By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun in China, and it was growing continuously. To overcome such problems, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an imperial edict in 1901 calling for reform proposals from the governors-general and governors and initiated the era of the dynasty's "New Policies", also known as the "Late Qing Reform". The edict paved the way for the most far-reaching reforms in terms of their social consequences, including the creation of a national education system and the abolition of the imperial examinations in 1905.


What were the governments New Policies also called?


The Guangxu Emperor died on November 14, 1908, and on November 15, 1908, Cixi also died. Rumors held that she or Yuan Shikai ordered trusted eunuchs to poison the Guangxu Emperor, and an autopsy conducted nearly a century later confirmed lethal levels of arsenic in his corpse. Puyi, the oldest son of Zaifeng, Prince Chun, and nephew to the childless Guangxu Emperor, was appointed successor at the age of two, leaving Zaifeng with the regency. This was followed by the dismissal of General Yuan Shikai from his former positions of power. In April 1911 Zaifeng created a cabinet in which there were two vice-premiers. Nonetheless, this cabinet was also known by contemporaries as "The Royal Cabinet" because among the thirteen cabinet members, five were members of the imperial family or Aisin Gioro relatives. This brought a wide range of negative opinions from senior officials like Zhang Zhidong. The Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911, led to the creation of a new central government, the Republic of China, in Nanjing with Sun Yat-sen as its provisional head. Many provinces soon began "separating" from Qing control. Seeing a desperate situation unfold, the Qing government brought Yuan Shikai back to military power. He took control of his Beiyang Army to crush the revolution in Wuhan at the Battle of Yangxia. After taking the position of Prime Minister and creating his own cabinet, Yuan Shikai went as far as to ask for the removal of Zaifeng from the regency. This removal later proceeded with directions from Empress Dowager Longyu.


What year was the Republic of China created?


With Zaifeng gone, Yuan Shikai and his Beiyang commanders effectively dominated Qing politics. He reasoned that going to war would be unreasonable and costly, especially when noting that the Qing government had a goal for constitutional monarchy. Similarly, Sun Yat-sen's government wanted a republican constitutional reform, both aiming for the benefit of China's economy and populace. With permission from Empress Dowager Longyu, Yuan Shikai began negotiating with Sun Yat-sen, who decided that his goal had been achieved in forming a republic, and that therefore he could allow Yuan to step into the position of President of the Republic of China.


Who negotiated with Yuan Shikai to prevent war?


What year did the end of Imperial China occur?

On 12 February 1912, after rounds of negotiations, Longyu issued an imperial edict bringing about the abdication of the child emperor Puyi. This brought an end to over 2,000 years of Imperial China and began an extended period of instability of warlord factionalism. The unorganized political and economic systems combined with a widespread criticism of Chinese culture led to questioning and doubt about the future. In the 1930s, the Empire of Japan invaded Northeast China and founded Manchukuo in 1932, with Puyi, as the emperor. After the invasion by the Soviet Union, Manchukuo collapsed in 1945.


Who split the leadership roles in the Qing dynasty?

The early Qing emperors adopted the bureaucratic structures and institutions from the preceding Ming dynasty but split rule between Han Chinese and Manchus, with some positions also given to Mongols. Like previous dynasties, the Qing recruited officials via the imperial examination system, until the system was abolished in 1905. The Qing divided the positions into civil and military positions, each having nine grades or ranks, each subdivided into a and b categories. Civil appointments ranged from attendant to the emperor or a Grand Secretary in the Forbidden City (highest) to being a prefectural tax collector, deputy jail warden, deputy police commissioner or tax examiner. Military appointments ranged from being a field marshal or chamberlain of the imperial bodyguard to a third class sergeant, corporal or a first or second class private.


Where did the Qing find their officials?


How many ranks were there in civil service in the Qing dynasty?


The formal structure of the Qing government centered on the Emperor as the absolute ruler, who presided over six Boards (Ministries[c]), each headed by two presidents[d] and assisted by four vice presidents.[e] In contrast to the Ming system, however, Qing ethnic policy dictated that appointments were split between Manchu noblemen and Han officials who had passed the highest levels of the state examinations. The Grand Secretariat,[f] which had been an important policy-making body under the Ming, lost its importance during the Qing and evolved into an imperial chancery. The institutions which had been inherited from the Ming formed the core of the Qing "Outer Court," which handled routine matters and was located in the southern part of the Forbidden City.


Which ethnicities made up the Qing government?


In order not to let the routine administration take over the running of the empire, the Qing emperors made sure that all important matters were decided in the "Inner Court," which was dominated by the imperial family and Manchu nobility and which was located in the northern part of the Forbidden City. The core institution of the inner court was the Grand Council.[g] It emerged in the 1720s under the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor as a body charged with handling Qing military campaigns against the Mongols, but it soon took over other military and administrative duties and served to centralize authority under the crown. The Grand Councillors[h] served as a sort of privy council to the emperor.


What shape of emblem signified a Han official?

From the early Qing, the central government was characterized by a system of dual appointments by which each position in the central government had a Manchu and a Han Chinese assigned to it. The Han Chinese appointee was required to do the substantive work and the Manchu to ensure Han loyalty to Qing rule. The distinction between Han Chinese and Manchus extended to their court costumes. During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, for example, members of his family were distinguished by garments with a small circular emblem on the back, whereas Han officials wore clothing with a square emblem.


What shape of emblam signified members of the royal family?


Which two ethnicities made up each position in government?


Who governed the areas of Tibet and Mongolia?

In addition to the six boards, there was a Lifan Yuan unique to the Qing government. This institution was established to supervise the administration of Tibet and the Mongol lands. As the empire expanded, it took over administrative responsibility of all minority ethnic groups living in and around the empire, including early contacts with Russia — then seen as a tribute nation. The office had the status of a full ministry and was headed by officials of equal rank. However, appointees were at first restricted only to candidates of Manchu and Mongol ethnicity, until later open to Han Chinese as well.


How many boards were there in the Qing government?


Even though the Board of Rites and Lifan Yuan performed some duties of a foreign office, they fell short of developing into a professional foreign service. It was not until 1861 — a year after losing the Second Opium War to the Anglo-French coalition — that the Qing government bowed to foreign pressure and created a proper foreign affairs office known as the Zongli Yamen. The office was originally intended to be temporary and was staffed by officials seconded from the Grand Council. However, as dealings with foreigners became increasingly complicated and frequent, the office grew in size and importance, aided by revenue from customs duties which came under its direct jurisdiction.


Who performed the tasks of the Zongli Yamen before it was created?


What was the war called fought between the British and French against the Qing?


There was also another government institution called Imperial Household Department which was unique to the Qing dynasty. It was established before the fall of the Ming, but it became mature only after 1661, following the death of the Shunzhi Emperor and the accession of his son, the Kangxi Emperor. The department's original purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the imperial family and the activities of the inner palace (in which tasks it largely replaced eunuchs), but it also played an important role in Qing relations with Tibet and Mongolia, engaged in trading activities (jade, ginseng, salt, furs, etc.), managed textile factories in the Jiangnan region, and even published books. Relations with the Salt Superintendents and salt merchants, such as those at Yangzhou, were particularly lucrative, especially since they were direct, and did not go through absorptive layers of bureaucracy. The department was manned by booi,[o] or "bondservants," from the Upper Three Banners. By the 19th century, it managed the activities of at least 56 subagencies.


What did China trade with Tibet and Mongolia?


What century did Qing China stretch to its largest?

Qing China reached its largest extent during the 18th century, when it ruled China proper (eighteen provinces) as well as the areas of present-day Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, at approximately 13 million km2 in size. There were originally 18 provinces, all of which in China proper, but later this number was increased to 22, with Manchuria and Xinjiang being divided or turned into provinces. Taiwan, originally part of Fujian province, became a province of its own in the late 19th century, but was ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895 following the First Sino-Japanese War. In addition, many surrounding countries, such as Korea (Joseon dynasty), Vietnam frequently paid tribute to China during much of this period. Khanate of Kokand were forced to submit as protectorate and pay tribute to the Qing dynasty in China between 1774 and 1798.


How many kilometers was Qing China at its height?


How many provinces were there at the height of Qing China?


What two provinces were formed from Huguang?

The Qing organization of provinces was based on the fifteen administrative units set up by the Ming dynasty, later made into eighteen provinces by splitting for example, Huguang into Hubei and Hunan provinces. The provincial bureaucracy continued the Yuan and Ming practice of three parallel lines, civil, military, and censorate, or surveillance. Each province was administered by a governor (巡撫, xunfu) and a provincial military commander (提督, tidu). Below the province were prefectures (府, fu) operating under a prefect (知府, zhīfǔ), followed by subprefectures under a subprefect. The lowest unit was the county, overseen by a county magistrate. The eighteen provinces are also known as "China proper". The position of viceroy or governor-general (總督, zongdu) was the highest rank in the provincial administration. There were eight regional viceroys in China proper, each usually took charge of two or three provinces. The Viceroy of Zhili, who was responsible for the area surrounding the capital Beijing, is usually considered as the most honorable and powerful viceroy among the eight.


What was the name of the highest ranking official in a province?


What is another name for the main 18 provinces?


How many viceroys were there in China Proper?


When did Tibet become part of Qing China?

By the mid-18th century, the Qing had successfully put outer regions such as Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang under its control. Imperial commissioners and garrisons were sent to Mongolia and Tibet to oversee their affairs. These territories were also under supervision of a central government institution called Lifan Yuan. Qinghai was also put under direct control of the Qing court. Xinjiang, also known as Chinese Turkestan, was subdivided into the regions north and south of the Tian Shan mountains, also known today as Dzungaria and Tarim Basin respectively, but the post of Ili General was established in 1762 to exercise unified military and administrative jurisdiction over both regions. Dzungaria was fully opened to Han migration by the Qianlong Emperor from the beginning. Han migrants were at first forbidden from permanently settling in the Tarim Basin but were the ban was lifted after the invasion by Jahangir Khoja in the 1820s. Likewise, Manchuria was also governed by military generals until its division into provinces, though some areas of Xinjiang and Northeast China were lost to the Russian Empire in the mid-19th century. Manchuria was originally separated from China proper by the Inner Willow Palisade, a ditch and embankment planted with willows intended to restrict the movement of the Han Chinese, as the area was off-limits to civilian Han Chinese until the government started colonizing the area, especially since the 1860s.


What was the main government entity that ran the territories like Tibet?


What is another name for Chinese Turkestan?


Which emperor allowed Han migration to Dzungaria?


What title did the emperor hold in Mongolia?

With respect to these outer regions, the Qing maintained imperial control, with the emperor acting as Mongol khan, patron of Tibetan Buddhism and protector of Muslims. However, Qing policy changed with the establishment of Xinjiang province in 1884. During The Great Game era, taking advantage of the Dungan revolt in northwest China, Yaqub Beg invaded Xinjiang from Central Asia with support from the British Empire, and made himself the ruler of the kingdom of Kashgaria. The Qing court sent forces to defeat Yaqub Beg and Xinjiang was reconquered, and then the political system of China proper was formally applied onto Xinjiang. The Kumul Khanate, which was incorporated into the Qing empire as a vassal after helping Qing defeat the Zunghars in 1757, maintained its status after Xinjiang turned into a province through the end of the dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution up until 1930. In early 20th century, Britain sent an expedition force to Tibet and forced Tibetans to sign a treaty. The Qing court responded by asserting Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, resulting in the 1906 Anglo-Chinese Convention signed between Britain and China. The British agreed not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet, while China engaged not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet. Furthermore, similar to Xinjiang which was converted into a province earlier, the Qing government also turned Manchuria into three provinces in the early 20th century, officially known as the "Three Northeast Provinces", and established the post of Viceroy of the Three Northeast Provinces to oversee these provinces, making the total number of regional viceroys to nine.


What was the name of the agreement between Britain and the Chinese that kept the British out of Tibet?


The early Qing military was rooted in the Eight Banners first developed by Nurhaci to organize Jurchen society beyond petty clan affiliations. There were eight banners in all, differentiated by color. The yellow, bordered yellow, and white banners were known as the "Upper Three Banners" and were under the direct command of the emperor. Only Manchus belonging to the Upper Three Banners, and selected Han Chinese who had passed the highest level of martial exams could serve as the emperor's personal bodyguards. The remaining Banners were known as the "Lower Five Banners." They were commanded by hereditary Manchu princes descended from Nurhachi's immediate family, known informally as the "Iron cap princes". Together they formed the ruling council of the Manchu nation as well as high command of the army. Nurhachi's son Hong Taiji expanded the system to include mirrored Mongol and Han Banners. After capturing Beijing in 1644, the relatively small Banner armies were further augmented by the Green Standard Army, made up of those Ming troops who had surrendered to the Qing, which eventually outnumbered Banner troops three to one. They maintained their Ming era organization and were led by a mix of Banner and Green Standard officers.[citation needed]


What were the banners called that were under direct leadership of the emperor?


What ethnicity made up the Upper Three Banners?


What were the rest of the banners called?


Banner Armies were organized along ethnic lines, namely Manchu and Mongol, but included non-Manchu bondservants registered under the household of their Manchu masters. The years leading up to the conquest increased the number of Han Chinese under Manchu rule, leading Hong Taiji to create the Eight Han Banners (zh), and around the time of the Qing takeover of Beijing, their numbers rapidly swelled. Han Bannermen held high status and power in the early Qing period, especially immediately after the conquest during Shunzhi and Kangxi's reign where they dominated Governor-Generalships and Governorships across China at the expense of both Manchu Bannermen and Han civilians. Han also numerically dominated the Banners up until the mid 18th century. European visitors in Beijing called them "Tartarized Chinese" or "Tartarified Chinese". It was in Qianlong's reign that the Qianlong Emperor, concerned about maintaining Manchu identity, re-emphasized Manchu ethnicity, ancestry, language, and culture in the Eight Banners and started a mass discharge of Han Bannermen from the Eight Banners, either asking them to voluntarily resign from the Banner rolls or striking their names off. This led to a change from Han majority to a Manchu majority within the Banner system, and previous Han Bannermen garrisons in southern China such as at Fuzhou, Zhenjiang, Guangzhou, were replaced by Manchu Bannermen in the purge, which started in 1754. The turnover by Qianlong most heavily impacted Han banner garrisons stationed in the provinces while it less impacted Han Bannermen in Beijing, leaving a larger proportion of remaining Han Bannermen in Beijing than the provinces. Han Bannermen's status was decreased from that point on with Manchu Banners gaining higher status. Han Bannermen numbered 75% in 1648 Shunzhi's reign, 72% in 1723 Yongzheng's reign, but decreased to 43% in 1796 during the first year of Jiaqing's reign, which was after Qianlong's purge. The mass discharge was known as the Disbandment of the Han Banners (zh). Qianlong directed most of his ire at those Han Bannermen descended from defectors who joined the Qing after the Qing passed through the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass in 1644, deeming their ancestors as traitors to the Ming and therefore untrustworthy, while retaining Han Bannermen who were descended from defectors who joined the Qing before 1644 in Liaodong and marched through Shanhai pass, also known as those who "followed the Dragon through the pass" (從龍入關; cong long ru guan).


Which two ethnicities made up the majority of the Banner Armies?


Which ethnicity dominated the army in the reigns of Shunzhi and Kangxi?


When did Manchu ethnicity become important again in the Eight Banners?


What did the Europeans call Han Bannermen?


What caused the Qing armies to lose many battles?

Early during the Taiping Rebellion, Qing forces suffered a series of disastrous defeats culminating in the loss of the regional capital city of Nanjing in 1853. Shortly thereafter, a Taiping expeditionary force penetrated as far north as the suburbs of Tianjin, the imperial heartlands. In desperation the Qing court ordered a Chinese official, Zeng Guofan, to organize regional and village militias into an emergency army called tuanlian. Zeng Guofan's strategy was to rely on local gentry to raise a new type of military organization from those provinces that the Taiping rebels directly threatened. This new force became known as the Xiang Army, named after the Hunan region where it was raised. The Xiang Army was a hybrid of local militia and a standing army. It was given professional training, but was paid for out of regional coffers and funds its commanders — mostly members of the Chinese gentry — could muster. The Xiang Army and its successor, the Huai Army, created by Zeng Guofan's colleague and mentee Li Hongzhang, were collectively called the "Yong Ying" (Brave Camp).


Who created a new type of army to thwart the Taiping rebels?


Who inspired Zeng Guofan in creating his army?

Zeng Guofan had no prior military experience. Being a classically educated official, he took his blueprint for the Xiang Army from the Ming general Qi Jiguang, who, because of the weakness of regular Ming troops, had decided to form his own "private" army to repel raiding Japanese pirates in the mid-16th century. Qi Jiguang's doctrine was based on Neo-Confucian ideas of binding troops' loyalty to their immediate superiors and also to the regions in which they were raised. Zeng Guofan's original intention for the Xiang Army was simply to eradicate the Taiping rebels. However, the success of the Yongying system led to its becoming a permanent regional force within the Qing military, which in the long run created problems for the beleaguered central government.


What was the original plan for the Xiang Army?


What entity became the main Qing troops?

First, the Yongying system signaled the end of Manchu dominance in Qing military establishment. Although the Banners and Green Standard armies lingered on as a drain on resources, henceforth the Yongying corps became the Qing government's de facto first-line troops. Second, the Yongying corps were financed through provincial coffers and were led by regional commanders, weakening central government's grip on the whole country. Finally, the nature of Yongying command structure fostered nepotism and cronyism amongst its commanders, who laid the seeds of regional warlordism in the first half of the 20th century.


By the late 19th century, the most conservative elements within the Qing court could no longer ignore China's military weakness. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the capital Beijing was captured and the Summer Palace sacked by a relatively small Anglo-French coalition force numbering 25,000. The advent of modern weaponry resulting from the European Industrial Revolution had rendered China's traditionally trained and equipped army and navy obsolete. The government attempts to modernize during the Self-Strengthening Movement were initially successful, but yielded few lasting results because of the central government's lack of funds, lack of political will, and unwillingness to depart from tradition.


What was the Qing governments attempt to create a modern socity called?


Who beat the Chinese in the First Sino-Japanese War?

Losing the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 was a watershed. Japan, a country long regarded by the Chinese as little more than an upstart nation of pirates, annihilated the Qing government's modernized Beiyang Fleet, then deemed to be the strongest naval force in Asia. The Japanese victory occurred a mere three decades after the Meiji Restoration set a feudal Japan on course to emulate the Western nations in their economic and technological achievements. Finally, in December 1894, the Qing government took concrete steps to reform military institutions and to re-train selected units in westernized drills, tactics and weaponry. These units were collectively called the New Army. The most successful of these was the Beiyang Army under the overall supervision and control of a former Huai Army commander, General Yuan Shikai, who used his position to build networks of loyal officers and eventually become President of the Republic of China.


When did the Qing decide to modernize their military?


Who became the President of the Republic of China?


What happened in early and middle Qing history?

The most significant fact of early and mid-Qing social history was population growth. The population doubled during the 18th century. People in this period were also remarkably on the move. There is evidence suggesting that the empire's rapidly expanding population was geographically mobile on a scale, which, in term of its volume and its protracted and routinized nature, was unprecedented in Chinese history. Indeed, the Qing government did far more to encourage mobility than to discourage it. Migration took several different forms, though might be divided in two varieties: permanent migration for resettlement, and relocation conceived by the party (in theory at least) as a temporary sojourn. Parties to the latter would include the empire's increasingly large and mobile manual workforce, as well as its densely overlapping internal diaspora of local-origin-based merchant groups. It would also included the patterned movement of Qing subjects overseas, largely to Southeastern Asia, in search of trade and other economic opportunities.


How much did the population grow during the 18th century?


What were the 2 types of migration during the 18th century?


How many estates were there in Qing society?

According to statute, Qing society was divided into relatively closed estates, of which in most general terms there were five. Apart from the estates of the officials, the comparatively minuscule aristocracy, and the degree-holding literati, there also existed a major division among ordinary Chinese between commoners and people with inferior status. They were divided into two categories: one of them, the good "commoner" people, the other "mean" people. The majority of the population belonged to the first category and were described as liangmin, a legal term meaning good people, as opposed to jianmin meaning the mean (or ignoble) people. Qing law explicitly stated that the traditional four occupational groups of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants were "good", or having a status of commoners. On the other hand, slaves or bondservants, entertainers (including prostitutes and actors), and those low-level employees of government officials were the "mean people". Mean people were considered legally inferior to commoners and suffered unequal treatments, forbidden to take the imperial examination.


What 2 groups were normal Chinese broken into?


By the end of the 17th century, the Chinese economy had recovered from the devastation caused by the wars in which the Ming dynasty were overthrown, and the resulting breakdown of order. In the following century, markets continued to expand as in the late Ming period, but with more trade between regions, a greater dependence on overseas markets and a greatly increased population. After the re-opening of the southeast coast, which had been closed in the late 17th century, foreign trade was quickly re-established, and was expanding at 4% per annum throughout the latter part of the 18th century. China continued to export tea, silk and manufactures, creating a large, favorable trade balance with the West. The resulting inflow of silver expanded the money supply, facilitating the growth of competitive and stable markets.


What did the Chinese get paid for their goods?


When did the Chinese economy finally recover after the wars with the Mings?


What did the Qing do to reform land ownership?

The government broadened land ownership by returning land that had been sold to large landowners in the late Ming period by families unable to pay the land tax. To give people more incentives to participate in the market, they reduced the tax burden in comparison with the late Ming, and replaced the corvée system with a head tax used to hire laborers. The administration of the Grand Canal was made more efficient, and transport opened to private merchants. A system of monitoring grain prices eliminated severe shortages, and enabled the price of rice to rise slowly and smoothly through the 18th century. Wary of the power of wealthy merchants, Qing rulers limited their trading licenses and usually refused them permission to open new mines, except in poor areas. These restrictions on domestic resource exploration, as well as on foreign trade, are held by some scholars as a cause of the Great Divergence, by which the Western world overtook China economically.


What happened to the price of rice during the 18th century?


What was China's population at the end of the 18th century?

By the end of the 18th century the population had risen to 300 million from approximately 150 million during the late Ming dynasty. The dramatic rise in population was due to several reasons, including the long period of peace and stability in the 18th century and the import of new crops China received from the Americas, including peanuts, sweet potatoes and maize. New species of rice from Southeast Asia led to a huge increase in production. Merchant guilds proliferated in all of the growing Chinese cities and often acquired great social and even political influence. Rich merchants with official connections built up huge fortunes and patronized literature, theater and the arts. Textile and handicraft production boomed.


What were the reasons for the population explosion during the 18th century?


What arts were the Qing emperors good at?

The Qing emperors were generally adept at poetry and often skilled in painting, and offered their patronage to Confucian culture. The Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors, for instance, embraced Chinese traditions both to control them and to proclaim their own legitimacy. The Kangxi Emperor sponsored the Peiwen Yunfu, a rhyme dictionary published in 1711, and the Kangxi Dictionary published in 1716, which remains to this day an authoritative reference. The Qianlong Emperor sponsored the largest collection of writings in Chinese history, the Siku Quanshu, completed in 1782. Court painters made new versions of the Song masterpiece, Zhang Zeduan's Along the River During the Qingming Festival whose depiction of a prosperous and happy realm demonstrated the beneficence of the emperor. The emperors undertook tours of the south and commissioned monumental scrolls to depict the grandeur of the occasion. Imperial patronage also encouraged the industrial production of ceramics and Chinese export porcelain.


What was the rhyme dictionary called that was published by Kangxi?


When was the Kangxi Dictionary published?


Yet the most impressive aesthetic works were done among the scholars and urban elite. Calligraphy and painting remained a central interest to both court painters and scholar-gentry who considered the Four Arts part of their cultural identity and social standing. The painting of the early years of the dynasty included such painters as the orthodox Four Wangs and the individualists Bada Shanren (1626–1705) and Shitao (1641–1707). The nineteenth century saw such innovations as the Shanghai School and the Lingnan School which used the technical skills of tradition to set the stage for modern painting.


What two schools of art were created in the 19th century?


Literature grew to new heights in the Qing period. Poetry continued as a mark of the cultivated gentleman, but women wrote in larger and larger numbers and poets came from all walks of life. The poetry of the Qing dynasty is a lively field of research, being studied (along with the poetry of the Ming dynasty) for its association with Chinese opera, developmental trends of Classical Chinese poetry, the transition to a greater role for vernacular language, and for poetry by women in Chinese culture. The Qing dynasty was a period of much literary collection and criticism, and many of the modern popular versions of Classical Chinese poems were transmitted through Qing dynasty anthologies, such as the Quantangshi and the Three Hundred Tang Poems. Pu Songling brought the short story form to a new level in his Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, published in the mid-18th century, and Shen Fu demonstrated the charm of the informal memoir in Six Chapters of a Floating Life, written in the early 19th century but published only in 1877. The art of the novel reached a pinnacle in Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, but its combination of social commentary and psychological insight were echoed in highly skilled novels such as Wu Jingzi's The Scholars (1750) and Li Ruzhen's Flowers in the Mirror (1827).


Who started writing poety during the Qing dynasty?


What was the name of Pu Songling's collection of short stories?


Who wrote the novel Dream of the Red Chamber?


Cuisine aroused a cultural pride in the accumulated richness of a long and varied past. The gentleman gourmet, such as Yuan Mei, applied aesthetic standards to the art of cooking, eating, and appreciation of tea at a time when New World crops and products entered everyday life. The Suiyuan Shidan written by him, detailed the culinary esthetics and theory, along with a wide range of recipes from the ruling period of Qianlong during Qing Dynasty. The Manchu Han Imperial Feast originated at the court. Although this banquet was probably never common, it reflected an appreciation by Han Chinese for Manchu culinary customs. Nevertheless, culinary traditionalists such as Yuan Mei lambasted the opulent culinary rituals of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, saying that it is cause in part by "...the vulgar habits of bad chefs" and that "Display this trite are useful only for welcoming new relations through one’s gates or when the boss comes to visit." (皆惡廚陋習。只可用之於新親上門，上司入境)


Who are the indigenous people of the Americas descended from?

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the descendants of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborigen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, whereas "Amerindian" is used in Quebec, The Guianas, and the English-speaking Caribbean. Indigenous peoples are commonly known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, which include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives.


What is a common term in Spanish speaking countries for the indigenous peoples?


In Quebec, The Guianas and places in the Caribbean where English is spoken, what is the preferred term for the indigenous people of the Americas?


What term is used in Argentina to refer to the original peoples of a continent?


How are the indigenous people most commonly referred to by citizens of the U.S.?


Where do most theories today attribute the settlement of the Americas as originating from?

According to the prevailing theories of the settlement of the Americas, migrations of humans from Asia (in particular North Asia) to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The majority of experts agree that the earliest pre-modern human migration via Beringia took place at least 13,500 years ago, with disputed evidence that people had migrated into the Americas much earlier, up to 40,000 years ago. These early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of creation myths.


How did humans cross over to the Americas from Asia?


Most experts can at least agree that the earliest pre-modern human migration took place when?


How do the indigenous peoples explain how they came to live in the Americas?


What incorrect term for the indigenous population originated with Christopher Columbus?

Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, thought that he had arrived in the East Indies. The Americas came to be known as the "West Indies", a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the names "Indies" and "Indian", which implied some kind of racial or cultural unity among the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. This unifying concept, codified in law, religion, and politics, was not originally accepted by indigenous peoples but has been embraced by many over the last two centuries.[citation needed] Even though the term "Indian" does not include the Aleuts, Inuit, or Yupik peoples, these groups are considered indigenous peoples of the Americas.


Where did Columbus believe he had arrived?


Because of Columbus' mistake, the Americas came to be known as what?


What is implied by the global term of "Indian"?


Despite fitting under the umbrella label of "Indian", Aleuts, Inuit and Yupik peoples are still considered to be what to the Americas?


What were many of the indigenous people of the Americas traditionally?

Although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in Amazonia, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas. Although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.


What remains as a testament to the time and work the indigenous people spent cultivating the flora of the Americas?


What did many of the societies practice a mix of?


Large cities, chiefdoms, monuments and empires were just some of the things created by which peoples?


What did many segments of the indigenous population also practice?


Belize, Chile and Greenland are just some countries with sizable populations of what peoples?

Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous peoples; some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, but also cater to modern needs. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.


Where are there still populations of indigenous peoples?


How many different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas?


What do many indigenous cultures still practice to different extends to this day?


What have some indigenous peoples managed to remain in relative isolation from?


How Paleo-Indians migrated to the Americas is still a matter for what type of research?

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, provide the subject of ongoing research and discussion. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the land bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to north west North America (Alaska). Alaska was a glacial refugia because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.


When did humans inhabit North and South America's continents?


What allowed people to move across Beringia to North America?


A small population could exist in Alaska because of it's lack of any significant what?


What confined the nomadic inhabitants to East Beringia for thousands of years?


What do studies on the genetics of the first American inhabitants conclude about their ancestral population?

Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years. Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets.


Where did the single ancestral population of all the indigenous peoples of the Americas likely develop?


How many years may the isolation of the peoples in Beringia lasted?


What did the people follow in the corridors between the ice sheets?


What does the data indicate about the population the individual was from?

The data indicate that the individual was from a population directly ancestral to present South American and Central American Native American populations, and closely related to present North American Native American populations. The implication is that there was an early divergence between North American and Central American plus South American populations. Hypotheses which posit that invasions subsequent to the Clovis culture overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas were ruled out.


What populations is the individual closely related to?


What type of divergence is implicated to have occurred between North American and South American populations?


Theories that there were invasions which overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas have been what?


The term Pre-Columbian technically refers to which era?

While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until Europeans either conquered or significantly influenced them, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing. "Pre-Columbian" is used especially often in the context of discussing the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya civilizations) and those of the Andes (Inca Empire, Moche culture, Muisca Confederation, Cañaris).


In practice, Pre-Columbian refers to the history of the indigenous cultures of America prior to Europeans doing what to them?


What term is used most often when discussing the great civilizations of the Americas?


What area of the Americas did the Inca Empire, Moche culture and Muisca confederation hail from?


Urban settlements and complex societal hierarchies are just some of the hallmarks established by which civilizations?

Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first significant European and African arrivals (ca. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Mayan, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time worked to eliminate non-Christian beliefs, and Christian pyres destroyed many pre-Columbian written records. Only a few documents remained hidden and survived, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.


What had long faded prior to the first European and African arrivals?


How do we know about some of the civilizations that were gone by the time of European arrival?


What did European colonists destroy on their pyres?


What gave today's historians a glimpse of the culture and knowledge of the indigenous civilizations?


What had the civilizations in the Americas achieved by the time the Europeans encountered them?

According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter had achieved many accomplishments. For instance, the Aztecs built one of the largest cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. The domestication of maize or corn required thousands of years of selective breeding.


What had the Aztec civilization constructed?


How big was the population of the Aztec cit of Tenochtitlan?


Astronomy and mathematics were also accomplishments of which civilizations?


How many years of selective breeding did it take to domesticate maize?


What did the European colonization forever change?

The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the peoples of the continents. Although the exact pre-contact population of the Americas is unknown, scholars estimate that Native American populations diminished by between 80 and 90% within the first centuries of contact with Europeans. The leading cause was disease. The continent was ravaged by epidemics of diseases such as smallpox, measles, and cholera, which were brought from Europe by the early explorers and spread quickly into new areas even before later explorers and colonists reached them. Native Americans suffered high mortality rates due to their lack of prior exposure to these diseases. The loss of lives was exacerbated by conflict between colonists and indigenous people. Colonists also frequently perpetrated massacres on the indigenous groups and enslaved them. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894), the North American Indian Wars of the 19th century cost the lives of about 19,000 whites and 30,000 Native Americans.


How much did the population of the Americas decrease after first contact with the Europeans?


What was the leading cause of death for the native population after European contact?


What triad of disease epidemics ravaged the American continent?


Why did Native Americans suffer such high mortality rates to the diseases?


Who was the first group of indigenous people Columbus encountered?

The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who represented the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. Within thirty years about 70% of the Taínos had died. They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population. Increasing punishment of the Taínos for revolting against forced labour, despite measures put in place by the encomienda, which included religious education and protection from warring tribes, eventually led to the last great Taíno rebellion.


What did the Taínos represent in the Greater Antilles and Bahamas?


What percentage of the Taínos were dead thirty years after contact with Columbus?


Why were outbreaks of measles and smallpox able to so easily decimate the Taínos' population?


What led to the last great Taínos rebellion?


What behaviors did the Taínos begin to adopt after years of mistreatment?

Following years of mistreatment, the Taínos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants and men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting untreated cassava, a violent poison. Eventually, a Taíno Cacique named Enriquillo managed to hold out in the Baoruco Mountain Range for thirteen years, causing serious damage to the Spanish, Carib-held plantations and their Indian auxiliaries. Hearing of the seriousness of the revolt, Emperor Charles V (also King of Spain) sent captain Francisco Barrionuevo to negotiate a peace treaty with the ever-increasing number of rebels. Two months later, after consultation with the Audencia of Santo Domingo, Enriquillo was offered any part of the island to live in peace.


What did Taínos women start doing to their infants?


Why would ingesting untreated cassava be a bad idea?


Who was sent to negotiate a peace treaty with the rebels?


How many years was a Taínos Cacique able to hold ou in the Baoruco Mountain Range?


What was the overwhelming reason for the decline of Native American populations?

Various theories for the decline of the Native American populations emphasize epidemic diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives. Some believe that after first contacts with Europeans and Africans, Old World diseases caused the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World in the following 150 years. Smallpox killed up to one third of the native population of Hispaniola in 1518. By killing the Incan ruler Huayna Capac, smallpox caused the Inca Civil War. Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture.


Old World diseases accounted for up to what percentage of deaths among the native New World population?


How long did it take for the Old World diseases to decimate the native population to the extent it did?


What disease killed almost a third of the population of Hispaniola in 1518?


How did smallpox cause the Inca Civil War?


What percent of the Aboriginal population of North America was killed in the first hundred years after first contact by smallpox and measles?

Contact with European diseases such as smallpox and measles killed between 50 and 67 per cent of the Aboriginal population of North America in the first hundred years after the arrival of Europeans. Some 90 per cent of the native population near Massachusetts Bay Colony died of smallpox in an epidemic in 1617–1619. In 1633, in Plymouth, the Native Americans there were exposed to smallpox because of contact with Europeans. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans. It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679. During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans. The 1775–82 North American smallpox epidemic and 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic brought devastation and drastic population depletion among the Plains Indians. In 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832).


How much of the native population near Massachusetts was killed by smallpox in the epidemic between 1617 and 1619?


Who were the Native Americans exposed to smallpox because of?


When did smallpox read the lands of the Iroquois?


What did the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832 establish?


What Empire brought horses to the Americas?

The Spanish Empire and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. The re-introduction of the horse, extinct in the Americas for over 7500 years, had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North America and of Patagonia in South America. By domesticating horses, some tribes had great success: horses enabled them to expand their territories, exchange more goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game, especially bison.


What kind of impact did the re-emergence of horses have on some Native American cultures?


How long had horses been extinct in the Americas prior to their re-introduction?


What did some tribes achieve by domesticating horses?


What enabled some tribes to expand territory, increase trade and capture more game?


What did the indigenous peoples of America cultivate over the course of thousands of years?

Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide. In certain cases, the indigenous peoples developed entirely new species and strains through artificial selection, as was the case in the domestication and breeding of maize from wild teosinte grasses in the valleys of southern Mexico. Numerous such agricultural products retain their native names in the English and Spanish lexicons.


What percent of worldwide crops in cultivation derive from the efforts of the America's indigenous people?


How were new species and strains of crops developed?


What products sometimes retain their native names in both English and Spanish?


Where was a center of early agriculture?

The South American highlands were a center of early agriculture. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggests that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. Over 99% of all modern cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile, Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum, where it was cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago. According to George Raudzens, "It is clear that in pre-Columbian times some groups struggled to survive and often suffered food shortages and famines, while others enjoyed a varied and substantial diet." The persistent drought around 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, and the famine of One Rabbit (AD 1454) was a major catastrophe in Mexico.


Based on genetic testing, what has been suggested about the origin of the potato?


How long ago was the decedent of 99% of all modern potatoes cultivated as long ago as?


What event in 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Mayan civilization?


When did the North American natives begin farming?

Natives of North America began practicing farming approximately 4,000 years ago, late in the Archaic period of North American cultures. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common and the small-scale felling of trees had become feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a controlled manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was used to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories. It made travel easier and facilitated the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants, which were important for both food and medicines.


What had pottery become 4,000 years ago in the Americas?


What did technology make feasible when it came to trees?


What was the intentional burning of vegetation intended to mimic?


What global industry owes its existence to having been domesticated by indigenous Americans?

Many crops first domesticated by indigenous Americans are now produced and used globally. Chief among these is maize or "corn", arguably the most important crop in the world. Other significant crops include cassava, chia, squash (pumpkins, zucchini, marrow, acorn squash, butternut squash), the pinto bean, Phaseolus beans including most common beans, tepary beans and lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes, avocados, peanuts, cocoa beans (used to make chocolate), vanilla, strawberries, pineapples, Peppers (species and varieties of Capsicum, including bell peppers, jalapeños, paprika and chili peppers) sunflower seeds, rubber, brazilwood, chicle, tobacco, coca, manioc and some species of cotton.


What is arguably the most important crop in the world?


Squash, beans, and peppers are all examples of what type of crop?


What type of bean is used to make chocolate?


Who do we owe gratitude for even some species of cotton to?


What did geographical zones encourage the sharing of?

Cultural practices in the Americas seem to have been shared mostly within geographical zones where unrelated peoples adopted similar technologies and social organizations. An example of such a cultural area is Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development among the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns. Another well-known example is the North American plains where until the 19th century several peoples shared the traits of nomadic hunter-gatherers based primarily on buffalo hunting.


What did people in the same reason adopt?


Where did millennia of coexistence produce a culture with advanced agricultural and social patterns?


How long was there a homogeneous culture on the North American plains?


What creature did the nomadic hunter-gatherers of the plains hunt?


What was one of the many achievements of the American cultures?

The development of writing is counted among the many achievements and innovations of pre-Columbian American cultures. Independent from the development of writing in other areas of the world, the Mesoamerican region produced several indigenous writing systems beginning in the 1st millennium BCE. What may be the earliest-known example in the Americas of an extensive text thought to be writing is by the Cascajal Block. The Olmec hieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated from ceramic shards found in the same context to approximately 900 BCE, around the time that Olmec occupation of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán began to wane.


What region produced several writing systems independent of other areas of the world?


What is presumed to be written upon the Cascajal Block?


When were writing systems being created in the Americas?


When has the Olmec tablet been dated to?


What is the Mayan writing system the only known pre-Columbian one to completely represent this?

The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only pre-Columbian writing system known to represent completely the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than one thousand different glyphs although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than about five hundred glyphs were in use, some two hundred of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.


What writing system combined phonetic symbols and logograms?


What signs play a significant role in the Mayan's writing system?


How many different glyphs in total does the Mayan writing system have?


How many of the Mayan glyphs had phonetic or syllabic interpretations?


When were indigenous scribes taught to use Latin letters?

Spanish mendicants in the sixteenth century taught indigenous scribes in their communities to write their languages in Latin letters and there is a large number of local-level documents in Nahuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Yucatec Maya from the colonial era, many of which were part of lawsuits and other legal matters. Although Spaniards initially taught indigenous scribes alphabetic writing, the tradition became self-perpetuating at the local level. The Spanish crown gathered such documentation and contemporary Spanish translations were made for legal cases. Scholars have translated and analyzed these documents in what is called the New Philology to write histories of indigenous peoples from indigenous viewpoints.


Who taught indigenous scribes to write their languages?


What were a large number of the local documents in regards to?


What were Spanish translations at the time made for?


What viewpoint have scholars translated and analyzed documents to writes histories from?


What characteristic did the majority of Native American music have?

Native American music in North America is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Traditional Native American music often centers around drumming. Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps were also popular percussive instruments. Flutes were made of rivercane, cedar, and other woods. The tuning of these flutes is not precise and depends on the length of the wood used and the hand span of the intended player, but the finger holes are most often around a whole step apart and, at least in Northern California, a flute was not used if it turned out to have an interval close to a half step. The Apache fiddle is a single stringed instrument.


What did traditional Native American music center around?


What are examples of popular percussive instruments of Native Americans?


How were flutes constructed by the Native Americans?


How many strings did the Apache fiddle have?


What feature did the music of Central America have?

The music of the indigenous peoples of Central Mexico and Central America was often pentatonic. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and other Europeans, music was inseparable from religious festivities and included a large variety of percussion and wind instruments such as drums, flutes, sea snail shells (used as a trumpet) and "rain" tubes. No remnants of pre-Columbian stringed instruments were found until archaeologists discovered a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600–900 CE), which depicts a stringed musical instrument which has since been reproduced. This instrument is one of the very few stringed instruments known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments; when played it produces a sound virtually identical to a jaguar's growl.


What role did music play in the religious festivities?


What instruments were used to make music by the Central Americans?


Where did archaeologists find a depiction of a Mayan stringed instrument?


What did the Mayan's stringed instrument sound like when played?


What comprises a major category in the world art collection?

Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise a major category in the world art collection. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculptures, basketry, carvings, and beadwork. Because too many artists were posing as Native Americans and Alaska Natives in order to profit from the caché of Indigenous art in the United States, the U.S. passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, requiring artists to prove that they are enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe. To support the ongoing practice of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures in the United States, the Ford Foundation, arts advocates and American Indian tribes created an endowment seed fund and established a national Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in 2007.


Pottery, weavings and carvings are just some of the contributions to art by which peoples?


Why did the U.S. pass the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990?


What does the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 require artists to prove they're enrolled in?


When was a national Native Arts and Cultures Foundation established?


What was the number of indigenous people in Argentina as of 2005?

In 2005, Argentina's indigenous population (known as pueblos originarios) numbered about 600,329 (1.6% of total population); this figure includes 457,363 people who self-identified as belonging to an indigenous ethnic group and 142,966 who identified themselves as first-generation descendants of an indigenous people. The ten most populous indigenous peoples are the Mapuche (113,680 people), the Kolla (70,505), the Toba (69,452), the Guaraní (68,454), the Wichi (40,036), the Diaguita-Calchaquí (31,753), the Mocoví (15,837), the Huarpe (14,633), the Comechingón (10,863) and the Tehuelche (10,590). Minor but important peoples are the Quechua (6,739), the Charrúa (4,511), the Pilagá (4,465), the Chané (4,376), and the Chorote (2,613). The Selknam (Ona) people are now virtually extinct in its pure form. The languages of the Diaguita, Tehuelche, and Selknam nations have become extinct or virtually extinct: the Cacán language (spoken by Diaguitas) in the 18th century and the Selknam language in the 20th century; one Tehuelche language (Southern Tehuelche) is still spoken by a handful of elderly people.


How many Mapuche were there in Argentina in 2005?


What indigenous population is now virtually extinct?


What percentage of the residents in Bolivia self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people?

In Bolivia, a 62% majority of residents over the age of 15 self-identify as belonging to an indigenous people, while another 3.7% grew up with an indigenous mother tongue yet do not self-identify as indigenous. Including both of these categories, and children under 15, some 66.4% of Bolivia's population was registered as indigenous in the 2001 Census. The largest indigenous ethnic groups are: Quechua, about 2.5 million people; Aymara, 2.0 million; Chiquitano, 181,000; Guaraní, 126,000; and Mojeño, 69,000. Some 124,000 belong to smaller indigenous groups. The Constitution of Bolivia, enacted in 2009, recognizes 36 cultures, each with its own language, as part of a plurinational state. Some groups, including CONAMAQ (the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu) draw ethnic boundaries within the Quechua- and Aymara-speaking population, resulting in a total of fifty indigenous peoples native to Bolivia.


What percent of people in Bolivia grew up with an indigenous mother tongue yet don't call themselves indigenous?


In the 2001 census, how much of Bolivia's population was labeled as being indigenous?


How many cultures does the Constitution of Bolivia recognize?


How many total groups of indigenous peoples are in Bolivia?


Who retained indigenous language and culture after the Spanish conquest?

Large numbers of Bolivian highland peasants retained indigenous language, culture, customs, and communal organization throughout the Spanish conquest and the post-independence period. They mobilized to resist various attempts at the dissolution of communal landholdings and used legal recognition of "empowered caciques" to further communal organization. Indigenous revolts took place frequently until 1953. While the National Revolutionary Movement government begun in 1952 discouraged self-identification as indigenous (reclassifying rural people as campesinos, or peasants), renewed ethnic and class militancy re-emerged in the Katarista movement beginning in the 1970s. Lowland indigenous peoples, mostly in the east, entered national politics through the 1990 March for Territory and Dignity organized by the CIDOB confederation. That march successfully pressured the national government to sign the ILO Convention 169 and to begin the still-ongoing process of recognizing and titling indigenous territories. The 1994 Law of Popular Participation granted "grassroots territorial organizations" that are recognized by the state certain rights to govern local areas.


What re-emerged during the Katarista movement in the 1970s?


What did the highland peasants resist attempts at?


What march successfully pressured the national government to sign the ILO Convetion 169?


Who came up with a policy for indigenous autonomy?

Morales began work on his "indigenous autonomy" policy, which he launched in the eastern lowlands department on August 3, 2009, making Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to affirm the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. Speaking in Santa Cruz Department, the President called it "a historic day for the peasant and indigenous movement", saying that, though he might make errors, he would "never betray the fight started by our ancestors and the fight of the Bolivian people". A vote on further autonomy will take place in referendums which are expected to be held in December 2009. The issue has divided the country.


When did Morales launch his policy in the eastern lowlands?


What was Bolivia the first country in the history of South America to do?


What did the President vow he would never betray?


What effect has the issue of indigenous autonomy had on Bolivia?


How much of Brazil's population is comprised of indigenous peoples?

Indigenous peoples of Brazil make up 0.4% of Brazil's population, or about 700,000 people, even though millions of Brazilians have some indigenous ancestry. Indigenous peoples are found in the entire territory of Brazil, although the majority of them live in Indian reservations in the North and Center-Western part of the country. On January 18, 2007, FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes.


Where do the majority of the indigenous people of Brazil live?


How many Brazillians have some indigenous ancestry?


How many different uncontacted tribes were confirmed in Brazil in 2007?


What country has the largest number of uncontacted tribes?


Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis; the descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" are falling into disuse, and other than in neighboring Alaska. "Eskimo" is considered derogatory in many other places because it was given by non-Inuit people and was said to mean "eater of raw meat." Hundreds of Aboriginal nations evolved trade, spiritual and social hierarchies. The Métis culture of mixed blood originated in the mid-17th century when First Nation and native Inuit married European settlers. The Inuit had more limited interaction with European settlers during that early period. Various laws, treaties, and legislation have been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada. Aboriginal Right to Self-Government provides opportunity to manage historical, cultural, political, health care and economic control aspects within first people's communities.


First Nations and Inuit are labels for what peoples in Canada?


How many Aboriginal nations evolved trade, as well as spiritual and social hierarchies?


What resulted from First Nation and Inuit people marrying European settlers?


What has been enacted between European immigrants and First Nations across Canada?


What were the early interactions between First Nations and Europeans?

Although not without conflict, European/Canadian early interactions with First Nations and Inuit populations were relatively peaceful compared to the experience of native peoples in the United States. Combined with a late economic development in many regions, this relatively peaceful history has allowed Canadian Indigenous peoples to have a fairly strong influence on the early national culture while preserving their own identity. From the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged Aboriginals to assimilate into their own culture, referred to as "Canadian culture". These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with forced integration. National Aboriginal Day recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples of Canada. There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 2006 people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.


What have Canadian indigenous peoples been able to have a strong influence on?


How long have European Canadians been encouraging Aboriginals to assimilate into their culture?


What does National Aboriginal Day recognize from the Aboriginal peoples of Canada?


How many recognized First Nations governments are spread across Canada?


What is the name for the Polynesian people living on Easter Island?

According to the 2002 Census, 4.6% of the Chilean population, including the Rapanui (a Polynesian people) of Easter Island, was indigenous, although most show varying degrees of mixed heritage. Many are descendants of the Mapuche, and live in Santiago, Araucanía and the lake district. The Mapuche successfully fought off defeat in the first 300–350 years of Spanish rule during the Arauco War. Relations with the new Chilean Republic were good until the Chilean state decided to occupy their lands. During the Occupation of Araucanía the Mapuche surrendered to the country's army in the 1880s. Their land was opened to settlement by Chileans and Europeans. Conflict over Mapuche land rights continues to the present.


What percent of the Chilean population were indigenous according to the 2002 census?


Who are many of the people of Chile the descendants of?


How long were the Mapuche able to fight off the Spaniards?


When did the Mapuche surrender to the Chilean army?


Ecuador was the site of many indigenous cultures, and civilizations of different proportions. An early sedentary culture, known as the Valdivia culture, developed in the coastal region, while the Caras and the Quitus unified to form an elaborate civilization that ended at the birth of the Capital Quito. The Cañaris near Cuenca were the most advanced, and most feared by the Inca, due to their fierce resistance to the Incan expansion. Their architecture remains were later destroyed by Spaniards and the Incas.


What two cultures unified to for an elaborate civilization?


What culture did the Inca fear the most?


What did the Spaniards and Incas destroy?


What percentage of Ecuador's indigenous population are Highland Quichuas?

Approximately 96.4% of Ecuador's Indigenous population are Highland Quichuas living in the valleys of the Sierra region. Primarily consisting of the descendents of Incans, they are Kichwa speakers and include the Caranqui, the Otavalos, the Cayambi, the Quitu-Caras, the Panzaleo, the Chimbuelo, the Salasacan, the Tugua, the Puruhá, the Cañari, and the Saraguro. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Salascan and the Saraguro may have been the descendants of Bolivian ethnic groups transplanted to Ecuador as mitimaes.


Who are the Highland Quichuas primarily descended from?


The Saraguro and Panzaleo are two of the member groups of what population?


What language do the Highland Quichuas speak?


El Salvador was home to which indigenous peoples?

Much of El Salvador was home to the Pipil, the Lenca, Xinca, and Kakawira. The Pipil lived in western El Salvador, spoke Nawat, and had many settlements there, most noticeably Cuzcatlan. The Pipil had no precious mineral resources, but they did have rich and fertile land that was good for farming. The Spaniards were disappointed not to find gold or jewels in El Salvador as they had in other lands like Guatemala or Mexico, but upon learning of the fertile land in El Salvador, they attempted to conquer it. Noted Meso-American indigenous warriors to rise militarily against the Spanish included Princes Atonal and Atlacatl of the Pipil people in central El Salvador and Princess Antu Silan Ulap of the Lenca people in eastern El Salvador, who saw the Spanish not as gods but as barbaric invaders. After fierce battles, the Pipil successfully fought off the Spanish army led by Pedro de Alvarado along with their Mexican Indian allies (the Tlaxcalas), sending them back to Guatemala. After many other attacks with an army reinforced with Guatemalan Indian allies, the Spanish were able to conquer Cuzcatlan. After further attacks, the Spanish also conquered the Lenca people. Eventually, the Spaniards intermarried with Pipil and Lenca women, resulting in the Mestizo population which would become the majority of the Salvadoran people. Today many Pipil and other indigenous populations live in the many small towns of El Salvador like Izalco, Panchimalco, Sacacoyo, and Nahuizalco.


What was a major Pipil settlement in western El Salvador?


What did the Princes and Princesses see the Spanish as?


What people resulted from the Spaniards intermarrying with Pipll and Lenca women?


How much of the population of Honduras is of full-blooded indigenous descent?

About five percent of the population are of full-blooded indigenous descent, but upwards to eighty percent more or the majority of Hondurans are mestizo or part-indigenous with European admixture, and about ten percent are of indigenous or African descent. The main concentration of indigenous in Honduras are in the rural westernmost areas facing Guatemala and to the Caribbean Sea coastline, as well on the Nicaraguan border. The majority of indigenous people are Lencas, Miskitos to the east, Mayans, Pech, Sumos, and Tolupan.


What percentage of Hondurans have African blood mixed in with the rest of their ancestry?


Where are the main concentrations of indigenous people in Honduras?


The Lencas, Miskitos, Mayans Pech, Sumos and Tolupan comprise the majority of what in Honduras?


What was Mexico home to prior to the arrival of the Spaniards?

The territory of modern-day Mexico was home to numerous indigenous civilizations prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores: The Olmecs, who flourished from between 1200 BCE to about 400 BCE in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico; the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; the Maya in the Yucatan (and into neighbouring areas of contemporary Central America); the Purépecha in present-day Michoacán and surrounding areas, and the Aztecs/Mexica, who, from their central capital at Tenochtitlan, dominated much of the centre and south of the country (and the non-Aztec inhabitants of those areas) when Hernán Cortés first landed at Veracruz.


Who held sway in the mountains of Oaxaca?


Where was the Aztec's central capital located?


What grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico validity?

The "General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples" grants all indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages. Along with Spanish, the law has granted them — more than 60 languages — the status of "national languages". The law includes all indigenous languages of the Americas regardless of origin; that is, it includes the indigenous languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States, and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan indigenous refugees. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Nonetheless, of the indigenous peoples in Mexico, only about 67% of them (or 5.4% of the country's population) speak an indigenous language and about a sixth do not speak Spanish (1.2% of the country's population).


What are indigenous peoples entitled to request?


What has the Mexican government promoted in some indigenous rural communities?


How many languages have been giving the status of "national languages"?


How many of the indigenous peoples in Mexico speak an indigenous language?


What percentage of the Nicaraguan population are indigenous?

About 5% of the Nicaraguan population are indigenous. The largest indigenous group in Nicaragua is the Miskito people. Their territory extended from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande, Nicaragua along the Mosquito Coast. There is a native Miskito language, but large groups speak Miskito Coast Creole, Spanish, Rama and other languages. The Creole English came about through frequent contact with the British who colonized the area. Many are Christians. Traditional Miskito society was highly structured with a defined political structure. There was a king, but he did not have total power. Instead, the power was split between himself, a governor, a general, and by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscured by the fact that many of the kings were semi-mythical. Another major group is the Mayangna (or Sumu) people, counting some 10,000 people.


What is the largest indigenous group in Nicaragua?


What didn't the king have in Miskito society?


How many Mayanga people are in Nicaragua?


What percentage of Peru's population is indigenous?

Indigenous population in Peru make up around 45%. Native Peruvian traditions and customs have shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today. Cultural citizenship—or what Renato Rosaldo has called, "the right to be different and to belong, in a democratic, participatory sense" (1996:243)—is not yet very well developed in Peru. This is perhaps no more apparent than in the country's Amazonian regions where indigenous societies continue to struggle against state-sponsored economic abuses, cultural discrimination, and pervasive violence.


What has shaped the way Peruvians live and see themselves today?


What is not very well developed in Peru?


What regions suffer from state-sponsored abuse and violence?


Where are the indigenous peoples referred to as "American Indians"?

Indigenous peoples in what is now the contiguous United States, including their descendants, are commonly called "American Indians", or simply "Indians" domestically, or "Native Americans" by the USCB. In Alaska, indigenous peoples belong to 11 cultures with 11 languages. These include the St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Iñupiat, Athabaskan, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Unangax, Alutiiq, Eyak, Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit, who are collectively called Alaska Natives. Indigenous Polynesian peoples, which include Marshallese, Samoan, Tahitian, and Tongan, are politically considered Pacific Islands American but are geographically and culturally distinct from indigenous peoples of the Americas.


Eyak and Tlingit are some of the peoples who are collectively called what?


How many cultures and languages do the indigenous peoples of Alaska have?


Tahitian and Tongan are two examples of indigenous peoples of what descent?


How are Pacific Islands Americans distinct from the indigenous peoples of the Americas?


What amoun of the United States population is compromised of Native Americans?

Native Americans in the United States make up 0.97% to 2% of the population. In the 2010 census, 2.9 million people self-identified as Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native alone, and 5.2 million people identified as U.S. Native Americans, either alone or in combination with one or more ethnicity or other races. 1.8 million are recognized as enrolled tribal members.[citation needed] Tribes have established their own criteria for membership, which are often based on blood quantum, lineal descent, or residency. A minority of US Native Americans live in land units called Indian reservations. Some California and Southwestern tribes, such as the Kumeyaay, Cocopa, Pascua Yaqui and Apache span both sides of the US–Mexican border. Haudenosaunee people have the legal right to freely cross the US–Canadian border. Athabascan, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Iñupiat, Blackfeet, Nakota, Cree, Anishinaabe, Huron, Lenape, Mi'kmaq, Penobscot, and Haudenosaunee, among others live in both Canada and the US.


How many people identified as Native American in the 2010 census?


How many of the self-identified Native Americans are recognized as enrolled tribal members?


Where do a minority of US Native Americans live?


What tribe has the legal right to freely cross the US-Canadian border?


Most Venezuelans have some indigenous heritage, but the indigenous population make up only around 2% of the total population. They speak around 29 different languages and many more dialects, but some of the ethnic groups are very small and their languages are in danger of becoming extinct in the next decades. The most important indigenous groups are the Ye'kuana, the Wayuu, the Pemon and the Warao. The most advanced native people to have lived in present-day Venezuela is thought to have been the Timoto-cuicas, who mainly lived in the Venezuelan Andes. In total it is estimated that there were between 350 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants, the most densely populated area being the Andean region (Timoto-cuicas), thanks to the advanced agricultural techniques used.


How many different languages does the 2% of truly indigenous Venezuelans speak?


Why are the languages of the indigenous peoples of Venezuela in danger of becoming extinct?


Who were the most advanced native people to have lived in what is present-day Venezuela?


What made the Timoto-cuicas so advanced?


What remains a controversy regarding how to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas?

The Native American name controversy is an ongoing dispute over the acceptable ways to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and to broad subsets thereof, such as those living in a specific country or sharing certain cultural attributes. When discussing broader subsets of peoples, naming may be based on shared language, region, or historical relationship. Many English exonyms have been used to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Some of these names were based on foreign-language terms used by earlier explorers and colonists, while others resulted from the colonists' attempt to translate endonyms from the native language into their own, and yet others were pejorative terms arising out of prejudice and fear, during periods of conflict.


Many of what have been used to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Americas?


Who used foreign language terms to give names to indigenous peoples?


Why were pejorative terms sometimes used for the native populations?


What have the peoples in the Americas been more vocal about since the 20th century?

However, since the 20th century, indigenous peoples in the Americas have been more vocal about the ways they wish to be referred to, pressing for the elimination of terms widely considered to be obsolete, inaccurate, or racist. During the latter half of the 20th century and the rise of the Indian rights movement, the United States government responded by proposing the use of the term "Native American," to recognize the primacy of indigenous peoples' tenure in the nation, but this term was not fully accepted. Other naming conventions have been proposed and used, but none are accepted by all indigenous groups.


What terms do the indigenous people press to eliminate?


Who initially proposed using the term "Native American" to recognize the primacy of the native population?


What naming convention is accepted by all indigenous groups?


Where has there been a rise of indigenous movements in recent years?

In recent years, there has been a rise of indigenous movements in the Americas (mainly South America). These are rights-driven groups that organize themselves in order to achieve some sort of self-determination and the preservation of their culture for their peoples. Organizations like the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin and the Indian Council of South America are examples of movements that are breaking the barrier of borders in order to obtain rights for Amazonian indigenous populations everywhere. Similar movements for indigenous rights can also be seen in Canada and the United States, with movements like the International Indian Treaty Council and the accession of native Indian group into the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.


What do the organizing groups hope to obtain for themselves?


What is an example of a movement which is working to obtain rights for Amazonian populations everywhere?


Where can similar movements for indigenous rights be seen?


Who started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change?

Representatives from indigenous and rural organizations from major South American countries, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, started a forum in support of Morales' legal process of change. The meeting condemned plans by the European "foreign power elite" to destabilize the country. The forum also expressed solidarity with the Morales and his economic and social changes in the interest of historically marginalized majorities. Furthermore, in a cathartic blow to the US-backed elite, it questioned US interference through diplomats and NGOs. The forum was suspicious of plots against Bolivia and other countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua.


What did the meeting condemn plans by the Europeans to do?


What did the forum express for Morales and his proposed changes?


What did the forum question about US interference?


What does the genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on?

Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas primarily focus on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups and Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the patrilineal line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the matrilineal line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither recombines, and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material. Autosomal "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly. AtDNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry genetic admixture in the entire human genome and related isolated populations.


What is the only way that Y-DNA and mtDNA change?


Which type of DNA is passed from the mother to offspring of both genders?


What is AtDNA generally only used to measure?


Who have studies of the mtDNA of Turkic-speaking peoples shown they're closest to genetically?

Genetic studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Amerindians and some Siberian and Central Asian peoples also revealed that the gene pool of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia such as Altaians, Khakas, Shors and Soyots, living between the Altai and Lake Baikal along the Sayan mountains, are genetically closest to Amerindians.[citation needed] This view is shared by other researchers who argue that "the ancestors of the American Indians were the first to separate from the great Asian population in the Middle Paleolithic. 2012 research found evidence for a recent common ancestry between Native Americans and indigenous Altaians based on mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome analysis. The paternal lineages of Altaians mostly belong to the subclades of haplogroup P-M45 (xR1a 38-93%; xQ1a 4-32%).


What group were the ancestors of the American Indians separated from?


When did the ancestors of the American Indians separate from their parent population?


When did research find evidence for a common ancestry between Native Americans and Altaians?


What DNA analysis indicated the common ancestry of the Native Americans?


What did human settlement of the New World occur in?

Human settlement of the New World occurred in stages from the Bering sea coast line, with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on Beringia for the small founding population. The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain indigenous peoples of the Americas populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region. The Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit haplogroup Q (Y-DNA) mutations, however are distinct from other indigenous peoples of the Americas with various mtDNA and atDNA mutations. This suggests that the earliest migrants into the northern extremes of North America and Greenland derived from later migrant populations.


How long of a layover did the human nomads have in Beringia?


What do the diversity and distributions of Y lineage specific to South America indicate about certain peoples there?


What population has mtDNA and atDNA mutations, making them distinct from other indigenous peoples of the Americas?


What does the DNA evidence suggest about the migrants into the northern extremes of North America?


When was a study about the DNA of a young boy published in Nature?

A 2013 study in Nature reported that DNA found in the 24,000-year-old remains of a young boy from the archaeological Mal'ta-Buret' culture suggest that up to one-third of the indigenous Americans may have ancestry that can be traced back to western Eurasians, who may have "had a more north-easterly distribution 24,000 years ago than commonly thought". "We estimate that 14 to 38 percent of Native American ancestry may originate through gene flow from this ancient population," the authors wrote. Professor Kelly Graf said,


What may one-third of the indigenous Americans ancestry be traced back to?


What percent of Native American ancestry may originate through gene flow from the Mal'ta-Buret' population?


What is more likely than the Solutrean hypothesis?

A route through Beringia is seen as more likely than the Solutrean hypothesis. Kashani et al. 2012 state that "The similarities in ages and geographical distributions for C4c and the previously analyzed X2a lineage provide support to the scenario of a dual origin for Paleo-Indians. Taking into account that C4c is deeply rooted in the Asian portion of the mtDNA phylogeny and is indubitably of Asian origin, the finding that C4c and X2a are characterized by parallel genetic histories definitively dismisses the controversial hypothesis of an Atlantic glacial entry route into North America."


What supports a scenario of dual origin for Paleo-Indians?


What is C4c deeply rooted in the Asian portion of?


When did Kashani and others make their statement regarding the similarities for C4c distributions?


Because C4c and X2a are characterized by parallel genetic histories means what controversial hypothesis may be dismissed?


Egypt (i/ˈiːdʒɪpt/; Arabic: مِصر Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: مَصر Maṣr, Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ Khemi), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia, via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is the world's only contiguous Eurafrasian nation. Most of Egypt's territory of 1,010,408 square kilometres (390,000 sq mi) lies within the Nile Valley. Egypt is a Mediterranean country. It is bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.


What land bridge between Asian and Africa?


What country borders Egypt to the south?


How far back does Egypt's history date back?

Egypt has one of the longest histories of any modern country, arising in the tenth millennium BC as one of the world's first nation states. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain a significant focus of archaeological study and popular interest worldwide. Egypt's rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, having endured, and at times assimilated, various foreign influences, including Greek, Persian, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and European. Although Christianised in the first century of the Common Era, it was subsequently Islamised due to the Islamic conquests of the seventh century.


Why is Egypt considered a cradle of civilisation?


What were some of Egypt's foreign influences?


In what century were islamic conquests of Egypt?


With over 90 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab World, the third-most populous in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia), and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.


What is the rank of Egypt popultaion among African nations?


Majority of Egypt people live near what river?


What desert constitutes most of Egypt territory?


Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Its economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and services at almost equal production levels. In 2011, longtime President Hosni Mubarak stepped down amid mass protests. Later elections saw the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was ousted by the army a year later amid mass protests.


What party rose to power after 2011 resignation of Egypt leader?


What is the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt?

Miṣr (IPA: [mi̠sˤr] or Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mesˤɾ]; Arabic: مِصر) is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while Maṣr (IPA: [mɑsˤɾ]; Egyptian Arabic: مَصر) is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם (Mitzráyim). The oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian 𒆳 𒈪 𒄑 𒊒 KURmi-iṣ-ru miṣru, related to miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru, meaning "border" or "frontier".


What does the oldest know term for Egypt translate to?


During 6000 BC what area was occupied by a Neolithic culture?

By about 6000 BC, a Neolithic culture rooted in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt. The Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are generally regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BC.


What culture succeeded the Naqada culture?


When is the earliest hieroglyghics date back?


How long did cultures coexist in lower Egypt?