* No relation to Richard I Plantagenet, King of England, known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart, son to Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine, historic figures that my Flickr friend grandma Eleanor WHU (www.flickr.com/photos/elcog2010/) is very fond of!

- En cœur de lion*

* Aucune relation avec Richard Ier Plantagenêt, roi d'Angleterre, connu sous le nom de Richard Cœur de Lion, fils d'Henri II Plantagenêt et d' Aliénor d'Aquitaine, figures historiques dont l'ami Flickr grand-mère Eleanor WHU (www.flickr.com/photos/elcog2010/) y est très friande!

Pictures taken in February 1983 - digitally captured from paper print.

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Borneo (/ˈbɔːrnioʊ/; Indonesian: Kalimantan, Malay: Borneo) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest island in Asia.[1] At the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra.

The island is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory. In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo's land area. Antipodal to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world. It is home to Bornean orangutans.

ETYMOLOGY

The island is known by many names; internationally it is known as Borneo, after Brunei, derived from European historical contact with the kingdom in the 16th century during the Age of Exploration. The name Brunei possibly was initially derived from the Sanskrit word "váruṇa" (वरुण), meaning either "ocean" or the mythological Varuna, the Hindu god of the ocean. Indonesian natives called it Kalimantan, which was derived from the Sanskrit word Kalamanthana, meaning "burning weather island" (to describe its hot and humid tropical weather).

Prior to that the island was also known by other names. In 977 Chinese records began to use the term Po-ni to refer to Borneo. In 1225 it was also mentioned by the Chinese official Chau Ju-Kua (趙汝适). The Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Majapahit court poet Mpu Prapanca in 1365, mentioned the island as Nusa Tanjungnagara, which means the island of the Tanjungpura Kingdom.

GEOGRAPHY

Borneo is surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east, and the Java Sea and Karimata Strait to the south. To the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. To the south and east are islands of Indonesia: Java and Sulawesi, respectively. To the northeast are the Philippine Islands.

With an area of 743.330 square kilometres, it is the third-largest island in the world, and is the largest island of Asia (the largest continent). Its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, with an elevation of 4095 m.

The largest river system is the Kapuas in West Kalimantan, with a length of 1143 km. Other major rivers include the Mahakam in East Kalimantan (980 km long), the Barito in South Kalimantan (880 km long), and Rajang in Sarawak (562,5 km long).

Borneo has significant cave systems. Clearwater Cave, for example, has one of the world's longest underground rivers. Deer Cave is home to over three million bats, with guano accumulated to over 100 metres deep.

Before sea levels rose at the end of the last Ice Age, Borneo was part of the mainland of Asia, forming, with Java and Sumatra, the upland regions of a peninsula that extended east from present day Indochina. The South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand now submerge the former low-lying areas of the peninsula. Deeper waters separating Borneo from neighbouring Sulawesi prevented a land connection to that island, creating the divide known as Wallace's Line between Asian and Australia-New Guinea biological regions.

ECOLOGY

The Borneo rainforest is 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world. There are about 15000 species of flowering plants with 3000 species of trees (267 species are dipterocarps), 221 species of terrestrial mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo. There are about 440 freshwater fish species in Borneo (about the same as Sumatra and Java combined). It is the centre of the evolution and distribution of many endemic species of plants and animals. The Borneo rainforest is one of the few remaining natural habitats for the endangered Bornean orangutan. It is an important refuge for many endemic forest species, including the Borneo elephant, the eastern Sumatran rhinoceros, the Bornean clouded leopard, the Hose's palm civet and the dayak fruit bat.

In 2010 the World Wide Fund for Nature stated that 123 species have been discovered in Borneo since the "Heart of Borneo" agreement was signed in 2007.

The WWFN has classified the island into seven distinct ecoregions. Most are lowland regions:

- Borneo lowland rain forests cover most of the island, with an area of 427500 square kilometres;

- Borneo peat swamp forests;

- Kerangas or Sundaland heath forests;

- Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests; and

- Sunda Shelf mangroves.

- The Borneo montane rain forests lie in the central highlands of the island, above the 1000 metres elevation. The highest elevations of Mount Kinabalu are home to the Kinabalu mountain alpine meadow, an alpine shrubland notable for its numerous endemic species, including many orchids.

The island historically had extensive rainforest cover, but the area was reduced due to heavy logging for the Malaysian and Indonesian plywood industry. Half of the annual global tropical timber acquisition comes from Borneo. Palm oil plantations have been widely developed and are rapidly encroaching on the last remnants of primary rainforest. Forest fires of 1997 to 1998, started by the locals to clear the forests for plantations were exacerbated by an exceptionally dry El Niño season, worsening the annual shrinkage of the rainforest. During these fires, hotspots were visible on satellite images and the resulting haze affected four countries: Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

In 2010 Sarawak announced a plan for energy production, the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, to try to establish sustainability.

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

According to ancient Chinese, Indian and Javanese manuscripts, western coastal cities of Borneo had become trading ports by the first millennium. In Chinese manuscripts, gold, camphor, tortoise shells, hornbill ivory, rhinoceros horn, crane crest, beeswax, lakawood (a scented heartwood and root wood of a thick liana, Dalbergia parviflora), dragon's blood, rattan, edible bird's nests and various spices were described as among the most valuable items from Borneo. The Indians named Borneo Suvarnabhumi (the land of gold) and also Karpuradvipa (Camphor Island). The Javanese named Borneo Puradvipa, or Diamond Island. Archaeological findings in the Sarawak river delta reveal that the area was a thriving trading centre between India and China from the 6th century until about 1300.

One of the earliest evidence of Hindu influence in Southeast Asia were stone pillars which bear inscriptions in the Pallava script, found in Kutai along the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan, dating to around the second half of the 4th century.

By the 14th century, Borneo was under the control of the Majapahit kingdom based in present-day Indonesia. Muslims entered the island and converted many of the indigenous peoples to Islam.

During the 1450s, Shari'ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab born in Johor, arrived in Sulu from Malacca. In 1457, he founded the Sultanate of Sulu; he titled himself as "Paduka Maulana Mahasari Sharif Sultan Hashem Abu Bakr". The Sultanate of Brunei, during its golden age from the 15th century to the 17th century, ruled a large part of northern Borneo. In 1703 (other sources say 1658), the Sultanate of Sulu received the eastern part of North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei, after Sulu sent aid against a rebellion in Brunei.

DUTCH AND BRITISH CONTROL

The Sultanate of Brunei granted large parts of land in Sarawak in 1842 to the English adventurer James Brooke, as reward for his having helped quell a local rebellion. Brooke established the Kingdom of Sarawak and was recognised as its rajah after paying a fee to the Sultanate. He established a monarchy, and the Brooke dynasty (through his nephew and great-nephew) ruled Sarawak for 100 years; the leaders were known as the White Rajahs.

In the early 19th century, British and Dutch governments signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 to exchange trading ports under their controls and assert spheres of influence. This resulted in indirectly establishing British- and Dutch-controlled areas in Borneo, in the north and south, respectively. The Malay and Sea Dayak pirates preyed on maritime shipping in the waters between Singapore and Hong Kong from their haven in Borneo.

The British North Borneo Company controlled the territory of North Borneo (present-day Sabah) from 1882 to 1941.

WORLD WAR II

During World War II, Japanese forces gained control and occupied Borneo (1941–45). They decimated many local populations and killed Malay intellectuals, executing all the Malay Sultans of Kalimantan in the Pontianak incidents. Sultan Muhammad Ibrahim Shafi ud-din II of Sambas in Kalimantan was executed in 1944. The Sultanate was thereafter suspended and replaced by a Japanese council.[19] During the Japanese occupation, the Dayak played a role in guerrilla warfare against the occupying forces, particularly in the Kapit Division. They temporarily revived headhunting of Japanese toward the end of the war. Allied Z Special Unit provided assistance to them. After the Fall of Singapore, the Japanese sent several thousand British and Australian prisoners of war to camps in Borneo. At one of the worst sites, around Sandakan in Borneo, only six of some 2500 prisoners survived. In 1945, the Japanese were defeated by the Allies.

RECENT HISTORY

Borneo was the main site of the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia between 1962 and about 1969. The British Army was deployed against the Indonesians and communist revolts to gain control of the whole area. Before the formation of Malaysian Federation, the Philippines claimed that the eastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah was within their territory. They based this on the history of the Sultanate of Sulu's leasing agreement with the British North Borneo Company.

In 1962 Brunei Revolt, Brunei People's Party wanted to reunify Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah into one federation known as North Borneo Federation or Kesatuan Negara Kalimantan Utara in Malay where the Sultan of Brunei would be the Head of State for the federation. This caused a civil war for few days in British Protectorate Stats of Brunei and Sarawak State.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Borneo has 19,8 million inhabitants (in mid-2010), a population density of 26 inhabitants per square km. Most of the population lives in coastal cities, although the hinterland has small towns and villages along the rivers. The population consists mainly of Dayak ethnic groups, Malay, Banjar, Orang Ulu, Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun. The Chinese, who make up 29% of the population of Sarawak and 17% of total population in West Kalimantan, Indonesia are descendants of immigrants primarily from southeastern China.

In Kalimantan since the 1990s, the Indonesian government has undertaken an intense transmigration program; to that area it financed the relocation of poor, landless families from Java, Madura, and Bali. By 2001, transmigrants made up 21% of the population in Central Kalimantan. Since the 1990s, the indigenous Dayak and Malays have resisted encroachment by these migrants: violent conflict has occurred between some transmigrant and indigenous populations. In the 1999 Sambas riots, Dayaks and Malays joined together to massacre thousands of the Madurese migrants. In Kalimantan, thousands were killed in 2001 fighting between Madurese transmigrants and the Dayak people in the Sampit conflict.

ADMINISTRATION

The island of Borneo is divided administratively by three countries.

- The Indonesian provinces of East, South, West, North and Central Kalimantan, Kalimantan

- The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak (The Federal Territory of Labuan is located on nearshore islands of Borneo, on the island of Borneo itself.)

- The independent country of Brunei (main part and eastern exclave of Temburong)

WIKIPEDIA

From right to left: Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo (1861-1945), Salman Bin Hussain Matar (1837-1944), Jacques-Théodule Alfred Cartier (1884-1941), Mugbil Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thukair (1844-1923), and Abdulrahman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim (1875-1960) circa March 1912.

(Contrary to earlier conflicting accounts about the location of this famous photograph, local historians now believe it was taken during Jacques Cartier's introductory visit to Salman Bin Hussain Matar, the undisputed doyen of the Bahraini pearl industry for more than five decades, in his townhouse on the island of Muharraq by one of Cartier's assistants, while seated outside on the elevated, columned portico (iwan) of the main reception hall in the inner courtyard of the house, since the densely populated, once-walled old Muharraq town, with its maze of narrow, winding streets, was not only the largest urban centre on the small island but also the political capital of Bahrain and the seat of power for the Al Khalifa ruling dynasty from 1810 to 1923.)

(The date of birth of Yusuf Kanoo of 1861 in the caption above is arguably the most accurate of all his purported birth dates, in particular when compared to the other two widely circulated unsubstantiated discretionary dates of 1874 and 1868, the first of which is found in the British National Archives (India Office Records), vaguely based on Yusuf Kanoo's own account, casting doubt on the questionable veracity of the information-gathering methods of the British archival records, while the second is a more recent date, first appearing as the official birth date of Kanoo in the late 1990s; it is important to note that, with few exceptions here and there, prior to the gradual establishment of the modern bureaucratic centralised state system in Bahrain in the 1920s, and the following decades, virtually every birth date in Bahrain and the rest of the basic protection social contract of Arab Gulf polities, where the livelihoods and worldly possessions of the people were under the protection of a specific ruler in a loosely designated geographical area, was usually determined by word-of-mouth discretionary supposition, collective consensus, and, in some rare cases, chronicled by momentous or calamitous events occurring at random during any given time in a certain year, such as warfare, lethal epidemics or destructive natural disasters, the year is typically identified by a distinctive feature or characteristic attributed to the calamity itself, and the person born in the year in question, irrespective of gender, is routinely referred to as "being born in the year of so-and-so" and, at best, by adding the season of birth according to the seasonally unaligned Islamic Hijri Calendar, with this becoming, as time passed, part of the folk memory of the Bahraini people and the Gulf region in general, at a time when a sizeable portion of the indigenous local population was both illiterate and semiliterate, before the government-sponsored formal education system was introduced in the early 1920s and 1930s in the newly formed Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf, for example, when the devastating Spanish flu pandemic reached Arabia as a whole in the autumn of 1919, including Bahrain, resulting in the death of more than fifteen hundred inhabitants in Bahrain alone, the year of the outbreak was called "The Year of Mercy" due to the frequency of funerary prayers and supplications for mercy for the souls of so many victims who succumbed to the disease one after another, an Islamic religious nomenclature once commonly used in the Arabian Peninsula in relation to the catastrophic recurrences of virulent diseases that ravaged the Peninsula, with people in Arabia sauntering through a never-ending cycle of rampant epidemics with very high mortality rates; as one would expect under such conditions, these adversities were not dissimilar to those in mediaeval Europe or in the relatively advanced neighbouring Fertile Crescent, and such was the febrile nature of life in Arabia that people were constantly girding themselves for the worst, in view of the practically complete lack of modern medical care facilities, preventive healthcare, quarantine measures (including immunisation) and public sanitation, with the three modern healthcare facilities exceptions in the Gulf, which were significantly effective, though insufficient, operating chronologically with the opening of each of them, starting with the commercial, for-profit enterprise medical services of the American Mission Hospital in 1903 in Manama, Bahrain, followed three years later by the semi-gratuitous medical services of the chronically underfunded Victoria Memorial Hospital, together with its quarantine facility, in 1906, located near the sea, directly across from the British political agency (now the British Embassy), further down the same long, meandering street as the American hospital, both facilities catered not only to the local Bahraini population but also to those from the eastern and central regions of present-day Saudi Arabia, and finally, in 1914, the American Mission Hospital of Kuwait served Kuwait and its environs of urban and desert sedentary communities, where there was practically a yearly infestation of at least one epidemic, most notably bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, and smallpox, causing numerous fatalities in a short space of time; this was particularly the case within the Arab states along the western coast of the sparsely populated and largely penurious Arabian Gulf and throughout the mostly arid environment of the Arabian Peninsula, excluding a small number of places where there was plenty of water to support sustainable agriculture, including Yemen, in southern Arabia, and large oases such as Al-Qasim, Medina, and Al-Ahsa, during the first third of the twentieth century, before the transformative discovery of oil in the 1930s and 1940s and the subsequent development of an efficient, free governmental medical system funded by oil revenues; however, one of the most noteworthy calamities to leave an indelible mark on the collective consciousness of the Gulf's populace was an odd hurricane of cataclysmic proportions which took place on the 1st of October 1925, dubbed "The Year of the Sinkage", inflicting variable damage to buildings and the surrounding environment, especially vulnerable mud huts with palm-frond thatched roofs (known as barastis) in coastal, agricultural and fishing villages belonging to indigent, toiling fishermen and indentured farmers, were torn apart and interspersed across far-flung distances, and, needless to say; the pearl fishing industry was hit hard during the final weeks of the four-month-long summer pearling season in anticipation of the onset of the dormant winter months for the industry and its ancillary essential sectors in the Gulf, the cornerstone of the region's fragile monocultural economy, with thousands of boats sunk and, tragically, over five thousand lives, predominantly sailors, lost in a single thunderous, foreboding night in the otherwise almost always placid waters of the Gulf; the calamity wrought havoc in its wake, leaving a path of devastation across a vast region, primarily in the central part of the Arabian Gulf, centring on the Bahrain archipelago and the eastern coastline of the Qatar peninsula, coupled with a number of islands and the scantily populated coastal towns and villages along the present-day eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, including Dammam (now a large metropolis) and Tarout Island, well-known back then for its small fishing and pearl diving communities, namely the famous pearl fishing town of Darin and also the nearby farming town of Qatif, where one hundred and fifty people died from falling date palm trees on their homes, in addition to Ras Tanura, and to a lesser extent Jubail in the north, thus the perfectly apt appellation, as these rudimentary speculative and dubious methods were the order of the day, rather than any accurate, bureaucratic official government or religious documentation specifying the exact date and year of birth, with the first large-scale issuance of birth registration certificates in Bahrain beginning in earnest in the 1950s, given the discovery of an officially notarised endowment trust fund transfer deed dated Thursday, the 15th of Rabi' al-Thani 1295 in the Hijri Calendar, corresponding to the 18th of April 1878 in the Gregorian Calendar, the credibility of the two earlier-mentioned alleged dates of birth of Yusuf Kanoo is decidedly undermined, as the respected foodstuff merchant, Ahmed Mohamed Kanoo, and his eldest son, Yusuf, were among the nine legally required consenting male adults who validated the strict transfer of wealth procedure, and since both of the previously stated birth dates of Yusuf Kanoo relevant to the timeline of the binding legal solemnity of such a document are incompatible with the required legal age of the witnesses, it is illogical to say that Yusuf Kanoo was either an undiscerning child of four or a child of ten, which indicates he was a minor in both instances and lacked the legal age and, therefore, full legal capacity, to appear before an Islamic Sharia judge or any other judge of any civil or religious denomination, and it should be clarified that, with the exception of Iran (historically known as Persia), which is still reliant on its own highly precise and unique Solar Hijri Calendar, designed by the renowned Muslim polymath Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), time and age measurements and the foundation for standard civic purposes of all aspects of mundane life, not just religious holidays, worshipping activities, and festivities, were calculated in the Arabian Gulf and much of the Islamic world at that time, according to the purely lunar Islamic Hijri Calendar's dynamic but orderly unaligned seasons of the monthly cycles of the phases of the Moon, in contrast to the seasonally aligned, more dependable Gregorian, and less complex Solar Calendar, and all currently in use others, in a number of Asian nations, such as China, India, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, are regulated by their indigenous hybrid Lunisolar Calendar's overlapping intercalations of both the positions of the Moon and the Sun, in compatibility with the Western globalised economic realities of modern life, in conclusion, as expounded earlier in the text, in the absence of a centralised efficient bureaucratic state system in the late modern period, from roughly the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century in Bahrain and the rest of the Gulf, it was a challenging task to determine the precise birth dates of the vast majority of the population, including those of the ruling and mercantile elites, with a few rare anomalous exceptions, mostly among the clergy, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that Yusuf Kanoo, as one of the signatories of the said revealing document, was of the irrefutable legal adult discerning age of eighteen lunar years, marking the adulthood threshold where individuals were recognised as legally responsible for their actions according to the prevailing consensus of the four principal Islamic Sunni orthodoxy schools of jurisprudence since the mediaeval period, at the time, before the partial implementation of more secular, Western-influenced administrative reforms and legislation by the British colonial local authorities in the Gulf in the first third of the twentieth century, the Gregorian solar calendar was steadily replacing the lunar Hijri calendar in daily civic use, among other modernising measures, as part of the British worldwide imperial colonial grafting policy, similar to that of the French and Portuguese but in a less brutal, less culturally imperialist and less bloodstained manner, by paternalistically integrating Britain more vigorously with its racially inferior and inherently less civilised colonies in varying degrees, while taking into account the distinct circumstances of each of the occupied territories according to British evaluation that constituted the British Empire through the self-designated various British classifications of each territory (such as Colonies, Crown Colonies, Charter Colonies, Protectorates, Mandates, etc.) via the subtle influence of cultural assimilation, thus securing the long-term economic interests of Britain, through primarily peaceful persuasion and, when necessary, forceful means, evidenced by the aforementioned administrative reforms implemented in post-World War One Bahrain, where both grafting methodologies were aggressively adopted; these approaches were derived from the ancient yet still-in-use horticultural technique of grafting, in which different strains of plant tissues are united to create a robust, inseparable bond that promotes the optimal growth of desirable traits, mirroring the sophisticated strategies employed by all the major European colonial powers to ensure future dominance over their colonies through cultural hegemony)

(In light of the fact that Bahrain was the centre of the pearl trade in the Arabian Gulf, renowned worldwide for producing some of the finest natural pearls since antiquity, the small seafaring nation became the haunt for anyone seeking business success in the lucrative, highly sought-after market for natural pearls in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, igniting what might have been an unprecedented pearl mania in recorded history to satisfy the ever-increasing international demand for pearl jewellery, especially among the upper echelons of Indian society, dominated by the British Raj vassal potentates of Hindu Maharajas and Muslim Nawab princes, the feudal successors of the then-defunct once-mighty Mughal Empire, the waning old European royalties, supremely embodied by the doomed absolutist and fabulously extravagant Russian imperial house of Romanov, the vigorous burgeoning capitalist upwardly mobile Western bourgeoisie, and the extraordinarily wealthy urban-dwelling ostentatious nouveau riche American tycoons, primarily of New York, amidst the sweeping American Industrial Revolution, epitomising the opulence and excess of the era known as the "Gilded Age," as in the case of the young French jeweller Jacques-Théodule Alfred Cartier (1884-1941), who opted to bypass the exorbitant prices of the monopolistic Parisian pearl dealer coterie by sourcing pearls directly from local suppliers in the Arabian Gulf, marking the final connection between the international Western jewellery industry, where natural pearls were marketed as luxury finished products in the high-end jewellery stores of major Western capitals and cities such as London, Paris, and New York, and the intricate hierarchical network of interwoven business relationships within the centuries-old, tradition-steeped history of the Arabian Gulf pearl trade, personified by the four transnational Arab merchants, each of whom was associated with Bahrain to a varying degree due to its advantageous economic standing in comparison to its Arab Gulf neighbours in this iconic picture taken by one of Jacques Cartier's assistants and meticulously stored in the photo albums of the Cartier company archives in Paris, along with hundreds of other photographs taken during his several trips to the Gulf and India, as Cartier was keen on photographically documenting as much as he could of all the major events he had participated in during these trips, particularly those from his second extended visit to Bahrain in 1912, and also his handwritten, pedantically detailed travel journal containing vital information about the places he visited and the key people he met in his trips to the Orient and other parts of the world, but let us be clear, this picture for the most part is about the three noted pearl merchants he conducted business with: Al-Thukair, Bin Matar, and Al-Ibrahim, who more or less share similar backgrounds since they all hail directly from the Najd region in central Arabia, taking into account that Bahrain meant a different thing for each of them; for Mugbil Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thukair (1844-1923), it was a second home away from home after his beloved birthplace of Unaizah in Najd; however, for the magnanimous and highly esteemed longest reigning doyen of the Bahraini business community for over half a century, the honourable, staid and reticent Salman Bin Hussain Matar (1837-1944), it was his native birthplace, as his grandfather and namesake moved to Bahrain from Najd in 1825, making it his permanent home, and finally, for Abdurrahman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim (1875-1960), Bahrain was a worthwhile frequent business destination, situated halfway between his country of origin, Kuwait, on the northern tip of the Arabian Gulf, where his family moved from Najd in the early 1700s, soon after the country was established as an independent sovereign political entity by the Al-Sabah dynasty of the Bani Utbah tribal confederation of Najd, and the bustling British-founded Indian entrepôt city of Bombay, now known as Mumbai, the present financial capital and most populous city in India and the abode of choice of Al-Ibrahim until the end of his life, apart from being his final resting place, the vibrant commercial hub on the Arabian Sea and the main gathering place for Arab traders and their families in the Indian subcontinent for nearly a century, and in many instances, the real head start for a slew of industrious young Arab merchants from the generally inhospitable, population-repelling, and, on the whole, economically deprived pre-oil Arabian Peninsula as for the apparent role of the fourth Arab in the picture as an Arabic-Hindi and English interpreter in this historically significant photograph, the shrewd and influential merchant Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo (1861-1945), whose ancestors originated from Najd, north of the present-day Saudi capital, Riyadh, emigrated more than a hundred years before his birth to the broadly Arab eastern coast of the Arabian Gulf; then after one or two generations in the early nineteenth century, the descendants of those ancestors decided once again to relocate to the pearl-rich island state of Bahrain off the western coast of Arabia near their ancestral homeland in the Najd plateau, central Arabia, following a temporary sojourn on what is now erroneously called the Persian coast, as scores of Arabs from the hinterlands of Arabia did in the past for one reason or another before the creation of today's artificial political borders when the Gulf was an Arabian lake for many centuries, needless to say, Kanoo's role was not just confined to language interpretation; therefore, first and foremost, it is necessary to shed light on his business interests and activities preceding his fortuitous foray into the shipping agency sector in 1911, when he was appointed the Bahraini shipping agent for the pioneering, albeit ill-fated and short-lived first fully Arab-owned shipping and passenger enterprise, "The Arab Steamers, Limited", by the majority of the principal shareholders of the budding company, most of whom were his friends, where he embraced wholeheartedly this unexpected business opportunity that came knocking at his door, as it would also play a pivotal role in shaping his future business career, making him synonymous with the shipping liner and oil tanker industries in the last three decades of his life and, posthumously, the eponymous company he founded up to the present, notwithstanding his involvement in significant business activities other than shipping, including the acquisition in 1913 of the highly profitable agency for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now British Petroleum "BP"), in particular, before the discovery of oil in Bahrain in 1932 and the introduction of locally oil-refined byproducts with the opening of the Bahrain refinery in 1936, the paramount byproduct of these in the Bahraini market in the first third of the twentieth century was Kerosene, also known as paraffin, when monthly shipments of thousands of barrels of this essential commodity were imported from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's refinery in Abadan in the northern Gulf used to arrive in Bahrain for local consumption, to be transported by dhow boats from a steamship anchored in deep water in the middle of the sea to the port of Manama (the current site of Bahrain Financial Harbour), a small shallow-water port incapable of receiving deep-draught large ships, then uploaded onto donkey-pulled carts to the warehouses of the nearby seaside landmark building belonging to Yusuf Kanoo in Manama, but after the building was sold, in 1934, the Kerosene shipments were stored in the warehouses of Kanoo's main office building inside the old Manama souk (the future office building of the Y.B.A. Kanoo Group until 2016), for distribution to the local Kanoo subagents, as kerosene oil was indispensable for domestic use as the primary fuel source for lighting lamps, portable lanterns and, to a smaller degree, cooking stoves, since most Bahrainis relied on wood for cooking, while some low-income families used dried cow dung as a cheaper alternative to the more costly wood before liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders were gradually introduced and an electrical power grid was established in the 1930s and the following decades, other oil derivatives, especially petrol and diesel fuel, were less significant products since the country only had two hundred motor vehicles by 1930; Yusuf Kanoo was also the first local merchant to import diesel-electric engines, ice-making machines and mechanical water pumps into Bahrain after World War One, and he became the refuelling and ground handling agent for Imperial Airways' long flights from London, landing in Bahrain en route to Karachi and Delhi in British India, whilst also handling the Orient Express-like, exorbitantly expensive nine-day flight to Sydney, Australia, in 1929, the predecessor of "British Airways", for he was the only Bahraini supplier of petroleum products for almost twenty years, laying the groundwork for the future highly lucrative Kanoo regional aviation ground handling business in the Gulf, specifically in Bahrain and across Saudi Arabia, and his efficiency in managing plane refuelling resulted in his appointment as the travel agent for Imperial Airways in 1937, thus becoming the owner of the first airline travel agency in Bahrain, which ten years later, in 1947, would become the first agency in the Gulf to be accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), among the myriads of products and services he launched in Bahrain and the Gulf as a whole, inadvertently leading to the development of arguably the first local Western-style management-based modern business firm in the Arabian Gulf, with the contemporary state-of-the-art Y.B.A. Kanoo regional conglomerate still maintaining substantially a similar scope to the then-nascent businesses of its forward-thinking founder Yusuf Kanoo in the early twentieth century, most significantly shipping, travel, machinery, and oil & gas, where the company has steadily risen to become a market leader in these sectors across all of its operational markets, achieving this in less than two decades after its founder passed away in 1945, this growth has been evident particularly since the impactful first oil boom in the mid-1970s in its three main regional markets by business size: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, as these new businesses and technologies were briefly touched upon above for the duration of Yusuf Kanoo's fifty-five-year business career, in which he weathered numerous trials and tribulations through an almost unbroken chain of three major global crises: the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War, as Yusuf was chiefly a banker and general trader during the first twenty years of his long business career, and as a British-influenced maverick entrepreneur with a global perspective, branching out from the foodstuff business of his father, Ahmed Muhammad Kanoo (1835-1905), one of the major wholesale foodstuff merchants in Bahrain in the late nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century, and the owner of two large mixed-use elongated buildings in Manama built in the traditional Gulf architectural style, primely located close to each other, separated by the existing narrow Al Khalifa Avenue, flanked from the right side of the main building by an equally detached building of similar length but slightly broader width, formerly belonging to the brothers Abdullah & Salman Kamal, constituted the current smaller attached row of buildings consisting of shops, representing a miscellaneous collection of businesses and trades, mostly in the retail sector, owned by several different proprietors, are on the left side of the now covered pedestrian no-car strip of Souq Bab Al Bahrain Avenue, across from what were once customs bonded warehouses, the present-day site of Bab Al Bahrain shopping mall, whereas the left side of the Kanoo building is flanked by another building of the same length belonging to Sheikh Hamad, the 33-year-old crown prince of Bahrain and future ruler, and which remains in the possession of his descendants from the Bahraini royal family, as the main building is a nearly five-hundred-foot-long three-story building and fifty-five-foot width, one of the largest detached commercial buildings in Manama in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while the smaller opposite one, the once seaside building is a two-story over two hundred feet long and also detached as its much larger sister, yet of identical width, with the first floor of the smaller building serving as a private residence for the only surviving male offspring of Ahmed Kanoo, Yusuf, whom he and his two nephews and soul heirs then sold several decades later in 1934 to the ruler of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad (1932-1942), coupled with other properties sold to others, the most important being Yusuf Kanoo's own constructed impressively huge two-story building on a plot of land reclaimed from the sea at the turn of the twentieth century, the largest mixed-use commercial and residential building in Bahrain and the whole Gulf at one point, the present site of several prime location properties owned by the Bahraini royal family, consisting of the Unitag Group building and its car park, the Regency Intercontinental Hotel's auxiliary Plaza Spa and wellness building at the back, and the adjacent large building alongside it where a number of largely financial firms and banks operate, covering the total three-hundred-foot right wing width of the old building, and formerly facing the old customs house, part of the one hundred and twenty thousand square feet plot of land encompassing the entire incomplete rectangular-shaped semi-bottom square bracket building, including the three-hundred-foot built-up two wings width across the two-hundred-foot length of the semi-courtyard partially unbuilt hollow-shaped space opposite the sea at the back of the property, serving as a docking area for the building, where in the mid-1970s, the Regency Intercontinental Hotel was erected on sea-reclaimed land in front of the docking area, which Yusuf Kanoo sold to prominent Kuwaiti pearl merchant Helal Bin Fajhan Al-Mutairi (1855-1938) in late 1934 for a quarter of a million British Raj rupees, the official currency used across the Gulf as the polities of the Gulf were under the jurisdiction of the British Indian Raj, in a desperate sale transaction to alleviate some of his massive debt incurred as a result of the global crisis of the Great Depression, as with a multitude of merchants across the Arabian Gulf, nevertheless, the present site of the smaller building is the Bab AL Bahrain Hotel, and all of the rented spaces on the four corners of the ground floor of the detached property, as the previous property is also owned by the royal family of Bahrain, located in close proximity to the Bab Al Bahrain archway (Gateway of Bahrain) historical landmark in Manama separated by just a thin aisle pedestrian passage between the two buildings, the upcoming exposition, is partly based on an amalgamation of varied documented materials spanning both local and foreign, including archival sources, notarised official documents, diaries, biographies, and so on, but above all based on the detailed descriptive notarised "deed of gift" of Ahmed Muhammad Kanoo, the father of Yusuf Kanoo, outlining in detail how he gifted specific holdings of his fixed and movable assets during his lifetime to his four adult heirs, these were his four adult offspring, his two sons Yusuf and Muhammed, and his two daughters Latifa and Hussa, where the aforementioned properties and their boundaries were clearly stated, among other heirlooms, leaving no room for ambiguity or obfuscation, dated 5th of Jumada al-Awwal 1323, in Hijri Islamic Calendar, corresponding to Saturday 8th of July 1905, in Gregorian Christian Calendar, penned shortly prior to the passing of Ahmed, stating that the two neighbouring buildings belonging to him in Manama were gifted to his sons Yusuf and Muhammed equally, whereas the large rear building served as the future headquarters offices of the titular firm of the eldest son of Ahmed, Yusuf, he posthumous Y.B.A. Kanoo regional conglomerate was owned by the nephews and heirs of Yusuf, the sons of his deceased younger brother Muhammed, Jassim and Ali Kanoo, and their immediate eight male offspring and their legal heirs' descendants of both sexes, given that Muhammed died soon after his father Ahmed in 1905 of the plague during one of the deadly infectious diseases outbreaks at the turn of the twentieth century in Bahrain, since Yusuf did not have children of his own despite his three successive marriages, the building described above became symbiotically attached to the Y.B.A. Kanoo family business in the minds of many ordinary Bahrainis, especially dwellers of old Manama, for several generations from the death of Ahmad in 1905 to the death of his son Yusuf forty years later on the 21st of December 1945, and then operating continuously from the same premises for the next seven decades, albeit the old traditionally built structure was rebuilt in a Semi-Mediterranean commercial style using modern building materials in the late 1950s, until finally in 2016, when the company moved to a new steel and glass high-rise headquarters after more than a century in the same location, however, with respect to the smaller building, it became solely owned by Yusuf Kanoo, explaining why it was sold by him, as thoroughly discussed earlier, with the two daughters of Ahmed receiving gold jewellery, in contrast to the commonly held, inaccurately long-perpetuated conception that Yusuf Kanoo started from humble origins and died practically bankrupt in 1945, as will be explained further in the text, it should be noted that when Yusuf established the first local bank in Bahrain and the entire Gulf, including Persia (Iran) in 1890, he was venturing into the risky uncharted territory of banking business in the Arabian Gulf at a time when banking was associated, at least in this deeply conservative puritanical region of the Arab world in the local Muslim collective consciousness, with unethical exploitative usury, as the Bank of Yusuf Kanoo remained the only bank in Bahrain for thirty years until the opening of the British-owned Oriental Bank in 1920 (The Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China), the present-day Standard Chartered Bank, having been inspired by the successful banking firms of the British Raj in India, the Kanoo Bank was significantly different from regular commercial banks as it leaned more towards private banking, targeting Bahraini wealthy pearl merchants with sizeable monetary surpluses, some of whom were occasionally in need of significant cash flows for the thousands of indentured workers on their payroll throughout the four-month-long summer pearl diving season in a non-banking-based economic environment, particularly those of the island of Muharraq and its towns where Yusuf Kanoo was constantly courting their goodwill, as they were the real drivers of the fragile local monocultural economy, as with the rest of the region, Muharraq was the most active pearling town in the Arabian Gulf, thanks in large part to having the richest pearl oyster beds in the Gulf in its northern waters, and, as a matter of course, home to the highest number of pearl divers and the largest fleet of pearling vessels in the region, the former political capital of Bahrain and the seat of power of its Al Khalifa ruling dynasty for over a century, and the beating heart of the pearling industry of the tiny archipelago, the most salient of those Muharraq's merchants was the closest, steadfast, and trusted friend of Yusuf Kanoo and chief creditor, referred to earlier in the preface, one who cannot be commended highly enough or quantify his innumerable virtuous deeds, the celebrated, unassuming, and bonhomous legendary philanthropist Salman Bin Matar, who was widely recognised for donating large amounts of rice and dates to the poor in Bahrain during the dire economic conditions of the First and Second World Wars to alleviate the sudden shortages of imported foodstuffs, principally rice, the staple food for the vast majority of Bahraini people regardless of class, stemming from disruptions in international supply chains caused by military operations, and to make matters worse, the economic strife of the First World War was compounded by a virulent epidemic, as in the situation in Bahrain, where five thousand people died from an outbreak of plague in December 1914, as referred to by the British political agent in Bahrain, Captain Keyes, in his correspondence with his superior, Major Trevor, the Deputy Political Resident of the British Residency in Bushehr, Persia (Iran), on the 5th of December 1914 in the following excerpted letter passage: (Divers and coolies continued to leave Bahrain till the outbreak of plague in December when hundreds of Persians also left. Plague further reduced the population by some 5000. There was then a slight revival of trade and the profits in coffee and tea were so good that several merchants took advantage of the cheapness of the labour market to collect stones and build, thus, giving work to numbers of the most indigent. There was also a market for household articles, old clothes etc, and it was not till February that any people were entirely without resources. Two or three merchants, notably Salman Bin Matar, then made large donations of rice and dates, and work was found for some men by the Agency), in conjunction with his bountiful donations in times of economic crises, there was the daily sight of long queues of the less fortunate at his doorstep all year long, both at his winter and summer residences, awaiting alms of the generous distribution of cooked meals made of lamb and rice, since Salman Bin Matar was Bahrain's wealthiest merchant for nearly fifty years and largest property owner, aside from being its most consequential pearl merchant from the 1890s until his greatly lamented death on the 10th of February 1944, the subsequent succinct bracketed excerpt below originates from a declassified comprehensive report authored by two British political agents, Captain N. N. E. Bray (1885-1962) and Major H. R. P. Dickson (1881-1959), who briefly served in Bahrain in succession, with the latter going on to play a significant role in influencing the modern history of Kuwait as a political agent; the report provides a glimpse into the mindset of these highly competent colonial officers and the dominant racist atmosphere in the West as manifested by this highly subjective observational case study of the Bahraini populace from a British colonial perspective, reflecting the prevalent racist European tropes and stereotypes regarding non-white peoples at the height of European colonialism, including two opposing lists of influential Bahrainis who played central roles in shaping the socioeconomic and political landscape of the small state, either by aligning with Britain or opposing it, with Salman Bin Matar prominently placed at the top of the Whitelist, this list evidently refers to a group of the wealthiest and most powerful high-ranking Bahrainis who were considered allies of the British, conversely, the Blacklist represents a diverse group of individuals from all segments of Bahraini society, belonging to various social backgrounds, faiths, affiliations, and origins, unified by the suspicion and hostility they faced from the British colonial authorities in Bahrain, for reasons that were not exclusively political, Bin Matar was described in this special 1920 report by the British political agency in Bahrain as follows: quote (1. Salman Bin Matar. A wealthy pearl merchant, very friendly.) a simple yet emblematic description of a man who maintained a modest demeanour all his life despite his immense wealth, dedicating much of his long life to assisting the downtrodden and improving the quality of life of the Bahraini people in general in every way possible irrespective of their race, ethnicity, creed, or colour, in particular, through the introduction of modern formal government education, as he was one of the founders of the first formal school in Muharraq, the former capital of Bahrain in 1919, he was also a vital member of all the governmental councils and committees of the newly formed bureaucratically centralised, and chronically underfunded Bahraini state, where he unfailingly provided generous financial funding to these fledgling government bodies, both before and after the discovery of oil in 1932, and continued to do so until his death, as evidenced by a short though thoughtful obituary in the declassified British colonial annual archival report of 1944 on Bahrain, the following is the slightly edited obituary: (The death occurred during the year of Haj Salman Bin Matar, one of the leading pearl merchants of Muharraq, who was well known for his philanthropic deeds. For several years he provided food for large numbers of poor people who were daily fed at his doors. He sat on various councils and committees and was a valuable member of the community), he was also well-known for his significant contributions as the biggest and longest-standing depositor of the Kanoo Bank until its bankruptcy and permanent closure at the height of the Great Depression in the early 1930s; furthermore, he was accredited for waiving all of his large outstanding debts to his local and regional debtors during the decade-long debilitating depression crisis, followed by the conflagration of the Second World War, including, as expected, the debt of Yusuf Kanoo, his lifelong friend and confidant amounting to more than half a million Indian British Raj silver rupees without legal recourse, a considerable fortune in the pre-oil Arabian Gulf, in spite of the constant insistence of Yusuf Kanoo on offering his most prized possession, his mixed-use monumental building, which he then sold to Kuwaiti pearl merchant Helal Al-Mutairi, as previously mentioned, and additional properties comprising the building gifted to him and his late brother by their father, who he sold as above indicated to the ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad, and a medium-sized date palm orchard within the vicinity of Al Khamis village near Manama, to cover the stupendous debt of Salman Bin Matar, after all the last-ditch attempts of Kanoo, a trustworthy man of impeccable integrity in all of his business dealings, to offer the building among other assets to Bin Matar in exchange for the defaulted debt had failed, thus, upon the arrival of Al-Mutairi at dusk, a good friend of both eminent Bahraini merchants from Kuwait, to seal the critical sale deal of the building on an unspecified day in a cold late December evening of 1934, Yusuf Kanoo, accompanied by his prospective Kuwaiti buyer, walking in the unlit dark narrow alleys of Muharraq, aided by oil lanterns carried by assistants, went to the winter residence townhouse of Salman Bin Matar in the heart of the old town of Muharraq in a poignant final gesture of sincere goodwill to persuade him to accept the building as the least credible rightful legal settlement for the substantial outstanding debt; however, he resolutely declined, a clear attestation to the incomparable altruism and nobility of this exceptional gentleman, demonstrated by being deservedly afforded the appellation 'Father of Orphans and Protector of Widows' by the Bahraini people many a decade before these affairs, an honorific that remained synonymous with him throughout much of his long adult life and posthumously until the present, due in no small part to the cherished memories he represents for a lot of Bahrainis from all walks of life passed down through the generations, as he is unanimously recognised as the preeminent philanthropist Bahrain has produced in modern times, and also as its foremost pearl merchant of the golden age of the pearl trade, interestingly, the preceding debt case incident represents a compelling true moral story seldom seen in our fast-paced, materialistically driven, and consumer-oriented globalised village society in a world increasingly characterised by cynicism, moral apathy, and venal propensity, where meaningless vapid and insipid hypocritical rhetoric about human rights is routinely harangued tediously on the world media, serving as irrefutable proof of the remarkable mutual fidelity and devotion these two friends held for each other throughout their long friendship of over fifty years, lasting from the mid-1890s to their close deaths separated by just well over a year, prompting Yusuf Kanoo, a few months after this defining incident in 1935, to take the necessary precautions to ensure the continuity of his business enterprise for posterity by transferring ownership of his company and all of his remaining properties into the safe and capable hands of his nephews, Jassim and Ali, ten years before his passing in 1945, except for the dear to him 'Anglo-Persian Oil Company' (APOC) agency, now the multinational oil giant British Petroleum (BP), which remained under his ownership until his death, stipulating that the company will continue to bear his name after his death, thereby eliminating any future claims by creditors, and to limit the inheritance to the two brothers as the sole heirs of Yusuf Kanoo and their male progeny, ensuring the smooth transition of the family business in a traditional patriarchal society as a logical consequence, Yusuf died with virtually no inheritance left behind, debunking the notion that his heirs rebuilt his company from scratch, bearing in mind that the previously mentioned nephews at the time of Yusuf's death were middle-aged, well-established businessmen in their own right, owning business interests independently from the firm of their illustrious uncle, and married with grown-up children and even grandchildren, whose pioneering sons, Ahmed, the eldest son of Ali, and Muhammed, the eldest son of Jassim, and their diligent younger brothers, following steadily in the footsteps of their great uncle, Yusuf Kanoo, in the late 1940s, ably taking on the heavy mantle of his, expanding the resilient eponymous company he built almost sixty years prior across the Arabian Gulf, transforming it into the multinational regional conglomerate it is today, the following bracketed excerpt from the declassified 1945 colonial annual report of the British political agency in Bahrain on internal and external affairs of the country and the Arabian Gulf is an edited obituary of Yusuf Kanoo, explicitly confirming his high status both locally and regionally, as the unfounded and nebulous age of Kanoo, stated to have been born in 1874 in the said archival obituary, has been refuted conclusively in the comprehensive and detailed missive above on the different hypotheses about his age, delving concisely into the chaotic rudimentary birthdate documentation methods in Bahrain and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula before the establishment of modern centralised bureaucratic state systems in the region, which commenced in earnest after the end of World War One, (On the 21st December Haji Yusuf Ahmed Kanoo died at the age of 71, (most likely between 84 and 85). His association with His Majesty's Government started in 1898 in the time of the agent Haji Ahmed bin Abdul Rasool (Al-Safar). He continued to serve as assistant until the arrival of Mr Gaskin in 1902 and was associated with Major Prideaux and Captain Mackenzie until 1909. He received the Kaisar-I-Hind Medal, II Class, in 1911; the title of KHAN SAHIB in 1917; and the M.B.E. in 1919. In 1924, a C.I.E. was bestowed upon him. In 1913, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company appointed him their agent in Bahrain. He received honours from the late King Hussain of the Hedjaz and, also, from His Highness the Amir (Abdullah) of Transjordan (now the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan), who granted him the title Pasha. The death of this well-known old Arab was marked in Bahrain by the closing of the bazaars for one day. The political Agent sent a message of condolence to the bereaved family.), at any rate, the collapse of the only Bahraini indigenous-owned bank during the Great Depression reflects the far-reaching cataclysmic effects of the first economic crisis of the modern economic realities of the ever-increasingly interconnected world of the twentieth century, turning it into a global phenomenon where plenty of financial institutions and businesses irrespective of size were falling prey to insolvency, engendering widespread economic hardship and turmoil; the momentous collapse of Kanoo Bank had a significant impact on the establishment of another indigenous bank in Bahrain, delaying the whole process for a quarter of a century until the establishment of the first commercial Bahraini-owned bank in the country, the National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) in 1957, in view of the modest oil revenues of the slowly gaining momentum new Bahraini oil economy in comparison to the exponentially oil-rich Arab Gulf neighbours of Bahrain, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and to a lesser extent Qatar in the 1950s and early 1960s, before the arrival of the last two crucial newcomers on the oil-producing scene in the Arabian Gulf, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman, where the former would later become the dominant Emirate of the newest robust country in the Arabian Gulf, and its newly rebuilt capital city, Abu Dhabi, would be proclaimed the federal capital of the seven dynastic Emirates of the federal state of the UAE after independence from Britain in 1971, due to its geographical size and enormous hydrocarbon wealth, not to mention the British loosening of their monopolising grip on the Bahraini local banking sector in the aftermath of the brief but consequential Anglo-French debacle of the 1956 Suez crisis, which was up until then under complete control of the British, symbolised by only two British banks, the formerly alluded to Standard Chartered Bank and the British Bank of the Middle East (BBME), what is now the HSBC Bank Middle East, the second biggest Kanoo Bank depositor was leading pearl merchant Muhammad Bin Rashid Bin Hindi Al Mannai (1850-1934), also from the historic previously walled eponymous town of Muharraq, as Salman Bin Matar, the largest and most densely populated on the island, with an architectural landscape signalised by the few extant buildings of the once-forest of wind towers and sun-gleaming white facades of traditional ornate residential and commercial buildings constructed mostly of coral stone and covered in white lime mortar, forming the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Pearling Path, standing as testament to the prosperous and storied past of the island, when Muharraq was the pearl capital of the entire Gulf, along with the respected merchants and cousins Sayyid Khalifa Bin Abdulghafoor Al Sadah (1839-1912) and Sayyid Abdullah Bin Ibrahim Al Sadah (1853-1932) of the historically seafaring sand spit town of Al Hidd on the southeastern extremity of the island, these key pearl merchants and other business leaders were the primary economic drivers of the local economy and the largest employers prior to the turning point discovery of oil and the following gradual formation of the modern centralised state bureaucratic apparatus system in the Arabian Gulf region; yet, it is a little-known fact that Yusuf Kanoo was also a sagacious and trusted pearl broker, both locally and regionally, acting as a sort of decorous middleman interpreter and poised interlocutor between visiting international pearl dealers and their local and regional counterparts as the socially savvy, energetic, and knowledgeable multilingual comprador Yusuf Kanoo would turn his hand to anything commercially favourable, oddly enough, the majority of those international pearl dealers were French Jews, such as Léonard Rosenthal (1874-1955), Jacques Bienenfeld (1875-1933), and Solomon Pack (Date of birth unknown), who forged not only strong business relations with their Arab counterparts, but also strong enduring friendships in the Gulf and throughout Arabia; two prime examples of these friendships stand out: the first was between Abdulrahman Bin Hassan Algosaibi (1880-1976), the famed transnational, well-travelled pearl merchant based in Bahrain from Najd in central Arabia, and Albert Habib, the affable, fluent-in-Arabic, Paris-based pearl merchant and nephew of Léonard Rosenthal, who, like many others during the 1930s, struggled with bankruptcy owing to the Great Depression and for whom Algosaibi generously paid his medical bills following a post-crisis malaise brought about by the abrupt price plunge of natural pearls, causing him to lose most of his sizable fortune, demonstrating the loyalty and support of Algosaibi during hardship and adversity, the other notable friendship was between the international pearl dealer, the benevolent Muhammed-Ali Zainal Alireza (1884-1969) of Jeddah and David Bienenfeld (1893-1973), the younger brother of the Jacques mentioned above; Alireza earned the title "The King of Pearls" in the Arabian Gulf during the 1920s and later became known as "The King of Diamonds" in post-World War Two India, when the farsighted Alireza eschewed his pearl trade business altogether after the worldwide collapse of the pearl market in the mid-1930s, as a direct outcome of the Great Depression, impelling him to move aggressively into the diamond trade in India, where diamonds were first discovered thousands of years ago; this opportune move came after his permanent relocation from Paris to Bombay with his small family, just before the German blitzkrieg invasion of France in 1940; Bombay thereafter became his second home after his birthplace of Jeddah, where he lived until his death in 1969 and was laid to rest, it should be pointed out that in the interwar period, Alireza moderately dealt in cut diamonds and diamond jewellery alongside his main pearl business, and this involvement gave him some familiarity with the more stable diamond trade when compared to the recurrently volatile and unpredictable pearl market, unlike some of his pearl merchant peers who emerged from the Depression unscathed or with minimal losses and opted for comfortable retirement, he chose not to rest on his past pearl trade laurels, but instead, in less than a decade of his highly successful business transition, he became the principal diamond merchant in India and one of the foremost in the world in the 1950s, as for Alireza's preceding friendship with David Bienenfeld, who was forsaken and shunned by most of his friends, particularly those from the bourgeoisie French elite, after the loss of his and his family's wealth due to the Great Depression of 1929, except for his noble Muslim Arab religiously conscientious business partner and close friend Alireza, who stood by him and his family steadfastly until the end, Alireza was renowned in the Arabian Gulf for the earlier pearl-related sobriquet, for he was perceived as a bearer of good fortune by local pearling communities, as he, together with his other distinguished pearl merchants' French Jewish friends (typically the family firms of 'Léonard Rosenthal et Frères' [Léonard Rosenthal & Brothers] and the 'Bienenfeld Brothers', operating from offices in the same building on Rue La Fayette in Paris), was responsible for purchasing nearly a third of the per-annum pearl produce of the entire Gulf, spanning from Kuwait to Dubai, in the 1920s, while the remainder was either bought by Indian merchants from the Banyan community, who frequently visited the Gulf many decades before their Western counterparts, or sold directly by Gulf merchants in Bombay, dispelling the recently propagated and deliberately Western media-manufactured myth of imagined animosity between the followers of the two Abrahamic faiths, aiming to give credence to the ongoing destructive colonial legacy of the Sykes-Picot agreement in the modern Middle East, and also in some fringe, largely unrecognised polemical academic Western circles of the intractable ancient discord between predominantly Arab Muslim majority in Muslim-governed polities on one side, and particularly followers of other monotheistic religions on the other, these are Jews and Christians, as Jews, Muslim Arabs, Arab Christians, non-Arab Muslims, non-Arab Christians, and, in some cases, Mandaeans and Zoroastrians, with a special dispensation for Hindus and Buddhists, coexisted peacefully under the collective term of "Dhimmīs" (protected people) status Islamic jurisdiction, derived from the singular dhimmi (Arabic: ذمي) meaning "protected person" this jurisdiction was initially intended according to the Qur'anic text for the people of the covenant or the monotheistic people of the book, specifically Jews, Christians, and Mandaeans, even though these scriptures are Islamically deemed interpolated or corrupted sacred texts before including other religious groups in the aftermath of the century-long Arab Islamic conquests following the death of prophet Muhammad in 632 AD, considering this jurisdiction pervaded throughout the mediaeval Islamic world's golden age, in the 8, 9, and 10th centuries, and subsequent centuries, and even during the two tumultuous bloody centuries of the Crusades, stretching from Muslim Iberia all the way to Central Asia and later centuries in the Ottoman Empire, where tens of thousands of Spanish Jews fled the torturous persecution of the dreadful inquisition court under Catholic Spain after the fall of the only remaining Muslim stronghold of Granada in 1492, the last bastion of tolerance, culture, learning, and diversity in the Iberian Peninsula to the safety of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, as for the so-called friction between Muslims and Jews, it is a newfound phenomenon that began to rear its ugly head when British imperial designs for the Near Eastern legacy of the Ottoman Empire converged with Zionism, a late nineteenth-century Jewish nationalist ideology strongly influenced by emerging nationalist movements in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, and concurrent European settler colonial experiences involving mass displacement and extermination of native populations in the Americas, Africa, and Australia, leading to the portending Balfour Declaration of 1917 and culminating in the genocidal bloodstained establishment of the state of Israel thirty years later, in the years 1947 and 1948, forcibly displacing and ethnically cleansing the majority of the Palestinian Arab indigenous population and their rich deeply rooted and nuanced cultural heritage in its wake (known in the Arab world as "The Nakba," the catastrophe or calamity), with unwavering and unequivocal Anglo-French support at all levels and from the bulk of the Western bloc until the mid-1960s, when the steering helm of the Middle East was taken over by the new mighty American-led Western alliance thenceforth, creating an unduly artificial and ephemeral schism in the primordial cradle of civilisations and monotheism in the fertile crescent and Arabia amongst adherents of two of the three major Semitic monotheistic closely related Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ever since, but other than the former significant foreign international pearl dealers, there were a number of local exceptions from the Arabian Peninsula during the heyday of pearls in the roaring twenties, represented by none other than the cosmopolitan and multilingual venerable Hijazi (from the Hijaz region of western Arabia) pearl dealer Muhammad-Ali Zainal Alireza, who intermittently resided between Paris and Bombay with his second English wife, Ruby Elsie Jackson (1919-1974), the mother of his three daughters, Aminah, Hafsa and Mariam, his only offspring, and a member of the prominent transnational Persianized Arab trading Alireza family of Jeddah, he was generally regarded for his extraordinary largesse and numerous philanthropic charitable works throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond, most notably, his invaluable progressive contributions to the eradication of pervasive illiteracy in Arabia and other regions of the Muslim world through the proliferation of formal modern education for both genders, encompassing the entire twelve-year curriculum, which has constituted his most enduring legacy; strikingly, Alireza established his first formal, comprehensive charitable school, named "Alfalah" (meaning "success" in Arabic), in Jeddah at the tender age of twenty-one in 1905, followed by a similar institution in the holy city of Mecca in 1911 and later complemented by a network of charitable schools for both sexes bearing the same name in Bombay, Dubai and Bahrain in the first three decades of the twentieth century; of these, only the schools in Jeddah and Mecca remain operational, while the others were closed in the 1950s after being superseded by government-funded formal educational institutions; Alireza was also the only merchant from Arabia to own both a flat on the world-famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris and a house in the exclusive Cleveland Square in London in the 1920s, and in addition to the aforementioned periodic visits of the Paris-based pearl tycoons, Bahrain was regularly visited by well-known international jewellers, such as the acclaimed French jewellers of the house of Cartier and their representatives, as well as representatives of other prestigious Western jewellery houses, including the American Tiffany & Co, who frequented the Gulf on pearl purchasing expeditions, with a special focus on Bahrain, the regional pearl trade centre, with its exceptionally well-stocked pearl oyster beds, the source of its unparalleled rare-hued coveted pearls, this is attributed by environmental experts to the flow of undersea freshwater springs found in the shallow waters of Bahrain, a phenomenon unique to this archipelago on the western shores of the Arabian Gulf, giving it its then-advanced economic position and international fame; however, of particular significance is that in the early twentieth century, natural pearls were priced internationally in French francs, as Paris was the undisputed international pearl trade centre during the golden age of pearls, when pearls were valued more than fourfold the price of diamonds in world markets owing to their rarity and natural shape, especially after the discovery of the South African diamond mines until the 1929 Wall Street stock exchange crash, precipitating a catastrophic, slow, remorseless onslaught of a global decade-long economic depression, coinciding with the introduction of the much cheaper Mikimoto Japanese cultured pearls and the discovery of oil in the Gulf, beginning with Bahrain in 1932, the Arabian Gulf centre of the pearl fishing industry, and followed in the next few years by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, supplanting the quasi-feudal industry of pearl fishing's gruelling, low-paying vicious circle of servitude indentured labour, and the time-consuming, with prolonged health risks such as blindness and deafness, particularly for pearl divers, who often had lower life expectancy than the rest of the crew members due to their primitive, sparsely clad protective diving gear, suggesting it gave little protection from the months-long detrimental exposure to the sea salinity and hazardous predatory marine creatures, followed immediately by the Second World War, delivering the final death blow to the already severely weakened reeling pearl industry by the protracted Great Depression, as if the timing of these calamitous events had conspired in a preordained twist of fate, resulting in a disastrous collapse in pearl prices from which it would not recover for several decades, effectively bringing an end to the seasonally highly organised and regimented centuries-old pearl fishing industry with its ancient rich cultural traditions of the in-part husbandry industry of dhow boat shipbuilding and its various supplementary traditional crafts and folklore, featuring boat crew folk dances and the soulful, melancholic sea shanty bard songs transmitted orally from one generation to another, performed by deep-voiced, highly skilled, mostly illiterate singers in the Gulf, this once colossal industry, employing at its zenith in the 1920s around a third to half of the able-bodied male workforce across the Arabian Gulf, has since the late 1990s transformed into an occasional immensely financially rewarding experience resembling a solitary treasure-hunting pastime, on top of being an equally rewarding tourist attraction for some fortunate scuba diving tourists)

The two excerpts below are from two different sources; the first is slightly edited, from an archival file of the British colonial Arabian Gulf Residency in Bushehr, Persia (Iran), covering the period from the 1st to the 31st of March 1912, pertaining to the timeline of the visit of Jacques Cartier to Bahrain, a tiny section of the stupendously detailed file consisting of miscellaneous news reports received by the Gulf Residency (the 'Political Diary' of the Residency) relating to various areas of Persia (Iran) and the Arabian Gulf, for each month from November 1911 to December 1920. The reports were compiled by the Political Resident in the Arabian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox) or, in his absence, by the Officiating Political Resident, the Deputy Political Resident, or the First Assistant Resident. (There are discrepancies between the diary of Jacques Cartier and the said report regarding the exact dates of Cartier's arrival and departure and the unveiling of his unrealised intended final destination on his second extended Arabian Gulf trip), while the second excerpt is a citation from the book "Cartier: Jewellers Extraordinary", by Hans Nadelhoffer, which is part of the author's description of Jacques Cartier's trips to the Orient, particularly to the Arabian Gulf, and his adoption of local business customs and practices during these trips.

The following two brief paragraphs provide a first-hand British archival summary of Jacques Cartier and his travel companions' trip to the Arabian Gulf in March 1912.

A young Frenchman, Monsieur Jacques Cartier, arrived with two companions, Monsieur Maurice Richard, also a Frenchman, and Mr J. S. Sethna, a Parsi Indian, by the Arab steamer "Tynesider" on March 13th. They came to the agency to get an order of exemption from the quarantine at Kuwait. When they learnt that this was impossible, they determined to stay in Bahrain until the "Tynesider" returned from Basra. They were put up by Haji Mugbil Al-Thukair, to whom they brought recommendations from Bombay Arabs. They left for Bombay on the return of the ship on 1st April.

Monsieur Cartier represents the firm of Cartier of Paris and London (175 New Bond Street), and his visit was professional. He cultivated the acquaintance of the local Arab merchants and is said to have brought pearls to the value of Rs. 25,000. He informed the political agent that he might return to Bahrain for the pearl season of 1913. Others say that his companion, Mr Sethna, previously dealt in pearls on his own account and will be sent to work for the firm here.

The edited citation below is from the book "Cartier: Jewellers Extraordinary" by Hans Nadelhoffer.

Jacques Cartier was the firm's special expert on pearls, and it was he who accompanied the sales assistant Maurice Richard on various journeys to the Arabian Gulf and to India. In accordance with Oriental custom, he would sit cross-legged in his negotiations with local traders, and he learned the customs, languages, and habits of the various nations that he visited. Two of his journeys were recorded in the form of a diary and various other reports.

www.google.com.bh/books/edition/Car

Record number: B-10 02687

Title: Reflexions on man, and his relation to other beings.

Imprint: London, J. Wilford 1733.

Binding description: Covers finished in gold with a 3-line fillet forming a panel with to a dentelle border featuring a royal crown motif.

Extent: 200 x 125 mm.

Rights info: No known restrictions on access

Repository: Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Canada, M5S 1A5, library.utoronto.ca/fisher

Dainty and Scanty is what this piece of swimwear/ beachwear would qualify as. It is a sociocultural lens through which we pass judgements on attire specially that has a co relation with the amount of female skin on display.,

The origin of the bikini is an intriguing and historically significant topic. It has has a fascinating history that dates back several decades.

To bring fireworks was the intention of the French Engineer, Louis Réard, who is accredited with the design and structure of making the bikini what it is today. Faced with rationing of food and clothes a skimpy swimwear was the answer but his genius took a flight of fancy and he named it after Bikini Atoll, a Pacific Ocean site where atomic bomb tests were being conducted - symbolizing the explosive impact he believed his creation would have on fashion.

Initially, the bikini faced significant backlash and was even banned in certain countries due to its provocative nature. However, over time, societal attitudes towards swimwear changed, and the bikini gained acceptance and popularity worldwide.

Since its introduction, the design of bikinis has evolved significantly. From string bikinis to high-waisted styles, there is now a wide variety of options available to suit different body types and fashion preferences.

Today, bikinis are not only seen on beaches but also on fashion runways and in pop culture. They have become a symbol of liberation and body confidence for many individuals.

_R4A7558 nef 2024

Orthodox Greek people keep a very personal and warm relation with Virgin Maria - the mother of Jesus Christ.

Panagia is the link and the direct conection for humble believers with the devine and pure level of excistance. With the hope of healing body's and soul's wounds...

Life is painful and hard. Mother of God is the path, the way, the mediator to the Savior who heals and forgives all the sins.

This scene was captured a morning in the church of Saint Nicholas, in Syra.

The only thing that matters is your own peace

Visit this location at BADDIE BEACH, Miami- Interracial Lounge Urban RP SEX Hangout in Second Life

Back in 2012 I posted this as "a stranger on the beach" when in fact it wasn't a stranger but my brother-in-law, walking along Lido Beach! He didn't want me to "identify" himself, so I didn't. However, good old Rob died in March of this year and today would have been his birthday!

Today, has been a bit of a roller coaster in relation to moods - the family have spent the day to together talking about and reminiscing all those good times and celebrating his life. Jane (my wife) and I took Rob and his wife to our Florida home on a few occasions and today we have been trying to persuade, Sandra, his wife to come back with us in February of next year! Will she, won't she - we shall just have to wait and see!

Our Daily Challenge ~ Mood ....

Thanks, in advance, to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... thanks to you all.

Follow me on Facebook@ m.facebook.com/Rahmenlos.Fotografie thx for Supporting me!

Che cos'è la pazzia?... Soltanto una lieve mancanza di equilibrio rispetto agli altri. (Sara Seale)

What is insanity? ... Only a slight lack of balance in relation to others. (Sara Seale)

Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 R LM WR

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Sue Beadle, widow of original Quiz Party host Jeremy Beadle, with Jane Bird.

TARRANT'S QUIZ PARTY 2009 FOR CHILDREN WITH LEUKAEMIA

TV personality Chris Tarrant hosts a fun quiz party for the charity Children with Leukaemia. For further details, please contact Tina Price on 01202 840700 or 07966 239092.

If you require a higher resolution image or you have any other onEdition photographic enquiries, please contact: Martin Silnevs at onEdition on +44 (0)20 7978 1459 or email Martin@onEdition.com

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This image has been supplied by onEdition and must be credited onEdition. The author is asserting his full Moral rights in relation to the publication of this image. All rights reserved. Rights for onward transmission of any image or file is not granted or implied. Changing or deleting Copyright information is illegal as specified in the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. If you are in any way unsure of your right to publish this image please contact onEdition on +44(0)20 7978 1459 or email Info@onEdition.com

Dive into Relation Therapy

THANK YOU for all your lovely comments, invitations & awards.

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The Waterkeringpad is a walking route between Amsterdam Central Station and Huizen and consists of eight sections. Check all sections here and information. The route follows the dike along the former Zuiderzee now the IJ Lake and the Gooimeer. A unique experience, walking on the dike! Before 1500 the Diemerzeedijk between Maxis and Muiden was made from clay and construction waste. From mid-fifteenth century, the old sea wall was a retaining wall of wooden poles. Between 1732 and 1744 it was replaced by a stone slope which could better absorb the powerful waves. The Waterkeringpad is a 36 kilometer long trail. We are walking section no.6 from Naarden to Oud Valkeveen. Between Laren and Huizen is the nature reserve Naarder Eng located. Here ends the Utrechtse Heuvelrug at the former Zuiderzee. The Naarder Eng is known as the best preserved arable land. There is much to discover. The fields grow cornflower, corn-cockle, field pansy, chamomile, poppy small, snapdragon and flax beak. Between the arable land is a Oak tree forest. That oak is used among other things used as firewood in smokehouses. Observe the edge well since the deer and rabbits are frequent here. The fungus is found on dead branches and stumps, almost exclusively of deciduous trees. Porcelain fungus is native to Europe, and specific to beech wood, where it appears in autumn on dead tree like trunks and fallen branches. this fungus is a common specie. In the water, the grass snake sometimes seen. Waterfowl are abundant. From the Eukenberg and Aalberg you can look far beyond the Gooimeer.

The Waterkeringpad is a walking route between Amsterdam Central Station and Huizen and consists of eight sections. It's a 36 kilometer trail and the dike offers beautiful views over the IJ Lake. There is much to discover. Between the arable land is a bird sanctuary with a beautiful beech tree forest. The ground is covered with fallen Autumn leaves. When porcelain mushrooms grows from the underside of the tree, the stems will curl in a way so the caps are all held horizontally, with the gills facing down. Porcelain fungus has also been referred to as Beech Tuft, Poached Egg fungus or simply Porcelain Mushroom. Strongly tied to beech and being a delicate, white and slimy mushroom, it reminisce porcelain or egg white; hence its English common names. They are pale greyish when young, becoming whiter and covered with a semi-translucent and slimy membrane. The dripping Porcelain fungus here above dying in beauty.The Porcelain fungus are seldom confused with other fungi.

Het Waterkeringpad is een wandelroute tussen Amsterdam Centraal Station en Huizen en bestaat uit acht trajecten. Bekijk hier al de trajecten en info. De route volgt de waterkering langs de voormalige Zuiderzee nu het IJmeer en het Gooimeer. Een unieke ervaring, wandelen over de dijk! Vóór 1500 bestond de Diemerzeedijk tussen Maxis en Muiden uit klei en bouwafval. Vanaf midden vijftiende eeuw kreeg de oude zeedijk een beschoeiing van houten palen. Tussen 1732 en 1744 maakte hout plaats voor een flauw aflopende stenen glooiing. Die kon krachtige golfslag beter opvangen. Het Waterkeringpad is een 36 kilometer lange wandelroute. Wij wandelen traject nr.6 van Naarden naar Oud Valkeveen. Op de kop van de stuwwal van Laren en Huizen ligt natuurgebied de Naarder Eng. Hier eindigt de Utrechtse Heuvelrug bij de voormalige Zuiderzee. De Naarder Eng is in beheer bij het Goois Natuurreservaat en staat bekend als de best bewaarde eng bouwland van het Gooi. Oud Valkeveen wordt omringd door vogel- en natuurreservaten. De Zwarte Specht, en de hoornaar insect zijn voorbeelden van relatief zeldzame dieren, die hier te vinden zijn. Er is veel te ontdekken. Op de akkers groeien korenbloem, bolderik, akkerviooltje, echte kamille, kleine klaproos, leeuwenbek en vlasbekje. Tussen het bouwland liggen restanten eikenhakhoutbos. Dat eikenhout is vroeger onder meer gebruikt als brandhout in visrokerijen. Let bij de bosrand goed op de reeën en konijnen die hier veelvuldig voorkomen. De zwam is te vinden op dode takken en stronken, vrijwel uitsluitend van loofbomen. De porseleinzwam is een witte tot ivoorkleurige plaatjeszwam waarvan de hoed bedekt is met een slijmlaag. Meestal wordt de porseleinzwam aangetroffen op takken en stammen van beuken. De witte of lichtgrijze steel is slank met bovenaan een ring die aan de bovenkant geribbeld is. In Nederland is het een algemeen voorkomende soort. Het pad richting Oud Valkeveen is een fraaie afwisselende wandeling langs het Gooimeer langs grote beukenbomen, dennenbos en varens. Bij het water wordt de ringslang soms gezien. Watervogels zijn er in overvloed. Vanaf de Eukenberg en de Aalberg kunt u tot ver over het Gooimeer kijken.

צייר אמן ישראלי יוצר היוצר יוצרים היוצרים והיוצר והיוצרים ראליסטי רפי פרץ ראליסטים הראליסטי הראליסטים הריאליסטים הריאליסטי ריאליסטי פיגורטיבי הפיגורטיבי פיגורטיבית הפיגורטובית רישום רישומים הרישום הרישומים ברישום ברישומים לרישום לרישומים רשם רשמים לרשם לרשמים ורישום ורישומים הרישומים והרישומים שרבוט שרבוטים השרבוט השרבוטים כתם קו קווים הקווים הכתמים בכתם בכתמים בקווים בקו דיו עפרון בדיו בעפרון בעפרונות בעיפרון בעיפרונות עיפרון הדיו העפרון העיפרון הדיו אקספרסיבי האקספרסיבי אקספרסיביות אקספרסיבית האקספרסיבית באקספרסיביות אקספרסיה רגש ברגש ברגשות הרגשות נייר ניירות בנייר בניירות הנייר הניירות דיוקן הדיוקן הדיוקנאות בדיוקן ודיוקן מדיוקן לדיוקן דיוקנאות ודיוקנאות מדיוקנאות לדיוקנאות מדיוקנאות פנים הפנים פני עכשווי מודרני הצייר הישראלי העכשווי המודרני אמנות ישראלית עכשווית מודרנית האמנות הישראלית העכשווית המודרנית אומנות העכשוויות הישראליות העכשוויות המודרניות ציור ציורים הציור הציורים וציור וציורים לציור לציורים מציור מציורים מצייר מציירים ומצייר ומציירים שמצייר שמציירים של עם

האמן האמנים האומנים לאמנים לאומנים והאומנים ציירים הציירים והציירים לציירים מהציירים מהאמנים אומנות האמנות באמנות לאמנות ואמנות באומנות לאומנות והאומנות אמנותי האמנות האומנותי האומנות תערוכה תערוכות התערוכה התערוכות הגלריה הגלריות בגלריה בגלריות והגלריה והגלריות מהגלריה מהגלריות מהתערוכה מהתערוכות חדש חדשני החדש החדשני חדשנית החדשנית מקורי המקורי המקורית מקורית מיוחד המיוחד המיוחדים מיוחדים המפורסמים המפורסם מפורסם מפורסמים בישראל ישראל וישראל בציורי ציורי וציורי לציורי מציורי בדים חזקים עזים החזקים העזים לבית לסלון למשרד בית סלון משרד לבתים למשרדים משרדים בתים למכירה מכירה המכירה מכירות מוכר המוכר קונה הקונה קונים הקונים בקנייה במכירה פומבית הפומבית לרכוש רכוש ברכישה ישירה הישראליים ישראליים העכשוויים עכשוויים מודרניים המודרניים ישראלים עכשווים מודרנים פלסטי פלסטית הפלסטית הפלסטי החזותי החזותית חזותית חזותי ויזואלית הויזואלית הוויזואלית הוויזואלי ויזואלי וויזואלי הוויזואלי הויזואלי

drawings of man and woman relationship and love drawing men woman sketch art ink on paper ,Dibujos de hombre y mujer relación y amor dibujo hombres mujeres dibujos arte tinta sobre papel por ,dessins de relation homme-femme et amour dessin homme femme croquis encre d'art sur papier ,رسم، بسبب، شغل و المرأة، إلتزم، أيضا، حب، التخطيط، الرجال، المرأة، رسم، طريقة، الحبر، عن،

ورقة kişi və qadın əlaqələrinin təsvirləri və kişilərin rəsm çəkmələri qadınlar üzərində çəkilmiş rəsm mürəkkəbləri gizonezko eta emakumezkoen arteko harremanak eta gizonezkoak marrazteko marrazki bizidunen marrazkia чарцяжы мужчына і жанчына адносіны і люблю маляваць мужчынам жанчына эскіз мастацтва чарніла на паперы,рисунки на мъжки и женски взаимоотношения и любов изготвящи мъже жена скица изкуство мастило на хартия,dibuixos de la relació entre l'home i la dona i l'amor dibuixar els homes dona dibuixar tinta sobre paper,crteži odnosa između muškaraca i žena i ljubavi crtanje muškaraca žena skiciraju umjetničku tintu na papiru,kresby muže a ženy vztah a lásku kreslení muži žena skica umění inkoustu na papíře,tegninger af mand og kvinde forhold og kærlighed tegning mænd kvinde skitse kunstfarve på papir,tekeningen van man en vrouw relatie en liefde tekenen mannen vrouw schets kunst inkt op papier mga guhit ng lalaki at babae na relasyon at pag ibig sa pagguhit ng mga lalaki babae sketch art tinta sa papel,piirrokset miehen ja naisen suhteesta ja rakkaudesta piirustus miesten naisen luonnos taiteen mustetta paperilla,dessins de relation homme femme et amour dessin homme femme croquis encre d'art sur papier tekeningen fan manlju en froulike relaasjes en leafde tekenjen manlju fraaie skets keunsttinte op papier,Zeichnungen von Mann und Frau Beziehung und Liebe Zeichnung Männer Frau Skizze Kunst Tinte auf Papier,Σχέδια της σχέσης άνδρα και γυναίκας και της αγάπης άντρες άνδρες σκίτσο μελάνι τέχνης γυναίκα σε χαρτί कागज पर पुरुष और महिला रिश्ते और प्यार ड्राइंग पुरुषों महिला स्केच कला स्याही के चित्र ציורי זוגות רישום זוג גבר אישה יחסים אהבה רשם ישראלי רפי פרץ שירבוט שירבוטים אמנות עכשווית מודרנית סקיצות גברים נשים אוהבים שונאים rajzok az ember és a nő kapcsolat és a szerelem rajz férfiak vázlat művészeti tinta papírra,teikningar af sambandi karls og konu og ást teikna karla kona skissa blek á pappír,gambar pria dan wanita hubungan dan cinta menggambar pria sketsa art tinta di atas kertas,líníochtaí caidreamh fear agus bean agus grá líníocht fir fir sciath ealaíne sceitse ar pháipéar,disegni di uomo e donna relazione e amore disegno uomo donna schizzo d'arte su carta,wêneyên mêr û jina pêwendî û hezkirina mêrên jinan bi kaxizê jinê de jîngehê,vīriešu un sieviešu attiecību zīmējumi un mīlestības zīmēšanas vīrieši sievietes skices mākslas tinti uz papīra,vyrų ir moterų santykių bruožai ir meilės piešimo vyrų moterų eskizas ant popieriaus

“This is a fantastically beautiful and not visited by many people for some reason but it is well worth a visit any time of the year. It is extremely tranquil and the walk around it is beautiful. Very close to Aviemore and easily accessible. Definitely a great spot for quiet picnic and away from the crowds.“

Pityoulish abounds with early archaeological remains and whilst the Pictish language has been lost, the prefix Pit- indicating a portion of land, betrays the early Pictish origins of the property.

Later, during the clan period, one of the Westernmost estates of the powerful Dukes of Gordon, Pityoulish was sold between the two World Wars when the vast Richmond & Gordon estates were broken up, eventually coming into the ownership of Sir Herbert Ogilvy of Inverquharity, who after the accidental death of his adopted son, a keen mountaineer, whilst climbing in the Cairngorms, left it in 1956 to his distant relation, the present owners (grand)father.

The Water Kelpie, a horse-like creature was rumoured to haunt Scottish lochs and rivers and lure unsuspecting humans to catastrophe in the cold waters. Loch Pityoulish, near Aviemore, was thought to have been a haunt of the shape-shifting kelpie. It was here that a kelpie was said to have carried off and drowned nine children, who were attracted by the ‘pretty pony’. And the moral of the story? “Things are not always what they appear”.

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim  The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West.  Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way.  The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes. 

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities.  Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land.  In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected.  This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms.  Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

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“Our fulfillment is not in our isolated human grandeur, but in our intimacy with the larger earth community, for this is also the larger dimension of our being.”

—Thomas Berry

“Relation is the essence of everything that exists.”

—Meister Eckhart

Dive into Relation Therapy

Urbex Benelux -

In relation to the built environment, the term ‘urban’ relates to cities and settlements of high population and infrastructure density. Urban areas are distinct from rural areas which are more sparsely spread, often surrounded by open countryside or agricultural land, and with lower population densities.

The word 'urban' is often be used in the context of ‘urbanism’ which relates to the theories and design behind city development. This relates, not only to buildings, but also to the human-made spaces between buildings, such as parks, and the infrastructure that supports human activity, such as transport networks, utilities, flood defences, telecommunications, and so on.

trittico per la mostra del workshop con Igor Ponti

I Dont like to be a husband , i love to be a father

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Dive into Relation Therapy

No relation, honestly, but nice to eventually get a photograph of a coach belonging to my namesake!

A Mercedes-Benz Tourismo returning home from South Wales.

16 - 112

Dante's Inferno - fantastic, threatening - and - is it a prediction in relation to our own future

PERHAPS THE BEST SUMMARY I heard in relation to the impact of Steve Jobs came from a Canadian journalist who summed up Steve Jobs life with the techie term, 'disruptive innovation'.

Through that 'disruption' Steve changed the world for the better.

iTunes, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the iMac, etc ~

I certainly don't do Windoze…

THAT SAID, all was not well with the much-ballyhooed man who was synonymous with Apple Inc.

In the end our habits own us, and we shouldn't be too surprised that Steve's habit of inter-personal severity owned him, and the resentful petulant man who was forever upset with underlings that failed to impress, but more so upset by being put up for adoption as a baby, later refused every opportunity for amends to be made by the once offending, now, contrite.

Through the years, Steve nursed his rage against his biological father.

Steve did forgive his birth mother for the great heave-ho, and later acknowledged a daughter he too initially rejected—but forgiving an aging father with outstretched arms proved to be too much, too overwhelming for the fastidious nerd who changed the world. And who—eventually learned to take regular showers.

Still, I guess being surrounded by paid accolades who bow to your every whim at 1 Cupertino Loop can set one up with a false dichotomy, whereby your petty personal viewpoint is always right, and the whole rest of the world is terribly wrong.

Except, Steve's father, John Jandali, wasn't another computer or software brand, he was, well—his father.

The man who gave Steve life.

Yeah, that guy.

Whatever false, morally relative construct Steve used—throughout the long years—to shield himself emotionally from his father, will, happily, never replace that seemingly innocuous and obvious command to honour one's father and mother. And with that eternal directive, came the general, temporal promise, of a long life.

Or could it be, as it is in most cases where father-son, father-daughter estrangement occurs, the divorced/separated/offended mother fuels the on-going separation and hostility of her offspring—against their biological father. I do not mean Clara Jobs here. I mean Joanne Carole Schieble, Steve's biological mom.

Or was it a tandem thing? Mother and daughter (Mona Simpson) against John Jandali? This is also often the case.

Steve, and his biological sister Mona (the other offspring of John and Joanne) became best friends after having not known each other until their late 20s. Such can be the fall-out from adoption, and disappearing into the night. After their brother-sister relationship solidified, Mona encouraged Steve to reach out to their mother, now Joanne Schieble Simpson, and Steve later invited Joanne to some Apple events. Mona paved the way for Steve to reconcile with mom, Joanne. However, Joanne had likely so sabotaged Mona and John's continued relationship, from the earliest of times, that the foundation had already been laid for Steve to later follow suit. And so, he too, joined with Mona in rejecting father John.

Good one, Joanne. Good one, Mona.

Divorced fathers this is likely the most famous example you will ever have, of the effects of the negative power-play, your former spouse can exert over your mutual offspring.

If its a stormy break, she'll turn the kids against you. Forever.

It's her one final way to hurt you.

Hurt, unstable mothers, are working behind the scenes, sabotaging your chances to keep an ongoing relationship with your son or daughter. The provincial family courts in Ontario, Canada are quite wise to the potential for this extended Mommie-dearist tactic and strongly encourage mediation.

Courts elsewhere—not so much~

Steve Jobs: Incredible visionary! Spectacular inventor!

Good son?

Lousy son.

Well, two out of three, ain't bad.

Closing off a homily one Sunday at Mass, I remember one of our parish priests noting, that whatever disasters befall us—short of death—we never did have the right to expect perfect parents.

But apparently, Steve did.

Good-bye, Steve.

Thanks for the presents.

Your dad never had your presence, but he has one of your iPads. And he lined up like everyone else to get one.

Roll that image through the theatre of your mind, folks.

The closest John Jandali (Steve Job's father) was able to get to his son—was to buy one of his son's products—from one of said son's stores.

ABSOLUTELY disgusting. Monumentally saddening.

While Steve Jobs, being a Buddhist, never had access to the treasure trove of Christian admonishment to act otherwise, still the moral law is written on the hearts of all men—even those outside of the influence of Christian revelation.

Still, Jobs loved the Beatles, and he should have, at least, listened to them.

"For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool

By making his world a little colder"

(Hey Jude)

How many letters and postcards from father John Jandali (through the years), went unanswered, Steve?

I hope someone in the Jobs or Simpson family will FINALLY take the high road and reach out to John Jandali, Steve's estranged (not-by-choice) father in these, his twilight years.

But since we're dealing with Buddhists and pagans here—don't hold your breath.

You can't reason with pagans.

The world may praise Steve Jobs all they want. And he certainly deserves their praise—for the amazing Apple products that were brought to fruition under his leadership—for those eager, and consuming masses.

But, and there is always a but… Steve's final denial of his father, even from his deathbed, certainly gives me, great pause~

(Photo: Apple Canada Head Office, take pictures here and security comes out to meet you!)

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ROSS & CROMARTY CONSTABULARY 1914 - This photograph (kindly passed to me by a relation of one of the officers in it) shows EASTER ROSS Division of Ross and Cromarty Constabulary. It was a different relative but of the same officer!

Two years on from the previous photo – again I would think this is the post-HMI photograph, and again somewhere in Tain, I suspect. It is certainly the same venue as in 1912, and now there’s a poster of a kilted Highland soldier on the wall.

In this instance Chief Constable Captain Duncan Finlayson is conspicuous by his absence – perhaps HM Inspector of Constabulary was coming SOUTH on his travels, and he and the Chief had gone on to Dingwall for the inspection of the WESTER ROSS DIVISION of the Force.

In the meantime, the Eater Ross Division of Ross & Cromarty Constabulary have lined up for another photograph. Perhaps the reason fir it, is the fact they have a new boss. The Inspector at Tain since 1896, Malcolm MacDonald, had retired on 12th May 1914 after racking up 42 years police service. So this would seem to be the man who took over the following day. ROBERT ALEXANDER was a native of Bonar Bridge in Sutherland (just across the narrow water which is the Kyle of Sutherland) from Ardgay in Ross-shire). He had joined the Ross & Cromarty force in August 1884 and was posted to Stornoway 4 years later. There he remained for 16 years, having been promoted to Sergeant as early as 1891. He was finally promoted to Inspector (the only such rank in the force then) to replace the retiring Malcolm Macdonald, and of course he moved to Tain to take over. His stay there was however very brief, as 15 months later he moved again – back to Stornoway, promoted to Superintendent, where he was in command of the Lewis Division for 9 years until his retiral at age 60.

Again the one Constable whose identity we know for sure is Constable No. 41 ALEXANDER MACLEAN MACKENZIE, (third from left) a native of Gairloch, who had joined the Ross & Cromarty force in 1907 after serving in Dunbartonshire Constabulary for four and half years. After service at Dingwall and Cromarty, he was transferred to Tain on 1st July 1909 and remained there after his marriage the following year. In 1915 he moved to Strathpeffer until October 1918 when he was transferred to Lochcarron. In 1924 he and his sizeable family moved to Sheildaig, and in 1929 with 8 children, he and his wife relocated to Achiltibuie (Coigach). Sadly, the next year, weeks after bearing their 9th child, Mrs MacKenzie died.

Due to the war, and the strategic location where PC MacKenzie was based, he was unable to retire until 29 March 1947 (aged 63, with 43 years service). He eventually relocated in retirement to Tain where he passed away in 1968 aged 84. He is buried at Culbokie (Black Isle), which was where his late wife grew up.

Many thanks to the granddaughter of PC MacKenzie for allowing me to copy this photograph.

I wanted to experiment in my concept this time. Instead of heartfelt quotes about life, I wanted to try a bit on the oddball. It's always nice to do a bit of sidetracking to what your original plans are and here is a perfect one.

I wanted to portray something about sexuality but not in a manner of taking photos of nude or a sensual photograph of a couple. I wanted it to be more abstract. So how would I do this? As I was already doing self portraits for my other photographs, I wanted to incorporate the white cloth that I was playing with to cover what gender the person would be and photograph it in a sexual position done by couples. The one that is in-front is portraying a person that is on the verge of orgasmic pleasure.The idea for me is that sex should not be closed to just a male and a female. It should be to whomever that person desires to be with.

As a person, I don't have the right to judge who you are or what you prefer. As long as you care for that person and not hurt anybody. You are good in my books.

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bauhaus building, dessau, germany, 1925-1926, architect: walter gropius

Gropius consistently separated the parts of the Bauhaus building according to their functions and designed each differently. He thereby arranged the different wings asymmetrically – in relation to what is today the Bauhausstraße and the Gropiusallee respectively. In order to appreciate the overall design of the complex, the observer must therefore move around the whole building. There is no central viewpoint.

The glazed, three-storey workshop wing, the block for the vocational school (also three storeys high) with its unostentatious rows of windows, and the five-storey studio building with its conspicuous, projecting balconies are the main elements of the complex. A two-storey bridge which housed, e.g., the administration department and, until 1928, Gropius’s architectural practice, connects the workshop wing with the vocational school. A single-storey building with a hall, stage and refectory, the so-called Festive Area, connects the workshop wing to the studio building. The latter originally featured 28 studio flats for students and junior masters, each measuring 20 m². The ingenious design of the portals between the foyer and the hall and a folding partition between the stage and the refectory, along with the ceiling design and colour design, impart a grandiose spatial coalescence to the sequence of foyer-hall-stage-refectory, shaping the so-called Festive Area. The façade of the students’ dormitory is distinguished in the east by individual balconies and in the south by long balconies that continue around the corner of the building.

The entire complex is rendered and painted mainly in light tones, creating an attractive contrast to the window frames, which are dark. For the interior, the junior master of the mural workshop, Hinnerk Scheper, designed a detailed colour plan that, by differentiating between supporting and masking elements through the use of colour, aimed to accentuate the construction of the building.

The L.G.Pearse on the side of this conveyance and, presumably the person in the natty suit and hat at the front of the vehicle is a distant cousin, descendant of James Lane and Dinah Streatfield as I am.

It was sent to me by a collector of postcards, Kevin Hannah of NZ who looked up the name of the carrier and found the name in the family history web site on-line. He is not related.