prominent, receiving many tributaries, the word is sometimes used to refer to certain large rivers that flow into other fleuves; however, even small streams that run to the sea are called fleuve (e.g. fleuve côtier, "coastal fleuve").

Topographical classification

Rivers can generally be classified as either alluvial, bedrock, or some mix of the two. Alluvial rivers have channels and floodplains that are self-formed in unconsolidated or weakly consolidated sediments. They erode their banks and deposit material on bars and their floodplains.

Bedrock rivers form when the river downcuts through the modern sediments and into the underlying bedrock. This occurs in regions that have experienced some kind of uplift (thereby steepening river gradients) or in which a particularly hard lithology causes a river to have a steepened reach that has not been covered in modern alluvium. Bedrock rivers very often contain alluvium on their beds; this material is important in eroding and sculpting the channel. Rivers that go through patches of bedrock and patches of deep alluvial cover are classified as mixed bedrock-alluvial.

Alluvial rivers can be further classified by their channel pattern as meandering, braided, wandering, anastomose, or straight. The morphology of an alluvial river reach is controlled by a combination of sediment supply, substrate composition, discharge, vegetation, and bed aggradation.

Biotic classification

There are several systems of classification based on ecological conditions typically assigning classes from the most oligotrophic or unpolluted through to the most eutrophic or polluted. Other systems are based on a whole ecosystem approach such as developed by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment. In Europe, the requirements of the Water Framework Directive has led to the development of a wide range of classification methods including classifications based on fishery status

A system of river zonation used in francophone communities divides rivers into three primary zones:

• The crenon is the uppermost zone at the source of the river. It is further divided into the eucrenon (spring or boil zone) and the hypocrenon (brook or headstream zone). These areas have low temperatures, reduced oxygen content, and slow-moving water.
• The rhithron is the upstream portion of the river that follows the crenon. It has relatively cool temperatures, high oxygen levels, and fast, turbulent, swift flow.
• The potamon is the remaining downstream stretch of river. It has warmer temperatures, lower oxygen levels, slow flow, and sandier bottoms.

Navigability

The international scale of river difficulty is used to rate the challenges of navigation – particularly those with rapids. Class I is the easiest and Class VI is the hardest.

Streamflow

Studying the flows of rivers is one aspect of hydrology.

Characteristics

Direction

River meandering course

Rivers flow downhill with their power derived from gravity. A common misconception holds that all or most rivers flow from north to south, but this is not so: rivers flow in all directions of the compass and often have complex meandering paths.

Rivers flowing downhill, from river source to river mouth, do not necessarily take the shortest path. For alluvial streams, straight and braided rivers have very low sinuosity and flow directly downhill, while meandering rivers flow from side to side across a valley. Bedrock rivers typically flow in either a fractal pattern, or a pattern that is determined by weaknesses in the bedrock, such as faults, fractures, or more erodible layers.

Rate

Volumetric flow rate, also known as discharge, volume flow rate, and rate of water flow, is the volume of water which passes through a given cross-section of the river channel per unit of time. It is typically measured in cubic metres per second (cumec) or cubic feet per second (cfs).

Volumetric flow rate can be thought of as the mean velocity of the flow through a given cross-section, times that cross-sectional area. Mean velocity can be approximated through the use of the law of the wall. In general, velocity increases with the depth (or hydraulic radius) and slope of the river channel, while the cross-sectional area scales with the depth and the width: the double-counting of depth shows the importance of this variable in determining the discharge through the channel.

Effects

Fluvial erosion

In its youthful stage, a river causes erosion in the watercourse, deepening the valley. Hydraulic action loosens and dislodges aggregate which further erodes the banks and the river bed. Over time, this deepens the river bed and creates steeper sides which are then weathered. The steepened nature of the banks causes the sides of the valley to move downslope causing the valley to become V-shaped.

Waterfalls also form in the youthful river valley where a band of hard rock overlays a layer of soft rock. Differential erosion occurs as the river erodes the soft rock more readily than the hard rock, this leaves the hard rock more elevated and stands out from the river below. A plunge pool forms at the bottom and deepens as a result of hydraulic action and abrasion.

Flooding

Flash flooding caused by a large amount of rain falling in a short amount of time

 

The mouth of the River Seaton in Cornwall after heavy rain caused flooding and significant erosion of the beach.

Flooding is a natural part of a river's cycle. The majority of the erosion of river channels and the erosion and deposition on the associated floodplains occur during the flood stage. In many developed areas, human activity has changed the form of river channels, altering magnitudes and frequencies of flooding. Some examples of this are the building of levees, the straightening of channels, and the draining of natural wetlands.

In many cases, human activities in rivers and floodplains have dramatically increased the risk of flooding. Straightening rivers allows water to flow more rapidly downstream, increasing the risk of flooding places further downstream. Building on flood plains removes flood storage, which again exacerbates downstream flooding. The building of levees only protects the area behind the levees and not those further downstream. Levees and flood banks can also increase flooding upstream because of the back-water pressure as the river flow is impeded by the narrow channel banks. Detention basins finally also reduce the risk of flooding significantly by being able to take up some of the flood water.

Sediment yield

Sediment yield is the total quantity of particulate matter (suspended or bedload) reaching the outlet of a drainage basin over a fixed time frame. Yield is usually expressed as kilograms per square kilometre per year. Sediment delivery processes are affected by a myriad of factors such as drainage area size, basin slope, climate, sediment type (lithology), vegetation cover, and human land use/management practices.

The theoretical concept of the 'sediment delivery ratio' (ratio between yield and total amount of sediment eroded) indicates that not all of the sediment is eroded within a certain catchment that reaches out to the outlet (e.g., deposition on floodplains). Such storage opportunities are typically increased in catchments of larger size, thus leading to a lower yield and sediment delivery ratio.

Frozen river in Alaska

Brackish water

Brackish water occurs in most rivers where they meet the sea. The extent of brackish water may extend a significant distance upstream, especially in areas with high tidal ranges.

Ecosystem

River biota

Main article: River ecosystem

The organisms in the riparian zone respond to changes in river channel location and patterns of flow. The ecosystem of rivers is generally described by the river continuum concept, which has some additions and refinements to allow for dams and waterfalls and temporary extensive flooding. The concept describes the river as a system in which the physical parameters, the availability of food particles, and the composition of the ecosystem are continuously changing along its length. The food (energy) that remains from the upstream part is used downstream.

The general pattern is that the first-order streams contain particulate matter (decaying leaves from the surrounding forests) which is processed there by shredders like Plecoptera larvae. The products of these shredders are used by collectors, such as Hydropsychidae, and further downstream algae that create the primary production become the main food source of the organisms. All changes are gradual and the distribution of each species can be described as a normal curve, with the highest density where the conditions are optimal. In rivers, succession is virtually absent and the composition of the ecosystem stays fixed.

Chemistry

Main article: River chemistry

The chemistry of rivers is complex and depends on inputs from the atmosphere, the geology through which it travels, and the inputs from man's activities. The chemical composition of the water has a large impact on the ecology of that water for both plants and animals and it also affects the uses that may be made of the river water. Understanding and characterizing river water chemistry requires a well-designed and managed sampling and analysis.

Uses

Leisure activities on the River Avon at Avon Valley Country Park, Keynsham, United Kingdom. A boat giving trips to the public passes a moored private boat.

Construction material

The coarse sediments, gravel, and sand, generated and moved by rivers are extensively used in construction. In parts of the world, this can generate extensive new lake habitats as gravel pits fill with water. In other circumstances, it can destabilize the river bed, and the course of the river and cause severe damage to spawning fish populations that rely on stable gravel formations for egg-laying. In upland rivers, rapids with whitewater or even waterfalls occur. Rapids are often used for recreation, such as whitewater kayaking.

Energy production

Watermill in Belgium.

Fast-flowing rivers and waterfalls are widely used as sources of energy, via watermills and hydroelectric plants. Evidence of watermills shows them in use for many hundreds of years, for instance in Orkney at Dounby Click Mill. Prior to the invention of steam power, watermills for grinding cereals and for processing wool and other textiles were common across Europe. In the 1890s the first machines to generate power from river water were established at places such as Cragside in Northumberland and in recent decades there has been a significant increase in the development of large-scale power generation from water, especially in wet mountainous regions such as Norway.

Food source

Rivers have been a source of food since pre-history. They are often a rich source of fish and other edible aquatic life and are a major source of fresh water, which can be used for drinking and irrigation. Rivers help to determine the urban form of cities and neighborhoods, and their corridors often present opportunities for urban renewal through the development of foreshoreways such as river walks. Rivers also provide an easy means of disposing of wastewater and, in much of the less developed world, other wastes.

Navigation and transport

Rivers have been used for navigation for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of navigation is found in the Indus Valley civilization, which existed in northwestern India around 3300 BC. Riverine navigation provides a cheap means of transport and is still used extensively on most major rivers of the world like the Amazon, the Ganges, the Nile, the Mississippi, and the Indus.

In some heavily forested regions such as Scandinavia and Canada, lumberjacks use rivers to float felled trees downstream to lumber camps for further processing, saving much effort and cost by transporting the huge heavy logs by natural means.

Political borders

Rivers have been important in determining political boundaries and defending countries. For example, the Danube was a long-standing border of the Roman Empire, and today it forms most of the border between Bulgaria and Romania. The Mississippi in North America and the Rhine in Europe are major east–west boundaries in those continents. The Orange and Limpopo Rivers in southern Africa form the boundaries between provinces and countries along their routes.

Sacred rivers

See also: Rigvedic rivers, Sapta Sindhu, Sacred mountains, Sacred groves, Sacred natural site, and Sacred site

Sacred rivers and their reverence is a phenomenon found in several religions, especially religions in which nature is revered. For example, the Indian-origin religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism revere and preserve groves, forests, trees, mountains, and rivers as sacred. Among the most sacred rivers in Hinduism are the Ganges, Yamuna, and Sarasvati rivers. Other sacred rivers for Indian religions include the Rigvedic rivers, the Narmada, the Godavari, and the Kaveri rivers. The Vedas and Gita, the most sacred of Hindu texts, were written on the banks of the Sarasvati river.

Management

River bank repair

 

Main article: River engineering

Rivers are often managed or controlled to make them more useful or less disruptive to human activity.

• Dams or weirs may be built to control the flow, store water, or extract energy.
• Levees, known as dikes in Europe, may be built to prevent river water from flowing on floodplains or floodways.
• Canals connect rivers to one another for water transfer or navigation.
• River courses may be modified to improve navigation or straightened to increase the flow rate.

River management is a continuous activity as rivers tend to 'undo' the modifications made by people. Dredged channels silt up, sluice mechanisms deteriorate with age, and levees and dams may suffer seepage or catastrophic failure. The benefits sought through managing rivers may often be offset by the social and economic costs of mitigating the bad effects of such management. As an example, in parts of the developed world, rivers have been confined within channels to free up flat flood-plain land for development. Floods can inundate such development at high financial cost and often with loss of life.

Rivers are increasingly managed for habitat conservation, as they are critical for many aquatic and riparian plants, resident and migratory fishes, waterfowl, birds of prey, migrating birds, and many mammals.

Concerns

See also: Ecologically dead rivers and Water pollution

Man-made causes, such as the over-exploitation and pollution, are the biggest threats and concerns which are making rivers ecologically dead and drying up the rivers.

Plastic pollution imposes threats on aquatic life and river ecosystems because of plastic's durability in the natural environment. Plastic debris may result in entanglement and ingestion by aquatic life such as turtles, birds, and fish, causing severe injury and death. Human livelihoods around rivers are also impacted by plastic pollution through direct damage to shipping and transport vessels, effects on tourism or real estate value, and the clogging of drains and other hydraulic infrastructure leading to increased flood risk.