One Million Things_ 2nd edition-compressed

4

Shells stored in Red feathers were
wicker container woven into rolls

5 This bank note 6
7 from Rome was 8
issued in 1786
Japanese ingot
coins in the
17th century were
hammered gold
or silver bars

Embedded
microchip acts
as a computer

9

10

249

20TH CENTURY Protests The 1960s saw
many people march in

The 20th century saw more changes antiwar protests. Refrigerator Mass
production of home
in the way people lived their lives than any UN The United Nations (UN) is refrigerators began
other century. Among the century’s many an international organization after World War II.
new inventions were television, computers, that was set up in 1945 to help

the Internet, and nuclear power. The prevent wars.

century began with the first airplane flight,
lasting just 12 seconds, in 1903. By 1969,
US astronauts had flown to the moon
and walked on its surface.

CONFLICTS Cold War emblem The
hammer and sickle was the
World War I (1914–1918) left 20 million emblem of communist
dead, mostly young soldiers. Military air Russia, the US’s
power during World War II (1939–1945) Cold War rival.
made cities vulnerable to attack. Around 60
million people died, many of them civilians. This The hammer and
was followed by the Cold War, a long standoff sickle signifies the
between the US and communist Russia. unity of peasants

Gas masks These were issued to and workers
soldiers in World War I and to both
soldiers and civilians in World War II.

ENTERTAINMENT AIDS From the
1980s onward, a
Radios were invented at the beginning of the century, and the terrible new disease
called AIDS claimed
1920s saw the arrival of radio broadcasts. In the 1930s and 1940s, Walkman In the the lives of millions
1980s, the personal of people around
going to the movies was the most popular leisure activity. In the cassette player let
people listen to the world.
1950s and 1960s, the popularity of movie theaters waned, as Gramophone The music on the move.
people stayed at home to watch the new invention, television. first record players

were powered by

turning a handle

Television Early televisions were small and at the side.

showed only grainy black-and-white pictures.

Radio In the early part

of the century, the whole

family would sit around

listening to the radio.

250 Movies People flocked to Famine Many
movie theaters to watch countries faced
their Hollywood idols. humanitarian crises.

DOMESTIC LIFE TRAVEL Bikini A week
in the sun on a
Many new labor-saving devices The developments in foreign beach
were invented for the home, transportation in this century became a regular
including refrigerators, freezers, allowed people greater freedom vacation event
washing machines, dishwashers, to travel. Millions of families for many.
and vacuum cleaners. The ability bought cars, and new highways
to prevent food from decaying were built to make trips faster. Globe Faster
by freezing it enabled food to be The air travel industry really took transportation
transported greater distances off from the 1930s. Trips, which opened up
before the airplane would have the world to
and allowed people to buy taken days by rail or sea, could more people.
and store it in bulk. Shortly now be completed in a matter
after, precooked frozen of hours.
meals emerged, changing
mealtimes forever. Souvenirs As Air travel
overseas travel Cheaper air travel
TV dinner Prepackaged increased, many allowed many
meals could be heated countries came families to travel
then eaten while to rely on tourism overseas for
watching television. for income. foreign vacations.

Apartheid Nelson WORK Women in the workplace In the
Mandela led the 1970s, women fought for the right
successful struggle The role of women in the workplace greatly changed to the same work opportunities
to win equal rights during the century. Women had limited career options in and pay as men.
for black South the early decades but gained more employment rights and
Africans. opportunities as the century progressed. The workplace Typewriter For much
was also transformed by new methods of communication, of the century, office
ISSUES including the computer and Internet. New technologies led workers used typewriters
to automated factories, reducing to write documents.
The world’s population rose from the need for manual labor.
1.65 to 6 billion people during
the century, with a widening gap Computer technology
between rich and poor nations. From the late 1970s,
There was inequality between personal computers
men and women and people
began to revolutionize
of different races. the workplace.

Votes This medal was Telephone
given to a female hunger Improved
striker campaigning for communication
the vote for women. technology
enabled
businesses
to go global.

251

PICTURE GALLERY

David Teniers’s 1651 painting
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in
his Picture Gallery features one
of the greatest art collections of
the age, which numbered 1,300
works. The archduke governed
Southern Netherlands (Belgium).

252

Art and culture

253

ART

Some artists seek to create a beautiful
object; others use art to reveal something
about the world. In the past, art also served
a religious, magical, or mystical purpose.
Styles of art vary widely, and artists from
different cultures have shown the human
form in many different ways.

The first art This carving of Tomb art Egyptian painters showed
a pregnant woman, found in each part of the body from its most
Austria, was made 25,000 years distinctive angle. Heads and limbs were
ago. Her hair is shown in detail, viewed from the sides, with eyes and
yet she has no facial features. torsos shown from the front.

Mona Lisa With her mysterious Royal portrait German artist, Self-portrait Dutch artist Indian art This painting, made
half smile, this is the world’s Hans Holbein, was court painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606– in 1770, is not a realistic image
most famous work of art. It was to Henry VIII of England. His 1539 1669) painted 60 self-portraits but follows set rules. The athletes’
painted in 1503–1507 by Italian portrait of Henry’s son, Edward, to experiment with techniques heads are shown in profile while
artist Leonardo da Vinci. shows the clothing in great detail. and to document his life. their chests face out.

Emotion art In The Scream (1893), New forms Spanish artist Art Deco Polish artist Tamara de Self-image Mexican artist,
Norwegian Edvard Munch aimed Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) took Lempicka (1898–1980) belonged Frida Kahlo (1907–1954),
to express emotion rather than the human form apart and to the Art Deco movement, which painted self-portraits using
reassembled it in startling ways. saw art as purely decorative. scenes drawn from fantasy.
254 depict a real scene.

Terra-cotta Army In 209 BCE, more Prayer book Medieval European African mask These
than 8,000 life-sized pottery figures of art often served a religious elaborate works of art
soldiers were buried to guard the tomb purpose. This illustrated book were worn for ritual
of China’s first emperor. Every soldier depicts the Virgin Mary holding dances, when the wearer
has different features. the baby Jesus. communicated with spirits.

Japanese print In 1794, artist Brush strokes Like Rembrandt, Dutch Impressionism French artist Edgar Degas
Toshusai Sharaku made this artist, Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890), (1834–1917) founded an artistic movement
woodcut print of an actor painted many self-portraits, 30 of them called Impressionism. Its goal, shown in this
named Otani Oniji. He is shown in the last five years of his life. He had a painting of ballerinas, was to capture
performing the role of a villain, loose style, with each brush stroke visible. changing light and movement.
grimacing threateningly.

Sculptural curves Reducing human Pop art Andy Warhol (1928–1987) used Cartoon art US artist Keith Haring
figures to simple curving shapes was subjects drawn from popular culture. In
a speciality of British sculptor Henry 1962, Warhol used a photo of movie star (1958–1990) started his career
Moore (1898–1986). Marilyn Monroe to make this screenprint.
as a graffiti artist, drawing

cartoonlike figures. 255

ARCHITECTURE

The art and science of designing buildings and other 6 REICHSTAG 7 DJENNÉ MOSQUE
structures is known as architecture. From early times,
people designed buildings both for practical reasons, This building housed the German The largest mud-brick building
such as shelters to live in, and religious reasons, such Republic parliament from 1894 in the world, the present mosque
as stone tombs and places to worship the gods. Over until it burned down in 1933. When in Mali dates from 1909. The thick
the centuries, architecture has evolved to become an Germany reunited in 1990, the walls are coated with a smooth
art form using high-quality materials to create ever Bundestag (the new parliament) layer of plasterlike mud to even
more daring designs. returned to Berlin. The original out the surface. Palm-wood
building was gutted and a new supports help people scale the
home built inside the old walls. walls to repair them each spring.

1 THE COLOSSEUM 4 DISNEY CONCERT HALL actiotnnhoeobTnthleoetsphlsoelaewtlvoceewlrlosec,slerwalsthesovieleetshlsteahtein the mnuatsueNurtahmolezlzgibglaeuhlsiltledofrilninoegtosodlpetof

The first permanent amphitheater This striking home for the Los 1
in Rome, the Colosseum was Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
completed in 80 ce. It is amazing took 16 years to complete from
not only for its size but also for design to opening night in 2003.
its design. Up to 50,000 spectators Its striking exterior is made of
poured safely in and out of 80 doors stainless steel curves. The wood-
to watch all-day gladiator battles paneled main auditorium features
and other public spectacles. state-of-the-art acoustics.

2 HEDDAL STAVKIRKE 5 CHRYSLER BUILDING 3

As 12th-century Norwegians This 1920s skyscraper in
turned away from Viking beliefs New York City remains the tallest
to follow Christianity, they built brick building in the world at
a thousand beautiful wooden 1,047 ft (319 m). It was designed
stave churches along trade routes to house the Chrysler automobile
in Norway. Carvings of animals company, and the gargoyles that
often decorated the door frames. jut from the building were
designed like car mascots.
3 KUNSTHAUS GRAZ
The church is coated
Nicknamed “the friendly alien” with a mix of tar and oil
by locals, this Austrian art museum,
completed in 2003, has a blue outer to preserve the wood
skin of acrylic glass that can display
images and animations. Inside,
two large spaces can be adapted
to display different exhibitions.

2

4

Pointed gables were often
decorated with carved

crosses and dragon heads,
like those on Viking ships

In 2005, some panels were sanded down
after nearby residents complained about

the glare and heat of reflected light

256

5 8 BURJ KHALIFA 9 EL PALAU DE LES ARTS

Triangular windows set Designed to resemble a desert This Spanish opera house is part
in seven silvery arches flower, Hymenocallis, this 2,717 ft of a complex of museum buildings
under a spire crown (828 m) skyscraper in Dubai is the near Valencia. It is set within
the top of the building tallest building in the world. landscaped gardens with reflecting
The Burj Khalifa has more than pools and interlinked paths. The
160 stories and the world’s highest roof is made from a pair of curving
outdoor observation deck. The steel shells clad in concrete and
structure is three times as tall mosaic tiles.
as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
10 ALLIANZ ARENA
Visitors travel up a spiral
walkway in the huge This soccer stadium is located in
glass dome to take in Munich, Germany, and is the only
a panoramic view of stadium in the world that can
the Berlin skyline change its exterior color. Opened
in 2005, the stadium holds nearly
7 70,000 spectators. Some locals
nicknamed it the “inflatable boat”
due to its unusual shape.

Three massive towers
are topped with oval
6 spires shaped like
ostrich eggs, which
symbolize purity

The opera house has Some 3,000 air-filled
been compared to foil panels that form the
an ocean liner, with exterior can be lit from
its sleek exterior and within to match the
shiplike decks inside home team’s colors

10

The cladding 257
system on the
building’s exterior
is designed to
withstand Dubai’s
8 extreme heat

9

SYMBOLS GOOD LUCK

From a fire-breathing dragon to a four-leaf clover, people People hoping to protect themselves
use symbols—images, objects, and figures—to represent from misfortune or evil may carry a
abstract ideas or concepts. Symbols can best be described good-luck symbol. It could be a trinket,
as something visible that represents something invisible. a piece of jewelry, or something from
We use them every day without thinking about it. For nature. Many symbols are lucky only to
example, our written language and numbers are a particular culture, and the superstition
made up of symbols. can stretch back centuries.

Saint Christoper
Some Christians wear
pendants showing the
patron saint of
RELIGION long journeys
to protect
Followers of different faiths can them when
express religious concepts, such as Star and Crescent they travel.
their idea of God, through symbols. These are linked with Fu Thought to
Religious symbols have many bring good
meanings and uses and may be the Islamic faith fortune, this Chinese
used in places of worship or as and appear on symbol decorates
part of other religious practices. envelopes given
the flags of many to children for
Muslim nations.

Lunar New Year.

Apsaras This supernatural White heather
being represents the female Regarded as a
spirit in Hindu mythology. symbol of good
luck in Scotland,
Yin Yang This symbol of
the Taoist belief some say
heather grew
represents harmony and on battlefields
unity in the universe. where no blood
had been shed.
Four-leaf clover Most
Wheel of Law The eight have three leaves, so
spokes of this Buddhist superstition has it that
finding one by accident
symbol represent
the eight paths to brings good luck.

enlightenment.

Horseshoe In Europe
and the US, hanging
a horsehoe by the
front door will
bring good
fortune.

Star of David Named Crucifix This shows Jesus Evil eye This symbol is
for King David of Israel, Christ’s death on the cross— meant to block a curse
this has been a symbol a reminder to Christian sent by the nasty stare of
of the Jewish faith since
medieval times. worshipers of his sacrfice. an envious person.
Anubis The Ancient Egyptian
258
god of the dead, Anubis led
the mummification process
and protected the dead.

MYTHICAL BEASTS Eagle Seen as NATURE
wise and majestic
These creatures existed only in myths creatures, a cry from In many cultures across the world,
and legends, but they hold real symbolic these usually silent members of the animal kingdom
meaning for many people. They may be birds is said to foretell are chosen as symbols of a particular
created from parts of different animals a big event. quality people would like to have.
or mixes between human and animal Snake Regarded as When animals are used in this way,
forms. Sometimes they can take the a symbol of evil they are known as totems.
form of animals with incredible powers. in many cultures, it
can also represent Owl A symbol of death in
Salamander This rebirth since it some parts of the world,
creature is linked with sheds its skin. in other cultures, owls
fire and may represent are linked with wisdom.
the righteous who
Carp This fish is a
have escaped the symbol of strength in
flames of hell. Japan and other parts of
Asia, perhaps because
Centaur In Greek mythology, it swims against the
this half-man half-horse beast current of the river.

symbolizes the instinct of an
animal with the judgment
of a human.

Minotaur This Dolphin These are
ferocious creature from seen as symbols of joy,
Greek mythology has
the body of a man and love, and happiness.
the head of a bull. It
is a symbol of conflict

between reason and
animal instincts.

Unicorn A horse with
a twisted horn appears
in the legends of many
cultures. In China, it

represents gentleness.

Makara An aquatic Dragon This giant beast, Toad The Aztecs thought Beetle Amulets carved
creature from Hindu which features strongly the toad was a powerful to resemble scarab beetles
mythology, makara in Chinese mythology, is symbol of life and rebirth, were the most powerful
is part fish, part a symbol of power, said while the Chinese associate symbol in Ancient Egypt
crocodile. It to be able to spit fire. and were thought to give
symbolizes love. them with wealth. the wearer eternal life.
Monkey Three Japanese
259
monkeys symbolize
the principle “see

no evil; hear no
evil; speak no evil.”

LANGUAGE Written French The Hebrew Portuguese
has five accent alphabet uses 22 writing has 26
People communicate through language, whether the marks to indicate characters, written letters and five
words are spoken or written down. Today, there are pronunciation from right to left accent signs
some 7,000 different languages spoken around the globe.
Many more languages were spoken in the past, which 2 6
have now been forgotten. The languages of the most 7
powerful economic and political nations are spoken
by millions of people.

1 Chinese 1.3 billion people 3 Hebrew The holy language of 3
are native speakers of the Jewish faith, Hebrew is spoken
one of the family of Chinese by 9 million people around the
languages. Some 880 million world. Many religious texts are
people communicate in Mandarin written in an ancient form of
Chinese, a group of dialects Hebrew, in use from the 12th
(language variations) from to the 6th century bce.
northern and southwestern China.
4 Arabic Some 300 million
2 French Spoken by 220 million people communicate with a
people worldwide, French is an dialect of Arabic, a family of very
official language of the United old languages closely related to
Nations. It is one of the family Hebrew. The Quran, the holy
of Romance languages that book of the Islamic faith,
developed from Latin. is written in Arabic.

4

Artists may use calligraphy
(decorative writing)
to write Arabic text in
Islamic manuscripts Japanese writing is
often printed vertically

1

5

warirtAeteruonsueCndhdiinn4e,e0sve0e0rychdaaryacters In this Hindi script, symbols
are joined together by a

horizontal bar

260

In traditional 5 Hindi The family of 8 Spanish Originating in 11 Latin The language of
written Spanish,
28 letters are used languages spoken in northern northern Spain, this romance the Roman Empire, Latin
developed into the family of
8 and central India is known language has 577 million

as Hindi. In addition to 425 speakers. It is widely spoken Romance languages as well

million native speakers, there in Central and Southern as lending its vocabulary to a

are many Indians who use America. Today, Mexico has number of other languages.

Hindi as a second language. the most Spanish speakers.

12 Russian With 160 million

6 Portuguese This Romance 9 Bengali Also known as native speakers and many more

language originated in Bangla, this language is India’s using it as a second language,

Portugal but spread to second most spoken language. Russian is an important

parts of South America in Bengali is also used in other language in Europe and

the 16th and 17th centuries. parts of southern Asia, with one of six official languages

Today, it has 230 million 230 million native speakers. of the United Nations.

speakers worldwide.

10 Greek This ancient 13 English This widely

7 Japanese Used by 130 language has used the same spoken language went global

million people, the Japanese alphabet since the 9th century through British colonization.

language can be adapted by bce. Today, about 13 million Today, there are 400 million

the speaker to show respect speakers in Greece and Greek native speakers, and it is the

to someone, according to communities worldwide keep most used language on

their age and social status. this language alive. the Internet.

In early Greek 10

writing, there are
no gaps between
9 individual words

Many Bengali characters
stand for a combined
consonant and
vowel sound

11

13
12

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LITERATURE ◀ WNirOsitcniNnaelgaelFendtIsddhCotaenouTttvohnItaeinOedhsnnfyeotbditNircrsctasot(—lpastaeiuoenaecsahgdnrncnbasiohd.saooldrtuslAcinyontoncnahuaroAgrutfiietlencsau.nhtwitsaccronNonooeltlrebste,fuoaroxlussipJidrptnFpofbeoceoereefefghwjafilroaercribanoWiittbctapescihkimithoopcnlotoeeauughcnrgti’leatlsrrhi,idesarlhleolsipaWevwhN(sheraianadaisuerz)ilnstiIisIhvgieonsr)s.’

AIaltfteinonthidthnrdyteeemacianftrrlossuswom,,r,dnoamwiealnfrlitsrdoecfiienfttrfeiiaeitcocareultrsinlrinet.oeou,Tagsnibstnthsie,ivacoeisntneluyghudcrwaesdaheiecpirrtnlnaihetiosgmgiainuenarrgasetgoa.gfetvienIoisnnertdhceclaasaoneit,lnlinlclporefevteoonhdeabreedytmlomosietoieeenrssk.rlhd,fiasoatate,wnrpudrmdaaerieyraap.yrtliiaeoysn,s,,

Crime and Punishment
is a novel by Russian
writer Fyodor
Dostoevsky

▲AsietumaFhWttnlt6aeIhwioCo0gniorav,rigTr0nekysss0tsIlsa,soOw0tsoar(ioholwfniNoemondfosnisecwrgco.tdheAnirssoailt)ltetnrto,ermahpruccfoioeaeeitucenenstegrmticvisoshonesnftnc,wnrhlotacutararsnmdite,itdneeatatihrtrpnhsseeehlgeamroemieyrarvasattae.ydrlsneetbetoasausr,stipee.s, Romance This popular
262 fiction focuses on a love
story between two people,
usually with a happy ending.
It may take place against a
modern or historical setting.

Crime This type of fiction
covers the exploits of
criminals and their crimes
and follows the detectives
who crack cases and
foil their plans.

Science fiction
Authors may use
scientific fact and
modern technology to
explore and imagine an
alternative world, set
now or in the future.

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When a book is a success,
the author may follow it
up with one or more
sequels to create a series

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or image.

263

MEDIA 3 TELEVISION AND MOVIES 4 RADIO

The many ways people seek to communicate information to a Since the early broadcasts of the In 1938, a radio dramatization
large audience are known as the media. This communication 1930s, television has brought of The War of the Worlds in
can be in written, spoken, printed, or digital form. Throughout news and entertainment to a wide the United States convinced
history, leaps in technology from the invention of printing audience. Today, television and many listeners that an actual
to growth of the Internet have led to better, faster ways of movies can be watched from home. Martian invasion was in
reaching people. Today, information can be relayed around DVDs, smart TVs, and online progress. Today, radio stations
the globe in seconds. streaming services, such as Netflix, still fill the airwaves with music,
allow viewers to choose between talk, news, and drama.
thousands of shows, as well as
record, pause, and rewind them. This book is a media
product and was created
using digital technology

1 DIGITAL MEDIA

The word “digital” refers to the way that
information is turned into number-based
codes before being sent or stored via
electronics. The Internet is the key form
of digital media and has opened up mass
media to the individual. Anyone with a
blog or website can express opinions to
a huge audience.

2 CONVERGENCE

In this digital age, media content is
available on many different platforms.
News, movies, and TV programs can
be viewed on smartphones, tablets,
computers, and smart TVs. In addition,
these digital devices also enable people
to create and consume media content via
social media platforms, such as Facebook
and Twitter.

1 Laptop
computer
Newspapers are usually
printed on inexpensive 2
paper called “newsprint”
atptehernefPoaosbrawmlmeeemrmftuuoimlldtSmieepmrilcnearopfrupthnproochntceioeossnnstosoers
264
6

3 Satellite dish

High-definition flat-screen TV

A rseacteeilvlietse sdigisnhaalsttfarochmedantoorabbituinilgdisnagtellite

5

5 GLOBAL NETWORKS 4 Digital radios deliver
7 high-quality sound
Media is a global business. The through a digital signal
majority of the world’s media Magazines are usually
outlets are controlled by just printed on glossier paper
a handful of international than newspapers
companies. Satellites orbiting
Earth transmit television 265
broadcasts around the world.

6 NEWSPAPERS

Published daily or weekly,
newspapers contain news,
information, feature stories,
and advertising. China leads
the world with more than 100
million newspapers circulating
daily. Today, many papers are
available to read online.

7 MAGAZINES

The content of a magazine
does not usually date as quickly
as that of a newspaper. Magazines
may cover current events, or
they may be aimed at a specific
audience, for example, movie
or music fans.

PHOTOGRAPHY 1

Photography is a method of making pictures of 4
the real world by capturing light from objects. Light
can be captured on film—a sheet of plastic coated 4 ADVERTISING ART
with light-sensitive chemicals—or by an electronic
sensor. Since cameras were invented, in the early The photos we see most often are ads,
19th century, photographers have changed blown up on street billboards and in
the way we see the world. They have shown glossy magazines. These photos are
us the wonders of nature, microscopic bacteria, often “retouched” so that the models
the horrors of war, distant galaxies, sports look more perfect. In a lipstick ad,
triumphs, and family portraits.
teeth can be whitened and lips
1 ACTION The speed of the 3 made to shine.
shutter catches
Modern cameras are very individual drops Collapsible
sensitive and can open and of water bellows allow
close their shutters in a fraction Sepia, a brown pigment the lens to be
of a second. This allows them derived from cuttlefish, folded back into
to freeze a moment in time, made printed photos the camera
showing a soccer player scoring more durable
a goal or a swimmer powering 5
through the water. 2
5 LENSES
2 PORTRAITS
Cameras work by focusing light
Before photography was invented, from objects using curved pieces
only the very rich could afford to of glass called lenses. A zoom lens
have portraits painted by artists. (above) uses an assembly of several
In the early days of photography, lenses. By adjusting their distance
people wore their best clothes to from each other, the photographer
strike a pose in a photographer’s can zoom in on distant objects.
studio. Today, family photo albums
chronicle birthdays, vacations,
weddings, and everyday life.

3 EARLY CAMERAS

The first cameras, developed in
1839, were large boxes, which had
long exposure times (the time
needed for photographic film or
an image sensor to be subjected
to light). Early sitters look stiff and
uncomfortable, for they often had
to hold a pose for up to 20 minutes.
Over time, cameras became smaller
and more sensitive to the light.

266

6 MACRO 6 7

This type of photography uses a In a studio, a
special lens to take close-up pictures photographer
of tiny objects, such as flies. A macro can control how
lens can focus only on a limited area
of an object. While this fly’s eyes are a shot is lit
in sharp focus, its body is blurred.

7 REPORTAGE

Photojournalists are reporters who
use pictures, rather than words, to
tell news stories. Armed with their
cameras, they visit war zones and
scenes of natural disasters, such as
floods and fires, often risking their
lives to bring back photographs
that will tell an accurate story.

This “portrait” view is unusual 9 LANDSCAPES 10 DIGITAL CAMERAS
for landscape photography,
which gave its name to Like painting, photography is Modern cameras contain computers,
horizontally oriented photos used to record beautiful and often which record images electronically
dramatic scenery. Some of the best rather than on film. Photographers
9 landscape photographs are taken with digital cameras can take as
either in the hour after sunrise or many pictures as they want without
before sunset. The sun, low in the wasting film. Images can also be sent
sky, bathes the world in a warm easily over the Internet from one
golden glow. computer to another.

Lights on stands
can be raised
and set at

10 different angles

8 267

8 FILM CAMERAS

Early cameras used heavy metal
or glass plates. The roll of film,
invented in 1888, made cameras
both smaller and cheaper. The image
was captured on the film in reverse,
as a negative, which was used to
print positive copies on paper.

268 THEATER

Theater has its origins in Ancient Greece, where 7 ACTORS 8 SCENERY 9 STAGE
performances included singing and dancing as well as
acting. In medieval times, plays were based on religious The success of a theatrical Set designers use scenery to create In the theater, the stage
stories and were staged on large wagons in public places. performance often depends on the atmosphere, set the location of is the platform where the
It was not until the 17th century that theaters were built skills of the actors, who use facial the story, and give the illusion performance takes place.
with a raised, framed platform, separating the audience expressions, tone of voice, and gestures of distance and space on stage. Traditionally, the stage is
from the stage by a curtain. Today, modern theaters to make the audience believe what is Above the stage is a “fly” space made from wooden boards
provide the setting for performances of all kinds, happening on stage. The first recorded in which scenery and equipment and often contains a trapdoor
from plays and pantomimes to opera and ballet. actor was a Greek poet named Thespis hang. A complex system of pulleys through which performers
who was writing and acting out his hoists heavy pieces of scenery to and scenery can be raised
own plays in the 6th century bce. and from the stage. and lowered.

1 PROSCENIUM 3 1
2
The decorated arch that divides the stage from
the audience is known as the proscenium. It acts
as a picture frame for the performance on stage.
This type of arch was invented in Italy in 1618,
although many modern theaters now have an
open stage without a curtain.

2 CURTAIN

Made from heavy cloth, such
as velvet, the curtain screens
the stage from the audience
while the stagehands are
changing the scenery. The
flameproof safety curtain
prevents fire from spreading
from the stage to the rest of
the theater.

3 BOX

The auditorium, where the
audience sits, is made up of
private boxes, tiered seats
called the stalls, the dress
circle, and the upper circle.
Private boxes contain the
most expensive seats and
usually have the closest
view of the stage.

4 WINGS

The offstage areas on each
side of the curtain are called
the wings. Concealed by the
proscenium, the actors wait
in the wings before they make
their entrance on stage.

5 COSTUMES 4
8
The actors’ costumes are the 7
responsibility of the wardrobe
department. The wardrobe 9
manager researches, designs,
and looks after the costumes
and helps the actors change
outfits between scenes.

5

6

269 6 ORCHESTRA

Beneath the front of the stage is the
orchestra pit, where the musicians and
sound technicians sit. The conductor
stands facing the stage to coordinate
the music in time with the actions
of the singers, dancers, and actors.

▼ SILENT ▼ WESTERN MOVIES

Until the late 1920s, the technology Set in the tough American West, these From 1895, when the Lumière brothers first
to add recorded sound to movies did movies captivated huge audiences in the delighted French audiences with their “moving
not exist. Instead, bits of dialogue or 1950s and ‘60s. Westerns tell of cowboys, pictures” to today’s multibillion-dollar film
key story points appeared as words outlaws, gunslingers, and good guys as industry, movies have become a popular type
on screen, and actors relied on body they faced the challenges of frontier life. of entertainment, an important art form, and a
language. Live piano music helped way to shape people’s opinions. The “magic”of
set the mood. movies is that they are created from a series
of individual images shown in rapid sequence.

▼ HORROR

These movies are created to terrify and shock the
audience. In a typical horror film, characters must
overpower evil—be it a monster, a ghost, or a serial
killer. Horror films are often quite violent and gory.

▲ SCI-FI AND FANTASY ▲ ACTION-ADVENTURE ▲ ANIMATION

Imaginative and visually stunning, These movies often follow the exploits of a These movies are created when
science fiction and fantasy allow hero, with plenty of fast-paced stunt work, a rapid sequence of drawings (or
filmmakers to explore future worlds, use chases, fistfights, and shoot-outs. From models) is run together to give the
intrepid crime fighters to special agents, illusion of movement. Animation also
special effects, and speculate about these daring heroes always save the day. uses computer-generated images (CGI).

270 our relationship with technology.

▼ BOLLYWOOD ▼ COMEDY ▼ DISASTER

From the early 1900s, Hollywood has been the From slapstick to spoofs, audiences Asteroids hurtling to Earth,
center of moviemaking. Today, more than 1,000 have always loved comedy movies. shipwrecks, and earthquakes
movies a year are made in India. Many are lavish, Some rely on the dialogue for the have all been subjects of disaster
colorful Bollywood musicals (the name is from laughs; others on physical quirks of the movies. Since the 1990s, the
the “B” in Bombay, the old name for Mumbai). actors—or a combination of both. These introduction of CGI special
movies often have happy endings, even effects has made it easier to
if they explore the darker side of life. create visually spectacular disasters.

▲ THRILLER ▲ MARTIAL ARTS ▲ MUSICAL

Action-packed and fast-paced, thriller movies These Asian-based action films feature Featuring singing and dancing as part
create audience tension as the hero tries to spectacular fight sequences using one
outwit an evil adversary. Some thrillers or more of the martial arts. Among the of the storytelling, musicals are often
martial artists who became stars due to
feature plenty of action, while others rely their skills are Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. adapted from stage productions. Recently,
on creating an atmosphere of suspense.
Hollywood musicals have played to wide

audiences in a revival of the genre. 271

DANCE Arm movements are
coordinated with the legs
Energetic or graceful, dancers use athletic skill and for balance and effect
flexibility to perform a series of movements, often in time
to music. Dancing is a form of expression that may be BALLET ▶
a type of performing art, part of a special ritual, or a
fun social activity. The earliest dancers used movement Ballet is a theatrical
to worship gods and spirits and to act out stories. In dance with graceful moves.
performances, dancers often follow a preplanned series Dancers undergo rigorous
of steps and movements devised by a choreographer.
training and wear special
hard-toed ballet shoes in
order to dance en pointe—
on the tip of their toes.

◀ DISCO

In the 1970s, pop songs with
strong dance beats ruled the
airwaves, and people gathered
in clubs to disco dance. Some
dances had set steps; others
were created by the dancers
themselves, perhaps inspired by
the film Saturday Night Fever.

Bamboo poles The dragon is a symbol of
help the dancers power and strength. The
move the dragon longer the dragon, the
in a realistic way more luck it will bring

CHINESE DRAGON DANCE ▶ BHARATANATYAM ▶

In this ceremonial dance, dating back In ancient times, Hindu temple
to the Han Dynasty (206 bce–220 ce), a dancers in south India performed
team of performers carries a colorful a set of moves and postures to tell
the stories of the gods. These evolved
dragon, held up with poles. They into the Bharatanatyam dance style.
lift and lower the poles to make the In this dance, certain poses—
dragon dance. This dance is a key part especially hand gestures—
are held to represent
of Chinese New Year celebrations. different meanings.

272

◀ TANGO Dancers swirl Castanets were not
their skirts originally part of “true”
This dramatic dance for couples and petticoats flamenco but were
began as a street dance in as part of the introduced to add drama
Argentina and Uruguay performance
during the mid-1800s.
With hands tightly clasped,
dancers either face each other

or look in the same direction
as they move to the beat.
Tango is also the name for
the music associated
with the dance.

CAN-CAN ▶

This high-kicking, cartwheeling
dance began in Paris in the 1830s

and was originally for couples.
French dance troupes soon took

up the can-can in music halls,
where chorus lines of
girls performed the
energetic dance.

◀ TRIBAL DANCE

These traditional African dances,
often performed to the beat of a
drum, are important parts of many

ceremonies, both joyful (weddings
and coming-of-age celebrations) and
sad (funerals). Tribal dances help
unite and uplift the community.

Touching the limbo Flamenco dress features
pole means the a tight-fitting bodice
dancer is out of the with a layered skirt for
competition easy movement

LIMBO ▶ ▲ FLAMENCO

The limbo was created With its roots in small villages of the
in the Caribbean Andalusian region in Spain, flamenco is a
passionate style of music and dance with
Islands. Performers a strong, powerful rhythm. Dancers click
have to dance under their fingers and stamp their feet to
match the drama of the guitar music.
a horizontal pole
without touching it or 273

losing their balance.
The pole is lowered
after each round until
one limbo champion

dancer remains.

MUSIC

Music is a performance art created by the sounds of 1
singers and instruments and covers an incredible
range of styles. It can be enjoyed live or through A disco ball hung over the
various media forms from television and radio dance floor was a regular
to the Internet. Music has always been written
and performed, but it was not until the 20th feature of discotheques
century, when new technology to record and
share music developed, that musicians could 2
become global stars.
A score (manuscript of 5
1 DISCO musical notes) is used
by classical musicians so
In the 1970s, pop music with a dance beat known as disco they can keep track of
(from discothèque, a French word for nightclub) filled dance which parts they play
floors across the globe. Disco music topped the charts and
created major stars but faded from popularity in the 1980s. A relatively modern
instrument, saxophones
2 CLASSICAL
became key to the
Classical music is a general name for the various types of emerging jazz sound
music written to be performed in a concert hall. It may be
composed for the instruments of an orchestra (either a full 6
symphony or a small group of players) or written for a choir or
opera company. The music of composers like Bach and
Beethoven is still popular, centuries after it was written.

3 MUSIC AND VISUALS

From the late 1970s, bands made short music videos to
accompany and promote their songs. The arrival of music video
networks and the Internet has created a huge boom in this
area. The virtual band Gorillaz, who previously existed only
as cartoon animations in music videos, turned the form on its
head in 2005 when they performed live as a normal band.

4 DANCE

The popularity of electronic instruments like synthesizers,
and the ability to use computers to make music, led to a
new generation of music written to fill the dance floors.
DJs became stars, using turntables to mix live music.

Turntables and vinyl
records are used by DJs to
create and mix live music

4 Rapping evolved
3 when DJs used
microphones to
274 talk—or “rap”—
over music

5 JAZZ

Jazz was born in early 20th-century America, when

elements of European music were blended with the

rhythmic music brought by African slaves to the South.

6 ROCK
Touring provides a In the 1940s and ’50s, rock-and-roll music sprang up
major income stream
for today’s global in the United States. It was played on electric guitars,
pop stars, such as bass guitars, and drums, and featured exciting vocals,

7 Justin Timberlake catchy tunes, and a strong beat. This evolved into

rock music, a group of many diverse styles that

remains popular worldwide.

7 POP

This type of rock music is aimed mostly at a young
audience. Pop songs can be fairly simple in their
structure, with lots of repetition in the lyrics, so it’s
easy to sing along. Today’s major pop stars reach
an international audience with their hit songs.

8 R&B

Rhythm and blues, or R&B, music started in the United
States in the 1940s, originally performed by and for a
mainly African American audience. Today’s version of
the style is closely related to disco and dance music but
is smoother and features softer vocals.

9 REGGAE

This style of music originated in Jamaica in the 1960s.
It has a characteristic rhythm style and a slow and steady
tempo (speed). The bass guitar keeps the rhythm and is
the most prominent instrument. Reggae is associated
with the Rastafarian religion.

8 10 COUNTRY

Rock band Women singers, Mixing the traditional music of the southern states
The Killers’s such as Beyoncé, are of the US with rock and roll and other musical
first album, Hot among the world’s styles, country music is one of the largest-selling
Fuss, is estimated top-earning pop stars music genres today, with major stars, huge record
to have sold more sales, and enormously successful tours.
than 7 million
copies worldwide

Wireless speakers can Smartphones are
be paired wirelessly now used to store
with many devices, and listen to music

such as smartphones,
to play music anywhere

10

9

Jamaican music legend
Bob Marley is the most

famous reggae star

The electric Many country music
guitar is the main stars have adopted
instrument in many the cowboy image
musical styles,
especially rock 275

ORCHESTRA

An orchestra is a large group of instrumental musicians playing
together under the direction of a conductor. Orchestras
usually include four sections: percussion,
brass, woodwinds, and strings.
Players of similar instruments Glockenspiel
sit together, with the
Triangle

conductor keeping Cymbals Trumpet
time upfront.

Snare drum

1 2

Bass
drum

Xylophone French horn Flute Oboe
Harp When blown through its Viola
reed—a very thin piece of Piccolo
wood—the bass clarinet
makes a rich, full sound Clarinet
Bass clarinet

6

Violin

7

Most orchestras
have one or
two harps

1 PERCUSSION 3 LOW BRASS 4 WOODWINDS 9

These instruments make sounds Trombones, bass trombones, This section of the orchestra Conductor’s
when struck and include items and tubas play the middle to includes piccolos, flutes, clarinets, stand
that can be tuned to different notes lower brass notes in the orchestra. bass clarinets, oboes, English horns,
(glockenspiels and xylophones) as The trombone has a slide that bassoons, and contrabassoons. 5 TIMPANI
well as those that cannot (drums, moves up and down to change Players blow air over a hole or
cymbals, and triangles). the note. The tuba plays the through a reed to make notes. These percussion instruments are
lowest notes, which boom out giant copper bowls with skinlike
2 BRASS from its bell-shaped end. heads struck by wool-topped sticks.
They are also called kettledrums.
Blowing air through hollow
brass tubes produces sound in
instruments such as trumpets and
French horns. The note is changed
by pressing down valves.

276

Trombone Tuba 5

3 Bass Timpani
trombone The largest instrument
Bassoon in the string section,
This double-reed the double bass also
4 instrument plays the plays the lowest notes
lowest, richest notes in
English the woodwind section Double
horn Contrabassoon bass

8

The conductor has a Cello 9 CONDUCTOR
complete orchestral
score (written music) 7 VIOLIN 8 STRINGS The conductor stands on a raised
for all the instruments platform in front of the players.
There are more violins than any The strings often carry the melody The conductor’s main tasks are
Conductor’s other instrument in the orchestra, (tune), and there are more string to lead the orchestra and keep
baton and it is the smallest member of the instruments than any other type everyone in time by waving a
string section. Players make notes in the orchestra. The section baton to the beat of the music.
6 HARP by moving a bow across its strings. includes violins, violas, cellos,
double bass, and harps. 277
A harp has a triangle-shaped
wooden frame with 47 strings
attached. The harpist plays the
high notes on thin strings and
the low notes on thicker ones.

SPORTS 1 Hurling This fast-paced Irish game 7 Gaelic football With its roots in an
involves teams of 15 “hurlers” with ax- ancient Irish game called caid, players score
shaped sticks, two goals, and a small ball. by kicking or hitting the ball through

Many sports developed from ancient H-shaped goals.

2 Football Points are scored by

times, when running and throwing players carrying or throwing an oval 8 Aussie Rules football Players pass the

skills were essential to survival. ball into the opposition’s area. oval-shaped ball to teammates by kicking or
Any activity governed by throwing it. To score, they must kick the ball
rules and requiring physical 3 Polo This ball game is played on between four posts at each end of the field.
horseback. Riders use long-handled
ability is considered
mallets to drive a ball into the goal. 9 Juggling balls Jugglers keep several balls in

a sport—and the air at once. Experienced jugglers can swap 14 Baseball This sport
at the heart
of many sports 4 Soccer The world’s most popular sport balls for knives and fire torches. is very similar to softball
is a ball.
involves two teams of 11 players trying but played with a smaller,

to score goals in the opposition’s net, 10 Lacrosse Players catch and throw a rubber harder ball.

with each game lasting 90 minutes. ball with netted sticks in this sport invented by

Native Americans. They must throw it into the 15 Cricket A bowler throws the ball

5 Hockey In this game, two teams opposition team’s goal to score. at a wicket (set of wooden poles),

armed with hockey sticks try to score by which is defended by a batsman.

smashing a ball into the opponent’s net. 11 Softball In this team sport, players use a bat

to whack a ball as far as possible to give them 16 Golf A club is used to hit a small

6 Shotput Players compete to throw a time to run around four bases. ball a long distance to get it into, or

16 lb (7 kg) metal shot as far as possible. as near as possible to,

12 Rugby Players attempt to gain points by each hole on a course.

1 landing the oval ball beyond the other team’s
goal line or kicking it over a high H-shaped goal.

13 Medicine ball Athletes put these weighty 12
balls on their bodies to increase their muscle
strength while exercising.

9 10 21
8
2
3

11

Rugby balls are 20
oval shaped to make
them easier to hold
against the upper
body while running

Modern
soccer balls have
13

32 stitched 4
panels

7 19
6
Medicine balls
can weigh from
5 to 15 lbs
(2.5 to 7 kg)

18

5 15 16 17
14
278

17 Boules Very popular in France, 20 Rounders Two teams take turns at 23 Volleyball Two teams of six players

players compete to throw heavy balls batting and fielding. A rounder is scored compete to pass a ball over a high net

at a much smaller ball, called a jack. when a player hits the ball far enough to using only their hands. If the ball touches

run around four posts before the ball the ground, the other team gains points.

18 Bowls On well-maintained lawns, is returned by a fielder.

players try to roll balls closer to a small 24 Croquet French peasants in the 14th

target ball than their opponents. 21 Basketball The game was first played century used wooden mallets to whack

using peach baskets on poles for hoops. a wooden ball through hoops crafted from

19 Snooker Using sticks called cues, two If a team scored, the referee climbed a bent branches, inventing the game of croquet.

players attempt to pot 15 red balls and ladder to get the ball.

six different colored balls into 25 Tennis Played on grass or clay courts, two

six pockets on a special 22 Netball Based on basketball, this players (singles) or four players (doubles) use 29 Table tennis This

wool-covered table. team sport is played on courts and is rackets to hit a felt-covered ball over a net. sport began in Victorian

most popular with women in Australasia. England, when dinner

26 Pool Similar to snooker, two players use cues guests turned their table into

to sink either red or yellow balls into pockets. The a mini tennis court. Champagne

The ball used in netball is winner is the player who sinks the final black ball. corks were used as balls.

smaller than the one used 27 Squash Inside a walled court, players take 30 Water polo Players swim to catch
to play basketball turns to smash a rubber ball with a racquet the ball to stop the opposing team

against the wall. from reaching their goal.

28 Beach volleyball First played on 31 Tenpin bowling Players hurl a heavy ball
California’s sandy beaches in the down a wooden lane to knock down the 10 pins.
1920s, this sport can now be
played on artificial 32 Marbles Players compete to throw glass
sand courts. marbles inside a designated circle or
at another target marble.

22

A water polo ball has a
30 special nonslip surface

Hollow table tennis A beach volleyball is Three finger holes are
balls are hit with bats softer and larger than drilled into a bowling ball
called “paddles” a regular volleyball so it can be gripped

29 31

23
28

24

25 27 32
26
279

280

Reference

281

Nature 2 millionA typical bed is home to about

Lichen are only an inch or so tall, but they live dust mites.

for a very long time in the coldest places on Many desert plants have very long roots Bamboo is the tallest grass. It can grow up to 150 ft (50 m) tall. 3ft long.A male walrus’s tusks can grow up to
Earth. Some lichens in Antarctica are more than to find water deep underground. The tropical (1 m)
American mesquite tree’s roots grow up to
years A male howler monkey’s howls can
150 ft (50 m) long. be heard up to 3 miles (5 km) away.
4,000old.

After a tree dies, all the carbon Tiny nanoplankton, less than

dioxide it absorbed when alive 20 thousandths of a millimeter Freshwater and saltwater crocodiles cry.

is eventually released back into The smallest in diameter, are the most They do it to lubricate the eyes and get
the atmosphere. The same plentiful organisms in rid of excess salt in their bodies, not

amount of carbon dioxide flowering plant Earth’s oceans. because they are sad.
is released whether the tree is the duckweed
burns or rots. Wolffia, which is just Aphids are Sharks have a very
born pregnant good sense of smell.
The largest water 0.6 mm long. and can give They can detect
plant is the Amazonian one part of blood
giant lily. Its leaves birth just in 100 million parts
are so big that a of water.
child could sit on it
Prairie dogs live in huge burrows called
without sinking. 10 days after they

Magnolias are among the most are born themselves.
ancient flowering plants. Fossils

20of magnolias have been found that are European eels lay their eggs in the oceans. towns. One town in Texas was home to
The baby elvers then make their way to
million years old. freshwater rivers. A female eel can lay up to 400,000,000
individuals.
The nepenthes is the 20A woodpecker
times per
4 millionworld’s largest carnivorous can peck up to second.

(meat-eating) plant. eggs in one year. The digestive
It catches insects in its The seeds of the coco de mer are the largest of juices of a
huge vase-shaped pitcher any plant. They can weigh up to 45 lb (20 kg). hyena are
leaves. It is sometimes strong enough
called the “monkey cup” One type of lungfish can breathe underwater to break down
because monkeys like to using gills and in the air using lungs. bones.
drink out of its pitchers.
The smallest mammal by weight, the Etruscan
Fungi live by feeding on dead organisms or shrew, weighs just 0.06 oz (1.8 g)—lighter than
their waste. Pilobolus fungi feed on cow dung. a penny.

The largest fungus ever found is an Armillaria A domestic rabbit can give Octopuses have three hearts—two to pump
ostoyae in Oregon, which covers nearly
4 sq miles (10 sq km) of forest floor and is birth to up to 20 babies a
estimated to be up to 8,500 years old.
month.
The streaks of color in cheeses such as Stilton
and Danish Blue are made by mold, which is The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly blood to their gills and one to pump blood
a microscopic fungus.
straight up, down, and backward. around their bodies.

Ants never sleep.

282

There is enough poison in a Male humpback whales A flea can cover 12 in (30 cm) in one jump—

single poison dart frog’s sing songs that last that’s 200 times the length of its own body.

skin to kill 10,000 mice. 20 minutes or longer.

The pregnancy of an Indian elephant They may be doing this
lasts for about 22 months. to serenade females.

The biggest living cat is the Siberian tiger,
which weighs up to 660 lb (300 kg).

A mole can tunnel through
330 ft (100 m) of earth in a day.

Some species of springtails, a kind of insect, can Camels can go up to two weeks without There are more than 370,000
survive in temperatures as low as –360F (–380C) drinking, but when there is water around, they known species of beetles.
because their bodies contain antifreeze. can down 40 gallons (200 liters) in 10 minutes.

A red kangaroo can cover Monarch butterflies migrate
2,50025 ft (8 m) in a single hop.
miles (4,000 km) from North

The world’s largest living rodent, the capybara, America to Mexico or Butterfly Grove in San

can weigh up to 140 lb (65 kg).

A termite queen lays 30,000 eggs a day. Francisco to spend the winter, even though

50%fatWhale milk is nearly they have never been there before.

A bee’s buzz is made A dog can make about
by its wings, which flap 100 different facial expressions,
. 250 times a second. most of them involving its ears.

The part of a dog’s brain involved in
sensing smell is 40 times bigger than

The blue whale is the largest animal that of humans.
Cows have four stomachs, which

that has ever lived. Its heart alone they use to process hard-to-digest

Beaver grass and vegetation.

dams can be
can weigh 400 lb (180 kg).China’s earthquake early warning system Spiders usually prefer to
live alone but very
1,000involves the close monitoring of snakes, which occasionally team
A blue whale’s whistle up to build huge
can be heard more
ft webs. A web
found in 2007 in

leave their nests shortly before an earthquake. than 60 miles (600 km) (300 m) long and may Lake Tawakoni
away underwater. State Park in Texas

A pile of elephant dung Whales and dolphins put be hundreds of measured 600 ft
may contain 7,000 beetles. half their brains to sleep at a years old. (180 m) across. It was
time so that they don’t drown. built by lots of different
species of spiders.

With a wingspan of up to 11 ft (3.5 m), the wandering albatross has the longest wingspan of 283
all flying birds, which means that each of its wings is almost as long as an adult human is tall.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NATURAL WORLD ON PAGES 8–59

Human body There are more
muscles in a
Yfloaurkbeosdyevsehreydms tineuntseo.fOtvheoruasalinfedtsimofe,sakbiondy The liver handles more than 500 different jobs, caterpillar than
including the disposal of dead blood cells, making there are in a
loses 45 lb (20 kg) of skin flakes. proteins, and storing sugars. human body.

You lose 100,000 There are 100 trillion cells in your

brain cells every day. body. A billion of them die every 20 seconds.

Your brain weighs about 2 percent of your The largest human cell
total body weight but uses 20 percent of is the female ovum.
your blood supply.
The smallest is the male sperm.

The brain of an adult is three times You spend half an hour
heavier than that of a newborn baby. every day blinking.
From the age of 20, the brain loses / oz1 30 The left lung is smaller than the right lung
to make room for the heart.

(1 g) a year as brain cells die and are It takes about 40 hours for food to pass through
the large intestine.
not replaced.
Everyone has a unique tongue print.

Your eyes stop growing when you reach puberty At rest, you breathe about Women’s hearts are smaller than men’s, but they beat on average
and stay the same size for the rest of your life. once every four seconds. 75 times per minute compared to 70 times for men.

Nose hairs act like a net to trap This rises to once every About a third
second during exercise. of adults snore.
and remove nasty particles
We make 2 pints (1 liter) Stretched out straight, the small intestine is about 19 ft (6 m) long.
from the air. of saliva in our mouths
every day.
The bones in the hands and feet account
for more than half of the bones in the Tiny bacteria make up
human body. 3 percent of your
body weight.

Food spends up to six hours in your stomach being digested.

The smallest muscle in the human body is the Blood travels 12,000 miles (19,000 km) There are around 1,000 trillion
stapedius. It is inside the ear and is less than
0.8 in (2 mm) long. every day. That’s half way around bacteria in your body—10 times

600There are more than 60the world. , The average more than the number of
body cells.
muscles in the human body. Muscles are After the age of person eats 30
40 percent of the body’s total weight. you will lose about The loudest snore ever

half of your taste buds. tons of food in a recorded was more than
80 decibels, as loud as a
The stomach
lifetime—that’s the pneumatic drill.
continually produces new weight of 80 The average human head
layers of mucus to protect has 100,000 hairs growing
the lining and stop the
stomach from digesting itself. horses. on it, but redheads have
only 90,000.

284

An adult man normally needs to eat about 2,500 calories (10,000 kilojoules) a day.
Arctic explorers need about three times that much to keep them going in the cold.

A fingernail would grow 28 m (90 ft) long if The largest organ is the skin, which has a Standing upright burns up 140 calories

never cut. The middle nail grows fastest, the surface area of about 20 sq ft (2 sq m) (600 kilojoules) of energy in an hour.

thumb slowest. One inand weighs about 22 lb (10 kg). In an average
Babies don’t have lifetime, you
There are the same number of hairs on the body bony kneecaps. 2,000 babies will walk the
of a human being as on a chimpanzee. Their soft
kneecaps begin
The longest beard ever measured was more than equivalent
is born with ato become bony of five times
16 ft (5 m) long and
belonged to between the ages
tooth.of 3 and 6.
Norwegian 73 percent of babies’ bodies are around the
water. This drops to 60 percent in adult equator.
Hans Langseth.
men and 55 percent in adult women.
You cannot sneeze with your eyes open.
Babies start dreaming before they are born. The first successful heart transplant

The most common time of birth is between took place in 1967. There are now

The average human blinks 23 times a minute. 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. eight heart transplants in the US

That’s 12 million times a year. alone every day.

There are 250,000 sweat glands in a pair of feet.

A body releases 4 pints (2 liters) of gas per day They can produce half a pint (a quarter of a liter) The largest artery, the aorta,
is about 0.78 in (2 cm) in
as burps or farts. of sweat in one day.
diameter. That’s as wide as a
When you sleep, you
lose up to 14 oz (42 g) hose pipe.

During puberty, boys can grow 3.5 in

(9 cm) in a year.

in weight every hour. Children grow faster
in spring.

Common colds can be caused by one of more More people died during the flu pandemic at the In a whole lifetime,
than 200 types of viruses. end of World War I than were killed during the war. a human passes

A cough releases 19th-century British surgeon 12,000 gallons
air at speeds up to Robert Liston could cut off
(45,000 liters)
60 mph (100 km/h). a leg in 28 seconds. of urine. That’s
enough to fill a
A single sneeze might contain up to Life expectancy at birth in Japan is 84.2
100,000 viruses. years—the highest in the world. swimming pool.

The oldest person ever documented was French In your lifetime, you will drink
woman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 about 18,500 gallons (70,000 liters)
aged 122 years and 164 days. of water.

SEE AND EXPLORE THE HUMAN BODY ON PAGES 60–87 285

Science and technology

The smallest particle scientists have Atoms are mostly made of empty space. Airships float because
found is the quark. It is so small that
Google processes more than 5 billion searches every day. nobody has seen one, and we only know If the nucleus were a fly in the middle of they are filled
it is there because of its effect on things a soccer field, the electrons would be like
around it. dust particles flying around in the stands.

zeroThe number A proton is 1,835 The Internet with helium,
times heavier domain name
was first used in India a gas that is
around 875 bce. than an electron. business.com many times

The smallest Standard International The densest naturally was bought by Marc lighter
(SI) unit of weight is the yoctogram, occurring element, osmium,
which was added to weigh subatomic weighs 13 oz/in3 (23 g/cm3). Ostrofsky in 1999 for
particles. The largest unit, the $7.5 million. than air.
yottagram, is used to weigh stars Scientists in Europe are

developing a laser that will
produce light 10 trillion
At atmospheric pressure,

times as bright as sunlight. carbon dioxide turns from a solid

into a gas, without melting, at –1080F (–780C).

and planets—Earth weighs in at Thomas Babbage came up with his idea for When a gas condenses into a
6,000 yottagrams. a computer when he was just 19 years old.

A jiffy is a unit of time equal liquid, it takes up, on average,

1,300to one hundredth of a second.
In June 2018, Summit Tungsten has the highest times less space.
became the world’s fastest melting point of any metal.
supercomputer. It can operate It remains a solid until the The metal lithium is so light that it floats on water.
at a speed of 200 petaflops— temperature reaches 6,192oF
that is 200 million billion (3,422oC), when it finally melts. Diamonds are formed from carbon
calculations per second.
that is compressed 90 miles (150 km)
below Earth’s surface.

The study of large numbers is called googology.

There are six kinds of Acid rain caused by industrial pollution Pure water has a neutral pH of 7, but
quarks, which scientists was first noticed in the Midlands, UK, in rainwater is acidic, with a pH of 6 or less.
have named up, down, the 19th century.
top, bottom, charm,
and strange. The first-ever email was sent

One byte in a computer’s memory is made by American Ray Tomlinson
up of eight bits. A group of four bits is
called a nibble. in 1971. The message was

With the help of computers, more recorded sent from one computer to
data has been produced in the last 10 years
than in all of previous recorded history. another right next to it.

Hydrogen is the lightest, simplest, and by far
the most common element in the universe—
93 percent of all atoms are hydrogen atoms.

286

There is the same amount of Mercury is the only metal that moves or fewer.
is liquid at room temperature.
water on Earth now as there Two-thirds of the water used in the
was 2 billion years ago. home is used in the bathroom.

It is not safe to skate
on ice until it is at least
5 in (13 cm) thick.

Sound can damage your hearing at 90 Ultrasound scans use high-frequency sound More than two-thirds of the Any Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 26
decibels (dB), the volume of very heavy at around 10 million hertz to give an image energy stored in fossil fuels is lost
traffic. It starts to become painful when when those fuels are burned in
it exceeds 130 dB, a plane taking off. X-rayof a baby in the womb. power stations to make electricity.
Most of the energy is lost as heat.
Noise is a jumble of different technology has shown that there are
frequencies of sound. Musical notes three different versions of Leonardo A plane’s flight data recorder,
have one dominant frequency. Middle or black box, is actually bright
C has a frequency of 256 hertz. da Vinci’s Mona Lisa under the visible one. orange so that it is easy to spot
after a crash. It can withstand
The scale used to measure light intensity uses temperatures of more than
a unit called a candela. It was originally based 1,8230F (1,0000C).
on the amount of light given out by a candle.
A flash of lightning gives off 8.6 million The first ever robot was
candelas per sq ft (80 million per sq m).

In a vacuum, light probably built in Ancient Greece

travels at a speed of by Archytas of Tarentum 2,500
years ago. It was a mechanical
983,571,056 ft

(299,792,458 m) per second.

On a sunny day, 1,000 trillion photons bird powered by steam.

(light particles) hit an area the size of a

pinhead every second. Maglev trains are powered by strong magnets. The world’s smallest guitar is just

The fastest commercial Maglev train is in 10 millionths of a meter long. It was

A normal light bulb turns just 5 percent of the Shanghai, China. It covers the 19 miles (30.5 km) made by Cornell University and

electrical energy it is powered by into light. from the airport to the city center in just produces notes 17 octaves higher

Red is the longest 7 minutes 20 seconds, reaching a top than a normal guitar.

visible wavelength speed of 268 mph (431 km/h).
of light at about
The world’s largest airliner, the Airbus English scientist Sir
0.7 micrometers. A380 “Superjumbo,” can carry Isaac Newton’s dog
7,000 robotsThere are Diamond knocked
Blue light travels further up to 853 passengers. over a candle and
through water than started a fire that
colors with a longer The maximum speed destroyed 20 years’
wavelengths, such as
red or green. This is in the US military. They (terminal velocity) of a
skydiver, if he pulls

carry out dangerous his limbs in, is 200 mph
(320 km/h).

why everything looks work such as bomb The pocket calculator worth of his work.
blue underwater.

The most powerful man-made disposal. was invented in 1966 The first instant camera was made
by Texas Instruments.

laser is a million times brighter by Polaroid in 1948.
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
than sunshine. won the first Nobel Prize Newton was one of the greatest

The first telephone cable under the for physics in 1901 for his scientists in history. He also
Atlantic Ocean was laid in 1956. discovery of X-rays. invented the cat flap.

SEE WHAT ELSE SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED ON PAGES 88–125 287

Space The sun contains more than 99 percent

On a clear, moonless night, you can see of all material in the solar system.
about 2,500 stars with the naked eye.

Uranus was Space rockets need to reach a speed of Saturn would float in a giant bath,

discovered in 1781 25,000 mph (40,000 km/h) to escape the since it is less dense than water.
gravitational pull of Earth. This is called

and Neptune in 1846. the escape velocity. Pluto was classified as a planet from
its discovery in 1930 until 2006.
Earth is the densest planet in the solar

The gravity on the moon’s surface system, with a density of 5.5 g/cm3 (3.2 oz/in3). More than 22,500 meteorites
is just 17 percent of Earth’s.

If you can jump 3 ft (1 m) high Jupiter The clouds on Venus are made of that landed on Earth have been
on Earth, you would be able sulfuric acid. Its atmosphere is collected and cataloged.
to jump 19 ft (6 m) is 1,321 96.5 percent carbon dioxide.
on the moon.
The sun viewed from

The moon times the volume of Mars is two-thirds the The same side of the moon always faces Earth.

size of the sun viewed This is because the moon rotates in the same

Mercurymoves just over Earth. from Earth. time as it takes to orbit—27.3 days.

is just In winter on Uranus, it is The dwarf planet Ceres is the largest asteroid,
1 in (3 cm) away 0.05 times the
dark for 21 Earth years. at 600 miles (960 km) across.

from Earth volume of Earth. The largest volcano in the solar system
each year.
is Olympus Mons on Mars. It is 403 miles
The moon appears to be the same size as the sun
(648 km) wide and 15 miles (24 km) high.
from Earth because, although the sun is 400 times
wider than the moon, it is also 400 times farther away.

The Great Red Spot visible Jupiter is rotating so quickly that it bulges in the middle.
on the surface of Jupiter
is a storm, wider than two The black hole at the
Earths, that has been observed center of the Milky
Way is as massive as
4.1 million suns.

raging for the past 340 years. There is no wind or rain on
the moon, so footprints
Neptune is the windiest planet. Gusts there can Astronauts are up to 2 in (5 cm) taller made by astronauts are
reach 1,340 mph (2,160 km/h). in space because their spines expand likely to remain there for
in the weightlessness. millions of years.
At a speed of 60 mph (95 km/h), it would take
you 177 years to drive to the sun. It takes 84 Earth years for Uranus to orbit the sun.

The sun is halfway through its life. It has been burning for
4.6 billion years and will run out of fuel in 5 billion years’ time.

288

Our sun is orbiting the black hole at the Comet Encke is the There is no sound in space, as sound cannot travel through a vacuum. Mars has ice caps at its
most frequent visitor poles, just like Earth.
center of the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed to Earth, passing by
once every 3.3 years. The largest canyon system in the solar
of 550,000 mph (900,000 km/h). It takes system is Valles Marineris on Mars, which
is more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) long.
225 million years to complete one orbit. in
Volcanoes
dingThe universe is expan
all directions at the speed of light. last erupted
on the moon about
As we look into space, we see the universe as it was There are more than 1 million asteroids 3.2 billion years ago.
in the past because of the time it takes for the light of
distant stars and galaxies to reach us. larger than 0.6 miles (1 km) wide in the Main The Orion vehicle is NASA’s
Belt of asteroids between the orbits of Mars
The tail of the Great Comet, which passed by and Jupiter. new spacecraft. From the early
Earth in 1843, was more than 500 million miles
(800 million km) long—about the distance About every 50 million years, a meteorite more 2020s, it will carry astronauts to
from the sun to Jupiter. than 6 miles (10 km) in diameter hits Earth.
Two of the world’s largest optical telescopes the moon and, later, on the first
In 1971, US astronaut Alan Shepard stood are found at the Mauna Kea Observatory in
Hawaii. The twin Keck telescopes both have stage of a mission to Mars.
on the moon and hit a golf ball. mirrors 33 ft (10 m) in diameter.
Yuri Gagarin’s
Saturn’s rings were first seen by Galileo The largest meteorite on Earth is the Hoba West, mother first
in 1610 using one of the first-ever telescopes. which remains where it fell in Namibia, southwest found out
Africa. It weighed 66 tons when it was found in 1920. about his
flight into
The biggest stars of all are space when
news of
500 times larger than the sun the mission
broke.
and 100,000 times as bright.
It takes the Space Shuttle
The brightest objects in the Astronauts on the International Space Station eight minutes to reach
universe are quasars—extremely have been growing plants in space. The its orbital speed of
distant galaxies that have incredibly techniques they develop will be needed 17,000 mph (27,000 km/h).
bright centers. The quasars that we on any future mission to Mars, since the
can see are so far away that their astronauts will need to grow their own food. 289
light has taken billions of years to
reach Earth. The Voyager 1 spacecraft

If you counted left Earth in 1977 and
the stars in the
Milky Way at is now the most
a rate of one a The planets of
second, it would distant human-
take you about our solar system made object
5,000 years to in space.
count them all. occupy a disk-shaped
region extending Light from the sun
Robert takes just over eight
Goddard first 2.8 billion miles minutes to reach
(4.5 billion km) Earth. The light from
suggested flying from the sun. the next nearest star,
to the moon in
a rocket in 1912.

People thought Proxima Centauri, takes
4.3 years to reach Earth.
he was crazy.

FOR MORE FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT THE UNIVERSE, SEE PAGES 126–151

Earth Looking out to sea from the beach, the

The rotation of Earth is slowing down,

so days are becoming longer. In the age of horizon is about 3 miles (5 km) away.
the dinosaurs, 60 million years ago, an

Earth day was less than 23 hours long. After it was measured using satellites in 1999, the The Great Barrier Reef, at more than
official height of Mount Everest was raised from 1,200 miles (2,000 km) long, is the
At midnight on June 21 each year, it is 29,029 ft (8,848 m) to 29,035 ft (8,850 m). largest living structure on Earth. It
light everywhere north of the Arctic Circle. is even visible from space.

The pressure at the center of Nine out of 10 volcanoes are under the

sea. More than 1,000 of the 1,500 active
Earth is 3 million times greater Coal
volcanoes in the world are in the

South Pacific Ocean.

than that at the surface. is made from When the volcanic
island of Krakatoa,
the compressed in Indonesia, erupted in
In the 20th century, the surface 1883, it could be heard
remains of plants
temperature of Earth rose by 10F (0.60C). that died a quarter of the way
around the world.
Almost 20 percent of Earth’s oxygen is produced A large thunderstorm cloud, 300 million
by the Amazon rain forest. called a cumulonimbus, In 1811, an
can hold enough water to earthquake sent
750There are about fill 500,000 baths. years ago. water in the

different species of trees in Over half the planet is covered by Mississippi River
2.5 acres (one hectare) of flowing temporarily in
the Amazon rain forest. goldwater more than 1 mile (1.6 km) deep. the wrong direction.
Six million tons of are

dissolved in the water of the world’s oceans.

It would take a heavy object more than an The volume of water in the Pacific China’s Yellow River is
hour to sink from the surface to the seabed Ocean is the same size as the moon.
at Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean, the world’s muddiest
which is 36,201 ft (11,034 m) deep. Lightning strikes Earth 100 times every second.
river. Two billion tons
Fresh snow is more than of mud wash down it
90 percent trapped air. every year.

The biggest desert in Sand dunes move like waves across deserts The strongest gust
the world, the Sahara, at a speed of about 3 ft (1 m) per year. of wind ever recorded
covers a third of the blew at 231 mph
area of Africa. The lowest temperature ever recorded is –128.50F (372 km/h) on
(–89.20C) at Vostok, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983. Mount Washington
The driest place in the world is the Atacama Desert in 1934.
in Chile. When it rained there in 1971, it ended a The highest temperature ever
drought that had lasted for 400 years. recorded was 134.10F (56.70C)
at Furnace Creek, California,
on July 10, 1913.

The driest continent is Antarctica because it receives so little rain.

290

Seawater freezes at –2°F (2°C) because the salt in it lowers its freezing point. There is enough electricity Greenland is the largest island in the
in a single fork of lightning world, with an area of 836,109 sq miles
to light a town for a year. (2,133,086 sq km). Australia is larger but
is considered to be a continent rather than
an island.

The largest diamond mine in the

world is at Mirny in Siberia. The hole

in the ground is 4,000 ft (1,200 m)

The surface of the Dead Sea in the Enough water to fill 2 million bathtubs flows out of across—so big that helicopters are
Jordan Valley is 1,340 ft (408 m) below
sea level. Its water is so salty that the Amazon River into the Atlantic Ocean in one
nothing can live in it except simple
organisms, such as algae. second. This is five times as much water as the sucked into it if they fly too close.
second-largest flow, from
The world’s shortest river is the North Fork
Roe River, in Montana; it is just the Ganges River. Earth’s There are 14 mountains more than
59 ft (18 m) long. 26,000 ft (8,000 m) high, all of
On average,
In 1873, frogs rained there are just atmosphere is them in the Himalayas.
five days a
down from the sky 430milesyear when it
in Kansas City. Clouds contain tiny droplets
doesn’t rain of water floating in air.
In 1948, a group of on Mt. Waialeale A raindrop contains up to
in Hawaii. 2 million cloud droplets.
golfers in Bournemouth,
England, was showered On the afternoon (700 km) A delay of three
with herring. The of May 31, 1985, seconds between
animals had been swept 41 tornadoes were thick. seeing lightning
up into the clouds by reported around the states and hearing thunder
of Pennsylvania and Ohio in means that the lightning is
the US. Seventy-five people
were killed.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens half a mile (1 km) away.

in the US on May 18, 1980, set 15,000There are bush fires in Australia

off an avalanche traveling at every year, as trees and shrubs burst into flames
250 mph (400 km/h). in the extreme heat. Many plants rely on these
fires to release their seeds.

strong winds. The oldest rocks in the Grand

The hardness of rocks is measured using Canyon were formed 2 billion
the Mohs scale, with soft talc at 1 and
hard diamond at 10.
years ago.The largest meteor crater is Vredefort
in South Africa, which is 185 miles 80 percentOver the last 10,000 years,
of the world’s forests have been cut down
(300 km) wide. It was created
No two Sevenby humans.
when a meteor about The Holderness coastline in east
6 miles (10 km) wide England is being eroded away percent of the
collided with Earth snowflakes by the North Sea at a rate of world’s oceans
2 billion years ago. 5 ft (1.5 m) per year.
are covered in ice.
As deserts grow have the same More than
larger, the amount of shape, but they 30 percent of
land available New Zealand’s
to grow crops is all have six greenhouse gas
shrinking at a rate of comes from methane in
46,000 sq miles
(120,000 sq km) sides. the burps and farts of
every year.
the country’s 45 million

sheep and 10 million cows..

TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT OUR PLANET, SEE PAGES 152–189 291

People and places

Vatican City isn’t actually a city. It is a country, France is the world’s most popular vacation destination with more than 89 million tourists each year. Between 1800 and 2000, the population
of the world grew from 1 billion to
although it’s only as big as 50 football fields and 6 billion.
its official population is just 840 people.
In 27 CE, Rome became the first city
Nigeria is the most densely populated country Before humans arrived to have 1 million inhabitants.
in Africa with more than 197 million people, in New Zealand around
but Algeria is the largest country 1,000 years ago, there In 2008, for the first time in history, more
geographically with a total area of were no mammals there than half of the people of the world lived
919,595 sq miles (2,381,741 sq km). except bats. Flightless in cities and towns rather than rural

Niger has the youngest population in the world. More 50communities.
than half of its inhabitants are aged 18 or under.
There are
Singapore is both a city birds, such as the states in the US.
and a state. It is the only kiwi, walked The most recent to
The bricks join was Hawaii, on
member of the UN the land August 20, 1959.
with a completely of the traditional instead.
urban population. rondavel houses of Tokyo is the largest city
in the world. If you
China and India both Rwanda are stuck The city of Troy include all its suburbs, its
have more than 1.3 population is 37 million.
billion inhabitants. The togdectuhoenwr ugsi.ng was thought to be
next biggest country by mythical until its 67English is an offcial language in
population, the US, has ruins were found in countries.
fewer than 330 million. Turkey in the 1870s.
There are about 110,000
The tallest building
Inuit people, almost
Istanbul in Turkey is the only city to in the world is the Burj
straddle two continents—Europe and Asia. Khalifa in Dubai. It is 2,700 ft equally distributed
between Alaska,
Damascus in Syria is the world’s oldest city. (828 m) high, the tallest structure Canada, and Greenland.

People have lived there for more than 10,000 years. ever built by humans. About 7,000 different languages are used
around the world, of which half are
There are 195 countries in the world. spoken by fewer than 10,000 people.

There is enough stone in the The flag of Nepal is the only national flag

Great Pyramid in Egypt to It is that is not rectangular. It looks like
build a wall 3 ft (1 m) high one triangle on top of another.
around France.
estimated that Mongolia is the
The soccer World 3.6 billion people most sparsely
Cup has only ever watched the 2016 populated
been won by country in the
countries from Rio de Janeiro world. There are
Europe or Olympics only 4.7 people
South America.

With 4 billion on TV. per sq mile

viewers, soccer (1.9 per sq km).

is the most-watched Walmart, a US company with a chain of stores,
sport in the world. is the largest company in the world with
2.3 million employees.

292

The first map to name the newly discovered The oldest known map percent80 of the world’s toys are made in China.
continent America was drawn by German
cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507. was drawn around 2,500 bce
on a clay tablet in Babylonia, in
Fewer than 100 people still modern-day Iraq, showing the
speak Votic, a language of area around the Euphrates River.
northern Russia.
Iceland’s Althing is the oldest parliament in About 4,000 people, mainly
More than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia. the world. Its first meeting was held in 930 ce.
scientists, live in Antarctica
Australians eat more In 1978, Argentinian Emilio Marcos Palma in the summer. This number
became the first person to be born in Antarctica.
meat than anyone else. drops to 1,000 in the winter.

Two million people converge on the holy city
of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, each year during the
week of the Muslim pilgrimage called the hajj.

About 1 billion people do

not have enough to eat.

Absolute monarchies are states that are ruled The Trans-Siberian railroad runs from St. Petersburg There are more than 30 megacities
directly by a hereditary leader. Saudi Arabia, in the west to Vladivostok in the east. It is 5,772 miles with more than 10 million
Brunei, Oman, and Swaziland are the only (9,288 km) long and goes through eight different time inhabitants in the world.
absolute monarchies that survive today. zones, without ever leaving Russia.
The first
The widest avenue in the world is country to
Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires, give women
Argentina. It has 12 lanes of traffic. the vote was
New Zealand
At any given time of day, there are more than a Experts predict that India in 1893.
million people in the air somewhere in the world. will overtake China
as the most populous Russia, the largest country by area,
There are 1 billion bicycles nation on Earth by 2030. is almost twice the size of the
in the world, 400 million second largest, Canada.
of them in China.

The United Nations was formed by The first cell phone network was launched in Sweden in 1956.

51 countries in 1945. It now has 193 The world’s busiest airport About half of the world’s
members since Montenegro joined is Atlanta in the US. More people regularly eat insects.
in 2006. than 88 million people pass About 2,000 different species
through its doors each year. appear on the menu.
There are 55 different ethnic groups
in China besides the Chinese.

The Rio de Janeiro Carnival in Brazil is the world’s biggest street party, with more than 2 million
people packing the streets. London’s Notting Hill Carnival in England is the second largest.

FOR MORE AMAZING PEOPLE AND PLACES, SEE PAGES 190–225 293

History

An early writing system called cuneiform was The first-ever female head of state was Queen Merneith,
developed in Mesopotamia (part of modern-day
Iraq) around 3,100 bce. It was written by making who ruled Ancient Egypt around 3,000 bce.
wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets.
The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent The Islamic calendar started in 622 ce. It uses a
Modern humans settled in in 117 ce, when it stretched from Britain in the year that is 11 days shorter than a full solar year.
Australia at least 10,000 years northwest to the Persian Gulf in the southeast.
before they reached Europe. Greenland was given its
The Roman legal system is the name by Viking chieftain
King Pepi II became king of Egypt in 2,275 bce basis for the laws of all countries Erik the Red around
aged just 6. He ruled for 94 years until in Europe and Latin America. 1000 ce in an attempt
his death aged 100.
The gladiator Spartacus led a revolt of more to attract settlers.
The minimum period of service for legionaries than 100,000 slaves against the army of
in the Roman army was 25 years. the Roman Empire in 72 bce.

About 2,000 years ago, traded goods 14th-century In the census called the
from China began to reach Europe Arabian explorer Domesday Book conducted
and Africa along a route that in 1086, 10 percent of the
Ibn Battuta population of England
were listed as slaves.
traveled 73,000 miles
became known as the Silk Road, Polynesian sailors
as silk was one of the goods traded. (117,000 km) and visited crossed the Pacific Ocean

every Islamic country 1,000 years ago, using
charts made of sticks to
in the world.
In 1519, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán had The Aztecs used cocoa beans as a form of money. English find their way.
a quarter of a million inhabitants. It was five
The Ancient Chinese
times larger than London at the time. explorer Mary
invented many things. The

Of the 270 crew members who Kingsley climbed so-called “Four Great Inventions
of Ancient China” were paper, the
Mount Cameroon compass, printing, and gunpowder.
set out from Lisbon with Ferdinand

Magellan in 1519 to sail around the in Africa on her Between 1760 and 1840, 4,300 miles (7,000 km)
own in 1895 of canals were built in Britain to carry goods from
world, just 18 completed the when local guides the new factories around the country.
refused to take her.
journey. Magellan himself died Zimbabwe is named after the ancient
city of Great Zimbabwe in southern
halfway around.

The Inca thought of gold as The first English-speaking colony in Africa, built of stone between the
North America was set up in 1585 11th and 15th centuries, but then
the sweat of the sun and in Roanoke in North Carolina. It mysteriously abandoned.
lasted only one year.

silver as the tears of People first settled North America
the moon. around 20,000 years ago. They walked

The Inca Empire covered 350,000 sq miles across a land bridge that connected
(900,000 sq km). In 1532, it was conquered by northern Siberia with Alaska.
Spaniard Francisco Pizarro and just 168 men.

294

The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. The Statue of Liberty was a present The earliest written constitution still in use in
given by France to the US in 1877 a republic today is that of the tiny European state
San Marino. It dates back to 1600.

to mark the 100th anniversary In the first factories and
the American Declaration
of Independence. Japan’s mines of the Industrial
of
monarchy to Revolution in Britain,
children as young
dates from 660 bce as 5 worked

Between 1848 and 1855, about In the year 1900, the present day, during 16-hour shifts.
300,000 people went to California to one-quarter of the
find their fortunes in the Gold Rush. population of the world which time there have The Hundred
lived under British rule. been 125
The longest-reigning Years’ War between
Approximately 13 million emperors. France and England
monarch is currently actually lasted 116
Elizabeth II of the UK,
soldiers from Russia were killed in years, from 1337 to 1453.
who came to the throne
World War II, more than all other

countries put together. More than In 1783, a
1 million died in the siege of Stalingrad alone.

in 1952. King Richard II of England (1367–1400) sheep, a duck,
threw extravagant parties for as many

One century ago, Ethiopia was as 10,000 people at a time. and a rooster
the only country in Africa that was became the first
not ruled by a European power. In the 13th century, Constantinople and aircraft passengers
All African countries are now Baghdad were the largest cities in the world, when they flew in
independent from Europe. with about 1 million inhabitants each.

The Viking law court the Montgolfier
brothers' hot-air
was called the Thing.

In medieval 17,000Between 1793–1794, at least balloon.
European courts, people were executed in the nine-month-
animals could be
tried for crimes. long "Reign of Terror" during the The Great Plague of London
A swarm of locusts
were once convicted, French Revolution. Of the ended in 1666 by the Great Fire
in their absence, of of London, which burned
illegally eating crops.
The Black Death, an outbreak down the affected areas.
of the bubonic plague,
Ghamdan Palace in
seven wondersreached Sicily in southern Sana’a, Yemen, built

of the ancient world,Europe in 1347. Less than
three years later, it had in the 3rd century ce,
spread to the Arctic Circle, only the Great may be the world’s
2,200 miles (3,500 km) to Pyramid of Giza first-ever castle.
the north.

The toilets of still exists. The Great Wall of
16th-century English China, built to protect
homes were cleaned by
China’s northern border, is

a worker called a gong farmer. 4,000 miles (6,500 km) long.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE USED TO LIVE, SEE PAGES 226–251 295

Art and culture

The first apartment buildings were built in Rome The ”Whirling Dervishes” of the Sufi order of Islam perform their spinning dance as an aid to religious meditation. In the Mayan ballgame court at Chichen The most expensive film ever
in the 1st century bce.
Itza, the acoustics are so good that a made was the Pirates of the
Eleven Christian churches were carved out whisper at one end of the court can be Caribbean: On Stranger
of solid rock at Labilela in Ethiopia in the heard at the other end 500 ft (150 m) away.
12th century ce. They took 24 years to complete. Tides, with a budget
The marble and precious Playing of $378.5 million.
The first-ever skyscraper stones used to build the
was the 10-story-high
Home Insurance Building, Taj Mahal in Agra, cards date The world’s biggest movie
built in Chicago in 1885. India, were carried

The Circus Maximus stadium in Ancient Rome there by 1,000 from 12 -centuryth screen is the IMAX in
could hold 250,000 people—a quarter of the elephants. Sydney, Australia. It is as
population of the city.
In 2005, China Persia and India, high as an eight-story
In 1923, marathon dancing competitions building.
became popular in the US after Alma Cummings had 39,425
danced for 27 hours without stopping. movie screens— when a pack On average, it takes

After a performance more than any contained 48 eight weeks to
other country.
of the opera Otello shoot a Hollywood
The first modern novel cards. feature film. Editing
in Vienna, Austria, in and adding special effects
1991, starring Spanish was called The Tale of
Genji, written 1,000 years takes many months more.
tenor Placido
Domingo, the ago by Japanese author Murasaki Shikibu.

audience applauded Americans spend an average of five hours French author Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of
for 1 hour 20 minutes. a day watching television. Lost Time contains just under 1.5 million words.

The film Gandhi had 294,560 extras.

The Harry Potter novels by J. K. The epic ancient Indian poem
Rowling have been translated The Mahabharata is four times
into 80 different languages. longer than the Bible.

The deputy electrician on
a film set is called the “best
boy,” even when she’s a girl.

Irish-born James Devine is the world’s fastest The biggest library in the world is the The most prolific novelist in history was South
Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., African writer Mary Faulkner, who wrote 904 books.
tap dancer. He made 38 taps per second which has more than 32 million books.
The Codex Leicester,
in a performance in Sydney, Australia, in 1998. The Asterix books, by
one of Leonardo da
Ancient Greek French duo René Goscinny and Vinci’s notebooks, was
theaters were open-air. Albert Uderzo, have sold over bought by US billionaire
370 million copies worldwide. Bill Gates in 1994 for
The biggest could hold $29 million.
10,000 spectators. English playwright William Shakespeare
(1564–1616) is credited with inventing
Agatha Christie’s whodunnit play The Mousetrap
has been playing in London’s West End since 1952. There 1,700 new words.
have been more than 27,500 performances so far.

296

In May 1990, Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s painting Portrait of Dr. Gachet
sold for $82.5 million. In his lifetime, he was unable to make a living from his art.

Italian artist Michelangelo spent five years, In 1872, Austrian composer Johann Strauss The slowest musical tempo is called larghissimo,
between 1536 and 1541, painting Biblical scenes conducted an orchestra of 987 musicians and
on the walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. a choir of 19,000 singers in Boston. Italian for as slow as possible. The fastest is
prestissimo, meaning as fast as possible.

The first permanent photograph An The drawings of animals on
cave walls in Chauvet, France,
estimated
was taken by French inventor are approximately 36,000
1.5 billion people years old.
watched the 1985
Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. The world’s largest
It needed eight hours of statue is the
charity concert statue of Sardar
exposure time. Live Aid on Vallabhbhai Patel,
one of the heroes of
The first museum to open its doors to the public In December 2006, the television. India’s independence
was the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, in 1591. Netherlands became the first
country to switch off its analog

In the 1930s, German company Blütner made TV signal, forcing everyone to use movement. The statue
a baby grand piano out of aluminum and digital receivers. stands 600 ft (182 m) tall in
pigskin so that it would be light enough to

be carried in an airship. It weighed 400 lb The lowest voice in opera singing is called the state of Gujarat, India.
(180 kg). a basso profundo, Italian for “deep bass.”

The bestselling album of all time is Thriller The term for actor, thespian, comes The fastest ball game in

by US pop star Michael Jackson, with an estimated from the first actor known to history, the world is pelota,
Thespis from Ancient Greece.
66 million copies.

The first compact disc went on sale in 1982. played in the Basque
region of northern Spain
La Scala opera house The practice of awarding caps for international sports

appearances started in England in 1886. Soccer players and southern France. The
in their first international were presented with a white
in Milan, Italy, has silk cap with a red rose on the front. ball can move at up to

3,600 seats. The highest paid sportsman 180 mph (300 km/h).

It is now possible to watch more than of the 21st century is Athletics was the first sport to hold organized
2,000 different TV channels from
Michael Jordan, competitions. The first such event probably took
Waltaround the world online.
Disney wasOn December with earnings 21place in Ancient Greece 5,000 years ago.
nominated for31, 1994, British Over its separate
of around
64 Oscars andpop singer Rod $1.85 billion. stages, 12 million people
won 26, more
Stewart played

a concert on The marathon is a race came out to watch the
Copacabana Beach,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, than anyone in run over a distance of Tour de France bicycle
history. 26.218 miles (42.195 km).
to an estimated race in 2017.
This is the distance Greek soldier

Pheidippides ran without stopping

3,500,000 New Year’s from the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 bce The English language has about 500,000
Eve revelers. to announce victory in battle over the Persians. words, compared to 185,000 in German
and 100,000 in French.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ART AND CULTURE ON PAGES 252–279 297

Bold page numbers refer to animals continued badgers 58 bromine 91
main entries as symbols 259 ballot boxes 215 bronchial tree 70–71
see also amphibians; birds; bananas 16, 187 bronze 229
3-D printer 119 crustaceans; fish; insects; barnacles 32 Buddhism 195, 218, 258
mammals; mollusks; barracudas 59 buildings 208, 256–257
A plankton; reptiles Barringer Crater 144–145 Bunsen burner 124
basalt 159, 166 Burj Khalifa 257
Aboriginals 202, 203 animation 270 bases 94–95 burning (chemistry) 96
acid rain 189 Antarctica 152–153, 163, 165, bats 38, 54, 56 butterflies 20, 24, 27, 37, 194
acids 94–95 batteries 125 Byzantine Empire 226–227
actinides 90 204–205 Bay of Bengal 195
actors 268 anteaters 31, 59 bears 31, 56–57 C
advertising 266 antelope 59 bees 25, 94, 187
Africa 163, 192–193, 255, 273 antibiotics 86 beetles 25 caecilians 35
African Union 211 antioxidants 85 Bengali language 261 Caesar, Julius 233
Agrippina 233 antlers 59 berries 13, 16, 17 calcite 166, 182, 183
AIDS 250 ants 25, 52, 53 Big Bang 128 calculator, mechanical 124
airplanes 119, 122–123, 251 apartheid 251 birds 8–9, 20, 46–47, 202 calendars 237
air resistance 105 apes 55 California, 12, 160, 178
Alaska 160, 162, 163 aphids 52, 53 color vision14, 17
albatrosses 8–9, 47 Apollo space missions 148, 149, 150 eggs 48–49 see also
Alexander the Great 232 apples 96 feeding 30, 31 Los Angeles;
algae 22, 43, 52, 53 Arabic language 260 pollination by 13, 14, 53 San Francisco
alkalis 94–95 arachnids 20 skulls 58 camels 225
architecture 256–257 black holes 105, 133 cameras 118, 266–267
metals 90 Arctic 184, 224–225 camouflage 39, 241
alliances 210–211 Arctic Ocean 165 bladder 66, 69 Canada 188, 196, 197, 220,
Allianz Arena 257 armadillos 56, 57, 58 225
aluminum 171 armor 240 blood 72–73 Canis Minor and Major 134–135
alveoli 71 art 201, 202, 252–255 cells 60–61, 62, 63, 68, 72–73 canyons 179, 197
Amazon River 198, 199 Art Deco 254 capillaries 72
American Revolution 242 arteries 72 blowpipes 224–225 caravels 238
Americas see artists 254–255 carbohydrates 84, 85
ASEAN (Association of Southeast body, human 60–87 carbon 93, 103
Central America; blood 60–61, 62, 63, 68, 72–73 carp 29, 259
North America; Asian Nations) 211 brain 68, 76–77, 80, 81 cars 105, 106–107, 119, 122, 194,
South America; Asia 174, 194–195 genetics 82–83 200, 251
United States of America asteroids 139, 144, 149 health 86–87 cartoon art 255
ammonia 93 astronauts 105, 148, 149, 150–151 muscles 66–67, 70 see also animation
Ampère, André-Marie 124 astronomy 124, 125 nutrition 84–85, 87 castles 234–235
amphibians 20, 34–35, 36 reproduction 80–81 Castro, Fidel 243
analgesics 86 see also space, outer respiratory system 68, 70–71 catalysts 97
Andes 162, 198, 199 Athens 222, 232 senses 77, 78–79 caterpillars 24, 37
Andromeda Galaxy 130–131 Atlantic Ocean 164 skeleton 64–65, 70 cats 57
Angel Falls 180, 198 atmosphere 122, 155 skin, hair, and nails 74–75 caves 182
animals 16, 20–21 atoms 92–93, 96, 98–99 systems and organs 68–69 CDs (compact discs) 119
in ancient civilizations 231 Augustus, Emperor 233 water content 100 cell phones 119, 264
around the world 193, 194, auk, great 48 see also cells, human cells, human 60–63, 68, 70
197, 198, 202, 204 Australasia and Oceania 202–203 blood 60–61, 62, 63, 68, 72–73
attack and defense 38–39 Bollywood 195, 271 reproduction 80, 81
earliest 129 see also bomb disposal 121 Cenozoic Era 173
endangered 189 Australia; bones 64–65, 70, 80, 84 Centaur 259
feeding 30–31 New Zealand centipedes 21
life cycles 36–37 Australia 178, 202–203, 207, 224 see also skulls Central America 196–197,
movement 50–51 Aztecs 236–237 Book of Hours 234–235 236–237
relationships 52–53 books 237, 255, 262–263, 264 ceramics 103
skulls 58–59 B boomerangs 224 cerebellum 77
sleep 56–57 bows and arrows 118, 240
babies, human 56, 80–81 boxfish 28
baboons 59 brain 68, 76–77, 80, 81
bacteria 20, 247 Brazil 198, 223
bread 85, 97
Britain see United Kingdom
Broca’s area 76