Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out. For the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actor with them in the scenes which they describe.

The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.

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From the date of arrival at Gibraltar on 30th April 711 of Tariq bin Ziyad from North Africa with his mercenary army in less than 20 years nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula has succumbed to the direct rule of the Caliph of Damascus in modern day Syria.

Governors are appointed directly by the Caliph in Damascus and they are in control of something like 90% of the Iberian Peninsular including modern day Portugal and Spain.

These rulers are known by the name of the Umayyads.

The Arabs with their Berber army continue to advance to the North and East and move towards Gaul.

Their armies move into Gaul which we know today as France and here at last they are stopped in their tracks by the Franks - near Poitiers in 732.

Poitiers is less than 200 miles to the South and West of modern day Paris.

The Franks are well known for their success in battle and it is not surprising that they are able to rebuff the Arabs at this time.

They turn back and return whence they came to Spain.

This defeat at the Hands of the Franks immediately restricts and curtails any further Arab territorial ambitions in Western Europe to the Iberian Peninsula.

The defeat in 732 at Poitiers has very far reaching repercussions for the Arab occupiers in Spain as it is followed by Berber rebellions in both North Africa and in Spain.

The time period 711 to 756 can be called the dependent caliphate because it is controlled directly from and is dependent on Damascus in Syria but this control is impossible to retain because of an on going rivalry between the various power factions with in the different Arab groups in Spain.

The Umayyad prince, Abd-al-Rahman brings balance and stability to Spain when he arrives from Damascus in 756.

He is lucky as he has escaped the Abbasid massacre of his whole family in Syria.

As background to this change in power the Abbasids rose against the Umayyad?s in 747. They wanted to be the leaders of the Arab world due to their descendence from Muhammad?s youngest Uncle Abbas.

The Umayyad?s took a large force into modern day Iraq to attack the Abbasids in 750.

At the battle of Zab the Umayyads lost and their leader went to Egypt but he was subsequently captured and killed.

An Abbasid then became the Caliph and he was known as Abu al Abbas Abdullah.

He was also known as "As Saffah" which translates to "The Slaughterer" and he was given that name due to the fate he handed out to the Umayyad?s who were put to death apart from Rahman the first who escaped.

Indeed after the assassination of his family the base of power in the Middle East is moved from Damascus to Baghdad and therefore more into the centre of Persia.

Rahman survives various assassination attacks and after a somewhat tortuous journey having to conceal his identity he eventually arrives after some five or six years in Southern Spain where is welcomed as a hero.

Rahman is descended from a Syrian and a Berber and is very well received in Spain as he represents the original Umayyad?s who initially occupied Spain in 711 they have not recognized the change in power brought about by the assassination of his family.

It is, as if, the rightful Prince arrives to claim the waiting throne so as to speak.

His seat of power is established at the beautiful city of Cordoba in 756 AD.

From 756 AD till 929 AD this period in history can be called the Independent Caliphate as Rahman and his successors? are completely Independent.

Here in Cordoba Rahman starts to build the first great Muslim civilization in Spain and as I have said he is now acting completely independently of the middle east power base which is now in Baghdad.

He is the sole ruler of most of Spain excluding Asturias in the North and the coastal strip from there to the Pyrenees in France.

In modern day terms this is from south of Oviedo in Northern Spain to say Narbonne in the South of France.

Asturias is where the Visigoth nobles retreated to and there they found a safe refuge as it is surrounded by mountains to the South , East and West and by the Sea to the North.

Effectively Rahman controls about 90% of the Iberian Peninsula including Portugal and he is happy to leave Asturias alone..

Allthough he was an occupier in a country which was not his original home in many ways he and his occupation were in some ways welcomed or perhaps I should say not opposed by the indigenous population as they brought trade and economy to Spain and with it came a better life style and as we would say today an increase in the standard of living. They were also tolerant and understanding of the existing religions.

They bought with them many new agricultural methods, ideas and of course many different crops to grow.

Many of the crops grown in Spain today come from these times and are not originally native of Spain.

The items I have in mind are Almonds, Aubergines, Apricots, Artichokes, Bananas, Lemons, Oranges, Peaches, Peppers and Pomegranates to give but some examples.

They also introduced systems of water irrigation and even to this day there is still evidence of water distribution systems for agricultural that date from these past times.

Apart from farming and agriculture there were of course many other cultural influences including Flamenco dancing and music.

As a proof that Rahman and his government was some what ahead of their time by Western European standards places of learning and healing were included in their construction ideas. In modern day terms we would call these Hospitals and Schools.

It is said that Cordoba in the ninth century was probably one of the most advanced cities in Western Europe at that time.

For example there were hundreds of mosques and at this point in time some seven hundred mosques and over time this eventually grew to sixteen hundred.

Apart from the religious aspect of life there some three hundred public baths and more than seventy libraries. Paper is widely available the manufacturing process having been brought back from China to Persia well before the Arabs came to Spain.

Cordoba became a hive of economy and business and as it does so it expands in physical size, economic resources and gains a reputation for both highly skilled craftsmen and scholars.

It has paved streets with lighting and houses with under floor heating which was probably copied from the Romans. In these days London for example would have had none of these things.

One has to realize that Islam had been expanding for some 200 years before reaching Spain and had access to many areas of great knowledge originating from many advanced civilizations? such as the Greeks, Egyptians and Persians all of whom were learned people. Much of this knowledge was at this point in history unknown in Western Europe.

In 912 Abd-al-Rahman 111 suceeds from Abd Allah his grandfather at the age of 21 and he commands a City with something like five hundred thousand inhabitants which is continuing to expand at a rapid rate of knots.

In 929AD he declares hims self Caliph and from this time till 1031AD this period in history could be called the Caliphate dynasty.

However dynasties do tend to come to an end often after rapid periods of growth and expansion.

Sooner or later there will be unrest in the camp.

The Berbers who I have already explained are a mercenary army and they start to be impossible to control.

They demand and are given very substantial concessions but in 1031 AD this brings about the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate and with it, just as night follows day, comes the end of Arab control in Spain.

They have been in the country from 711 to 1031 some 320 years and from 756 till 1031 say some 280 years life seems to have been reasonably progressive and beneficial for the population of the country.

The end of the Umayyad caliphate in 1031 is followed by a period of anarchy among the Muslims of southern Spain.

A power vacuum develops which gives the Christian Kingdoms in the north a very welcome opportunity to start to move south.

These Kingdoms are influenced by world events as this is the time of the crusades and of course the Christians in Spain have their own local Muslims to confront if they wish to regain their original land and territory.

However in 1086 the Almoravids with Berber tribesman as their army arrive in Spain.

The power base now begins to change completely as the tribal leader is now from north Africa not Arabia.

He is leader of a noble Berber dynasty, the Almoravids and whilst there is now no Arab control they are still of the Muslim faith and they introduce a much harder line which is not popular with many.

In a brief article such as this one cannot over all the points but I hope that readers find this helpful.

The author writes many articles on a variety of different topics and his web site is at Marbella Spain

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/spanish-history-under-arab-rule-731-to-1031-ad-1783273.html

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/grants-awarded-through-the-obama-scholarship-with-high-returns-1776178.html

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/obama-is-going-to-make-scholarships-available-to-single-mothers-1773688.html

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/try-obama-scholarships-for-moms-they-could-improve-your-future-1771873.html

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/future-returns-provided-by-scholarships-through-the-obama-grant-1768111.html

Nobody is born with the real talent to be a designer. Its years of experience & tremendous effort put together which can turn you into a successful designer like legendary Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, or Giorgio Armani who have attended the world's best fashion schools. Fashion schools give you an opportunity to learn everything about fashion design, merchandising, and even marketing. These individual programs need to be carefully selected in order to pick a degree which fits you best.

After obtaining a fashion degree, you will open many roads in your career path. You will be able to offer your creations to people that are in need of something unique, high quality and perfect fit. In the fast growing industry like fashion, you need to be competitive with the desire to built clothes for people of different ages, preferences, sizes. One of the steps is to make sure you have gained experience in the merchandising field, retail , later moving up to being a buyer or a store manager and last step in the process, is becoming a fashion designer or editor.

Everything depends on you & your desire to be on top. Most important is to stand behind your personal style and designs since there is always a market and an audience for talented designer. People are looking for something eye catching to wear, something that can make them happy and, at the same time, look good. You can be the one they are looking for therefore you need to study hard, use your talent & thrive on reaching the highs of your career.

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Earn your degree by going to a fashion college

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One of the key sectors that has been largely responsible for the Indian economy gaining maximum advantage of the liberalisation about roughly two decades ago is undoubtedly our banking industry. With liberal help from the IT industry the sector has literally transformed the way we bank. India now provides a banking infrastructure that is truly world class and sophistcated and at the same time is simple and secure. This is indeed a big thing.

But who are the people who make the Banking industry the smooth, efficient and never stopping machinery that it is. While the entire personnel who constitute the work force of a typical bank contribute immensely to the overall overall functioning of their particular unit, it is the combined strength and efficiency of the Bank Clerks and Probationary Officers who form the backbone.

Typically an Indian bank will have loan clerks, loan officers and loan procesors who do the bulk of the day to day operations. While internet banking has most certainly made their lives easy, it has also made the bank's customer list quite huge. Their succes lies in how well they team up together and function as a well-oiled machine that carries out the various processes continuously and diligently and without mistakes.

In fact, the banking industry is what it is solely due to the dual force of the Bank Clerks and Probationary Officers. Combinedly thy have made it the marvellosly efficient and greatly productive industry it is. In this article, some light is thrown on what all possible steps aspiring candidates can take in order to enter in to this industry. We have done this by providing certain valuable inputs on how to clear the Entrance Examinations by choosing the appropriate preparation methodology.

If you think you have the required head for figures and fancy a career in this flourishing industry then you will have to clear Bank Clerk and Bank Probationary Officers Entrance Examination that the Staff Selection Commission holds annually.

One very good way to clear these entrances can be working out the previous years Bank clerk question papers and the Bank PO Sample Papers. These are readily available in several web sites and too for no cost at all. Latestt.com is one such site that is solely on the educcation and the knowledge sector.

Working out these Bank Clerk Question Papers and the Bank P.O. question papers is bound to instil in you the required confidence and provide you the knowledge about the examination pattern and the diffculty levels involved. You would also know the kind of questions that are generally asked. The Bank Clerk Question Papers and the Bank PO Sample Papers are available both as unsolved and solved papers on these sites.

Even if you are able to clear say three to four of these Bank exam papers and the Bank PO Sample Papers, it will be adequate. Once this exercise is through the only thing you have to do is to identify someone who can evaluate your effort. This is absolutely necessary otherwise it will be difficult to have a clear picture how much actual progress you have made.

Adarsh Sharma is the webmaster of Latestt.com. For more information about Bank clerk question papers, bank exam papers and bank P.O. question papers visit the site.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/bank-clerk-exam-paving-the-way-for-a-lucrative-career-in-the-banking-industry-1760639.html

Students from Nordic countries that include Norway, Denmark and Germany can study in Sweden as long as they want. If students belonging to these countries, you don’t require any visa or resident permit for study in Sweden. It is a project aimed at building a community place for prospective and current students in Sweden. It will also be collaborative plate form for academia and industry in Sweden. We are looking for support from international students in Sweden to help it make a success.

Sweden Study has a lot of information related to student visa, life in Sweden and student scholarship. Sweden is one of the best country for pursuing higher degree. Universities here in Sweden are best known by the quality institutes not only in Europe but also in all around the world. If students other than EU/ EEA countries want to study in Sweden, they have to apply for student visa. Most of the programs offering in Sweden have period of more than 3months. For applying in Sweden student need to submit required documents along with visa application to Sweden embassy in their respective countries. You have to submit a copy of valid passport having validity of more than 1 year. Now Sweden has changed their criteria and students have to show their insurance while applying for visa.

Sweden study is a writer for online Web

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/sweden-study-1756133.html

People have been changing land forms for shelter through the start of man and woman. Thousands of years ago, shelter started without changing much the land. People changed the land to build their houses out of sticks or they lived in caves that were already there. People did not change the land they lived on too much because they did not have the tools or the need to do so. There was also not a large human population to compete with like we have today.

In more recent history, people of different cultures built their houses into the land. Take a look at some of the Native American tribes. Some tribes built their homes in the side of mountains. They did this for many reasons especially because it was easy shelter. It was easy for them to do and convenient as the cliffs were there. The same hold true of people from the past in the Middle East. They also lived in mountains. Their homes were made with holes in the side of the mountain but look like giant houses that we build today. As time went on, the tools improved to help people build in many areas of the world including mountains.

One of the neatest examples of how people changed a Landform to have a place to live is during the time of the middle ages. When Jesus was alive and before that people made their homes out of the stone in the land. This stone was used all over the place. This includes the building of irrigation systems and sewer systems. Water was brought in for city drinking water as well as baths. It was an amazing system that architects still model after today. With out changing landforms people would not be able to have a large community living close together like they started to in the Middle East.

Even a few hundred years ago, people lived in homes made out of the plains landforms. A plains area is a flat area of land with not a lot of trees. So one way people were creative is they constructed homes out of the Earth. Their houses were made of earth and the roofs were made of grass. It was a very neat thing to see houses made of mud and dirt. This left a lot of resources left in the land and did not changes much of the landforms.

In the more recent history, landforms such as forests and swampy areas have been changed for businesses and places to live. Business have taken over once was farm areas and massive forests to establish a community of work. Houses were then added near swamp areas for people to live and close enough for people to drive to work. The trees were used to build the homes and building. These landforms were demolished for people to live and work.

When looking at the change of landforms to benefit where we live today, land forms have changed drastically because of the change in population. We now have millions upon millions of homes that are over two thousand square feet. We have farms that feed us food near by where it was once a prairie. We have changed many land forms for a place to live. It is a far cry from the shelters of the past.

With the increase of population landforms are changing. Where once was a swamp, forest or hill landform, is now homes for a shelter and building for us to work. In the recent past, we have changed landforms at an alarming rate for our convenience. It is a lot different from a thousand years ago where landforms were built out of clay and sticks. Humans have done this for a more convenient place to live and for protection but it has had an effect on our landforms. If we want to keep our beautiful landforms we may want to think about the shelters we live in today.

David Olmst has been writing about and researching landforms for the past 10 years. He has his own Landform website at Landforms. For the love of Land forms !Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/changing-landforms-for-the-benefit-of-shelter-1751514.html