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Mpongwé
The Mpongwe are an ethnic group in Gabon, notable as the earliest known dwellers around the estuary where Libreville is now located. History The Mpongwe language identifies them as a subgroup of the Myènè people of the Bantu peoples, Bantus, who are believed to have been in the area for some 2,000 years, although the Mpongwe clans likely began arriving in only the 16th century, possibly in order to take advantage of trading opportunities offered by visiting Europeans. The Mpongwe gradually became the middlemen between the coast and the interior peoples such as the Bakèlè and Séké. From about the 1770s, the Mpongwe also became involved in the History of slavery, slave trade. In the 1830s, Mpongwe trade consisted of slaves, dyewood, ebony, rubber, ivory trade, ivory, and gum copal in exchange for cloth, iron, firearms, and various forms of alcoholic beverage, alcoholic drink. In the 1840s, at the time of the arrival of American missionaries and French naval forces, the Mpongw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libreville
Libreville (; ) is the capital and largest city of Gabon, located on the Gabon Estuary. Libreville occupies of the northwestern province of Estuaire Province, Estuaire. Libreville is also a port on the Gabon Estuary, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inhabited by the Mpongwe people since before the French acquired the land in 1839. It was later an American Christian Christian mission, mission, and a slave resettlement site, before becoming the chief port of the colony of French Equatorial Africa. By the time of Gabonese independence in 1960, the city was a trading post and minor administrative centre with a population of 32,000. Since 1960, Libreville has grown rapidly and now is home to one-third of the national population. History Various native peoples lived in or used the area that is now Libreville before colonization, including the Mpongwé tribe. French admiral Édouard Bouët-Willaumez negotiated a trade a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mpongwe Language
Myene is a cluster of closely related Bantu varieties spoken in Gabon by about 46,000 people. It is perhaps the most divergent of the Narrow Bantu languages, , Ehret, 2009. though Nurse & Philippson (2003) place it in with the Tsogo languages
The Tsogo languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.30 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the languages form a valid node. They are:
: Tsogo language, Tsogo (Getsogo), Himba language, Himba (Simba), P ... (B.30). The more distinctive varieties are Mpo ...
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Gum Copal
Gum copal is a resin produced by the sap of forest tree in the genus Daniellia. Due to common impurities and differences in regions, gum copal ranges in color from black to yellow to white. Gum copal, along with ivory and slaves, was a significant export from East Africa in the 19th century. It can have an appearance similar to amber and may be mistaken for it. Unlike amber, gum copal is usually only 100–1,000 years old and it has not yet fossilized.Aber, Susan Ward,Copal: An Immature and Controversial Resin. Emporia State University, 16 January 2004. Source locations Gum copal is most commonly found in East Africa and Indonesia, and is also found in tropical regions such as South America, Malaysia and the Philippines.Forestry Department.". FAO, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2015. Comparison to amber Throughout history, amber and gum copal have been mistaken for each other, as it is extremely difficult to discern between the two. A drop test using an alcohol or other solvent will leave a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort D'Aumale
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ("strong") and ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large cyclopean stone walls fitted without mortar had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anguilè Ré-Dowé
Anguilè Ré-Dowé also known as "King Louis", was Mpongwe village leader of Agekaza-Quaben in the 19th century. In 1842, he ceded sovereignty over his territories to the French. He was the nephew of King Quaben (or Kaka-Rapono), the head of the clan. Biography His exact date of birth is unknown. He was born in the village of Okolo (now called Sainte-Marie). His mother is said to be an Aguékaza woman given in marriage to an Agungu man but she was recalled by her clan while she was pregnant. He was then adopted by King R’Ogayoni, a Mpongwè king of the Aguékaza clan. He is known for having signed a treaty on 18 March 1842 that allowed the French to settle on the northern bank of the estuary. Unlike the treaty of 1839, signed by Antchouwé Kowe Rapontchombo, "King Denis", the treaty with King Louis mentions a transfer of sovereignty and stipulates that the French will from then on be the only ones able to fly a flag on this territory. This makes it a crucial event in the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing company National Book Network based in Lanham, Maryland. History The current company took shape when the University Press of America acquired Rowman & Littlefield in 1988 and took the Rowman & Littlefield name for the parent company. Since 2013, there has also been an affiliated company based in London called Rowman & Littlefield International. It is editorially independent and publishes only academic books in Philosophy, Politics & International Relations and Cultural Studies. The company sponsors the Rowman & Littlefield Award in Innovative Teaching, the only national teaching award in political science given in the United States. It is awarded annually by the American Political Science Association for people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fronds
A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the large leaves of cycads, as well as palms (Arecaceae) and various other flowering plants, such as mimosa or sumac. "Frond" is commonly used to identify a large, compound leaf, but if the term is used botanically to refer to the leaves of ferns and algae it may be applied to smaller and undivided leaves. Fronds have particular terms describing their components. Like all leaves, fronds usually have a stalk connecting them to the main stem. In botany, this leaf stalk is generally called a petiole, but in regard to fronds specifically it is called a stipe, and it supports a flattened blade (which may be called a lamina), and the continuation of the stipe into this portion is called the rachis. The blades may be simple (undivided), pinnatifid ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sails
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or bonded filaments, usually in a three- or four-sided shape. A sail provides propulsive force via a combination of lift and drag, depending on its angle of attack, its angle with respect to the apparent wind. Apparent wind is the air velocity experienced on the moving craft and is the combined effect of the true wind velocity with the velocity of the sailing craft. Angle of attack is often constrained by the sailing craft's orientation to the wind or point of sail. On points of sail where it is possible to align the leading edge of the sail with the apparent wind, the sail may act as an airfoil, generating propulsive force as air pas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light, look-out position, signal yard, control position, radio aerial, or signal lamp. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship. Nearly all sailing masts are guyed. Until the mid-19th century, all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the required height, the masts were built from up to four sections (also called masts). From lowest to highest, these were called: lower, top, topgallant, and royal masts. Giving the lower section ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Du Chaillu
Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (July 31, 1831 (disputed)April 29, 1903) was a French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa. He later researched the prehistory of Scandinavia. Early life and parentage There are conflicting reports of both the year and place of Du Chaillu's birth. The year is variously given as 1831 (the consensus of modern scholars), 1835, or 1839; the date when given is July 31. Accounts usually cite either Paris or New Orleans as his likely place of birth. A contemporary obituary quotes a statement made by Du Chaillu referring to "the United States, my country by adoption, and ... France, my native land." His entry in the 1901-1902 edition of ''Marquis Who's Who'' — which was based on information he supplied directly to the editors — says 1838 in New Orleans. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
