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DRAINAGE

The uplifting and warping of the surface of the continent that occurred during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs procured a number of structural basins; these are now either individually occupied by, or are linked up with, drainage systems. With the exception of the Chad Basin, all the major drainage basins have outlets to the sea. In addition, minor drainage basins, similar to that of Lake Chad, are ...

Climatic regions. When considered in detail, the movement of air masses and their effects provide the basis for a division of the continent into eight climatic regions. These are the hot desert, semi-arid, tropical wet-and dry, equatorial (tropical wet), Mediterranean, humid subtropical marine, warm temperate upland, and mountain regions.
The hot desert region comprised the Sahara and Kalahari, which are always...

CLIMATE
Factors influencing the African climate. Q number of factors influence the climate of the African continent.
Firstly, practically the whole of the continent—which extends from latitude 35°S to about 37°N—lies within the tropical zone. Secondly, the near bisection of the continent by the Equator results in a largely symmetrical arrangement of climatic zones on either side. This symmetry is, however, ...

PRESENT GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES AND RELIEF.
Africa represents a magnificent example of the relation of geological structure to relief. In the north, the chains of the Atlas Mountains, extending from west to east, evoke the orogenesis of the Alpine episode and are separated from the Sahara basement rock by the great interrupted line of the souther Atlas. Egypt, by contrast, exposes the magnitude of the Cretaceous ...

The Mesozoic Era. comprising three periods—the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous—the Mesozoic Era is remarkable for the overflowing of ancient seas and for the emergence of massive land formations containing interesting fossil remains.
Marine formations. During the Triassic period, ancient sea left deposit in North Africa, the souther Sahara, /egypt, Arabia, and parts of Tanzania and northern Madagascar.

The Paleozoic Era. The Paleozoic Era, which comprised the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and the Permian periods, includes two principal mountain-building episodes—the Caledonian and the Hercynian. During this era the continent may be said to have taken shape—the cratons fused and the landmass emerged. A glacial period of this era was marked hy deposition tillites (sedimentary rocks...

STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE
The Precambrian. The Precambrian landmass in Africa comprises four groups of interconnected crayons (immobile parts of the /earch, usually of large size). These are firstly, the West African Craton, which became stable about 2,000,000,000 years ago and which today comprises the states of Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Liberal, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and the western Ahaggar (Hoggar) mountain...

I. Geological history

The African continent essentially consists of an ancient Precambrian Shield (formed between 570,000,000 and 4,000,000,000 years ago) that has since been folded, metamorphosed (altered in composition or structure by heat and pressure), and granitized. As a result of later erosion, Precambrian rock outcrops on 57 percent of the continent's surface.

In tropical Africa, where rainfall is heavy, many rivers empty into the sea. The four longest are the Nile (which flows northward beyond tropical latitudes), the Congo, the Niger, and the Zambezi. In the course of their lengthy journeys to the sea, they encounter cataracts as they break through the plateau region down to the narrow coastal plain, incising deep gorges in the process. Although often navigable for...

In tropical Africa, where rainfall is heavy, many rivers empty into the sea. The four longest are the Nile (which flows northward beyond tropical latitudes), the Congo, the Niger, and the Zambezi. In the course of their lengthy journeys to the sea, they encounter cataracts as they break through the plateau region down to the narrow coastal plain, incising deep gorges in the process. Although, often navigable for...

Africa
Africa is the second largest continent in the world, being smaller only than Asia. Its population num era about 350,000,000 and its area—11,700,000 square miles (30,300,000 square kilometres), about three times the size of Europe—covers about one-fifth of the total land surface of the world.
The continent is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the west ny the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south...

Ya'qūb Khān. The Treaty of Gandamak (May 26, 1879) recognized Ya'qūb Khān as amir. He agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kābul; to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance "with the wishes and and advice" of the British government; and to allow rectification of the frontier. In return, he was promised help against foreign aggression. This British triumph, however, was short lived.

Zamān. After the death of Tīmūr in 1793, his fifth son, Zamān, seized the throne with the help of Sardār Pāyenda Khān, an influential Barakzai chief. Zamān's elder brothers, Homayūn and Mahmūd, governors of Quandahār and Herāt, respectively, took up arms against him. At first Zamān was successful, Homayūn being defeated and blinded and forced to take refuge in Persia. Zamān then turned to India with the object ...

Later medieval dynasties. After his death in 1227, Genghis Khan's vast empire fell to pieces. In Afghanistan some local chiefs succeeded in establishing independent principalities and others acknowledged Mongol princes as suzerains. This state of affairs continued until the end of the 14th century, when Timur (Tamerlane) conquered a large part of the country and repeated the horrors of the Mongol invasion...

The Achaemenians and Greeks. Achaemenid rule was first established in the regions of Afghanistan by Cyrus and consolidated by Darius I. It survived until Alexander the Great overthrew the dynasty. After Alexander's death his empire, in turn, broke up and the easter satrapies passed to the Seleucid dynasty. By 322 BC Candragupta Maurya, who founded the Maurya dynasty of India, had gained control of northern ...

Afghanistan, History of
The earliest recorded use of a form of the name Afghan (Avagāņa) was by an Indian astronomer Varāhamihira (6th century AD). the Afghans proper comprise a group of tribes speaking an Iranian language, Pashto, and centred, ever since they were first recorded, in the Sulaimām Mountains in the east of what is now Afghanistan. Their legends survive in traditional forms, of which none is more ...

Cultural life and Institutions. The cultural milieu.
Outside the main cities, most Afghans live in what may best be described as a peasant tribal society. The main characteristics of such a society are its conservatism and the fact that it is inward looking rather than outward looking. Kinship rather than family is the basis of social life, and determines the patriarchal character of the community. Religion ...

The political process. Elections Are held every four years on the basis of adult suffrage. After 1964 women acquired the right to vote, but outside of the chief cities this right has seldom been exercised. In the first Parliament after the promulgation of the constitution, four women were elected. The second returned none but a certain number of women were nominated by the king as members of the upper house.

Tourism. Active support, which includes the ready granting of tourist visas, is being given by the government for the development of the tourist industry. There are two luxury hotels, one in Kābul and another on the road between Kābul and Paghmān; other hotel facilities are being expanded throughout the country. As a result, the number of foreign tourists increased tenfold on the decade beginning in 1960, ...

Demography. No comprehensive census has so far been taken in Afghanistan. On the basis of sample surveys carried out, however, for the purpose of planning, a rate of growth of 2 percent per year for the population has been accepted.
Out of an estimated population of 17,500,000 in 1971, about 2,500,000 are nomads. Some of these have been settled in the last few years in the plains north of the Hindu Kush or ...

Human settlement. About 8 percent of the people of Afghanistan live in towns and cities. The rest are either farmers, semi-sedentary farmers, or nomads.
Sedentary farmers live in small villages, scattered mainly near irrigated land in the vicinity of the principal rivers. These villages are built usually in the form of small forts, each contains a number of mud houses, inhabited by closely connected families ...

Traditional regions. The Hindu Kush, a tremendous barrier to communication, divides Afghanistan into tow principal regions: northern Afghanistan, sometimes called Afghan Turkistan, and Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush. Norther Afghanistan, in its turn, is traditionally subdivided into the Badakhshān-Wākhān region in the east and the Balkh-Meymanah in the west. The first, which is mainly a region of mountains...

Climate. Although Afghanistan is situated in the so-called subtropical climatic belt, the climate is conditioned more by the altitude of its different regions than by their latitude. Lying at a minimum distance of 300 miles from the sea and cut off from the Indian monsoon (rain-bearing) winds by its eastern ranges, Afghanistan has a typical continental dry climate, characterized by seasonal and diurnal extremes...

Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a country in south Central Asia. It was a constitutional monarchy until proclaimed a republic in a coup d'état of July 1973.
It has an area of 251,823 square miles (652,221 square kilometres) and an estimated population (1971) of about 17,500.000. A mountainous country, it is bordered to the north by the Soviet Union (the Turkmen, Uzbek, and Tadzhikistan Soviet Socialist republics),...

Afars and Issas
The French Territory of the Afars and Issas—officially the Territories Français des Afars et des Issas—is an overseas territory of France, located on the east coast of Africa, facing the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, west, and southwest, and by Somalia to the south. It covers an area of 8,880 square miles (23,000 square...

CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION
A glance cast back over the preceding survey shows that a noncommittal definition describing aesthetics as the study of beauty and ugliness was about as fair as might be found. When one comes to closer terms with the field, however, it is discovered that there is an issue blocking the desire to be more definite—the issue as to whether, or to what extent, aesthetics may be regarded ...

Japan. Although early Japanese art and aesthetic theory owed much to China, in later centuries more original features developed in Japan. One of the most striking is the great novel, Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji; AD 1000), by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress. It is great not only as a work of art but also for its theoretical discussions of good and bad features in various arts,

Sensory, naturalistic, and humanistic expressions. Although many Indian theories of aesthetics disparage the realm of sensory experience as mere illusion, Indian artists continue too employ sensory materials and to display them for the enjoyment of others (The same can be said of medieval Christian art and aesthetics.). In trying to explain the arts, supernaturalists tend to feel that they reflect a divine Creator..

ORIENTL AESTHETICS
General seminal features of Oriental aesthetics. The distinction between the Orient and the occident is often made on a simple, geographic basis, as in the division of the Earth into two equal parts. The terms Oriental art and Oriental aesthetics would then apply to all art and aesthetics produced in the Eastern Hemisphere. With advances in exploration and cartography, however, the inadequacy...