Etymology.

Gujarat is derived from the Sanskrit term "Gurjaradesa", meaning "The Land of the Gurjaras (also called Gujjars)", who ruled Gujarat

History.

Ancient history.

Gujarat was one of the main central areas of the Indus Valley Civilisation. It contains ancient metropolitan cities from the Indus Valley such as Lothal, Dholavira, and Gola Dhoro. The ancient city of Lothal was where India's first port was established. The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in India, belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation. The most recent discovery was Gola Dhoro. Altogether, about 50 Indus Valley settlement ruins have been discovered in Gujarat.  The ancient history of Gujarat was enriched by the commercial activities of its inhabitants. There is clear historical evidence of trade and commerce ties with Egypt,

Medieval history.

In the early 8th century, the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate established an empire in the name of the rising religion of Islam, which stretched from Spain in the west to Afghanistan and modern-day Pakistan in the east. Al-Junaid, the successor of Qasim, finally subdued the Hindu resistance within Sindh and established a secure base. The Arab rulers tried to expand their empire southeast, which culminated in the Caliphate campaigns in India fought in 730; they were defeated and expelled west of the Indus river, probably by a coalition of

Muslim rule.

Islamic conquests, 1197–1614.

After the Ghoris had assumed a position of Muslim supremacy over North India, Qutbuddin Aibak attempted to conquer Gujarat and annexe it to his empire in 1197 but failed in his ambitions. An independent Muslim community continued to flourish in Gujarat for the next hundred years, championed by Arab merchants settling along the western coast belonging to the Shafi'ite madhhab. From 1297 to 1300, Alauddin Khalji, the Turko-Afghan Sultan of Delhi, destroyed the Hindu metropolis of Anhilwara and incorporated Gujarat into the Delhi Sultanate. After Timur's sacking of Delhi at the end of the 14th century weakened the Sultanate, Gujarat's Muslim Rajput governor Zafar Khan Muzaffar (Muzaffar Shah I) asserted his independence, and his son, Sultan Ahmed Shah (ruled 1411 to 1442), established Ahmedabad as the capital. Khambhat eclipsed Bharuch as Gujarat's most important trade port. Gujarat's relations with Egypt, which was then the premier Arab power in the

The Sultanate of Gujarat and the merchants.

For the best part of two centuries, the independent Rajput Sultanate of Gujarat was the cynosure of its neighbours on account of its wealth and prosperity, which had long made the Gujarati merchant a familiar figure in the ports of the Indian Ocean. Gujaratis, including Hindus and Muslims as well as the enterprising Parsi class of Zoroastrians, had been specialising in the organisation of overseas trade for many centuries, and had moved into various branches of commerce such as commodity trade,

Gujarat in the Mughal Empire.

Gujarat was one of the twelve original subahs (imperial top-level provinces) established by Mughal padshah (emperor) Akbar the Great, with seat at Ahmedabad, bordering on Thatta (Sindh), Ajmer, Malwa and later Ahmadnagar subahs.  Aurangzeb, who was better known by his imperial title Alamgir ("Conqueror of the World"), was born at Dahod, Gujarat, and was the sixth Mughal Emperor ruling with an iron fist over most of the Indian subcontinent. He was the third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. At the time of his birth, his father, Shah Jahan, was then the

Maratha Empire.

When the cracks had started to develop in the edifice of the Mughal Empire in the mid-17th century, the Marathas were consolidating their power in the west, Chatrapati Shivaji, the great Maratha ruler, attacked Surat in southern Gujarat twice first in 1664 and again in 1672. These attacks marked the entry of the Marathas into Gujarat. However, before the Maratha inroads into Gujarat, the Europeans had made their presence felt, with the Portuguese leading them, followed by the

European colonialism, 1614–1947.

In the 1600s, the Dutch, French, English and Portuguese all established bases along the western coast of the region. Portugal was the first European power to arrive in Gujarat, and after the Battle of Diu, acquired several enclaves along the Gujarati coast, including Daman and Diu as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli. These enclaves were administered by Portuguese India under a single union territory for over 450 years, only to be later incorporated into the Republic of India on 19 December 1961 by military conquest.  The British East India Company established a factory in Surat in 1614 following the commercial treaty made with Mughal Emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, which formed their first base in India, but it was eclipsed by Bombay after the English received it from Portugal in 1668 as part of the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal. The state was an early point of contact with the west, and

Post independence.

After Indian independence and the partition of India in 1947, the new Indian government grouped the former princely states of Gujarat into three larger units; Saurashtra, which included the former princely states on the Kathiawad peninsula, Kutch, and Bombay state, which included the former British districts of Bombay Presidency together with most of Baroda state and the other former princely states of eastern Gujarat. Bombay state was enlarged to include Kutch, Saurashtra (Kathiawar) and parts of Hyderabad state and Madhya Pradesh in central India. The new state had a mostly Gujarati-speaking north and a Marathi-speaking south. Agitation by Gujarati nationalists, the Mahagujarat Movement, and Marathi nationalists, the Samyukta Maharashtra, for their own states led to the split of Bombay state on linguistic lines; on 1 May 1960, it became the new states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. In 1969 riots, at least 660 died and properties worth millions were destroyed.  The first capital

Geography.

Gujarat borders the Tharparkar, Badin and Thatta districts of Pakistan's Sindh province to the northwest, is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the southwest, the state of Rajasthan to the northeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and by Maharashtra, the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south. Historically, the north was known as Anarta, the Kathiawar peninsula, "Saurastra", and the south as "Lata". Gujarat was also known as Pratichya and Varuna. The Arabian Sea makes up the state's western coast. The capital, Gandhinagar is a planned city. Gujarat has an area of with the longest coastline (24% of Indian sea coast), dotted with 41 ports: one major, 11 intermediate and 29 minor.  The Sabarmati is the largest river in Gujarat followed by the Tapi, although the Narmada covers the longest distance in its passage through the state. The Sardar Sarovar Project is built on the Narmada River, one of the major rivers of peninsular India with a length of around. It is one of only three rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west – the others being the Tapi River and the Mahi River. A riverfront project has been built on the Sabarmati River.  Gujarat has some of the major mountain ranges of India, including Aravalli, Sahyadri (Western Ghats), Vindhya and Saputara. Apart from this Gir hills, Barda, Jessore, Chotila, etc. are situated in different parts of Gujarat. Girnar is the tallest peak and Saputara is the only hill-station in the state.

Rann of Kutch.

The Rann of Kutch is a seasonally marshy saline clay desert located in the Thar Desert biogeographic region in between the province

Demographics.

The population of Gujarat was 60,439,692 (31,491,260 males and 28,948,432 females) according to the 2011 census data. The population density is 308 km (797.6/sq mi), lower than other Indian states. As per the census of 2011, the state has a sex ratio of 918 females for every 1000 males, one of the lowest (ranked 24) amongst the 29 states in India.  While Gujarati speakers constitute a majority of Gujarat's population, the metropolitan areas of Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat are cosmopolitan, with numerous other ethnic and language groups. Marwaris compose large minorities of economic migrants; smaller communities of people from the other states of India has also migrated to Gujarat for employment. Luso-Indians, Anglo-Indians, Jews and Parsis also live in the areas. Sindhi presence is traditionally important here following the Partition of India in 1947.

Religion.

According to 2011 census, the religious makeup in Gujarat was 88.6% Hindu, 9.7% Muslim, 1.0% Jain, 0.5% Christian, 0.1% Sikh, 0.05% Buddhist and 0.03% others. Around 0.1% did not state any religion. Hinduism is the major religion of the state, as about 89% population of the state is Hindu. Muslims are the biggest minority in the state accounting

Language.

Gujarati is the official language of the state. It is spoken natively by 86% of the state's population, or 52 million people (as of 2011).  Other major languages, according to the 2001 census, are Bhili (4.8%) Hindi (4.7%, includes speakers of the Rajasthani varieties), Sindhi (1.9%, includes figures for Kutchi), Marathi (1.5%) and Urdu (1.1%).  People from the Kutch region of Gujarat also speak in the Kutchi mother tongue, and to a great extent appreciate Sindhi as well. Memoni is the mother tongue of Kathiawar and Sindhi Memons, most of

Governance and administration.

Gujarat has 33 districts and 250 Talukas. They can broadly be defined into 4 regions.  Gujarat is governed by a Legislative Assembly of 182 members. Members of the Legislative Assembly are elected on the basis of adult suffrage from one of 182 constituencies, of which 13 are reserved for scheduled castes and 27 for scheduled tribes. The term of office for a member of the Legislative Assembly is five years. The Legislative Assembly elects a speaker who presides over the meetings of the legislature. A governor is appointed by the President of India, and is to address the state legislature after every general election and the commencement of each year's first session of the Legislative Assembly. The leader of the majority party or coalition in the legislature (Chief Minister) or his or her designee acts as the Leader of the Legislative Assembly. The administration of the state is led by the Chief Minister.  After the

Economy.

During the British Raj, Gujarati businesses served to play a major role to enrich the economy of Karachi and Mumbai. Major agricultural produce of the state includes cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), dates, sugar cane, milk and milk products. Industrial products include cement and petrol. According to a 2009 report on economic freedom by the Cato Institute, Gujarat is the most free state in India (the second one being Tamil Nadu). Reliance Industries operates the oil refinery at Jamnagar, which is the world's largest grass-roots refinery at a single location. The world's largest shipbreaking yard is in Gujarat near Bhavnagar at Alang. India's only Liquid Chemical Port Terminal at Dahej, developed by Gujarat Chemical Port Terminal Co Ltd. Gujarat has two of the three liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the country (Dahej and Hazira). Two more LNG terminals are proposed, at Pipavav and Mundra. Gujarat has 85% village connectivity with all‐weather roads. Nearly 100% of Gujarat's 18,000 villages have been connected to the electrical grid for 24-hour power to households and eight hours of power to farms, through the Jyotigram Yojana., Gujarat ranks first nationwide in gas-based thermal electricity generation with a national market share of over 8%, and second nationwide in nuclear electricity generation with national market share of over 1%.  The state registered 12.8% agricultural growth in the last five years against the national average of 2%.  Gujarat records highest decadal agricultural growth rate of 10.97%. Over 20% of the "S&P CNX 500" conglomerates have corporate offices in Gujarat. As per RBI report, in year 2006–07, 26% out of total bank finance in India was in Gujarat.  As per a recent survey report of the Chandigarh Labour Bureau, Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate of 1% against the national average of 3.8%.  Legatum Institute's Global Prosperity Index 2012 has recognised Gujarat as one of the two highest-scoring among all states of India on matters of social capital. The state ranks 15th alongside Germany in a list of 142 nations worldwide: higher than several developed nations.

Infrastructure.

Tallest tower in Gujarat, GIFT One was inaugurated on 10

Industrial growth.

Gujarat's major cities include Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar. In 2010, "Forbes" list of the world's fastest growing cities included Ahmedabad at number 3 after Chengdu and Chongqing from China. The state is rich in calcite, gypsum, manganese, lignite, bauxite, limestone, agate, feldspar, and quartz sand, and successful mining of these minerals is done in their specified areas. Jamnagar is the hub for manufacturing brass parts. Gujarat produces about 98% of India's required amount of soda ash, and gives the country about 78% of the national requirement of salt. It is one of India's most prosperous states, having a per-capita GDP significantly above India's average. Kalol, Khambhat, and Ankleshwar are today known for their oil and natural gas production. Dhuvaran has a thermal power station, which uses coal, oil, and gas. Also, on the Gulf of Khambhat, southeast of Bhavnagar, is the Alang Ship Recycling Yard (the world's largest). MG Motor India manufactures its cars at Halol near Vadodara,

Energy.

Gujarat invests in development of solar energy in the state and has had India's largest solar power plant. It has allotted 716 MW of solar power capacity to 34 national

Agriculture.

The total geographical area of Gujarat is 19,602,400 hectares, of which crops take up 10,630,700 hectares. The three main sources of growth in Gujarat's agriculture are from cotton production, the rapid growth of high-value foods such as livestock, fruits and vegetables, and from wheat production, which saw an annual average growth rate of 28% between 2000 and 2008 (According to the International Food Policy Research Institute). Other major produce includes bajra, groundnut, cotton, rice, maize, wheat, mustard, sesame, pigeon pea, green gram, sugarcane, mango, banana, sapota, lime, guava, tomato, potato, onion, cumin, garlic, isabgul and fennel. Whilst, in recent times, Gujarat has seen a high average annual growth of 9% in the agricultural sector, the rest of India has an annual growth rate of around 3%. This success was lauded by former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.  The strengths of Gujarat's agricultural success have been attributed to diversified crops and cropping patters; climatic diversity (8 climatic zones for agriculture); the existence of 4 agricultural universities in the state, which promote research in agricultural efficiency and sustainability; co-operatives; adoption of hi-tech agriculture such as tissue culture, green houses and

Culture.

Gujarat is home for the Gujarati people. Gujarat was also the home of Mahatma Gandhi, a worldwide figure known for his non-violent struggle against British rule, and Vallabhbhai Patel, a founding father of the Republic of India.

Literature.

Gujarati literature's history may be traced to 1000 AD. Well known laureates of Gujarati literature are Hemchandracharya, Narsinh Mehta, Mirabai, Akho, Premanand Bhatt, Shamal Bhatt, Dayaram, Dalpatram, Narmad, Govardhanram Tripathi, Mahatma Gandhi, K. M. Munshi, Umashankar Joshi, Suresh Joshi, Swaminarayan, Pannalal Patel and Rajendra Shah.  Kavi Kant, Zaverchand Meghani and Kalapi are famous Gujarati poets.  Gujarat Vidhya Sabha, Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, and Gujarati Sahitya Parishad are Ahmedabad based literary institutions promoting the spread of Gujarati literature. Saraswatichandra is a landmark novel by Govardhanram Tripathi. Writers like Aanand Shankar Dhruv, Ashvini Bhatt, Balwantray Thakore, Bhaven Kachhi, Bhagwatikumar Sharma, Chandrakant Bakshi, Gunvant Shah, Harindra Dave, Harkisan Mehta, Jay Vasavada,

Cuisine.

Gujarati food is primarily vegetarian. The typical Gujarati "thali" consists of "rotli" or "bhakhari or thepala or rotlo", "dal" or "kadhi", "khichdi", Bhat and "shak". Athanu(Indian pickle) and "chhundo" are

Cinema.

The Gujarati film industry dates back to 1932, when the first Gujarati film, "Narsinh Mehta", was released. After flourishing through the 1960s to 1980s, the industry saw a

Music.

Gujarati folk music, known as "Sugam Sangeet", is a hereditary profession of the Barot, Gadhvi and Charan communities. The omnipresent instruments in

Festivals.

The folk traditions of Gujarat include bhavai and "raas-garba". "Bhavai" is a folk theatre; it is partly entertainment and partly ritual, and is dedicated to Amba. The "raas-garba" is a folk dance done as a celebration of Navratri by Gujarati people. The folk costume of this dance is "chaniya choli" for women and "kedia" for men. Different styles and steps of "garba" include "dodhiyu", simple five, simple seven, "popatiyu", "trikoniya" (hand movement which forms an imagery triangle), "lehree", "tran taali",

Diffusion of culture.

Due to close proximity to the Arabian Sea, Gujarat has developed a mercantile ethos which maintained a cultural tradition of seafaring, long-distance trade, and overseas contacts with the outside world since ancient times, and the diffusion of culture through Gujarati diaspora was a logical outcome of such a tradition. During the pre-modern period, various European sources have observed that these merchants formed diaspora communities outside of Gujarat, and in many parts of the world, such as the Persian Gulf, Middle East, Horn of Africa, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Philippines. long before the internal rise of the Maratha Dynasty, and the British Raj colonial occupation.  Early 1st-century Western historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius are testament to Gujarati people's role in the spread of Buddhism in the Mediterranean, when it was recorded that the "sramana" monk Zarmanochegas (Ζαρμανοχηγὰς) of Barygaza met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch while Augustus was ruling

Flora and fauna.

Prehistoric fauna.

In the early 1980s, palaeontologists found dinosaur egg hatcheries and fossils of at least 13

Extant species.

According to the "India State of Forest Report 2011", Gujarat has 9.7% of its total geographical area under forest cover. As per the districts, The Dangs has the largest area under forest cover. Gujarat has four national parks and 21 sanctuaries. It is the only home of Asiatic lions and outside Africa, is the only present natural habitat of lions. Gir Forest National Park in the southwest part of the state covers part of the lions' habitat. Apart from lions, Indian leopards

Tourism.

Gujarat's natural environment includes the Great Rann of Kutch and the hills of Saputara, and it is the sole home of pure Asiatic lions in the world. During the historic reigns of the sultans, Hindu craftsmanship blended with Islamic architecture, giving rise to the Indo-Saracenic style. Many structures in the state are built in this fashion. It is also the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, great iconic figures of India's Independence movement. Amitabh Bachchan is currently the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism. Gujarat has a variety of museums on different genres that are run by the state's Department of Museums located at the principal state museum, Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery in Vadodara, which is also the location of the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum. The Kirti Mandir, Porbandar, Sabarmati Ashram, and Kaba Gandhi No Delo are museums related to Mahatma Gandhi, the former being the place of his birth and the latter two where he lived in his lifetime. Kaba Gandhi No Delo in Rajkot exhibits part of a rare collection of photographs relating to the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Sabarmati Ashram is the place where Gandhi initiated the Dandi March. On 12 March 1930 he vowed that he would not return to the Ashram until India won independence.  The Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum is housed within Lakshmi Vilas Palace, the residence of the erstwhile Maharajas, located in Vadodara.  The Calico Museum of Textiles is managed by the Sarabhai Foundation and is one of the most popular tourist spots in Ahmedabad.  The Lakhota Museum at Jamnagar is a palace transformed into museum, which was residence of the Jadeja Rajputs. The collection of the museum includes artefacts spanning from 9th to 18th centuries, pottery from medieval villages nearby and the skeleton of a whale.  Other well known museums in the state include the Kutch Museum in Bhuj, which is the oldest museum in Gujarat founded in 1877, the Watson Museum of human history and culture in Rajkot, Gujarat Science City and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad. In October 2018, the world's tallest statue commemorating the independence

Transport.

Air.

There are two international airports (Ahmedabad and Surat), nine domestic airports (Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Kandla, Porbandar, Rajkot, Vadodara, Amreli, Keshod), two private airports (Mundra, Mithapur) and three military bases (Bhuj, Jamnagar, Naliya) in Gujarat. Two more airports (Ankleshwar, Rajkot) are under construction. There

Rail.

Gujarat comes under the Western Railway Zone of the Indian Railways. Vadodara Railway Station is the busiest railway station in Gujarat and the fourth busiest railway station in India. It is situated on the Mumbai – Delhi Western Railway Mainline. Other important

Sea.

Gujarat State has the longest sea coast of 1214 km in India. Kandla Port is one of the largest ports serving Western India. Other

Road.

Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) is the primary body responsible for providing the bus services within the state of Gujarat and also with the neighbouring states. It is a public transport corporation providing bus services and public transit within Gujarat and to the other states in India. Apart from

Education and research.

The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) are in charge of the schools run by the Government of Gujarat. However, most of the private schools in Gujarat are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board. Gujarat has 13 state universities and four agricultural universities. Institutes for Engineering and Research in the area include IIT Gandhinagar, Indian Institute of Information Technology Vadodara (IIITV), Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management (IITRAM), Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT) also in Gandhinagar, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) and P P Savani University in Surat, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) in Gandhinagar, Nirma University in Ahmedabad, M.S. University in Vadodara, Marwadi Education Foundation's Group of Institutions (MEFGI) in Rajkot and Birla Vishwakarma Mahavidyalaya (BVM) in Vallabh Vidyanagar (a suburb in Anand district).  Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) is an institute for mass communication.  In addition, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) is one of the leading sectoral institution in rural management. IRMA is a unique institution in the sense that it provides professional education to train managers for rural management. It is the only one of its kind in all Asia.  The National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar is internationally acclaimed as one of the foremost multi-disciplinary institutions in the field of design education and research. Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology University, popularly known as (CEPT) is one of the best planning and architectural school not in India, but across the world; providing various technical and professional courses.  In the emerging area of legal education, a premier institution Gujarat National Law University was founded in the capital city Gandhinagar which started imparting education from the year 2004 and is ranked in top institutions in the country.  Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering (LDCE) is also one of the top engineering college of the state.  The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, is a premier university of Gujarat. It is one of the oldest universities of Gujarat and provides education in Faculty of Fine Arts, Engineering, Arts, Journalism, Education, Law, Social Work, Medicine, Science and Performing Arts. Originally known as the Baroda College of Science (established 1881), it became a university in 1949 after the independence of the country and later renamed after its benefactor Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the former ruler of Baroda State.  Gujarat University, Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya, Sardar Patel University, Ahmedabad University, Saurashtra University, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Dharmsinh Desai University and Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University are also amongst reputed universities, affiliating many reputed colleges.

Research.

The Space Applications Centre (SAC) is an institution for space research and satellite communication in Ahmedabad, India, under the aegis of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a renowned scientist, industrialist, and visionary Gujarati, played an important role in it. He also founded Physical Research Laboratory, a research institute encompasses Astrophysics, Solar System, and cosmic radiation. He also envisioned Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, one of the internationally reputed management research institute that is located in Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad and is the top ranked management institutes in the country.  Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute has been established under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Government of India at Bhavnagar. It was inaugurated by Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India on 10 April 1954, with a view to carry out research on marine salt, and salt from inland lakes and sub-soil brine. It is working on reverse osmosis, electro membrane process, salt and marine chemicals, analytical science, marine biotechnology, and other related fields. The Gujarat National Law University situated at

Gujarat (, ) is a state on the western coast of India with a coastline of – most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula – and a population of 60.4 million. It is the fifth largest Indian state by area and the ninth largest state by population. Gujarat is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujarati-speaking people of India are indigenous to the state. The economy of Gujarat is the third-largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of and has the country's 11th-highest GSDP per capita of. Gujarat ranks 21st among Indian states in human development index.

古吉拉特邦(,拉丁字母转写:,旧译瞿折罗、胡茶辣)是位于印度最西部的邦。该邦西部和西南部紧邻阿拉伯海,北部与巴基斯坦信德省和拉贾斯坦邦相接壤,南部和东南部毗邻马哈拉施特拉邦,东部是中央邦。面积为196,024平方公里,海岸线为1,600公里,其中大多数位于凯蒂瓦尔半岛,人口超过6000万。 艾哈迈达巴德为该邦最大城市及前邦治,而苏拉特亦是该邦重要城市之一。 古吉拉特邦是印度古吉拉特人的家园。


Explanation.

Materials conduct electricity if they contain mobile charge carriers. There are two types of charge carriers in a semiconductor: free electrons (mobile electrons) and electron holes (mobile holes which are missing electrons from the normally occupied electron states). A normally bound electron (e.g., in a bond) in a reverse-biased diode may break loose due to a thermal fluctuation or excitation, creating a mobile electron-hole pair. If there is a voltage gradient (electric field) in the semiconductor, the electron will move towards the positive voltage while the hole will move towards the negative voltage. Usually, the electron and hole will simply move to opposite ends of the crystal and enter the appropriate electrodes. When the electric field is strong enough, the mobile electron or hole may be accelerated to high enough speeds to knock other bound electrons free, creating more free charge carriers, increasing the current and leading to further "knocking out" processes and creating an avalanche. In this way, large portions of a normally insulating crystal can begin to conduct.  The large voltage drop and possibly large current during breakdown necessarily leads to the generation of heat. Therefore, a diode placed into a reverse blocking power application will usually be destroyed by breakdown if the external circuit allows a large current. In principle, avalanche breakdown only involves the passage of electrons and need not cause damage to the crystal. Avalanche diodes (commonly encountered as high voltage Zener diodes) are constructed to break down at a uniform voltage and to avoid current crowding during breakdown. These diodes can indefinitely sustain a moderate level of current during breakdown.  The voltage at which the breakdown occurs is called the breakdown voltage. There is a hysteresis effect; once avalanche breakdown has occurred, the material will continue to conduct even if the voltage across it drops below the breakdown voltage. This is different from a Zener diode, which will stop conducting once the reverse voltage drops below the breakdown voltage.

Avalanche breakdown is a phenomenon that can occur in both insulating and semiconducting materials. It is a form of electric current multiplication that can allow very large currents within materials which are otherwise good insulators. It is a type of electron avalanche. The avalanche process occurs when carriers in the transition region are accelerated by the electric field to energies sufficient to create mobile or free electron-hole pairs via collisions with bound electrons.

-{zh-cn:雪崩击穿;zh-tw:突崩溃;zh-hk:突崩溃}-(英语:Avalanche breakdown),是指对一些绝缘体或半导体施加足够的电压时,流过它们的电流突然增大。这主要与金属原子外自由运动的电子有关。大部分的绝缘体或半导体载运电流的能力受限于能够在原子外中自由运动的电子的不足,而强大的电流所产生的电子能够击出原子中的电子而使它变成自由电子。而由于上述的现象类似于雪崩产生的滚雪球效应,因此得名。


Scope.

The full scope of recreational diving includes breath-hold diving and surface supplied diving – particularly with lightweight semi-autonomous airline systems such as snuba – and technical diving (including penetration diving), as all of these are sometimes done for recreational purposes, but common usage is mostly for open water scuba diving with limited decompression.  Scuba diving implies the use of an autonomous breathing gas supply carried by the diver, the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus which provides the name for this mode of diving. Scuba may be the simpler and more popular open circuit configuration or one of the more complex and expensive closed or semi-closed rebreather arrangements. Rebreathers used for recreational diving are generally designed to require a minimum task loading on the diver and as far as possible to fail safe and give the diver ample warning to bail out to open circuit and abort the dive.  Open water is the definitive environment for recreational diving, and in this context implies that there is no physical or physiological barrier to the diver concluding the dive at any time by a direct ascent to the surface, either vertically, or via a clearly visible route adequately illuminated by ambient light. Some organisations extend the scope of recreational diving to allow short decompression obligations which can be done without gas switching. Depth limitations are imposed by the certification agencies, and relate to the competency associated with the specific certification. Entry level divers may be restricted to a depth of, and more advanced divers to 30, 40, 50 or 60 m depending on the certification and agency. Junior divers may be restricted to shallower depths.  Recreational diving is generally limited to the use of air or a single nitrox mixture with an oxygen partial pressure not exceeding 40% for the planned dive, but this does not preclude constant oxygen partial pressure nitrox provided by electronically controlled closed circuit rebreathers like the Poseidon Mk6 or variable nitrox mixtures such as provided by the earlier semi-closed circuit Dräger Ray rebreather. Emergency gas supplies are either by sharing with a dive buddy or from a bailout cylinder for open circuit diving, and by bailout to open circuit for rebreather diving.  Most recreational diving officially applies the buddy system, but in reality there are a significant proportion of dives which are either effectively solo dives or where larger groups of nominally paired divers follow a dive leader and may be escorted by another dive leader.

Reasons to dive.

The reasons to dive for recreational purposes are many and varied, and many divers will go through stages when their personal reasons for diving change, as the initial novelty of the alien environment becomes familiar and skills develop to the point where the diver is able to pay more attention to the surroundings.  Many people start diving for the adventure of experiencing a different environment and the ability to maneuver fairly freely in three dimensions, but the novelty wears off after a while. This may be replaced by the satisfaction of developing the skills to operate in a wider range of environments, and developing excellence in those skills, the addition of compatible interests and activities to complement the basic activity, like underwater photography and an interest in the details of the environment, including exploration and study and recording of aspects of the environment. Experience of the underwater environment varies depending on where the diver has access to suitable sites - there is more to see on a coastal reef than in most freshwater lakes, and scuba diving tourism can make a wide variety of more entertaining and challenging sites available. Exploration can also extend beyond tourism to the search for previously unvisited sites and the satisfaction of being the first to be there and in some cases, tell the story.

Specialties.

There are many diving activities, and equipment and environmental specialties which require training additional to that provided by the entry level courses:  Activities:  Environmental specialties:  Equipment specialties:  Many diver training agencies such as ACUC, BSAC, CMAS, IANTD, NAUI, PADI, PDIC, SDI, and SSI offer training in these areas, as well as opportunities to move into professional instruction, technical diving, commercial diving and others.

History.

Recreational scuba diving grew out of related activities such as Snorkeling and underwater hunting. For a long time, recreational underwater excursions were limited by breath-hold time. The invention of the aqualung in 1943 by Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau and the wetsuit in 1952 by University of California, Berkeley physicist, Hugh Bradner and its development over subsequent years led to a revolution in recreational diving. However, for much of the 1950s and early 1960s, recreational scuba diving was a sport limited to those who were able to afford or make their own kit, and prepared to undergo intensive training to use it.  As the sport became more popular, manufacturers became aware of the potential market, and equipment began to appear that was easy to use, affordable and reliable. Continued advances in SCUBA technology, such as buoyancy compensators, improved diving regulators, wet or dry suits, and dive computers, increased the safety, comfort and convenience of the gear encouraging more people to train and use it.  Until the early 1950s, navies and other organizations performing professional diving were the only providers of diver training, but only for their own personnel and only using their own types of equipment. The first scuba diving school was opened in France to train the owners of the Cousteau and Gagnan designed twin-hose scuba. The first school to teach single hose scuba was started in 1953, in Melbourne, Australia, at the Melbourne City Baths. RAN Commander Batterham organized the school to assist the inventor of the single hose regulator, Ted Eldred. However, neither of these schools was international in nature.  There were no formal training courses available to civilians who bought the early scuba equipment. Some of the first training started in 1952 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography where Andy Rechnitzer, Bob Dill and Connie Limbaugh taught the first scuba courses in the United States, then in 1953 Trevor Hampton created the first British diving school, the British Underwater Centre and in 1954 when Los Angeles County created an Underwater Instructor Certification Course based on the training that they received from the scientific divers of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Early instruction developed in the format of amateur teaching within a club environment, as exemplified by organizations such as the Scottish Sub Aqua Club and the British Sub Aqua Club from 1953, Los Angeles County from 1954 and the YMCA from 1959.  Professional instruction started in 1959 when the non-profit NAUI was formed, which later effectively was split, to form the for-profit PADI in 1966. The National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS) started with their dive center based training programs in 1962 followed by SSI in 1970. Professional Diving Instructors College was formed in 1965, changing its name in 1984 to Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC).  In 2009 PADI alone issued approximately 950,000 diving certifications. Approximately 550,000 of these certifications were "entry level" certifications and the remainder were more advanced certifications.  Scuba-diving has become a popular leisure activity, and many diving destinations have some form of dive shop presence that can offer air fills, equipment sale, rental and repair, and training. In tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, there is a large market for 'holiday divers'; people who train and dive while on holiday, but rarely dive close to home.  Technical diving and the use of rebreathers are increasing, particularly in areas of the world where deeper wreck diving is the main underwater attraction. Generally, recreational diving depths are limited by the training agencies to a maximum of between 30 and 40 meters (100 and 130 feet), beyond which a variety of safety issues such as oxygen toxicity and nitrogen narcosis significantly increase the risk of diving using recreational diving equipment and practices, and specialized skills and equipment for technical diving are needed.

Standard equipment.

The standard recreational open circuit scuba equipment includes the following items: For solo diving a bailout cylinder is considered standard for dives where there is an appreciable risk of entrapment, or where a direct controlled emergency swimming ascent is not an acceptable option to manage an out-of-air incident at any point in the planned dive profile.

Standard procedures.

Some skills are generally accepted by recreational diver certification agencies as necessary for any scuba diver to be considered competent to dive without direct supervision, and others are more advanced, though some diver certification and accreditation organizations may consider some of these to also be essential for minimum acceptable entry level competence. Divers are instructed and assessed on these skills during basic and advanced training, and are expected to remain competent at their level of certification, either by practice or refresher courses.  The skills include selection, functional testing, preparation and transport of scuba equipment, dive planning, preparation for a dive, kitting up for the dive, water entry, descent, breathing underwater, monitoring the dive profile (depth, time and decompression status), personal breathing gas management, situational awareness, communicating with the dive team, buoyancy and trim control, mobility in the water, ascent, emergency and rescue procedures, exit from the water, un-kitting after the dive, cleaning and preparation of equipment for storage and recording the dive, within the scope of the diver's certification. A significant amount of harmonization of training standards and standard and emergency procedures has developed over the years, largely due to organisations like World Recreational Scuba Training Council. This allows divers trained by the various certifying organisations to dive together with a minimum of confusion, which enhances safety. Diver communications is a particular aspect where most of the basic hand signals are common to most recreational diver training agencies. This does not mean that there is no variation. There are some procedures such as emergency donation of air which are quite strongly polarized between those who advocate donation of the secondary (octopus) regulator and those who advocate donating the primary regulator. Length of regulator hose and position of the secondary second stage depend on the donation technique.  There are also variations in procedures for self rescue in an out of air situation, and in procedures for bringing an unresponsive casualty to the surface.  Solo diving, once considered technical diving and discouraged by most certification agencies, is now seen by many experienced divers and some certification agencies as an acceptable practice for those divers suitably trained and experienced. Rather than relying on the traditional buddy diving safety system, solo divers rely on self-sufficiency and are willing to take responsibility for their own safety while diving.  Buddy diving is the more generally advocated procedural alternative, on the principle that in case of an emergency, a dive buddy can assist the diver in difficulty, but this is only valid if the buddy is close enough to help, notices the problem, and is competent and willing to assist.

Training.

Many recreational diver training organisations exist, throughout the world, offering diver training leading to certification: the issuing of a "diver certification card", also known as a "C-card," or qualification card.  Recreational diver training courses range from minor specialties which require one classroom session and an open water dive, and which may be completed in a day, to complex specialties which may take several days to weeks, and require several classroom sessions, confined water skills training and practice, and a substantial number of open-water dives, followed by rigorous assessment of knowledge and skills. Details on the approximate duration of training can be found on the websites of most certification agencies, but accurate schedules are generally only available from the specific school or instructor who will present that course, as this will depend on the local conditions and other constraints.  Diving instructors affiliated to a diving certification agency may work independently or through a university, a dive club, a dive school or a dive shop. They will offer courses that should meet, or exceed, the standards of the certification organisation that will certify the divers attending the course.

Diving skills.

Diver training can be divided into entry level training, which are those skills and knowledge considered essential for the diver to dive unsupervised at an acceptably low level of risk by the certifying agency, and further skills and knowledge which allow better performance and extend the environmental capacity and equipment choices of the diver.

Entry level.

There is a significant variation in entry level training, with some training agencies requiring the bare minimum as specified by RSTC and ISO, and others requiring a greater level of competence with associated assumption of lower risk to the diver and dive buddy, and less likelihood of environmental damage. Entry level training may include skills for assisting or rescue of another diver, but this is not always the case. Divers without rescue training are routinely assigned to dive as buddy pairs to follow organizational protocols. This is not generally a contravention of the training agencies' recommendations.  The initial training for open water certification for a person who is medically fit to dive and a reasonably competent swimmer is relatively short. The minimum number of open-water dives required for certification is usually four, but instructors are generally required by training standards to ensure that the diver is sufficiently skilled to dive safely in the local environment before certification is issued, and this may require further training and experience beyond the required minimum. Many dive shops in popular holiday locations offer courses intended to teach a novice to dive in a few days, which can be combined with diving on the vacation. Other instructors and dive schools will provide more thorough training, which generally takes longer.

Beyond entry level.

Skills and knowledge beyond the minimum requirement are generally labelled "Advanced skills", and these may include skills such as competent buoyancy control, which are included in the entry level skills by other agencies. Many skills which are considered advanced by recreational training agencies are considered basic entry-level skills for professional divers.

Training standards.

Each diver certification agency has its own set of diver training standards for each level of certification that they issue. Although these standards are usually available on request or on the organisation's website, the assessment criteria are often not available to the public, making a direct comparison of standards difficult. Most agencies comply with the minimum requirements of the World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC) or ISO for the relevant certification (ISO 24801-2 Autonomous diver, and ISO 24801-3 Dive leader), but most certification levels are not defined by the international standards.  Under most entry-level programs (SEI, SDI, PADI, BSAC, SSAC, NAUI, SSI, and PDIC), divers can complete a certification with as few as four open water dives. This complies with the minimum requirements of ISO 24801-2 Autonomous diver. Such a qualification allows divers to rent equipment, receive air fills, and dive without supervision to depths typically restricted to 18 meters (60 feet) with an equally qualified buddy in conditions similar to, or easier than those in which they were trained. Certification agencies advise their students to dive within the scope of their experience and training, and to extend their training to suit the conditions in which they plan to dive.  In the 1980s, several agencies with DEMA collaborated to author ANSI Standard Z86.3 (1989), "Minimum Course Content For Safe Scuba Diving" which defines their training as the "Accepted Industry Practices". The International Standards Organisation has since published ISO 24801 and ISO 24802 which define minimum training standards for two levels of recreational diver and for recreational diving instructors.  Agencies such as GUE, and the commercial diver training standards of several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and Canada, consider the competence provided by the recreational diver training industry minimum standard to be inadequate for safe occupational diving, where the diver has a legal duty of care towards other members of the dive team, even though the responsibility for occupational dive planning and safety is held by a professional diving supervisor.

Risk.

Recreational scuba diving involves physical and psychological risks and therefore can be classified as an extreme sport. Fatality rates of 16.4 deaths per 100,000 persons per year among DAN America members and 14.4 deaths per 100,000 persons per year the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) members were similar and did not change during 2000–2006. This is comparable with jogging (13 deaths per 100,000 persons per year) and motor vehicle accidents (16 deaths per 100,000 persons per year), and within the range where reduction is desirable by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) criteria.  Data for 17 million student-diver certifications during 63 million student dives over a 20-year period from 1989-2008 show a mean per capita death rateof 1.7 deaths per 100,000 student divers per year. This was lower than for insured DAN members during 2000–2006 at 16.4 deaths per 100,000 DAN members per year, but fatality rate per dive is a better measure of exposure risk, A mean annual fatality rate of 0.48 deaths per 100,000 student dives per year and 0.54 deaths per 100,000 BSAC dives per year and 1.03 deaths per 100,000 non-BSAC dives per year during 2007. The total size of the diving population is important for determining overall fatality rates, and the population estimates from the 1990s of several million U.S. divers need to be updated.  The most frequent root cause for diving fatalities is running out of or low on gas. Other factors cited include buoyancy control, entanglement or entrapment, rough water, equipment misuse or problems and emergency ascent. The most common injuries and causes of death were drowning or asphyxia due to inhalation of water, air embolism and cardiac events. Risk of cardiac arrest is greater for older divers, and greater for men than women, although the risks are equal by age 65.  Several plausible opinions have been put forward but have not yet been empirically validated. Suggested contributing factors included inexperience, infrequent diving, inadequate supervision, insufficient predive briefings, buddy separation and dive conditions beyond the diver's training, experience or physical capacity.

Legal status.

Legal constraints on recreational diving vary considerably across jurisdictions. In many countries recreational diving is either not mentioned at all in laws and regulations, or specifically excluded from regulations covering occupational diving. In others, only diver training and dive-leading activities where the diver is either employed or takes a leadership position where they are responsible for the safety of others is covered by legislation. At the other extreme, countries such as Israel have statutory law covering all recreational diving activities.  Recreational diver training and dive leading are industry regulated in some countries, and only directly regulated by government in a subset of them. In the UK, HSE legislation includes recreational diver training and dive leading for reward; in the US and South Africa industry regulation is accepted, though non-specific health and safety legislation still applies. In Israel recreational diving activities are regulated by the Recreational Diving Act, 1979.  The legal responsibility for recreational diving service providers is usually limited as far as possible by waivers which they require the customer to sign before engaging in any diving activity. The extent of responsibility of recreational buddy divers is unclear and has been the subject of considerable litigation. It is probable that it varies between jurisdictions. In spite of this lack of clarity, and conflicting evidence, buddy diving is recommended by recreational diver training agencies as safer than solo diving, and some service providers insist that customers dive in buddy pairs.

Economic impact.

Recreational diving provides a market for the diving equipment industry, the diver training industry and the diver services industry, all of which are interdependent, and at retail level, frequently provided by the same local specialist outlet.  The combined contribution of recreational scuba diving and snorkeling to the US gross domestic product wes estimated at $11 billion in a 2019 report by the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association  Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental tourism. Customer satisfaction is largely dependent on the quality of services provided, and personal communication has a strong influence on the popularity of specific service providers in a region.

Demographics.

A 2014 survey of American divers indicates with a high level of confidence for the specified population, that about 3.145 million Americans (1.1 percent of population) took part in scuba diving at least once in the survey year, which is a 0.9 percent decrease over 2013, but participation increased by 1.3 percent on average for the previous five years. There were about 2.252 million casual participants who made between one and seven dives per year and 893,000 core participants who dived eight or more times per year. 66% of casual and 74% of core participants were male. The age distribution of casual and core participants differs. Core participants tend to be older. Casual participation tends to gradually rise to apeak in early middle age, then drop markedly after aboput 45 years old, while core participation tends to continue at a relatively consistent rate over age groups up to about 65 years, after which it drops markedly. Some training agencies will accept trainees as young as 8 years old for participation in supervised scuba experiences, and 10 years for certification. The record age for a scuba dive as of January 2020 is 95 years. Recreational scuba divers appear to be on average wealthier and better educated than the general population, as indicated by earlier surveys. There is a greater tendency than average for scuba divers to participate in other sporting and exercise activities than the general population, but lack of adequate physical fitness is frequently cited as a contributory factor in diving accidents.  The medical literature, anecdotal evidence and a small-scale survey suggest that a significant part of the recreational scuba diving population may have chronic medical conditions that affect their fitness to dive according to the Recreational Scuba Training Council's guidelines. This may have an influence on risk, as unfitness and preexisting medical conditions are frequently cited in incident reports where the incident was adequately investigated.  PADI worldwide certification statisdtics indicate a slow but steady trend of increasing proportion of certification of female divers at all levels from 34.4% in 2013 to 38.0% in 2018, and a decrease in the average age of certifications over the same period.  Personality profiles of recreational divers were analysed in a 2010 study on entry level divers: The participants scored high on self-sufficiency, impulsiveness and boldness and low on warmth, sensitivity and conformity, and differed from the typical extreme sport participant's personality profile. Personality types identified include adventurer, dreamer, rationalist and passive-aggressive macho diver, and results suggested that the risk-behaviour likely to be exhibited by the diver would depend on their personality type.

Venues for diving.

Most types of bodies of water can be used as dive sites:  Flooded excavations often have low visibility. Disused and flooded quarries are popular in inland areas for diver training as well as recreational diving. Rock quarries may have reasonable underwater visibility - there is often little mud or silt to create mid-water particles that cause low visibility, and the lack of flow allows silt to settle on the bottom, where it may later be kicked up by unskilled divers to temporarily reduce visibility locally. As they are not natural environments, and usually privately owned, quarries may contain objects intentionally placed for divers to explore, such as sunken boats, automobiles, aircraft, or structures like grain silos and gravel chutes. The popularity of a dive site will usually depend on accessibility, known hazards, desirable features, and the variety of alternative options nearby. Sites known for exceptionally desirable features may attract expeditions in spite of major accessibility problems and significant hazards.

Dive site features.

Many types of underwater features make an interesting dive site, for example:

Marine citizen science.

Marine citizen science, the scientific research and monitoring projects for which members of the public collect, categorize, transcribe or analyze scientific data, is an increasingly popular but underutilised collaboration between society and scientific research, in which members of the recreational scuba diving community actively participate in marine data acquisition and recording, largely by way of geolocated photographic observations collected during recreational dives, but also in more structured and long term experimental work. Some barriers exist between divers and projects that are beyond the control of either the divers or the project organisers, but other aspects such as access to projects and feedback after participation are amenable to improvement. Recreational scuba divers are generally well disposed towards marine science, and participation could be improved by better management. Stakeholders to be considered are the scuba diving industry and professional intermediaries.  Citizen science can be an effective approach to marine and coastal conservation, and methods of making better use of citizen input for projects relating to policy, education, community capacity building, site management, species management, and research. have been investigated and developed. Marine citizen science projects face different challenges to terrestrial systems. The main challenges are logistical, as people spend very little time in the water. Access often requires expensive boats, diving gear, or transportation to the coast, and safety and liability issues can be complicated. Using citizen scientists can economically increase the temporal and spatial scale of a project. Early involvement of divers in the planning of a project can increase buy-in and avoid errors due to inaccurate assessment of capabilities and interest of volunteers. Training and some field oversight by professionals will usually be necessary to ensure reliable data collection. Retention of volunteers is affected by their perception of the recognition of the value of their work.  The availability of affordable and compact high definition video and easy to operate underwater cameras allows citizen scientists to provide reliable observations that can be archived and reviewed by experts when desirable.

Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of recreational diving which requires greater levels of training, experience and equipment to compensate for the more hazardous conditions associated with the disciplines. Breath-hold diving for recreation also fits into the broader scope of the term, but this article covers the commonly used meaning of "scuba diving for recreational purposes, where the diver is not constrained from making a direct near-vertical ascent to the surface at any point during the dive", and risk is considered low.

指以娱乐休闲观光为目的的潜水活动,其最大潜水深度一般不超过水下30米,极限为水下40米。40米以下为技术潜水范畴。


哈维尔·佩雷斯·德奎利亚尔

Biography.

Early years.

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar was born on January 19, 1920 in Lima to a wealthy family of Spanish descent with ancestry from Cuéllar. He studied in Colegio San Agustín of Lima, and then at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

Diplomatic career.

Pérez de Cuéllar joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1940 and the diplomatic service in 1944, serving subsequently as Secretary at Peru's embassy in France, where he met and married his first wife in 1947, Yvette Roberts (1922–2013). He also held posts in the United Kingdom, Bolivia, and Brazil, and later served as ambassador to Switzerland, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Venezuela. From his first marriage, he has a son, Francisco, born in Paris, and a daughter, Águeda Cristina, born in London.  He was a junior member of the Peruvian delegation to the first session of the General Assembly, which convened in London in 1946, and a member of the delegations to the 25th through 30th sessions of the Assembly. In 1971, he was appointed permanent representative of Peru to the United Nations, and he led his country's delegation to all sessions of the Assembly from then until 1975.  In 1973 and 1974, he represented his country in the Security Council, serving as its President at the time of the events in Cyprus in July 1974. On September 18, 1975, he was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprusa post he held until December 1977, when he rejoined the Peruvian Foreign Service. On October 29, 1975, in Cyprus, Mr. Pérez de Cuéllar married his second wife, the former Marcela Temple Seminario (August 14, 1933, – July 3, 2013) with whom he had no children.  On February 27, 1979, he was appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. From April 1981, while still holding this post, he acted as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative on the situation relating to Afghanistan. In that capacity, he visited Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and August of that year in order to continue the negotiations initiated by the Secretary-General some months earlier.

United Nations Secretary-General.

On December 31, 1981, Pérez de Cuéllar succeeded Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General and was re-elected for a second term in October 1986. During his two terms, he led mediations between Great Britain and Argentina in the aftermath of the Falklands War and promoted the efforts of the Contadora Group to bring peace and stability to Central America. He also interceded in the negotiations for the independence of Namibia, the conflict in Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the war between Croatian forces seeking independence and the Yugoslav People's Army as well as local Serb forces, and the Cyprus issue. In 1986 he presided over an international arbitration committee that ruled on the Rainbow Warrior incident between New Zealand and France. In 1983, he initiated the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in order to unite countries to pursue sustainable development.  Shortly before the end of his second term, he rejected an unofficial request by members of the Security Council to reconsider his earlier decision not to run for a third term, shortened to two years, as a search for his successor had not, as of then, yielded a consensus candidate. A suitable candidate, Boutros Boutros Ghali of Egypt, was agreed upon in late December 1991, and his second term as Secretary-General concluded, as scheduled, on December 31, 1991.

Later life and death.

On July 22, 2005, Pérez de Cuéllar suffered a heart attack and was admitted to a hospital in Paris; he was released on July 30. On June 19, 2017, with a lifespan of 35,581 days he surpassed Alfredo Solf y Muro (1872–1969) in terms of longevity and had the longest life of any Prime Minister in Peru's history.  Pérez de Cuéllar died in Lima on March 4, 2020, at age 100.

Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar y de la Guerra (; ; January 19, 1920 – March 4, 2020) was a Peruvian diplomat and politician who served as the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1, 1982 to December 31, 1991. He ran unsuccessfully against Alberto Fujimori for President of Peru in 1995 and following Fujimori's resignation over corruption charges, he was Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 2000 until July 2001. In September 2004, he stepped down from his position as Peru's Ambassador to France, where he formerly resided. He was also a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 100 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democracy worldwide. At the age of, at the time of his death in March 2020 Pérez de Cuéllar was both the oldest living former Peruvian prime minister and Secretary General of the United Nations.

哈维尔·佩雷斯·德奎利亚尔·德拉格拉(,,1920年-1月19日-2020年-3月4日),为秘鲁外交官和政治人物,曾任秘鲁部长会议主席、联合国第五任秘书长等职务,于2020年3月4日在利马逝世。


Climate.

Sokoto has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSh"). It is located in the dry Sahel surrounded by sandy savannah and isolated hills.  With an annual average temperature of, Sokoto is one of the hottest cities in the Nigeria, however the maximum daytime temperatures are generally under most of the year, and the dryness makes the heat bearable. The warmest months are February to April, where daytime temperatures can exceed. The highest recorded temperature is. The rainy season is from June to October, during which showers are a daily occurrence. The showers rarely last long and are a far cry from the regular torrential showers known in many tropical regions. From late October to February, during the 'cold season', the climate is dominated by the harmattan wind blowing Sahara dust over the land. The dust dims the sunlight, thereby lowering temperatures significantly.  The region's lifeline for growing crops is the floodplains of the Sokoto-Rima river system, which are covered with rich alluvial soil. For the rest, the crops cultivated in Sokoto includes millet, guinea corn,Beans perhaps being the most abundant, followed by maize, rice,sesame, other cereals and vegetables such as; Onions,tomatoes,Pepper,Garden egg,Lettuce and Cabbage. Apart from millet, Sokoto is the major Onions producers in Nigeria. In terms of vegetation, Sokoto falls within the savannah zone. This is an open tse-tse fly-free grassland suitable for cultivation of grain crops and animal husbandry. Rain starts late and ends early with mean annual rainfall ranging between 500 mm and 1,300 mm. There are two major seasons in Sokoto, namely wet and dry. The dry season starts from October, and lasts up to April in some parts and may extend to May or June in other parts. The wet season on the other hand begins in most parts of the state in May and lasts up to September, or October. The harmattan, a dry, cold and fairly dusty wind is experienced in the state between November and February. Heat is more severe in the state in March and April. But the weather in the state is always cold in the morning and hot in the afternoons, save in peak harmattan period. The topography of the state is dominated by the famous Hausa plain of northern Nigeria. The vast fadama land of the Sokoto-Rima River systems dissects the plain and provides the rich alluvial soil fit for a variety of crop cultivation in the state. There are also isolated hills and mountain ranges scattered all over the state.

Historical development.

Sokoto had been used as early as October 1804 by the Shehu Usmanu Dan Fodiyo as the venue for the meeting with Galadima, Yunfa's Vizier. Subsequently, it was used by Muhammad Bello as a staging post for an attack on Dufua in the spring of 1806. Bovil suggested that the area/district may have been known as Sokoto as early as the seventeenth century. In historical perspective, Sokoto was founded as a ribat (military camp or frontier) in 1809, when Shehu Usmanu was at Sifawa. It later became the capital of the caliphate after Shehu's death.  In the 1820s, Sokoto was at its peak of prosperity coinciding with the peak of its 'rulers' powers at the center of the caliphate, receiving annual tribute from all the fiefs before a long period of decline. The explorer Hugh Clapperton (1827) was highly impressed by this prosperity and its effects on the city.  Clapperton noted the importance of Sokoto's closely settled surroundings: the rivers, rather than long-distance trade, in the city's economy. But the trade of Sokoto is at present inconsiderable, owing to the disturbed state of the surrounding country.  By the time the explorer Heinrich Barth arrived in 1853 Sokoto was thinly inhabited and greatly dilapidated. Barth in 1857 estimated the population at only 20,000–22,000, but the market was still supplied and attended, and a thriving suburb outside the wall was more animated than Sokoto itself.  Bovil aptly described Sokoto as a strong position, with steep escarpments from the east to the north-west and a small valley on the west and the south west protecting it against surprise cavalry attacks. The town dominates the broad lowland where the two rivers, Rima and Sokoto meet, being the junction of roads from Gobir in the north, Kebbi in the south and Burmi Zamfara in the east.  In the early 19th century, the town (Sokoto) was divided into wards. Such wards include Magajin Gari ward, Waziri ward, Sarkin Musulmi ward, Sarkin Adar ward, Magajin Rafi ward, and Sarkin Zamfara Ward. At this time the wards were small and surrounded with a wall, which included the mosques of Sultan Bello and Shehu, Sultan Palace and other buildings as well as the compound of Shehu.  In 1818, the wall was extended up to the extent that it has gates that come in and out of the Birni wall. Such gates are Kofar-Kade, Kofar-Kware, Kofar-Rini, Kofar-Dundaye, Kofar-Taramniya, Kofar-Aliyu Jedo, and Kofar-Marke.  The area of the present Sokoto was the home of many empires and kingdoms of the pre-colonial western Sudan. These include the Gobir and Kebbi kingdoms as well as the world-renowned caliphate whose spiritual and political capital is the headquarters of the state.  Following the conquest of the caliphate by the British in 1903, its various components were made autonomous and joined into the government of Northern Nigeria. The northern region was thus made up of mainly parts of the Sokoto caliphate and Kanem-Bornu Empire. This continued up to January 1967 when states were created to replace regional governments by General Yakubu Gowon. Sokoto became the headquarters of the north-western state created in 1967. In 1976 following the creation of Niger state out of North Western state, Sokoto state emerged with its headquarters. Yet in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states were carved out of Sokoto, in 1991 and 1996 respectively.  Sokoto metropolis has thus been the capital of various governments since its establishment by Caliph Muhammad Bello in 1809.

People and culture.

Sokoto state has a projected population of 3.7 million people based on a 2006 census made up of two ethnic groups namely, Hausa and Fulani. Sokoto town, the capital of Sokoto state, has a population of approximately 2.5 million. Apart from Hausa and Fulani, there are the Zabarmawa and Tuareg minorities in the local government border areas. All these groups speak Hausa as a common language. Fulfulde is spoken by the Fulani.  Hausa people in the state are made up of Gobirawa, Zamfarawa, Kabawa, Adarawa and Arawa. The Fulani on the other hand are of two main groups; the town Fulani (; ) and the Nomads. The former includes the Torankawa, the clan of Shehu Usmanu Danfodiyo, Sullubawa and Zoramawa. The Torankawa are the aristocratic class since 1804.  Culturally the state is homogeneous. The people of the state are Muslim and Islamic religion provides them with a code of conduct and behavior. Their mode of dress is also of Islamic origin. Two major festivals namely, Eid-el-Fitri and Eid-el-Kabir are celebrated in the state every year. The former marks the end of the Ramadan fast, while the latter features the slaughtering of rams in commemoration of an act of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham).  Traditional wrestling (Kokawa) and boxing (Dambe) are the two sports enjoyed by the Hausa while the Fulani and the Sullubawa entertain themselves with Sharo and Doro respectively. Important visitors to the state are usually treated to the grand or mini durbar, an event involving the parade of heavily decorated horses and camels mounted by men in full traditional military and cultural attire.

Economic activities.

Over eighty percent (80%) of the inhabitants of Sokoto practice one form of agriculture or another. They produce such crops as millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, potatoes, cassava, groundnuts and beans for subsistence and produce wheat, cotton and vegetables for cash. Local crafts such as blacksmithing, weaving, dyeing, carving and leather works also play an important role in the economic life of the people of Sokoto; as a result different areas like Makera, Marina, Takalmawa and Majema became important. Sokoto is also one of the fish producing areas of the country. Thus a large number of people along the river basin engage in fishing as well.  Sokoto is equally endowed with natural and mineral resources. Agro allied industries using cotton, groundnut, sorghum, gum, maize, rice, wheat sugar cane, cassava, gum Arabic and tobacco as raw materials can be established in the area. Large scale farming can also be practiced in the state using irrigation water from Goronyo Dam, Lugu, Kalmalo, Wammakko and Kwakwazo lakes among others.  Minerals such as kaolin, gypsum, limestone, laterite, red mills, phosphate both yellow and green, shade clay, sand etc., are available in commercial quantities. Mineral based industries using these raw materials could be established in the state.  The absence of the tse-tse fly on the open grassland benefits both wild and domestic animals. Sokoto ranks second in livestock production in the country's animal population of well over eight million.  The availability of these economic potentials provides good investment opportunities, particularly in agro-allied industries such as flour mills, tomatoes processing, sugar refining, textiles, glue, tanning, fish canning, etc.

Transport.

Sokoto lacks a public transport system. Transport within the city (when not by foot) is mainly by mopeds which operate as one-person taxis and sometimes tricycles transport persons from one place to the other; this allows for carriage of more than one person at a time (still at a cheap price as mopeds). Buses and taxis are infrequent and are generally used only for transport between cities.  10 km south of Sokoto there is an international airport with regular connections to Abuja, Kano and Lagos.

Industry.

In August 2008, an agreement was signed for the construction of a cement works in Sokoto.

Urbanization.

Urbanization has a very long history in Hausaland. The process started when certain strategic areas of Hausaland developed from Kauyuka to Birane. Yet one of the major consequences of the jihadist was the speeding of this phenomenon not only in Hausaland but also in all areas affected by the caliphate administration. New towns sprang up and the older birane entered into a period of unprecedented growth, some as new areas of commercial activities, others as both Emirate capitals and centers of administration and commerce.  One of the aspects of urbanization in the history of the Sokoto caliphate started with the establishment of Sokoto city (the headquarters of the caliphate). In the prejihad period, the area between the Gobir Kingdom and Kebbi was the area commonly referred to as "nomad land". But with the success of the jihad led by the Shehu usmau dan Fodiyo (1804–1808) and subsequent victory of the jihadists over the rulers of Hausaland, Sokoto city (headquarters of the caliphate) was built by Muhammad Bello. Moreover, as observed by Abdul-Razaq Shehu in his book "Sakkwato Birnin Shehu"), Sokoto city was designed on paper by Muhammad Bello even before it was built. Bello, son of the Sheikh, was among his father's lieutenants and war commanders. He fought the hardest and longest wars and was the architect of the caliphate Sokoto Birnin Shehu.  Sokoto city as designed by the architect Muhammad Bello consisted of all the characteristic features of any modern city including roads, bridges, market, ganuwa (fortification round centers of town) and as well as administrative and commercial centers. Among the administrative centers designed by Muhammad Bello are Kanwuri, Binanchi, Galadanci, Alkalanci, Dogarawa and so on. However, apart from the central market popularly known as Yardole, other commercial areas designed by Muhammad Bello include Makera, Madinka, Marina, Siriddawa, Takalmawa, Runji and Jirgawa. In addition, among other things no town in either pre-jihad or 19th century Hausaland could develop into an urban center without effective fortification (ganuwa). This was built with many strongpoints like Kofar Aliyu Jedo, Kofar Dundaye, Kofar Marke, Kofar Rini, Kofar Kware, and Kofar Taramniya, and this paramount development attracted many people to migrate from their locality into Sokoto city for survival.  From the above observation on how caliph Muhammad Bello designed the city of Sokoto we will see that Sokoto witnessed more immigrants with interest in blacksmithing leather works, pottery etc. For example, some of these people either engage in the business of blacksmithing or in other related business as in Makera Assada. There are people who used to travel to different parts of present Nigeria and even in neighbouring countries to buy damaged iron materials like damaged vehicles, cars, lorries, aircraft etc. iron pipes, and oil tanks in order to break them into pieces and sell them for anybody who wants to put them into use or modify them into another product.

Sokoto is a city located in the extreme northwest of Nigeria, near the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2006 it has a population of 427,760. Sokoto is the modern-day capital of Sokoto State (and its predecessor, the north-western State).

索科托(Sokoto)位于尼日尔利亚西北部索科托河与里马河交汇处,是索科托州以及其前身——西北州的首府。


The Settlements.

Penang and Province Wellesley.

The first settlement was the Penang territory, in 1786. This originally comprised Penang Island, then known as the "Prince of Wales Island". This was later extended to encompass an area of the mainland, which became known as Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai). The first grant was in 1800, followed by another in 1831. Further adjustments to Province Wellesley's border were made in 1859, and with the Treaty of Pangkor in 1874. Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain in 1800 by the Sultan of Kedah, on its northern and eastern border; Perak lies to the south. The boundary with Kedah was rectified by treaty with Siam (now Thailand) in 1867. It was administered by a district officer, with some assistants, answering to the resident councillor of Penang. Province Wellesley consisted, for the most part, of a fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied in some parts by sugar-planters and others engaged in similar agricultural industries and employing Chinese and Tamil labour. About a tenth of the whole area was covered by low hills with thick jungle. Large quantities of rice were grown by the Malay inhabitants, and between October and February, there was snipe-shooting in the paddy fields. A railway from Butterworth, opposite Penang, runs into Perak, and thence via Selangor and Negri Sembilan to Malacca, with an extension via Muar under the rule of the Sultan of Johor, and through the last-named state to Johor Bharu, opposite the island of Singapore.

Singapore.

Singapore became the site of a British trading post in 1819 after its founder, Stamford Raffles, successfully involved the East India Company in a dynastic struggle for the throne of Johore. Thereafter the British came to control the entire island of Singapore, which was developed into a thriving colony and port. In 1824 the Dutch conceded any rights they had to the island in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, and by 1836 Singapore was the seat of government of the Straits Settlements.

Malacca.

The Dutch colony of Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for the British possession of Bencoolen and for British rights in Sumatra. Malacca's importance was in establishing an exclusive British zone of influence in the region, and it was overshadowed as a trading post by Penang, and later, Singapore.

Dindings.

The Dindings — named after the Dinding River in present-day Manjung District — which comprised Pangkor Island, and the towns of Lumut and Sitiawan on the mainland, were ceded by Perak to the British government under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. Hopes that its excellent natural harbour would prove to be valuable were doomed to disappointment, and the territory sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially, was returned to and administered by the government of Perak in February 1935.

History and government.

East India Company rule.

The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority. Their capital was moved from George Town, the capital of Penang, to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the company lost its monopoly in the china trade in 1833, expensive to administer.  During their control by the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners, earning them the title of the "Botany Bays of India". The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang. Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857 the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament asking for direct rule; but the idea was overtaken by events—the Indian Rebellion of 1857.  When a "Gagging Act" was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements' press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted "every principle of liberty and free discussion". As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant: it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year.

Crown Colony status.

On 1 April 1867 the Settlements became a British Crown colony, making the Settlements answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the government of British India based in Calcutta. Earlier, on 4 February 1867, Letters Patent had granted the Settlements a colonial constitution. This allocated much power to the Settlements' Governor, who administered the colony of the Straits Settlements with the aid of an Executive Council, composed wholly of official (i.e., ex-officio) members, and a legislative council, composed partly of official and partly of nominated members, of which the former had a narrow permanent majority. The work of administration, both in the colony and in the Federated Malay States, was carried on by means of a civil service whose members were recruited by competitive examination held annually in London.  Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by resident councillors.

Governor's wider role.

In 1886 the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (which were settled and once owned by a Scottish family named Clunies-Ross) and Christmas Island, formerly attached to Ceylon, were transferred to the care of the government of the Straits Settlements in Singapore. In 1907 the former Crown Colony of Labuan, in Borneo, which for a period was vested in the British North Borneo Company, was resumed by the British government and was vested in the governor of the Straits Settlements.  The governor was also High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States on the peninsula, for British North Borneo, the sultanate of Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo. British residents controlled the native states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang, but on 1 July 1896, when the federation of these states was effected, a resident-general, responsible to the (governor as) high commissioner, was placed in supreme charge of all the British protectorates in the peninsula.

Japanese invasion and dissolution.

During World War II, the Japanese invaded Malaya and the Straits Settlements by landing on Kelantan on 8 December 1941. On 16 December Penang became the first Straits Settlement to fall into Japanese hands. Malacca fell on 15 January and Singapore fell on 15 February, following the Battle of Singapore. The Straits Settlements, along with the rest of the Malay Peninsula, remained under Japanese occupation until the August 1945.  After the war, the colony was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946, with Singapore becoming a separate Crown colony (and ultimately an independent republic), while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union (a predecessor of modern-day Malaysia). Labuan was briefly annexed to Singapore, before being attached to the new colony of British North Borneo.

Population.

The following are the area and population, with details of race distribution, of the colony of the Straits Settlements, the figures being those of the census of 1901: The population, which was 306,775 in 1871 and 423,384 in 1881, had in 1901 reached a total of 572,249. As in former years, the increase was solely due to immigration, more especially of Chinese, though a considerable number of Tamils and other natives of India settled in the Straits Settlements. The total number of births registered in the colony in 1900 was 14,814, and the ratio per 1,000 of the population during 1896, 1897, and 1898 respectively was 22–18, 20–82 and 21–57; while the number of registered deaths for the years 1896–1900 gave a ratio per 1000 of 42–21, 36–90, 30–43, 31–66 and 36-25 respectively, the number of deaths registered during 1900 being 23,385. The cause to which the excess of deaths over births is to be attributed is to be found in the fact that the Chinese and Indian population, which numbered 339,083, or over 59 percent of the whole, was composed of 261,412 males and only 77,671 females, and a comparatively small number of the latter were married women and mothers of families. Male Europeans also outnumbered females by about two to one. Among the Malays and Eurasians, who alone had a fair proportion of both sexes, infant mortality was excessive due to early marriages and other causes.  The number of immigrants landing in the various settlements during 1906 was: Singapore 176,587 Chinese; Penang 56,333 Chinese and 52,041 natives of India; and Malacca 598 Chinese. The total number of immigrants for 1906 was therefore 285,560, as against 39,136 emigrants, mostly Chinese returning to China. In 1867, the date of the transfer of the colony from the East India Company to the Crown, the total population was estimated at 283,384.  In 1939, the population reached 1,370,300.

Finance.

In the early nineteenth century, the most common currency used in the East Indies was the Spanish dollar, including issues both from Spain and from the new world Spanish colonies, most significantly Mexico. Locally issued coinages included the Kelantan and Trengganu keping, and the Penang dollar.  In 1837, the Indian rupee was made the sole official currency in the Straits Settlements, as it was administered as part of India.  However, Spanish dollars continued to circulate and 1845 saw the introduction of coinage for the Straits Settlements using a system of 100 cents = 1 Straits dollar, with the dollar equal to the Spanish dollar or Mexican peso. In 1867, the administration of the Straits Settlements was separated from India and the dollar was made the standard currency.  The revenue of the colony in 1868 amounted to $1,301,843. That for 1906 was $9,512,132, exclusive of $106,180 received for land sales. Of this sum, $6,650,558 was derived from import duties on opium, wines, and spirits, and licences to deal in these articles, $377,972 from land revenue, $592,962 from postal and telegraphic revenue, and $276,019 from port and harbour dues.  Expenditures, which in 1868 amounted to approximately $1,197,177, rose in 1906 to $8,747,819. The total cost of the administrative establishments amounted to $4,450,791, of which $2,586,195 were personal emoluments and $1,864,596 other charges. The military expenditure (the colony paid on this account 20 percent of its gross revenue to the British government by way of military contribution) amounted in 1906 to $1,762,438; $578,025 was expended on upkeep and maintenance of existing public works, and $1,209,291 on new roads, streets, bridges, and buildings.

The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast and East Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a Crown colony on 1 April 1867. In 1946, following the end of the Second World War and the Japanese occupation, the colony was dissolved as part of the Britain's reorganisation of its dependencies in the area.

海峡殖民地(英语:Straits Settlements),是英帝国于1826年至1946年对于马六甲海峡周边及邻近地区各殖民地的管理建制。最初由新加坡(石叻埠)、槟城(槟榔屿)和马六甲(吗六呷)三个重要英属港口组成,因此被当时当地华人称为三州府或者叻屿呷,之后海峡殖民地涵盖范围及于天定及纳闽。