History – PickyTop

Top 10 Largest Empires in History

04/05/202003/05/2020 by PickyTop

The history of human culture has seen countless empires rise and fall.
Many of these empires had a regional or worldwide influence on history. Still, it could be said that some empires were “greater” than others.
However, the ‘greatness’ of an empire is not an easily quantifiable aspect, as several factors are to be considered.
An empire must have political and military control over various communities with diverse cultures and ethnicity to quantify the territory.
In that case here are the top 10 largest empires in history by area:

10. Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire was the earliest and longest-lived colonial empire in European History.
The time span ranges from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 and the return of Macau to China in 1999, which is almost six centuries.
Portuguese explorers began exploring the African coast in 1419 by taking advantage of the latest developments in shipping, navigation, and maritime technology in search of a naval route to the source of profitable spices.
In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the African coast of the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Goa, India.
At its height in the year 1815, the Portuguese Empire covered regions known today as Brazil, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as other regions in Africa that extended across four million square miles.

9. Yuan dynasty

The Yuan dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan after the Mongol Empire was distributed between Genghis Khan’s sons.
Kublai got his share of land almost covering China covering and transformed it into the new empire or ruling dynasty of China.
Although the Mongols had ruled territories over decades, including today’s northern China, Kublai Khan declared the dynasty officially in the traditional Chinese style until 1271.
Stability and peace in China brought some economic prosperity as international trade was promoted by Kublai and his successors.
Under the Yuan dynasty, the now united country was open to the wider world.

8. Umayyad Caliphate

Muawiya, who served as governor of Syria under the Caliphate of Rashidun after the death of the fourth Caliphate, Ali, in 661 CE founded the dynasty of The Umayyad Dynasty.
It was the first dynasty to get the title of the caliphate.
The Umayyads were able to rule the political authority of the caliphate effectively and firmly, the rebellions were brutely crushed, and no quarters were granted to those who instigated uprisings.
Under the stable authority, the Arabic Culture flourished, and the period is often considered the formative period in Arabic art.

7. Abbasid Caliphate

The Caliphate of Abbasid ruled over most of the Muslim world lasted between 750 and 1258 A.D.
The Third Islamic Caliphate overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate, which at that time took power in all but the westernmost limits of Islamic holdings.
With substantial help from Persia, they defeated the Ummayads and decided to de-emphasize ethnic Arabs by re-establishing a multi-ethnic entity in the Muslim Caliphate.
The control of power and the focal point of cultural life in the Islamic middle east shifted eastward from Syria to Iraq.
In 762, Baghdad, the circular city of Peace, was founded to the east as the new capital and was the center of Islamic political and cultural life.

6. Second French Empire

Napoléon III’s regime, from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic in France, is termed as the Second French Empire (formally the French Empire).
While the government machinery of the Second Empire was practically the same as that of the First, it had different founding principles.
Concerning land area, the Second French Colonial Empire, in 1936, was the second-largest in the world at that moment.
It accounted for 10 percent of the global land area and covered over 13,500,000 square kilometers (5 200,000 sq mi).

5. Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China, which was officially known as the Great Qing.
It was founded in 1636, and from 1644 to 1912, the Dynasty ruled China all on its own.
It preceded the Ming dynasty and was succeeded by the Republic of China.
During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial Chinese influence strengthened its grip over China, which was integral to Chinese culture.
The reigns of Emperor Yongzheng (reign: 1723-1735) and his son the Emperor Qianlong (reign: 1735-1796) marked Qing‘s power at its height.
Over 13 million square miles of territory was in the rule of the Qing Dynasty during this period.

4. Spanish Empire

The Spanish Crown administered the territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania under the Spanish Empire.
It was founded in the Age of Exploration and was one of the world’s first global empires.
Spain reached the height of its political and economic strength under the Spanish Habsburgs when its empire became the unstoppable leading global force.
The establishment of the Spanish Empire in the 15thcentury marked the beginning of the modern global era and of European dominance over global affairs in conjunction with the Portuguese Empire.
It was the most powerful empire of the 16th and 17th centuries.

3. Russian Empire

Russian Empire, from 1721 to 1917, extending over the Eastern part of Europe and the continent of Asia, covered almost 14 million square miles (36 million square km).
The Russian Empire ultimately resulted in Russian Muscovite domination over neighboring in Europe and Asia, where only the British Empire could rival it in size by the end of the 19th century.
The Russian Empire stretched across the northern portions of Europe and Asia at its peak.
The overall area under the monarch comprised almost one-sixth of the earth’s territory.
It occupied modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Finland, the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), significant parts of Poland and Turkey, the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), and Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan).

2. Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire stretched back its peak and covered history’s most adjacent regions.
In the beginning, the Empire was led by Genghis Khan from 1206 to 1368.
During that period, thanks to modern Mongol technology and an enormous horde of nomadic warriors, it expanded to cover most of Eurasia.
The loyal warriors of Genghis Khan were rewarded for their fealties and became their times’ most successful army.

1. British Empire

Britain dominated so many parts of the earth in the 19th and early twentieth centuries, it was famously said that ‘Sun never set over the British Empire.’
The British Empire comprised the United Kingdom’s dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories.
It covered 35.5 million sq.km at that same time, which represents a 23.84% of the Earth’s surface area.
And maybe the fact that the British Empire is almost twice that big as Pluto’s (17.8 million sq km) surface area will surprise you.
The British Empire started with conquering colonies and trading posts abroad, and ultimately included dominions, overseas territories, and mandates.
When Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877, the empire reached its peak of power.
Britain’s relative strength peaked, and Queen’s influence on the Berlin Congress was at its peak.
By 1922, the British Empire had a population of about 458 million, one-fifth of the world population at that time, and nearly a quarter of the total Earth’s land area.

Top 10 Famous Leonardo da Vinci Paintings

06/04/202006/04/2020 by PickyTop

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, known as Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance expert in the areas of invention, drawing, sculpture, science, mathematics, literature, geology, architecture, music, engineering, anatomy, astronomy, botany, paleontology, cartography, and painting.
Leonard is considered beyond an ordinary genius some examples include;

Da Vinci was a prolific inventor
He designed a tank more than 400 years before it became a reality
Da Vinci designed a mechanical knight known as Leonardo’s robot
He designed a workable precursor to the modern diving suit
He was the first one to introduce concepts of flying machines like parachute, glider, helicopter and landing gear through his studies of the flight of birds

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and The Last Supper have distinctively held positions as the most famous and religious paintings of all time, most reproduced and copied.
In 1472 the renaissance artist entered the Florence Painting Guild and set up his workshop. Leonardo, as a painter, completed six artworks in Milan in 17 years.
These are the top 10 most famous Leonardo da Vinci Paintings:

10. Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

This painting of the genius is incomplete. The painting reflects Saint Jerome after plucking the thorn from Lion’s paws.
What is remarkable is that, as customary, Leonardo did not give him a beard.
In 1480, Vinci started painting this tempera and oil on walnut panel, but due to some unknown reasons, he had to stop his masterpiece.
The specialty of this painting:
At the end of his life, the picture shows St. Jerome, a hermit in the woods, alone except for his lion companion–a prevalent theme of the Renaissance.
Yet, alone, he represents the penitent saint in a time of private deep slumber in a deeply touching, intimate portrayal. As Jerome looks on his crucifix, his religious fight is over.

9. Portrait of Ginevra Benci

The portrait of Ginevra de Benci is the only publicly displayed artwork by Leonardo da housed at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
It is one of Leonardo’s earliest works, completed in his early twenties, showing some unusual painting techniques he used in his life.
It is one of the first recognized paintings of Italian art for three-quarters view.
In about 1474, Vinci created this and is often regarded as one of the most famous Leonardo da Vinci Paintings.
Specialty of this painting:
A palm of laurel surrounds the background of the picture, the sprig of juniper, and each one of the flowers are surrounded by a phrase containing “Beauty adorns virtue.”
The truncated appearance of the opposing side suggests that the painting was cut down, possibly due to water or fire damage.

8. Lady with an Ermine

It is a painting from around 1489-1490 by Leonardo da Vinci.
Many art historians have identified the young lady with Ermine as Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of Leonardo’s patron’s, Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Specialty of this painting:
Although Leonardo’s knowledge of anatomy in this is painting is over proved.
It’s because of his ability to portray a character in posture and expression, particularly the bleak backdrop.
In its guileless characteristics, attentive eyes and a gentle touch, the girl depicts the youth and dynamic nature of the ermine.
Her slim hand shows the complex bones structure under the skin, as the skull underneath the fur shows the head of the ermine.

7. Anatomical studies

Leonardo, in his last days, was more isolated than he ever was. He used to buy bodies from local hearse centers.
He used to dissect dead bodies and do extensive analysis, examine the moment and structure of various human cells.
Specialty of these sketch works:
Martin Clayton, the Senior Curator and Head of Prints and Drawings for Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle, has explored remarkably accurate anatomical imageries in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, which remained hidden from the world almost 400 years after Da Vinci died.
Perhaps his most popular anatomical painting was a 100-year-old person who was in perfect health hours before his death.
Leonardo dissected his body to look “the cause of such a sweet death,” to discover cirrhosis in the liver and blockage of an artery in the heart describing the first-ever coronary tissue in the world.
Many argue that Leonardo had way more artworks & drawings than we had discovered yet.

6. Virgin of the Rocks

The Virgin of the Rocks is the name of the two oil on wood panel paintings with the same subject, and of exact design, except for main details.
Leonardo painted these artworks around 1483 and 1486.
In the Louver in Paris, the version considered to be the first, the earlier version of both is unrestored.
The other restored version is hanging at the National Gallery, London.
Both pictures depict the Madonna and Christ Child in the rocky setting, with the infant John the Baptist and an angel.
Specialty of this painting:
The first painting shows how the high Renaissance was carried on by Leonardo.
Early pictures from the Italian renaissance era commonly portrayed holy family figures in a fixed, stiff, and distinct appearance.
In a mysterious rocky landscape, a young virgin Mary is sitting down on the floor, not on a stool.
Her body is moving — it feels like she tilts her head protecting to the baby John, who is kneeling to the left in his worship, and she feels as if she is moving him to the Christ Child to the right.
Infant Jesus blesses John, seen from behind in a complicated position, points towards John while looking at the viewer.

5. Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk

At around 60 years of age, Leonardo is commonly thought to have drawn the self-portrait in red chalk.
The red chalk of an ancient guy with lengthy wavy hair and beards has long been considered as a self-portrait and is so represented that it describes how the majority believe about the appearance of Leonardo.

4. Vitruvian Man

Vitruvian Man is one of Leonardo’s many notes he held on to during his aging years.
It comes followed by remarks in the perfect human proportions handed down in a book on 1st century BC by the Roman painter Vitruvius.
Specialty of this sketch work:
The sketch shows the hypothesis that the perfect person can combine two irreconcilable forms into a circle and a square.
Leonardo solved the idea by drawing a man in two superimposed positions — one in a carriage with his arms stretched forth, and another in a circle with his feet and arms stretched out.
The illustrations show Leonardo’s efforts to comprehend significant documents but also his willingness to broaden them.
His illustrations subsequently became most iconic, partially because of his mathematical, philosophical, and artistic combinations, which appear to have been a fitting sign of the Renaissance.

3. Salvator Mundi

Many experts noted that it represented the image of Jesus.
But other doubt about the rigid position, which was so distinctive from the typical sweeping postures observed in other Leonardo’s artworks.
A third general view is that the painting is hybrid, as Leonardo’s students did the primary color job, and the great master took the last touches.
The auctioneer further affirmed that conservators had confirmed that Leonardo made the painting of the same material that Leonardo, particularly ultramarine blue, often reserved for the rich, was a very costly, high-quality pigment.
It was concluded that a rich person hired Leonardo to make his painting.
Since that evening in November 2017, “Salvator Mundi” has not been seen in public.
Many speculate that a Saudi Prince bought the painting for $450 million for his private collection, making Salvator Mundi as the most expensive painting in the world.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which previously announced its appearance, postponed the grand opening last year without any explanation.
This confusion has given it the source of intense speculation.

2. The Last Supper

Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and the Patron of Leonardo during his first stay in Milan, commissioned Last Supper.
It is one of the most famous works in the world.
The painting is housed in Santa Maria Delle Grazie, a church and a convent in Milan.
Specialty of this painting:
Leonardo was fascinated by how to reveal the personality of a man in posture, speech, and gesture to show a distinctive response.
The Apostles’ positions are rising, falling, extending themselves, and intertwining as they seem to yell, shout, grieve, and debate around Jesus.
The work was soon disintegrated after Leonardo completed it, because of the experimental paint technique in which he employed tempera or öil paint on two preparatory stages.
But observers can still see this as a complex study of diverse human emotions, which can be disclosed in a clear narrative.

1. Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) is the only thing that comes into your mind when you hear “a masterpiece,” making it the most famous painting in the world all the time.
Every day, the Mona Lisa attracts thousands of visitors to the Louvre Paris Museum, many of whom are compelled by the mysterious gaze and the enigmatic smile.
Specialty of this painting:
A youthful woman’s typical image modestly dressed in a thin, dim-colored veil, and no jewelry confuses her spectators.
The simplicity of this oil on panel painting is realistic. The subject’s gently shaped features show Leonardo’s method used for modeling subtle light and shadow gradations rather than lines.
The delicately painted veil, beautifully crafted coats, and the thorough handling of folded fabric show Leonardo’s deliberate patience in recreating his observations.
The complex expression of the woman only increases the painting’s mysteriousness.
Scientists have learned why the expression of Mona Lisa looks so different from people at various times.
Art lovers and critics are puzzled by the gaze and the slight smile for centuries and debated it-or is it a grimace?
The famous Mona Lisa’s famous riddle is based on their own emotions at the time, according to new research into perception and neurology.
Mona Lisa’s smile may engage or mocking–viewers can’t find it out, because the subject is a sophisticated figure like a human being that simultaneously represents counter-characteristics.

His works of art, distinguished by exceptional vibrant but harmonious composition and subtle shadowing techniques, had a huge impact on the preceding generations of artists.
Share this interesting list about famous Leonardo da Vinci Paintings with your friends on social media.

Top 10 Most Powerful Families in the World

20/02/202020/02/2020 by PickyTop

Here we won’t be talking about family fortune but the influence they have on overall economies and geopolitical landscape.
If so, you might ask who rules the world?
While money has a crucial role to play in deciding their real powers, their impact on powerful individuals can make anything possible.
We won’t be listing anything based on conspiracy theories or any claims by other sources.
Here, the list will be according to what can be seen, touched, or can be sensed by us, in short, rock-solid factors. These are the top 10 most powerful families in the world:

10. Krupp

It’s been a long time since the German Krupp family dynasty is handling their steel empire.
The dynasty of Krupp founded in 1587 when a regular merchant named Arndt Krupp purchased buildings abandoned during the plague pandemic.
After the plague diminished, the estate developed, and the man became more prosperous.
His descendants used their heritage into the arms industry. Around 1816, they entered the steel industry, and by the end of that century grew the world’s largest steel manufacturer.
Krupp industries built tanks and battleships for Nazi Germany, and the family supported Adolf Hitler directly.
By the end of the war, their factories were destroyed but rebuilt.
The Krupp family still had a great influence in the steel industry, although it had passed its glory.

9. Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer family owns a significant stake in the top companies in the world, which hold a large share of all the minerals worldwide.
Family-owned brands such as De Beers and Anglo also dominate the world’s gem, platinum, and gold industry.
The family focuses more on bringing the local investors in their home country prosperity because most shares are sold in De Beers.

8. Pritzker

The Pritzkers are one of the richest families in America.
They are close to the top of the “World’s Richest Families” ranking since it started listing the magazine in 1982.
Their wealth came into being in the 20th century, particularly as the Hotel Corporation Hyatt was established and expanded.
The family owns a large 5-star luxury hotel chain, Hyatt Global, through their holding company, Marmon Group.
The Superior Bank of Chicago, a credit bureau at TransUnion, the Braniff airlines, McCall magazine, and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line were also part of their other assets.
J. B. Pritzker was the co-chairman of the campaign of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential election.
He was a delegate to the Democrats in 2008 and to the National Democrats in 2016.
He helped to integrate the Clinton and Obama campaigns in Illinois, endorsed President Barack Obama at the 2008 general election, and currently is the Incumbent Governor of Illinois.

7. Koch family

Koch Industries primarily operate in manufacturing, pulp, and paper production, chemical equipment, ranching, financial, commodity trade and investment sectors, energy, fiber, intermediates, and polymers.
Koch is also a holdings company that controls big companies like Invista, Georgia Pacific, Molex, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, and Koch Minerals.
From scratch, Fred C Koch founded Kock Industries. He’s dead now, but today his businesses are controlled by his children.
According to Forbes, Koch Industries is America’s is second-largest private company, with sales over $1 trillion. They can buy political influence by leveraging their massive wealth.

6. Bush family

Since Jeb’s defeat in 2016, the Bush family seems to have disappeared, but they still have significant influence over American politics.
In reality, the “most successful political dynasty in American history” has been characterized.
There were two Presidents, a few Governors, and several Senators, but the Bush family is much more comprehensive.
Many Bush family members hold management positions in large companies.

5. Morgan family

The Morgan family is a prominent American dynasty in banking and business, which became famous in the United States and the entire world at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Family members have amassed huge wealth over the years, mostly through John Pierpont Morgan’s well-known work.

4. Walton family

The Waltons are the richest family in the world if we combine siblings’ overall wealth worth around $200 billion.
In the value chain, brothers Jim and Rob Walton were respectively #16 and #17 on the Forbes annual list of billionaires.
Their sister Alice Walton is the richest woman in the world currently in 2020.
Founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Arkansas, Walmart is now, as per its company website, the world’s largest corporation, with sales by 2019 of $514.4 billion and over 1.5 million U.S. associates.
As of August 2019, the company has almost twelve thousand global retail shops and 5,362 US outlets.
The company has not unlike its rival, Target, brought large consumer lifestyles, from the big box shops in rural and urban America, praised for its low-priced products and excoriated for its workplace practices.

3. House of Saud

The Saud House is Saudi Arabia’s ruling family.
They possess absolute power–even after them has the nation been called Saud’s (Saudi) Arabia.
There are 15,000 members in the family, but a group of about 2,000 of them hold the majority of power and wealth.
As the head of the family, the King of an oil-rich country, they have unimaginable wealth.
If they want to, they can even go to war, as they have done in Yemen.
Sauds have international influence, and NATO is heavily invested in Saudi Arabia’s security.

2. Windsor family (British royal family )

Brand Finance, a market valuation firm, reported that the British Royal Family worth around $95 billion last year.
In this way, unique assets like the Buckingham Palace (830,000 square feet), the family’s large art collection, and other abstract assets, such as royal brand values, are taken into consideration.
For example, Princess Charlotte, she was 10 hours old when she premiered on a GH world stage.
Jaeger LeCoultre gifted a watch from their expensive watch collection, 101 MANCHETTE (worth $26 million) to Her Highness Queen Elizabeth II on her 60th birthday in 2012.
For a sign of how valuable the brand is, she was only months old wearing a shawl worth about $100 from Hurt & Sons.
The personal wealth of Queen Elizabeth II is $530 million, and Forbes estimates the greatest number in the family.
Besides, in estimates of Wealth-X, the private wealth of all the monarchy would be as high as 1 billion dollars.

1. Rothschild family

Since the founding of the banking empire during the 18th century, Mayer Amschel Rothschild has ruled the world for many centuries with countless assets, enormous influence, and enormous power.
The Rothschild Group provides financial advisory services in more than 40 countries.
The family also owns multinational companies such as RIO Tinto, RIT Capital, and Glencore.
Even though their financial value is beyond measure, this is sufficient to show how powerful they are.
It is also suspected that Rothschilds have connections with a secret organization called NWO (New World Order).
The Rothschilds are considered as most powerful of 13 bloodlines of the Illuminati, official members of the Bilderberg group, Freemasons and other secret societies.
Although perhaps the richest family in human history, not one of Rothschild’s individual has appeared in Forbes’ lists.
It is because, over the years, their immense fortune has been shared between the family members throughout the globe.

Top 10 Best American Presidents

09/02/202009/02/2020 by PickyTop

Leaders are not iconic; they are people like you and me, but with some differences.
In this post, we will be talking about the most powerful position in that world, President of the United States.
Handling the most powerful nation on earth is not an easy job as it requires something more than just leadership.
Does it mean that all American presidents are best in the world in terms of presidential rankings?
You might argue that winning an election of the nation isn’t an easy job.
Here, the case is different, winning an election, is a different thing, and handling a global super-power is different.
Of the great men who have held the Oval office, historians rank presidents who made a huge impact on our country and also the world.
According to solid evidence-based reasons here are the top 10 best American presidents ever:

10. Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson (March 4, 1829-March 4, 1837) was the first populist president of the nation, known as “Old Hickory.”
As a self-styled man of the people, during the War of 1812 and later against the Seminole Indians in Florida, Jackson gained fame at the Battle of New Orleans.
His first presidential run in 1824 finished in a small loss to John Quincy Adams, but four years later, in a landslide, Jackson won the Presidency.
While in office, Jackson demolished the United States’ Second Bank, putting an end to federal attempts to regulate the economy.
At a staggering odds to be killed, Jackson was the target of the first attempted presidential assassination in US history.
British soldiers arrested him and his brother during their invasion of the western Carolinas in 1780-1781.
One of the officers attacked Andrew Jackson because Jackson refused to shine his (officer’s) boots.
The enraged British slammed our future president’s face with a saber leaving with lasting scars.

9. Harry Truman

Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945-January 20, 1953) took office after serving as vice president during the final term of office of Franklin Roosevelt.
Following Roosevelt’s death, Truman directed the U.S. through World War II’s ending months, including the choice to use a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
He became president at one of the most important and difficult times in America’s history, at the end of World War II.
He had to create many hostile choices without being kept up-to-date as vice president.
Although controversial today, history points to us that he made smart decisions, and we are happy that at that moment, he was in authority.
Under Truman’s leadership, the U.S. introduced the Berlin Airlift to fight the German capital’s Soviet blockade and established the multi-billion-dollar Marshall Plan to restore war-torn Europe.
Along being as one of the greatest presidents, he was also the poorest one.
Truman was modestly educated, and he was held in debt for years of bad investment and low-performance firms, although he never filed for bankruptcy.
He was one of the first presidents to receive a pension, which helped him to float for $25,000 a year.
After being signed into law, he and his wife were also the first Medicare recipients.H

8. John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy was 35th President of the United States from January 1961 to his assassination in November 1963, also known as JFK.
Americans and the world often consider him to be the young, talented person whose career and life tragically ended that day of 22nd November 1963 in Dallas.
Apart from his charisma, Kennedy was also one of the best presidents ever, as I may presume many Americans still adore him for averting a possible full-scale nuclear war.
By negotiating with Soviet President Khrushchev, American diplomats under his leadership established a benchmark for diplomatic management of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
He also sought to bring an end to discrimination against race, supporting civil rights, and racial integration.
JFK, through his reforms, relieved the U.S. economy out of the financial crisis.

7. Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (March 4, 1801-March 4, 1809), third President of the United States, also played an important role in America’s birth.
This author of the Declaration of Independence was a scholar, statesman, and a very good leader.
In 1803, he purchased the territory of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from Napoleonic France at a bargain price of just $15 million.
Increasing the nation’s size by area in one blow with his brilliant mind, shaped our country from its formation days.
This places him in the seventh spot in our top 10 best presidents, as he was also one of the founding fathers.
The United States also battled its first foreign war, recognized as the First Barbary War, while Jefferson was in charge and shortly attacked present-day Libya.

6. Dwight D. Eisenhower

The war in Korea stopped during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower (January 20, 1953-January 20, 1961), while the U.S. saw tremendous economic growth.
Perhaps the most important achievement of Eisenhower as president was to keep America out of the war.
As president, he faced issues that could quickly have escalated into conflict if someone else had been in control without such a presence of mind.
Besides, we can attribute him to his financial strategies that mainly contributed to the financial growth of the 1950s.
Eisenhower issued legislation creating the interstate highway system, airplane technology, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) while in government.
Through his term, he kept a strong anti-communist position in foreign policy in Europe and Asia, increasing the nuclear arsenal of the nation and promoting South Vietnam’s capitalist regime.
Eisenhower promoted sports in America by founding President’s Council on Youth Fitness in 1956 for encouraging youth to prioritize fitness.

5. Ronald Regan

Ronald Reagan was an American movie actor turned politician who worked from 1981 to 1989 as the 40th U.S. president.
He had an inspiring, enthusiastic, and charming personality, but his presidency was much more than that.
His administration developed 16 million new employment opportunities, fueled a 2-decade-length economic boom.
Reagan’s economic policy’s four pillars were to reduce government spending, lower the federal income tax and investment gains tax, lower public regulation, and loosen money supply to decrease inflation.
His best achievement was ending the cold war.
Regan’s administration pushed his Strategic Defense Initiative relentlessly and helped the insurgents, particularly from Nicaragua to Angola, fighting Soviet-backed Communists.
These efforts were critical in the Soviet empire’s ultimate collapse and ended the Cold War finally.
Speaking in historical rankings of presidents personally, he is my favorite leader.
Reagan was the right man at the right time.

4. Theodore Roosevelt

After the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt (September 14, 1901-March 4, 1909) went to power.
Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest person to hold the presidential position when at 42.
Roosevelt used his presidentship during his two terms to implement excellent national and foreign policy.
He helped to industrialize the US’s economy by introducing new labor laws, placing regulations to curb the power of large corporations such as Standard Oil, and the railroad contractors.
With the Pure Food and Drug Act, which gave birth to the present Food and Drug Administration, he also enhanced consumer protection and created the first national parks.
Roosevelt followed an aggressive foreign policy, negotiating the beginning of the war between Russia and Japan and creating the Canal of Panama.
He strengthened the American Navy by journeying battleships throughout the globe to make friendly courtesy visits (Great White Fleet).
These ‘courtesy visits’ made sure the world should see the new American Naval power.
Today, we can thank him for promoting child labor laws, women’s rights, an 8-hour working day, and building a new image of masculinity that combined education, bodily strength, and rugged individualism.

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt

The longest-serving President of the United States was Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) (March 4, 1933-April 12, 1945).
Elected during the troubled times of the Great Economic Depression, he held the oval office from 1933 to only months before World War II ended in 1945.
During his presidential tenure, he planned to extend the federal government’s functions.
Depression-era federal programs such as Social Security, implemented during FDR’s tenure, still exist, offering the most susceptible nation with fundamental economic protection.
The U.S. also took on a prominent fresh role in global affairs because of the conflict, a stance it still holds.
Using American convoy strategies and superior technology reduced the efficiency of German submarines in the North Atlantic, thanks to his priority on military innovation.
The US and the allies also gained air superiority because of advanced fighter planes over Axis forces.
Because of his economic, diplomatic, and defense policies, many consider him one of the best presidents America ever had.

2. Abraham Lincoln

If not for Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1861-April 15, 1865), leaded Union during the Civil War, the U.S. might have looked different today.
Lincoln led the Union through four brutal years of civil war, abolished slavery with the Proclamation of Emancipation, and created the basis for peace with the beaten South at the end of the American Civil War.
Unfortunately, Lincoln didn’t survive to see a country completely restored and united.
John Wilkes Booth assassinated him in Washington, D.C., weeks before the official conclusion of the Civil War.
It was difficult for me to make the presidential rankings list, especially the top two.
Abe Lincoln was great and was a genius in coping with individuals, and rendered his adversary friends repeatedly.
He was honest and always tried to do for America what was best.

1. George Washington

On top of our list is a humble military general known as the father of the nation, our first president, George Washington.
During the American Revolution, he functioned as commander-in-chief and then presided over the 1787 Constitutional conventions.
With no criterion for choosing a president, it fell to the members of the Electoral College to elect the nation’s first leader.
Over two terms, Washington has created many of the traditions that the oval office still follows today.
Worried that the president’s office should not be seen as a monarch’s cabinet but as one citizen,
Washington preferred calling him “Mr. President” rather than “Your Excellency.”
During his presidency, he detailed government spending regulations, normalized relationships with Great Britain, and set the foundations for the future capital, Washington, D.C.
George Washington refused to accept the position country’s highest post when requested for the third term.
His explanation was, The presidency is not to be a seat from which to rule, a monarchy in Washington, or a peer down on its country’s citizens, but a place in which the Americans chose an individual to represent them.
The world could be much different today if another power-hungry man took office as our first president.
Considering many facts, Geroge Washington was the best president Americans ever had.

We had some amazing people who served us as our leaders. As this is the top 10 best presidents countdown, I couldn’t include them all.
They were people of personality and intelligence, from various political parties and various cultures.
I carefully selected those who changed America and the world for good.
If this historical rankings of presidents strongly resonate with you share this with your friends on social media.

Top 7 Interesting Nile River Facts

12/12/201927/11/2019 by PickyTop

The Nile River is the world’s longest river.
Its northern section flows through an almost entirely deserted area, providing fertility and water supply.
Since ancient times, Egypt has relied on the Nile, with most people living along or near the banks of the river.
The Nile is one of the world’s best-known rivers.
It passes through 11 countries, including Kenya, Congo, Sudan, Uganda, and Egypt, situated in North Africa, before ultimately flowing into the Mediterranean Sea.
Since ancient times, Egyptian civilizations have relied on the Nile. The river’s behavior has inspired a lot of stories.
For a better understanding, here are interesting Nile river facts:

7. Disputed Source

The river springs its water from two tributaries: the White Nile, which flows from Lake Victoria (the world’s second-largest freshwater lake), and the Blue Nile, which flows from Lake Tana in Ethiopia (where the Virgin Mary is believed to have rested from Egypt during her journey).
The claims emerged because the river begins in the Lake Victoria region, where many feed rivers join it.
Nevertheless, the Kagera River, the largest of these feeders, is now generally accepted as the Nile’s true source.

6. Role in Pyramids

The Egyptian pyramids have survived because ancient Egyptians made them of granite, the essential central parts.
While the Egyptian pyramids were made primarily of sandstone, the center included the use of granite, a tougher stone.
The granite was 1,000 kilometers south, and Egyptians used the Nile to carry the stone to the construction sites.
Another explanation was that since the pyramids were the pharaohs’ final resting places, it only makes sense that they should live where their souls would start their afterlife journey.
After the sun settled, thanks to this association, to symbolize death as the sun “died” every night in the west.
The pharaoh’s souls connected with the sun setting before rising again in the morning, a symbol of eternal life.
They lived right in the region which metaphorically meant death by putting pyramids west of the Nile.

5. Role in Ancient Egypt

In the history of ancient Egyptians, the Nile played an important role. It’s one of the Nile river facts that because of it, ancient Egyptians live in desert satisfactorily.
It supplied drinking water, an irrigation source for crops, and especially the fertile soil used for cultivation.
Without the Nile, Egyptian cultures would have had trouble surviving.
It also provided the way they transported goods and people.
This led to the development of boats and other methods of water transport.
The most significant, if not the most important, the role played by the Nile River in ancient history.
It was easier and safer to use the Nile River for trade with other countries and civilizations.
Land transport was riskier than ancient Egyptians faced nomadic attacks. It’s been a long ride.
Donkeys were the only means of transport until they added the camel.
During these journeys, the Egyptians also had to carry water. This not only slowed them down but could also risk thirst if they ran out.
The Nile River not only provided a source of water and travel but also provided food for the civilization.
It was here that we discovered the famous Rosetta Stone, its inscriptions that allow the modern people to understand the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

4. Home to Largest crocodiles

The Nile crocodile, which lives in 26 countries, is a massive crocodile native to African freshwater habitats.
Four of them in the nation’s swamps since 2000 are deadly than native alligators or crocodiles, scientists have said.
The Nile River crocodile is the biggest living crocodile species in the world, with a length of up to 20 feet and a length of up to six meters.
In its native Africa, it has a reputation as a man-eater and statistics support that.
In fact, wildlife researchers consider Nile crocodiles much more aggressive than American crocodiles or alligators.

3. Biggest transportation

The Nile River has been used for thousands of years to carry people and goods, even before the ancient Egyptian era.
Today, it is a draw both for local people and for visitors It is the most important travel routes.
It was virtually unknown to travel long distances on land until the 19th century and the arrival of the steam engine.
The mighty Nile river allowed people and goods to travel long and short distances.
The river is a major transport source particularly true during the flooding where travel by road is not available in many places along the river.

2. Noone has really successfull traveilling it

Before 2004, no one had traveled all across the Nile.
Two adventurers had to travel for four months to complete the challenge.
Pasquale Scaturro, one explorer, said that the Nile was nothing like he expected to be slow and lazy.
“It’s got fast waterfalls, jungles, canyons, deserts, hippos, crocs, lovely long plains, great sandbars,” he said.
The expedition began on Christmas Day 2003 at Source of the Rivers, legendary Springs of Sakala in the Ethiopian Mountains, known as the Little Blue Nile (the Little Blue Nile).
“There’s no river in the world to match the Nile.”
The team rafted around 3,250 miles through Ethiopia’s whitewater gorges, through the Sudanese desert plains that flow into the Nile Blue and White Nile Rivers and eventually through Egypt’s highly populated towns — where river traffic, dirty wastewater, and untreated water faced an entirely different obstacle.

1. It is now eroding

Alexandria, Port Said, and other towns and villages exist along the coastal area of the delta of the Nile.
It represents the country’s largest manufacturing, agricultural and economic resources.
The area has endured massive and overly unplanned infrastructure projects to improve the local communities’ economic status, but that has harmed both their land use and environment.
Scientists have analyzed satellite images to spatially evaluate and measure the rate of change of dominant land-use/cover classes (from 1990 to 2014) and GIS techniques.
The Nile Delta coast is being dramatically changed, primarily by man-made developments that lead to social or economic patterns and to current local market trends and population preferences or both.
The Delta region is experiencing significant changes.
Such changes are definitely having a huge impact not only on the geographical distribution of existing landforms but are also causing major shifts in the Nile Delta coastal ecology such as aquatic intrusion, coastline degradation, alteration, conversion and/or dispersion of some natural ecosystems that occur in the area of study.
These developments undoubtedly have dramatic effects on the coastal delta of the Nile.

It may be vital to establish new policies for the adaptation of migration as a good policy that would help restore and balance all the Nile Delta environmental ecosystems and similar environments.
These were Nile river facts please share this post with your friends on social media to create an awareness to save the long river in the world.

Top 10 Industrial Revolution Inventions

06/12/201918/11/2019 by PickyTop

Without it

Before introducing new machinery and techniques in textiles, iron making, and other industries, individual craftsmen or a particular group of families made everything.
Products that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be manufactured in mass quantities by machines in factories.
Before the concept of a factory, the production rate was extremely low, and the craft was only limited to some people with no variety.
eg: textiles were primarily made of wool.

Many new inventions were introduced by the Industrial Revolution that would change the world forever.
It was a period epitomized in a wide range of areas by the advent of machinery, the creation of cities and significant technological advances.
Many modern mechanisms have their origins from this period.

Top 10 Interesting Indus Valley Civilization Facts

05/12/201917/11/2019 by PickyTop

10. Politics

There was no sign of a ruler or a powerful authority throughout the region is a feature of Indus valley civilization that made this culture unique to scholars.
We know nothing of their system of governance.
While there is little or no proof that such an ordered and hierarchical community could exist without local or central regulation.
Contrary to any civilization, in which a king or a priest was the main figure of the whole political structure, nobody has ever found such a figure references.
A terracotta figure of what is supposed to be the priest-king is the closest depiction of a figure.
The lack of a structure that can be seen as of fundamental importance like a palace or a temple is another amazing fact which surprised the researchers.
The appearance of a temple or a palace distinguished every other early civilization.
There are several public bathrooms and granaries, but a palace or temple can not be connected with a structure even remotely.
Many scholars have assumed that the cities of Indus Valley are an egalitarian society.
There were no imagery engravings, no evidence, or weapons found in the cities of any kind of war activities in civilization.
No one has seen such a picture of Harappan cities relative to Mesopotamian city-states, which were continuously warring and portraying their warfare in their art and written works.
There has been very little awareness of its political and religious structure. We don’t know who or how they worshiped God.
There have been several discussions about the same matter, but it is hard to say anything.

9. Discovery

Mehrgarh was a small farming town that began in even before pre-Harappan times.
It is one of the oldest agricultural and livestock sites in South Asia ever discovered.
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilization from the present-day northeast of Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India (3300-1300 BCE; mature period 2600-1900 BCE).
In the basins of the Indus River, one of Asian’s major rivers and the Ghaggar-Hakra River once traveled across north-western India and eastern Pakistan.
It was together with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, one of the three earliest civilizations of the world among the three most widespread ones.
By 1999, there had been over 1,056 cities and towns, 96 of them excavated, mainly in the general region and tributaries of the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers.
The settlements include Harappa’s main urban centers, Mohenjo-Daro, the Dholavira, Ganeriwala in Cholistan and Rakhigarhi.
It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

8. Use of Seals

It contains seals in over 4,000 plain rectangular stone tablets.
There are also seals made from at least a dozen other materials.
The seals contain pictures and inscriptions of humans, godlike beings, etc.
Certain seals were used to stamp clay on commercial goods, but they probably were used for other purposes.
When the inscriptions were not yet decrypted, it is hard to tell exactly what the “seals” are supposed to do.
Included in various objects, they found at least 400 distinct symbols. Such symbols are usually shown in 3-20 strings even though scholars did best they couldn’t interpret or translate them.
This is one of the main reasons we know little about this civilization.
Some scholars argue even whether we should consider these symbols a script since no text exceeding 20 symbols was ever found.
Others believe that these symbols only refer to names and give no real significance.
Analyzes of these scripts by computer revealed that these symbols are a blend of sounds and concepts like the Hieroglyphs of Egypt.
Nevertheless, this remains a mystery due to the absence of any translation medium.

7. First dentist in the world

In 2001, archeologists from Mehrgarh (Pakistan) investigating the remains of two men found that people who were living in the Indus Valley Civilization had an awareness of dentistry since the early Harappa period.
In April 2006, the scientific journal Nature later declared that there was first evidence in Mehrgarh for the drilling of human teeth.
In a Neolithic graveyard of Mehrgarh dating back to 5,500 BC–7,000 BC, they discovered drilled molar crowns from 9 adults.
The researchers conclude their findings to suggest some kind of proto-dentistry tradition in the region’s early Indus cultures.

6. Harappan people developed the most precise measurements humanity had at the time.

The stone cubes are specifically designed for weights that increase in ratio from 5:2:1, with weight ranging units 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500.
The cubes have been detected by archaeologists. The weights currently do not match any of Egypt or Mesopotamia’s existing systems at the time.
It is, therefore, safe to conclude that this is a system invented locally.
In Lothal in Gujarat markings on an ivory scale show their smallest split was around 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever in the Bronze Age.

5. They used to worship Lord Shiva

Thousands of graved seals, amulets, usually steatite, agate, chert, copper, faience, and terracotta were discovered from Harappan sites.
A famous seal shows a figure in a position recalling the location of the lotus and surrounded by animals.
This describes as a God, Pashupati Mahadev that is the beloved counterpart to the Vedic Lord Shiva in the Indus civilization.
Besides other fertility and phallic symbols, it is widely agreed that the Harappan people worshiped a Mother Goddess.
The recovery of many figurines from nearly every excavated site shows that the worship of Mother Goddess or the cult of fertility in civilization was widespread and popular.

4. Revolutionary design of Houses

The civilization of the Indus Valley had excellent masons who could manufacture load-bearing brick structures with ease up to two stories.
The houses have a central courtyard and an accessible flat terrace.

3. Urban planning

A well-planned road grid and a complex drainage system showed that the people in the ancient town planning of Indus valley civilization were skilled urban planners who placed importance on water management.
Archaeologists have found wells in the city, and almost every house has a clearly defined bathing area and covered drainage system.
They also noticed a highly advanced water management network in Mohenjo-Daro with 80 public sanitary facilities and over 700 wells.
The growing house had its own bathroom and wells were strategically located for all neighborhoods to provide water. A system for stocking rainwater also existed.
The discovery of the great bath of Indus valley civilization reveals their architectural ability.

2. Biggest Civilization in Ancient world

In geographical terms, the Indus Valley was largest among the four ancient civilizations, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.
It was distributed in the area of the area of 1,260,000 sq km.
The civilization stretched across present-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
On today’s map, if such a large nation existed, it would be 22nd between Niger and Angola.
This civilization spread from Ghaggar-Hakra Valley to the east and west side of the Balochistan River to the Makran, from Afghanistan to Daimabad in Maharashtra to the south.
The civilization of the Indus Valley had a total population of more than five million people.
It is higher than overall New Zealand’s current population.
Most of its people were craftsmen and traders. In more than 1056 cities and settlements of Harappan, 96 of which were excavated have been found.
They are located mainly in the broad regions of the rivers Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra and their affluents.
The main urban centers were Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, Dholavira, Ganeriwala, and Rakhigarhi.
Rakhigarhi is now the largest known site of the Harappan civilization in Haryana, India.
It is bigger than the well-known Mohenjo-Daro site in Pakistan.

1. Mysterious death

Excavations to Mohenjo-Daro’s streets revealed 44 skeletons scattered across the streets, in a position where they had just come so suddenly that they could not reach their homes.
All the bones, including a mother and a baby, still holding hands are flattened to the ground.
Archaeologists have found that these people have all been dead by violence, but the causes of the violence remain unexplained.
Lying in the streets in distorted positions within layers of scratches, ashes, and debris.
The sudden decline of Indus Valley civilization has long been a matter of wonder among researchers.
There is no convincing evidence that any town in Harappan has ever been burned, flooded, physically attacked, or taken by force inside.
It is more likely that after natural disasters or rivers such as Indus and Ghaghra-Hakkar collapsed, the cities have changed course.
This would have affected the local agricultural economy and the development of society as a trade center.
Through continuous digs and anthropological work, the disappearance of this enigmatic civilization is certainly a mystery.
So, how did the Indus valley civilization end?
There are six speculated theories-

The nearby desert penetrated the fertile region and made it unfertile.
The area has been devastated by frequent floods.
Aryan invaders killed and destroyed the civilization of the Indus Valley. The people of Harappan enjoyed harmony. They had no weapons to strike or protect themselves against others. They had hunting or farming equipment. So they couldn’t stand up to the attackers.
The end was caused in part by shifting habits of the flow. Such changes included the Hakra River’s drying up and changes in the Indus River course. The river shifts affected agricultural and economic systems, and many people left the Indus Valley region’s cities.
Destruction was triggered by earthquakes and epidemics.
There is an increasing number of “alternative archeologists” and scholars who have not settled for hypotheses that do not adequately explain the conditions of the skeletal remains and have found other explanations. One such individual is the British Indian scholar David Davenport, who spent twelve years studying ancient Hindu scripts and evidence at the site where once stood the great city. Atomic Destruction in his book in 2000 B.C. This shows some shocking findings: the artifacts found on the site seemed to be fused, glassified by the heat of up to 1500 ° C, accompanied by rapid cooling. There seemed to be an’ epicenter’ within the city itself about 50 yards wide in which everything was crystallized, fused or melted, and 60 yards from the middle the bricks were melted on one. In his book Riddles of Ancient History, Gorbovsky reported that at least one human skeleton had been found in the region with a radioactivity rate of about 50 times higher than it should have been due to natural radiation. Davenport said that what was observed in Mohenjo Daro was exactly in line with what was seen in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

These were Indus Valley Civilization Facts.
I hope you learned something & don’t forget to share this informational post on social media.

Top 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites by Country list

05/12/201902/11/2019 by PickyTop

From the horrors of the Second World War and to propagate peace, the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) emerged.
Some of the most amazing places of ancient times have been lost and isolated from the world for centuries or even thousands, scattered in jungles, deserts and agricultural fields around the globe.
The stories of abandoned towns or the revelations of the ordinary lives of people have contributed to incredible results open to the world.
If you are planning to lush treat to your culturally curious side, we have created a list for top 10 UNESCO world heritage sites:

10. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Benedictines of Český Krumlov were built to surround one of the best-looking castles in the Czech Republic.
The completed castle which began its construction in 1240 AD has architectural features Renaissance, Gothic, and Baroque overlays.
For over five decades, this medieval city has kept its architectural history and its riverside views, paved streets, and regular cultural events.
This picturesque small village is on the top lists of many visitors on a wider trip across the Czech Republic.
Cesky Krumlov is also home to friendly local people inside the castle, and it is a great place to meet tourists from all over the world.

Why should you visit-
Visiting this city you may feel its architectural history with eastern European culture.

9. The Nubian Monuments, Egypt

If we consider only ancient culture, Egyptian civilization has stood the test of time to this day.
We know it as one of the oldest and best UNESCO world heritage sites by country ever existed.
Abu Simbel is a small town with a magnificent view of the desert lake, with special fame claim to two enormous temples which were saved from the rising water of Lake Nasser.
Now Abu Simbel’s original location is well underneath the water.
Once, however, the Aswan High Dam was completed in the 1960s and this gem would forever be lost in rising water level.
The Temple of Ramses II contains four over 20 meters high Ramses statues, the Temple of Hathor one of the most preserved in Egypt, and each temple is impressive in its own right.
It was not just important for Egypt that they rescued the Nubian temples of Abu Simbel from the rising Nile, but revolutionized the overall approach to heritage conservation.
In 1968, they cut the Ramses II complex into 2,000 parts in around 1260 BC and moved to higher ground–piece by piece.
It is now the headline of a UNESCO site which included other Nubian monuments, including Philae’s shrine of Isis, and a firm conservation symbol.
The United Nations is committed to preserving and protecting the United Nations World Heritage site for future generations, considering this ongoing crisis.

Why should you visit-
A deeper look into ancient Egyptian civilization & symbol it represents.

8. Cape Floral Region, South Africa

In Cape Town, South Africa there is a park called the Table Mountain National Park.
Most visitors find it a beautiful view. Table Mountain National Park, however, encompasses the Cape Peninsula area of 85 sq. m.
Most of the cape is in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Cape Floral Protected Areas Region.
More than 20 percent of the whole flora biodiversity of Africa dwells here, despite its small area.
Cape Peninsula to Cape Point is the best way to experience this habitat.

Why should you visit–
Flowers everywhere, closest resemblance to paradise.

7. Hampi

This small town is really a hidden gem in Southern India.
Hampi ruins are protected by the UNESCO because they are thought to give visitors to the temples an insightful experience.
The remains of the final great Hindu kingdom are found in this splendid city.
Temple, entrance gates, forts and more remain over 1,600 pieces, created during the Vijayanagara Empire.
The city has a rocky topography that is ideal for those who love climbing, with a landscape defined by hills, open plains, and the river Tungabhadra.

Why should you visit-
A look into classical ancient Indian architecture and its unique topography.

6. Great Barrier Reef, Australia

One of Australia’s best-known destinations is this incredible view for marine wildlife.
The Great Barrier Reef has a total length of over 2,300 kilometers and 900 islands!
It is Australia’s top marine attraction and is the biggest coral reef system in the world.
The reef extends for over 2,300 kilometers, from Queensland Northern to Bundaberg coastal town, and is one of the most vibrant ecosystems in the world.
It is the only living ecosystem visible from the space that is so large this network of beaches, coasts, coral cays, seagrass beds, and mangroves.

Why should you visit-
SCUBA diving and snorkeling along the shinning coral reefs, sailing around idyllic islands of the tropics, fishing in designated areas, gazing at the plentiful sea life of a glass-bottomed boat and waking over this splendid natural marvel on a scenic flight are some of the most popular things to do.

5. Acropolis, Greece

The Acropolis is a proud monument to ancient Greece that stands over the city of Athens from its highest perch.
Built around 5th to the 4th centuries BC, the Parthenon is the most famous structure and symbol of the history of this country. It dominates the site.
The Acropolis is a powerful sight, bright daytime in the Mediterranean sun and lighted up for dramatic effects in the night just steps away from modern Athens.
The city itself is a breathtaking sight for first-time visitors to other parts of Greece, and it sets the stage for travelers.
Distinguished sculptors and architects eventually designed by architects of these monuments for theater, democracy, philosophy, speech, and freedom of expression.
The Acropolis is one of the top UNESCO world heritage sites in Greece and is highlighted by the Parthenon.

Why should you visit-
It’s perfect for history buffs hoping for a closer look at ancient Greek civilization.

4. Kathmandu valley, Nepal

Central Nepal has several major historical sites that make up a separate UNESCO World Heritage Site list alone in Kathmandu Valley.
Two Buddhist stupas, two Hindu shrines, and three beautiful spots, which are the main cultural locations in Nepal.
One of the two biggest world religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, have the cultural heritages that were built live together, signifying their similarities.
Unfortunately, several sites were severely damaged or destroyed by an earthquake on 25 April 2015, including the Durbar Square in Kathmandu.

Why should you visit-
Ancient Hindu & Buddhist temples with magnificent natural surroundings.

3. Yellowstone National Park, USA

We know the park for its spectacular landscape, diverse flora and fauna and fascinating wonders of geothermal life.
The world’s first national park sits on a hot spot with volcanic views, fun activities, and sightseeing of wildlife.
It’s easy to see why it is one of the biggest parks in the USA, home to lush forests, hot springs, alpine rivers, geysers, and more.

Why should you visit-
Yellowstone has the highest number of active geysers in the world and offers a glimpse into the mighty forces deep under the earth’s crust, the same forces and the vibrant and spectacular landscapes of that area.
The landscapes range from snaking rivers and lush green valleys to canyons, vast lakes, thundering waterfalls, and lunar scenery.

2. Machu Picchu, Peru

Without Machu Picchu, a visit to South America is not complete.
This Inca-built fortress is about 8,000 ft above sea level and is a unique experience to reach.
The natural beauty is unmatched in the Andes and Amazon Basin.
You will find a rich landscape and varied flora and fauna when traveling through the clouds.
Make sure that you have a handy camera to capture old buildings, flashy views, and local llamas camels. ⠀
There’s a good cause: it’s stunning totally. Machu Picchu is a kind of amazing place where visitors can rest and catch the feeling.
Everything you see & hear in Machu Picchu is itself, out-of-the-world experience.
No better than to stand on the Hut and Funerary Rock of the Caretaker and take in the view.

Why should you visit-
You’ll find a rich landscape with a diverse flora and fauna

1. Angkor wot,Cambodia

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the biggest temple in the world.
This top UNESCO World Heritage Site provides visitors with great insight into the evolution of adventures and how time can change things dramatically.
Angkor City is one of the most significant–and spectacular–archaeological sites in Southeast Asia.
It was the capital of the prosperous Khmer Empire from the 9th to 15th centuries AD.
The area is over 100 sq miles surrounded by lush forests and has an almost endless number of temples and monuments.
At sunrise, visit the famed Angkor Wat, dance along with a pool and then go to the Bayon Temple and look at the sculpted sculptures.
This architectural masterpiece is one of the most visited historic sites in the world and attracts over two million visitors a year.

Why should you visit-
Inside a look into Javan style architecture with beautiful forest around it.

These sites have such an exceptional natural beauty or cultural importance that they are worthy of humanity’s protection.
It might be a cliché to say that there was never a better time to explore the world’s greatest sites.
There is a list of 1,073 locations and a new lot was added each July, thus protecting their posterity.
It’s a beautiful variety, a lush treat for everyone (naturists to historians).
I hope you agree with my research on the top 10 UNESCO world heritage sites, please share it on Social Media with your friends.

Top 10 Shocking Facts about Mesopotamian civilization

10/02/202014/06/2019 by PickyTop

This post is about Facts about Ancient Mesopotamia.
But, before talking about this civilization’s facts, let’s see its origins.
The word Mesopotamia originates from meso, implying middle, old Greek root phrases; and river meaning potamos.
It thus translates to ‘(land) in the middle of rivers’
Mesopotamia relates widely to the territories between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
The region comprises most of the modern Iraq, Kuwait & Syria.
It was a homeland of many of the oldest significant civilizations in the world, including Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians but we can also regard it as one of the first civilization in the world.
These are Top 10 Mesopotamia facts from ancient research:

10. Sumer was the first urban civilization in history

By 3000 BC, the Sumerian people had controlled Mesopotamia and played an important part in Mesopotamia history.
There were several decentralized city-states in Sumer, including Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Uruk, Kish, and Ur.
Sumer’s most prominent city was Uruk, about 30 km eastward of Iraq’s modern Samawah town.
It served a major position in urbanization and state formation in Mesopotamia during the so-called Uruk period & was among the first city in the region.
The development of Uruk rendered it the biggest settlement in Mesopotamia, both in population and area.
At its height, it had between 40,000 and 80,000 inhabitants living in 6 sq. km of the enclosed region around 2900 BC.
The development of Uruk made it the biggest settlement in Mesopotamia, both in population and area.

09. First Biggest Empire in the ancient world

Eannatum, a ruler of the Sumerian town of Lagash, started a military campaign to annex the different city-states in the 25th century BC.
Ultimately, he conquered all Sumer and spread his impact beyond his borders.
Eannatum’s empire is one of history’s first verifiable kingdoms.
Sargon of Akkad another Mesopotamian king, established The Akkadian Empire, also recognized as Sargon the Great, and conquered Sumer around 2270 BC.
We can regard him as Mesopotamia’s first brilliant emperor and evidence support the facts.
He captured all southern Mesopotamia and areas of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (west Iran).
The Sargon-built empire was up to that stage the largest ancient empire in recorded history.
During Sargon’s regime, there were countless revolts, and its a fact that he had the world’s first skilled standing army to safeguard his empire from rebellious citizens.
After his death, Mesopotamian rulers considered him as a model for about two millennia.

08. Assyria was the first superpower nation in the world

Assyria is named after its first capital Assur on a plateau above the Tigris River in ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
Geography has placed Assyria in an exposed position with most sides free to loot.
Because of these neighboring nations, including the armies of Mitanni, Hittite, and Babylon constantly were a threat.
These forces defeated the Assyrians at different phases in their past and had to battle for their independence.
This developed a reactionary effect that resulted in the development of an efficient, well-organized and powerful army,
A structure capable of coping with its neighbors’ continual violence, conflicts, and attacks.
This made the Assyrian army powerful, and they triumphed over most of-of the strong Mesopotamian states by the 8th century BC to become one of the first superpowers of the ancient world.

07. King Tiglath-Pileser 3 is regarded as a military genius

The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III ruled from 745 BC to 727 BC. Considered to be one of the strongest rulers in Mesopotamian civilization.
He carried out a sequence of comprehensive changes to reorganize the military and restructure the government’s bureaucracy.
He also developed Assyria’s first professional standing army and up to that moment made it the most efficient military power in history.
It’s also considered him as one of the most successful military commanders in the world’s history as he conquered many neighboring territories.
At his death, Assyria was the biggest kingdom in the ancient world.
Tiglath-Pileser III’s brother Sargon II captured the crown in 722 BC and governed Assyria until 705 BC.
The Assyrian Empire achieved its highest heights under Sargon II.

06. Invention of wheel

The wheel was first created as a potter’s wheel and has occurred around 3500 BC, contrary to popular belief.
Although the wheel first existed in ancient Mesopotamia, archaeologists found the earliest wheel called the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel in 2002 in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, and dates back 5,150 years.
Ancient humans used the wheel as a luxurious transport for the rich and for agriculture, ceramic manufacturing, and processing.
It was bases the chariot technology and other significant historical inventions.
The chariot was the first means of private transport and then; they used in wars, sports and public use for years.
They made the oldest chariot design of a light wood with a bentwood rim.
The first chariot appeared in Mesopotamia around 3200 BC and then after used by almost every civilization after, they used chariots for kings and wealthy private commute.

05. World's First Accountants Counted on Cuneiform

People recorded information about their agricultural goods—including domestic animals and plants in the form of small clay tokens.
Scholars believe that the written form of language that we use to pass this information along today evolved out of this simple accounting technique.
On cave ceilings, upper Paleolithic individuals left tally marks and cut hash marks on portable sticks.
But, Clay tokens provided more data, including what commodity they counted, a significant leap forward in storing and retrieving information.
Urban towns flourished during the Uruk era in Mesopotamia [4000–3000 BC] and accounting administrative requirements increased.
In Mesopotamian culture, production of secondary commodities such as wool, clothing, metals, honey, bread, oil, alcoholic beverages, rope, furniture, jewelry, tools, perfume required accounting, and the number of tokens used increased in 3300 BCE.
During the Late Uruk era [3500–3100 BCE], accountants started to maintain tokens inline globular clay envelopes called bullae.
Bullae are hollow clay balls about 5–9 cm (2–4 inches) in diameter: they kept tokens inside the box and the opening later sealed.
About 150 of these clay envelopes are recovered from excavation sites of Mesopotamian civilization.

04. Concept of Urbanization

Mesopotamians developed the concept of urbanization for the first time.
Human beings began to live in a particular location instead of scavenging or hunting for the first time in history.
Agriculture’s creation enabled feeding more individuals and livestock living in one place.
People taught to trade, and the notion of taxes evolved with it.
Mesopotamia emerged as one of the world’s first sun-dried brick-built towns.
Urbanization in Mesopotamia began in the Uruk era (4300–3100 BC) and massive mud-brick houses built around 3200 BC was the biggest colony ever to be built in human culture.
Huge fortifications constructed by King Gilgamesh surrounded the town.

03. It is regarded as in Mesopotamia writing was invented

The cuneiform writing system is also not an alphabet, and it doesn’t have letters.
Instead, it used between 600 and 1,000 characters to write words or syllables which was one of the earliest forms of writings used in ancient Mesopotamia.
Sumerian and Akkadian are the two primary scripts published in Cuneiform, although more than we record a handful of others.
This implies that we could use it to write Chinese, Hungarian or English pretty well today.
The first stage used basic pictures that were also used to record syllables soon.
Reading the letters of other people, particularly when they are 4,000 years old and written in such an attractive and sensitive format, is absolutely fascinating.

02. Marriage,Sex & Love

Marriage was of essential significance in ancient Mesopotamia culture because it guaranteed the continuity of the bloodline and offered social balance.
Human relations in ancient Mesopotamia were as difficult and complex as those today, and the emotion of affection was a component of that nature.
There are poems, like of Akkadian composition around 1750 BCE, which portrays two couples arguing that the female believes
that the boy has an affair with someone and that he has to convince her she is the only one.
Ultimately, after poetic discussing the issue, the pair reconciles, and it’s clarified that they will stay comfortably together now.
While romantic love played a role in Mesopotamian weddings, marriage was a legal contract between the father of the bride and to be the groom.
More commonly, it was between two families according to the customs and standards of Mesopotamian culture.
(Its called dowry; Fathers gave the bride to the groom’s family who paid the highest price to them.)
To be considered legal, the wedding celebration had to include a feast.
For the pair to be legally married, the marriage procedure had five phases to be noted:
1.Engagement / marriage agreement;
2.Payment of the bride and groom parents to each other (gift and wife price); ceremony/feast;
3.Bride shifting to the house of her husband/in-laws;
4.Sexual intercourse between the bride and the pair expected to be a virgin on their wedding night and become pregnant.
Mesopotamian rituals and practices may seem odd, or even unfair, to a Western modern-day mind.
The ancient world’s humans were no distinct from those who live today.
Many modern weddings started with a promise, end sadly, while many others struggled initially but last a lifetime.

01. Mesopotamian Cult & Witch-craft

Researchers have encountered at a Kars symposium called “Ani’s Underground Secrets” to explore the underground world of the city listed in old carvings as the place of an old esoteric school in Mesopotamia.
At its peak, Ani rivaled in size and importance the likes of Constantinople, Baghdad, and Cairo.
Ani had risen to over 100, 000 people by the 11th century in Mesopotamian civilization.
It would become the battlefield for different contending empires, resulting in its destruction and abandonment.
Today, hundreds of ancient churches, Zoroastrian temples, and other structures stay spread across the rough and desolate landscape, most of them in ruins.
It was the beginning of a discovery of water streams, unexplored monk cells, meditation chambers, big hallways, complex tunnels, pits, and corners beneath the remains of Ani’s old Armenian city.
They found a papyrus fragment in a place in one chamber. In an ancient Armenian language, the document was written in some strange text,
The first sign that Ani’s hidden world was very old.
Archeologists put together the significance of the strange text after a while.
They learned that the text was a cult message written from one monk to another monk.
Demonology, Black Magic & Cult was some common practice in Mesopotamia. In fact, they considered a popular demonic entity named Pazuzu (also popular in many modern horror movies) the demon king in ancient religions.

Just like the Mesopotamian civilization, there is another ancient civilization called Indus Valley civilization and it is as old as Mesopotamia.
It just fascinates and intrigues me to know about our ancestors yet see how far we have come from them.
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