Facts city Fun Facts and Trivia

 Napoléon Bonaparte Born      Napoleone di Buonaparte, 15 August 1769 Ajaccio, Corsica, Kingdom of France Died 5 May 1821 (aged 51) Longwood, Saint Helena, British Empire Burial 15 December 1840 Les Invalides, Paris, France Spouse Joséphine de Beauharnais(m. 1796; div. 1810)​ Marie Louise of Austria(m. 1810)​ Issue Napoleon II Names Napoléon Bonaparte House Bonaparte Father Carlo Buonaparte Mother Letizia Ramolino Religion Roman Catholicism Emperor of the French  1st reign 18 May 1804 – 6 April 1814 Coronation 2 December 1804 Notre-Dame Cathedral Successor Louis XVIII (as King of France) 2nd reign 20 March 1815 – 22 June 1815 Successor Napoleon II (disputed) King of Italy Reign 17 March 1805 – 11 April 1814 Coronation 26 May 1805 Milan Cathedral First Consul of France In office 10 November 1799 – 18 May 1804 Co-Consuls Jean Jacques Régis Charles-François Lebrun President of The Italian Republic In office 26 January 1802 – 17 March 1805 Vice-President France...

 Islamic calendar Months of Islamic calendar Islamic calendar, also called Hijrī calendar or Muslim calendar, dating system used in the Islamic world for religious purposes. (Most countries now use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.) It is based on a year of 12 months: Muḥarram, Ṣafar, Rabīʿ al-Awwal, Rabīʿ al-Thānī, Jumādā al-Awwal, Jumādā al-Thānī, Rajab, Shaʿbān, Ramaḍān (the month of fasting), Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qaʿdah, and Dhū al-Ḥijjah. Each month begins approximately at the time of the new moon. The months are alternately 30 and 29 days long except for the 12th, Dhū al-Ḥijjah, the length of which is varied in a 30-year cycle intended to keep the calendar in step with the true phases of the moon. In 11 years of this cycle, Dhū al-Ḥijjah has 30 days, and in the other 19 years it has 29. Thus, the year has either 354 or 355 days. No other leap days or months are intercalated, so that the named months do not remain in the same seasons but retrogress through the entire solar...

  The introduction of the Gregorian calendar, depicted in relief on the tomb of Pope Gregory XIII in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. Gregorian calendar, also called New Style calendar, solar dating system now in general use. It was proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a reform of the Julian calendar. By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 365 1/4 days, and the intercalation of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain correspondence between the calendar and the seasons. A slight inaccuracy in the measurement (the solar year comprising more precisely 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.25 seconds) caused the calendar dates of the seasons to regress almost one day per century. Although this regression had amounted to 14 days by Pope Gregory’s time, he based his reform on restoration of the vernal equinox, then falling on March 11, to March 21, the date it occurred in 325 CE, which was the time of the First Council of Nicaea, and not the date of the equ...

Gray Crowned Crane COMMON NAME  Gray crowned cranes SCIENTIFIC NAME  Balearica regulorum TYPE  Birds DIET  Omnivore SIZE  Three feet tall WEIGHT  Eight pounds Scientific classification Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Gruiformes Family Gruidae Genus Balearica Species B. regulorum Conservation status Endangered Gray crowned cranes are every bit as majestic as their name suggests. One of 15 species of crane, these long-legged birds have gray bodies, white wings with brown and gold feathers, white cheeks, and bright red gular sacs underneath their chins. Most strikingly, a spray of stiff golden feathers forms a crown around their heads. Crowned cranes—which also include the black crowned species (Balearica povonina) are the most ancient of the cranes, predating their relatives by tens of millions of years. The gray crowned crane is the national bird of Uganda and has two subspecies, the eastern African gray crowned crane and southern African ...

 Viking (people) Viking, also called Norseman or Northman, member of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose disruptive influence profoundly affected European history. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at home to the relative helplessness of victims abroad. The Viking burial ground at Lindholm Høje, near Ålborg, Denmark. The Vikings were made up of landowning chieftains and clan heads, their retainers, freemen, and any energetic young clan members who sought adventure and booty overseas. At home these Scandinavians were independent farmers, but at sea they were raiders and pillagers. During the Viking period the Scandinavian countries seem to have possessed a practically inexhaustible surplus of manpower, and leaders of ability, who could organize groups of warriors into conquer...

 Samurai     (Japanese warrior) samurai, member of the Japanese warrior caste. The term samurai was originally used to denote the aristocratic warriors (bushi), but it came to apply to all the members of the warrior class that rose to power in the 12th century and dominated the Japanese government until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Emerging from provincial warrior bands, the samurai of the Kamakura period (1192–1333), with their military skills and deep pride in their stoicism, developed a disciplined culture distinct from the earlier, quiet refinement of the imperial court. During the Muromachi period (1338–1573) under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism, the samurai culture produced many such uniquely Japanese arts as the tea ceremony and flower arranging that continue today. The ideal samurai was supposed to be a stoic warrior who followed an unwritten code of conduct, later formalized as Bushidō, which held bravery, honour, and personal loyalty above life its...

 Roman legion Roman Legionary  Map of Roman legions by 14 AD legion, a military organization, originally the largest permanent organization in the armies of ancient Rome. The term legion also denotes the military system by which imperial Rome conquered and ruled the ancient world. The expanding early Roman Republic found the Greek phalanx formation too unwieldy for fragmented fighting in the hills and valleys of central Italy. Accordingly, the Romans evolved a new tactical system based on small and supple infantry units called maniples. Each maniple numbered 120 men in 12 files and 10 ranks. Maniples drew up for battle in three lines, each line made up of 10 maniples and the whole arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Separating each unit was an interval equivalent to a maniple’s front of 18 m (60 feet), so that the maniples of the first line could fall back in defense into the intervals of the second line. Conversely, the second line could merge with the first to form a solid f...

 Trojan War The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy  The Classical legends of the Trojan War developed continuously throughout Greek and Latin literature. In Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the earliest literary evidence available, the chief stories have already taken shape, and individual themes were elaborated later, especially in Greek drama. The story of the Trojan origin, through Aeneas, of Rome helped to inspire Roman interest; Book II of Virgil’s Aeneid contains the best-known account of the sack of Troy. Finally there are the pseudo-chronicles that go under the names of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. The Trojan War fought between the Greeks and Troy originated in the following manner. King Priam of Troy was wealthy and powerful; by his wife Hecuba and by concubines he had 50 sons and 12 daughters. But his son Paris was invited to judge which of the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena was entitled to receive the golden apple marked by the goddess Eris (Discord)...

  Marble terminal bust of Homer. Roman copy of a lost Hellenistic original of the 2nd c. BC. Personal Information Born c. 8th cent. BC Location unknown Died Ios, Greece Language Homeric Greek Nationality Greek Genre Epic Subject Epic cycle Notable works Iliad Odyssey Years active  late 8th cent. BC The Greek poet Homer was born sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC, possibly somewhere on the coast of Asia Minor. He is famous for the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which have had an enormous effect on Western culture, but very little is known about their alleged author. The Mystery of Homer Homer is a mystery. The Greek epic poet credited with the enduring epic tales of The Iliad and The Odyssey is an enigma insofar as actual facts of his life go. Some scholars believe him to be one man; others think these iconic stories were created by a group. A variation on the group idea stems from the fact that storytelling was an oral tradition and Homer compiled the storie...

 Alexander the Great Alexander on a mosaic from Pompeii, an alleged reproduction of a Philoxenus of Eretria or Apelles' painting, 4th century BC. Personal Information Born 20 or 21 July 356 BC Pella, Macedon, Ancient Greece Died 10 or 11 June 323 BC (aged 32) Babylon, Mesopotamia Spouse Roxana of Bactria Stateira II of Persia Parysatis II of Persia Issue Alexander IV Heracles (alleged illegitimate son) Names Alexander III of Macedon Greek Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος[d] Mégas Aléxandros lit. 'Great Alexander' Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας Aléxandros ho Mégas lit. 'Alexander the Great' Dynasty Argead Father Philip II of Macedon Mother Olympias of Epirus Religion Greek polytheism King of Macedonia Reign 336–323 BC Predecessor Philip II Successor Alexander IV Philip III Hegemon of the Hellenic League Strategos autokrator of Greece Reign 336 BC Predecessor Philip II Pharaoh of Egypt Reign 332–323 BC Predecessor Darius III Successor Alexander IV Philip III Royal titulary King of Persia Reign 3...

 Chichen Itza Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo) dominates the center of the archeological site Location of chichen Itza Chichén Itzá, ruined ancient Maya city occupying an area of 4 square miles (10 square km) in south-central Yucatán state, Mexico. It is thought to have been a religious, military, political, and commercial centre that at its peak would have been home to 35,000 people. The site first saw settlers in 550, probably drawn there because of the easy access to water in the region via caves and sinkholes in limestone formations, known as cenotes. The Casa de las Monjas (“Nunnery”), one of the earliest structures built at Chichén Itzá Chichén Itzá is located some 90 miles (150 km) east-northeast of Uxmal and 75 miles (120 km) east-southeast of the modern city of Mérida. The only source of water in the arid region around the site is from the cenotes. Two big cenotes on the site made it a suitable place for the city and gave it its name, from chi (“mouths”), chen (“wells”), a...

King Penguin COMMON NAME  King Penguin SCIENTIFIC NAME  Aptenodytes patagonicus TYPE  Birds DIET  Carnivore AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD  26 years SIZE  31 to 35 inches WEIGHT  30 to 45 pounds Scientific classification Kingdom Animali Phylum Chordat Class Ave Order Sphenisciforme Family Spheniscida Genus Aptenodyte Species A. patagonicus king penguin, (Aptenodytes patagonicus), second largest member of the penguin order (Sphenisciformes), characterized by its dignified, upright posture, long bill, and vivid coloration. Although many ornithologists divide the species into two subspecies, Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus and A. patagonicus halli, some ornithologists claim that such a separation is unnecessary. King penguins are found on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands; breeding populations of A. patagonicus patagonicus occur on South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, and the South Sandwich Islands, whereas those of A.patagonicus halli inhabit...