iTunes

In 1998 the American computer engineer and entrepreneur William S. "Bill" Kincaid created the MP3 player SoundJam MP with Jeff Robbin. Two years it was purchased by Apple and renamed iTunes.

Apple launched iTunes on January 9, 2001 at Macworld San Francisco. At first, the service was available only to Mac users and the music files were encoded in Apple's proprietary format restricting where they could be played.

Wikipedia

On April 28, 2003, version 4.0 introduced the iTunes Store; six months later version 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Introduced at Macworld 2005 with the new iPod Shuffle, Version 4.7.1 introduced the ability to automatically convert higher-bitrate songs to 128kbit/s AAC. Thanks to the emergence of the iPod, iTunes became the first widely-successful legal music download site.

In February 2006, iTunes reached the incredible number of one billion music song downloads. The billionth song was Coldplay's "Speed of Sound." To celebrate selling it's one billionth song sold, Steve Jobs personally called the customer, Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield, Michigan to inform him he'd won 20" iMac, 10 fifth generation iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

"Hey Ya" by Andre 3000 was the first song to be downloaded one million times on iTunes.

There are now over 800 million accounts on iTunes, meaning Apple has access to more credit cards than any other company in the world.

Using iTunes to build nuclear weapons is against their terms of service.

Italy

HISTORY

Since ancient times, Etruscan, Celtic, Greeks and other cultures have flourished in the territory of present-day Italy. Rome began as a small farming community in the tenth century BC, eventually emerging as the dominant power on the peninsula and conquering most of the then known world.

Construction of the campanile of the cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begun in 1173. It would take two centuries to complete.

Italian culture thrived during the Renaissance, producing artists, architects, engineers, scientists and thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. Italian explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci discovered new routes to the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery.

Green, white and red, the national colors of Italy, first appeared on a tricolor cockade in Genoa on August 21, 1789, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolution. 

The first official Italian tricolor flag was adopted by the government of the Cispadane Republic on January 7, 1797.

Before 1861,  Italy was made up of smaller kingdoms and city-states. In 1860, Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi took control of Sicily, creating the Kingdom of Italy the following year. Vittorio Emanuele II was made the King.

After three years of political turmoil in Italy, Benito Mussolini took power by having his "Black Shirts," march on Rome and threaten to take over the government. King Vittorio Emanuele III gave in, asked him to form a government on and made him prime minister on October 31, 1922.

Mussolini had established a fascist dictatorship by the end of 1927. Only the King and his own Fascist party could challenge his power.

On June 10, 1940, Mussolini sent Italy into the Second World War on the side of the Axis countries. After initially advancing in British Somaliland and Egypt, the Italians were defeated in East Africa, Greece, Russia and North Africa.

Allied forces launched the first of four assaults on January 17, 1944 on Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in AD 529 by Benedict of Nursia. The intention was break through the Winter Line held by Axis forces and seize Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.

On June 2, 1946, Italians voted in a referendum to decide the future of their country's government. The results were a landslide victory for the republic, with 54.3% of voters choosing to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. King Umberto II, who had ascended to the throne just two months earlier following the abdication of his father, King Victor Emmanuel III, was forced to flee the country. He died in exile in Portugal in 1983.

The referendum was seen as a way for Italians to express their desire for a new beginning after the devastation of World War II. The war had left Italy in ruins, and the country was struggling to rebuild. Many Italians felt that a republic would be better equipped to lead the country into the future.

Festa della Repubblica, also known as Italian National Day or Republic Day, is celebrated on June 2nd each year in Italy. It commemorates the day in 1946 when the Italian people voted in a referendum to abolish the monarchy and establish the Italian Republic. The Festa della Repubblica is a significant national holiday in Italy and is marked by various ceremonies, parades, and events throughout the country.

Ballot paper used in the referendum.

The current form of the Italian flag has been in use since June 19, 1946. The flag of Italy is often referred to in Italy as il Tricolore because of its three colors. Green represents hope, white represents faith, and red represents charity.

In February 1947, Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies losing all the colonies and some territorial areas (Istria and parts of Dalmatia).

FUN ITALY FACTS

In 2010, the Italian government had a fleet of 629,000 official cars: ten times as many, as the US government.

Italy is home to the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites – more than 40.

The Italians speaks a national language, which was based on the Tuscan dialect, but each region still speaks its own dialect.

With almost 40 million visitors, Italy is the fourth most visited country in the world.

Italy is unique in that, there are two microstates that are fully independent even though they are surrounded by Italy. Such is the case of the Vatican City and the Republic of San Marino.

The Italian Wolf is considered the national animal of Italy.

87.8% of Italians said in a 2006 poll that they were Roman Catholic. Only just over a third said they were active members (36.8%).

Source Italoamericano.org

Istanbul

Constantine was founded Byzantium around 660 BC.

In 324, the ancient city of Byzantium became the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was renamed, and consecrated on May 11, 330.

For nearly sixteen centuries following its re-establishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, the city served as the capital of four empires: the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The Republic of Turkey established its capital in Ankara.

Map of Constantinople (1422) by Florentine cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti is the oldest surviving map of the city

Pope Constantine visited Constantinople in 710-11 where he compromised with Justinian II on the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council. Constantine was the last pope to visit Constantinople until Pope Paul VI did in 1967.

Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was the largest church in the world for about 900 years until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520.

Constantinople fell to the Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade on April 12, 1204, the Monday before Easter. The Crusaders initially intended to capture Jerusalem, but instead diverted to Constantinople after being hired by the Venetians to assist in a dispute with the Byzantine Empire. The Crusaders attacked and sacked the city, causing widespread destruction and looting.

After the fall of Constantinople, the Crusaders established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, with Baldwin of Flanders being crowned as the first Latin Emperor. However, their rule was unpopular and unstable, and the Latin Empire struggled to maintain control over the city and its territories. Within ten years, the Latin Empire had collapsed, and the Byzantine Empire was partially restored under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty.

The Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople had a significant impact on the Byzantine Empire and the wider world. It weakened the Byzantine Empire, which was already in decline, and paved the way for the Ottoman Turks to eventually capture Constantinople in 1453. The Fourth Crusade also caused a rift between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which remains to this day.

Constantinople had 1400 public toilets around the city when it was capital of the Ottoman Empire, at a time when the rest of Europe had none.

In 1710 Constantinople (Istanbul) lost its crown as largest city by population in the world, a position it had held for seven decades, when Beijing's population reached 770,000.

On October 13, 1923 Angora replaced Istanbul as Turkey's capital.

The name of Constantinople was changed to Istanbul on March 28, 1930. The city of Angora was changed to Ankara on the same day. The name changes were part of a broader effort by the Turkish government to modernize the country and break with its Ottoman past. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, was a strong proponent of these changes, which also included the adoption of a new Turkish alphabet and the promotion of Western-style clothing and social norms.

The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, was completed on October 30, 1973 connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus. The cost of the bridge was US$200 million.

Upon the bridge's opening, much was made of its being the first bridge between Europe and Asia since the pontoon bridge of Xerxes in 480 BC.

Upon its completion, the Bosphorus Bridge had the fourth-longest suspension bridge span in the world, and the longest outside the United States It remained the longest suspension bridge in Europe until the completion of the Humber Bridge in 1981, and the longest suspension bridge in Asia until the completion of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge (Second Bosphorus Bridge) in 1988.

The Bosphorus Bridge after sunset. Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is the oldest and largest historical bazaar in the world with over 4,000 shops covering 61 streets. With more than 91 million visitors it was listed as the world’s most-visited tourist attraction in 2014.

Istanbul is actually in two continents – Asia and Europe. Istanbul is the only major transcontinental city. Its commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.

With a population of 14.1 million, Istanbul is the fifth-largest city in the world by population within city limits.

Approximately 11.6 million foreign visitors arrived in Istanbul in 2012, making the city the world's fifth-most-popular tourist destination.

The best known song about the Turkish city is “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” which was originally a hit for The Four Lads in 1953 and later revived by They Might Be Giants. Other tunes about Istanbul include: “Istanbul” by The Breeders, “She Took My Soul In Istanbul” by Marc Almond, "Istanbul" by Morrissey and “City Of Black & White” by Mat Kearney. 

Israel

The name "Israel"originally referred to the patriarch Jacob, The Book of Genesis tells us he was given the moniker meaning, "one who strives with God," after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel.

The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word "Israel" is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BC.

In 586 BCE King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon conquered Judah and exiled the Jews to Babylon.

The first Christian writer to mention the term "holy land" was Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho (c. 160). Justin was explaining that the land God promised to Abraham would be inherited by Christians when Christ returned and built a new Jerusalem.

The concept of the return to the Holy Land was first developed in Jewish history during the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC.

From the early 18th century, German Pietists had promoted the view that the Jews were "God's time-piece" and that the conversion of the "Jewish nation" was key to the evangelization of the world. These ideas found fertile soil in England, during the early 19th century as British evangelicals became fascinated with the Jews.

Large-scale immigration to Palestine began in 1882 beginning with the arrival of Jews from Russia. Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated to the southwestern area of Syria, then a province of the Ottoman Empire. The majority came from the Russian Empire with a smaller number arriving from Yemen.

Tel Aviv was founded on April 11, 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It was planned as an independent Hebrew city with wide streets and boulevards, running water at each house and street lights. It is the second most populous Israeli city after Jerusalem.

Sarona, Tel Aviv

The British general Edmund Allenby retook Jerusalem from the Turks in 1917. In the resulting November 2, 1917 Balfour Declaration, (Arthur Balfour being the British Foreign Secretary), Britain pledged itself to use her best endeavors to facilitate in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people.

The United Nations unanimously confirmed in 1922 the Balfour Declaration as a mandate and Great Britain was temporarily entrusted with administrating Palestine on behalf of its Arab and Jewish inhabitants.

Portrait of Lord Balfour, along with his famous declaration

The United Nations General assembly adopted the UN Resolution to divide Western Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs in 1947. The Arabs rejected this plan out of hand refusing to accept an independent Palestinian Jewish state and declaring their intention to "drive the Jews into the sea" once the British Mandatory powers left.

The Jewish state of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The day after the British left Palestine, six Arab armies attacked the fledgling nation. Contrary to every expectation the Jews were victorious and threw back the attacking Arab armies.

Declaration of State of Israel 1948

The rebirth of the Jewish state was a unique event in history. Never before has a nation been resurrected two thousand years after being destroyed with its people dispersed and its land occupied by others.

An ardent supporter of Zionism, Winston Churchill was instrumental in setting up the Jewish homeland and consequently some Jews believed he was the promised Messiah.

Since 1951 in Israel it has been required by the law that every new building has a security room that can withstand blast and shrapnel from conventional weapons, and offer protection against chemical and biological weapons.

In 1952 Albert Einstein was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel. He declined, saying that as a scientist trained to deal with objective facts, he lacked the aptitude and experience to deal with people.

In the 1967 Six-Day War Arab armies again attacked Israel but they were repelled to the line of the Jordan River and Israel occupied Judea and Samaria. The Israelis found  themselves back in control of the Old City of Jerusalem thus fulfilling the prophecy in Luke 21 v 24 that the "times of the Gentiles" would end.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War began on October 6, 1973 when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack, The timing of the attack was significant, as it coincided with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and prayer. Its also a day when Jews seek forgiveness for their sins and put things right with their neighbors they may have wronged. Israel was caught off guard, and the initial Arab offensive was successful.  

Egypt attacked with 3, 000 tanks and 600,000 men. On the Syrian side, Israel could muster only 70 tanks and looked as if they would be flattened. But just as it seemed her soldiers would be overrun, the invading forces inexplicably stopped their advance, allowing Israel time to regather.

Israel quickly rallied and launched a counteroffensive. The Israeli military, aided by divine providence, made significant gains and eventually pushed the Arab forces back to their pre-war positions. The war ended in a ceasefire on October 25, 1973.

Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and US President Jimmy Carter signed the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C on March 26, 1979, ending three decades of hostilities.

Israel admitted in 1985 that it has been secretly resettling Ethiopian Jews in Israel since 1977. They had been escaping the country's communist regime and the recent famine by being secretly airlifted to Israel. It is claimed Ethiopian Jews are descendants of the tribe of Dan.

In order to rescue the Ethiopian Jews, the Mossad bought and ran a profitable scuba diving resort in Sudan between 1982 and 1984. Between 8,000 and 10,000 of them were safely smuggled to Israel.

Russian is spoken in Israel by about 20% of the total population.

The ethnic Samaritans of the Bible still exist in modern-day Israel. They number about 820 people and still practice a distinctly ancient form of Judaism.

Israel has almost no fresh water of their own. Only the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River that comes out of it. They need it from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Israel is the only first world country that has enough children to replace its own population.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Source Heart newspaper

Island

Doggerland is the area of land connecting Great Britain to continental Europe. It was flooded by rising sea-levels between 6500-6200 BC, turning Great Britain into an island.

Robinson Crusoe spent almost 339 months (28 years, two months and 19 days) on his desert island. Alexander Selkirk, on whom the 1719 book by Daniel Defoe was based, spent more than four years on his castaway island, 400 miles off Chile’s coast. Selkirk's long-awaited deliverance came on February 2, 1709 by way of the Duke, a privateering ship piloted by William Dampier, and its sailing companion the Duchess.

The rescued Selkirk, seated at right, being taken aboard the Duke.

Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is the most remote island in the world. It was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier on January 1, 1739 and claimed for Norway on December 1, 1927. The nearest land is the uninhabited Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, over 1,600 km (994 mi) away to the south. The nearest inhabited lands are Tristan da Cunha, 2,260 km (1,404 mi) away and South Africa, 2,580 km (1,603 mi) away.

The 1856 Guano Islands Act gave Americans the right to mine bird dung on any uninhabited island.

In 1921, Danish explorer Lauge Koch discovered a tiny island on the northern coast of Greenland and named it "Kaffeklubben Island" after an informal academic club held at the Copenhagen Mineralogical Museum. He didn't know that he had just named the northernmost point of land on Earth after a coffee club.

The volcanic island of Surtsey, just south of Iceland, did not exist until 1963. The island, now a nature reserve, was formed by the eruption of Surtur, an underwater volcano, which for four months emitted ash and pumice in a column rising more than 1,000ft (305m).

Mayda Insula is an island in the Kraken Mare, a body of liquid composed primarily of methane, on Saturn's largest moon Titan. Mayda Insula was discovered by the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn on April 11, 2008. It is the first island (insula) to be named on a planet or moon other than Earth.

The world's smallest island nation is Nauru in the Pacific (see aerial view below) with an area of 8.1 square miles. Nauru's population is 9,945 according to a 2011 census. The only nation with fewer people is Vatican City.

The Bishop Rock is a small rock in the Atlantic Ocean known for its lighthouse. It is an archipelago 28 miles (45 kilometers) off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is the world's smallest island with a building on it.

There are 1,040 islands in total around Great Britain.

There are  267,570 islands within the territory of Sweden. No other country has as many.

The world’s largest island, Greenland, is 103,000 times larger than the smallest island country, Nauru.

Java is the most populous island in the world with 148,756,685 people, 44 million more than the island with the second most, Honshu.

Santa Cruz del Islote, an island located off the coast of Colombia, has 1247 people living on it. It is just 012 square km, the size of a baseball field, making it the most densely populated island in the world.

The most remote inhabited place on The Earth, the island of Tristan da Cunha, is 1250 miles from the next closest inhabited location. With no airstrip and out of civilian helicopter flying range, the fastest way to travel to it is a six day boat journey from South Africa.

Devon Island is an island located in Baffin Bay, Canada. The 27th-largest island in the world, it has an area of 55,247 km2 (21,331 sq mi) (slightly smaller than Croatia). It is the largest uninhabited island in the world and it is used to simulate Mars like environment by scientist because of its uncanny similarity with Martian surface.

In the sea between Australia and New Zealand, there's an island taller than it is wide. Ball's Pyramid only measures 300m (984ft) across, yet peaks at 562m (1844ft) in elevation.

Marajó is an island located at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil. With a land area of 15,500 square miles (40,100 square kilometres) it is s the largest river island in the world, Marajó is comparable in size to Switzerland.

Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron is the largest freshwater lake island in the world at 1068 square miles. It has a population of around 12,600.

The largest island on a lake which is itself on an island in a lake (are you still with us...?) is Treasure Island in Lake Mindemoya, which is on Manitoulin Island.

Treasure Island from the south. By Janzbran - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, $3

Fraser Island off the coast of Australia, is the largest sand island in the world covering around 163,000 ha and has a beach 40 miles long.

The Russian island of Big Diomede and the U.S. island of Little Diomede located in the Bering Strait are separated by the International Date Line, making Big Diomede 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede even though they are separated by about 2.4 miles (3.8 km)

The island of Faisans in the middle of the Bidasoa river, on the border of France and Spain, switches countries every February and July. This was agreed to as part of the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. This sort of joint sovereignty is called a condominium.

"Cat Island," an island off the coast of Japan, is home to 22 residents and over 120 cats — that's six cats a person.

Here is a list of songs with an island theme.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is a Sunni jihadist militant group, which is influenced by the Wahhabi version of Islam.

The Islamic State of Iraq was started in the early years of the Iraq War and was composed of different insurgent groups. Its aim was to establish a caliphate in the Sunni majority regions of Iraq,

On  Salafist jihadist organization fighting against Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil Warand the Al-Nusra Front, merged to become the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

On April 8, 2013, the leader of the then Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, released a recorded audio message on the Internet. He announced that they had merged with the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist organization fighting against Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil War to become the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, under his command.

In February 2014, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with ISIL It has since denounced the actions of ISIS as anti-Islamic.

On June 29, 2014, the group self-declared its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq, with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi being named its caliph. It renamed itself ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah "Islamic State" (IS).

Flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS). 

The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by American-led coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on  February 9, 2019 as part of the Deir ez-Zor campaign against The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It ended on March 23, 2019 when the SDF officially declared final victory over the Islamic State. By that date The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had lost all of its territory in Syria.

The leader of ISIS between 2013 and 2019, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had a Ph.D in Islamic Studies. He killed himself on October 26, 2019 during a United States military operation in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province. Al-Baghdadi had detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three children who were with him, after being chased through a tunnel by U.S. military dogs.

A mugshot photo of Baghdadi detained at Camp Bucca, Iraq, 2004

ISIS used to publish an actual glossy, full-color magazine called Dabiq, complete with articles and photo spreads about their terrorist acts for propaganda and recruitment. It was replaced by an online magazine Rumiyah in September 2016, which is released in several languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Indonesian and Uyghur.

According to leaked ISIS data, only 5 percent of recruits had an advanced knowledge of Islam before joining the group.

ISIS members believe that they will go directly to hell if they are killed by a woman, so they are terrified of female soldiers.

ISIS militants have been known to use plastic Darth Vader masks to protect their faces from shrapnel.

Islam

HISTORY

Islam is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a religious text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allah). Muslims believe that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by God through the archangel Gabriel (Jibrīl) on many occasions between 610 AD until his death twenty two years later.

In 605 The Black Stone, which was said to have been given by Archangel Gabriel to Abraham, was standing in a shrine called the Kaabi. The Kaabi flooded and the 35-year-old Muhammad was entrusted the job of setting the Black Stone back in it's place. After successfully doing this he started going out into the desert to meditate about God. Muhammad prayed much in solitude and fell into trances and heard voices. He  met some heretical Arab Christians whose hypocrisy put him off Christianity but encouraged his belief in Monotheism. All he saw was crucifixions and priests and vestments and images and he said that it was as adulterous as the then Arab religion.

Muhammad is said to have received the first verses of the Quran in a cave on the Jabal-al-Nour mountain (see below). According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad experienced his first revelation from the Archangel Gabriel on the 21st day of the month of Ramadan in the year 610

   "Jabal Nur" by Adiput Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

                     
Muhammad started teaching that God had revealed himself to Christians and Jews but both had misinterpreted his word. He advised his followers to respect Jews and Christians because they too were “people of the book”.

Muhammad's preaching met with much opposition and at times he was stoned, so he concluded that Allah intended the divine message and call to be vindicated by political means. Muhammad moved his base from Mecca to Medina, arriving there on September 20, 622.

The Islamic calendar began on July 16, 622  during the year in which the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, known as the Hijra, occurred.

At Medina, Muhammad taught Islam must be spread if necessary by Holy War. His victory at the Battle of Badr, on March 13, 624 with a mere 300 men aided by a sandstorm, enabled the Prophet to reach a wider area with his new religion.

Scene from the Turkish epic Siyer-i Nebi, Hamza and Ali leading the Muslim armies at Badr. 

On December 11, 630 Muhammad entered Mecca with a force of 10,000 and the city submitted to him. Within two years all of Arabia was united under Islam.

Muhammad's entry into Mecca . He is shown as a flame in this manuscript. Bazil's Hamla-i Haydari.

Islam was rapidly spreading through military expeditions, or Jihads. Within twelve years after Muhammad's death, that strategy had resulted in the occupation of Egypt, Syria, and parts of the Persian and Byzantine territories and by 678 all North Africa had succumbed to the Islam military might. In 714, Spain fell to the Muslim Moors.

By the late fifteenth century, the Moorish caliphate in Spain was evaporating as Christian armies pushed the borders of Moorish Spain southwards.

The star and crescent symbol associated with Islam is derived from the Ottoman Empire use of it in the 18th century. The Ottomans derived the symbol from Christian Constantinople, which was based on a Hellenistic symbol.

Adolf Hitler considered that Islam was perfectly suited to the "Germanic" temperament and would have been more compatible to the Germans than Christianity.

BELIEFS

Islam should be pronounced with a hissing s, not with a z sound, and with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Islam means “submission” – that is, “submission to God” – and it is a verbal noun from the Arabic verb aslama, “to surrender,” “to submit.”

The prophet Muhammad's teachings were recorded by his followers on stones, bits of leather and camel’s shoulder bones or memorized  as he uttered them. In 650 Othman, the second Islamic leader after the death of Muhammad, saw the need for a single Islam text so he assembled a committee headed by one of Muhammad's old secretaries to assemble the scattered texts. By the following year, the Qur'an had come into being.

The Qur'an is the size of a New Testament, consists of 114 chapters called Suras, each shorter than the one before it.

Mawlid al-Nabi, also known as the Mawlid, is the Islamic celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. It is observed on the 12th day of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.

The Mawlid is a relatively recent holiday, and it is not universally celebrated by Muslims. It was first celebrated in the 13th century, and it became more popular in the 14th century. The holiday is not mentioned in the Qur'an or in the Hadith, the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Mawlid is celebrated in different ways by different Muslims. Some Muslims simply mark the day by attending prayers and listening to sermons about the Prophet Muhammad. Others celebrate with more elaborate festivities, including feasting, singing, and dancing.

The Five Pillars of Islam are five basic acts in Islam, considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life. The five obligations are:
To offer seventeen cycles of prayer each day, usually spread out over five periods of time.
Charitable giving of at least 2.5% of one's income.
The reciting of the "Shahadah," which is when you say "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet."
Fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, from Sunrise to Sunset
To make the pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca.

Muslims face in the direction of Islam's holiest place, the Kaaba in Mecca, during their prayers.

On one occasion in his younger pre-revelation days Mohammed drank too much and made a fool of himself. Later he decided that Allah prohibited the consumption of alcohol because it distracts the believer from focusing on God and causes medical and social problems. As a result the Qur'an forbids Muslims to drink alcohol.

The Muslims declared the Saluki dog sacred and believe this breed was given to them by Allah for their amusement and benefit, permitting Muslims to eat the meat of the game. It is the only dog allowed to sleep on the carpet of a sheikh's tent.

In 1947, Pakistan was created an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of the Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution nine years later. On March 23, 1956 it became the first country in the world to declare itself an Islamic Republic.

DEMOGRAPHICS

A comprehensive 2009 demographic study of 232 countries and territories reported that 23% of the global population, or 1.57 billion people, are Muslim.

Most Muslims are of two denominations: Sunni (75–90%) or Shia (10–20%). About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, 25% in South Asia, 20% in the Middle East, and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sources Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Patheos

Iron

Iron is the most common element (by mass) on Earth, forming much of the outer and inner core, as well as the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust.

The Earth has enough Iron to make three new planets, each with the same mass as Mars.

It is the most widely-used metal because it is very strong and cheap. Iron is used to make bridges, buildings, nails, screws, pipes, girders, and towers.

Archaeologists have found several iron tools, weapons and cultural objects dating thousands of years before the advent of the Iron Age. These objects were held in high regard for their qualities and were made from meteoric iron - the only naturally occurring native metal of the element iron on the Earth's surface.

Genesis 4 v 22 contains the first mention of iron in the Old Testament of the Bible; "Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."

Cast iron is an alloy of iron. As early as 1848 cast iron was used for a building constructed in New York City. By about 1855 architects had developed a type of construction that used a skeleton of metal--cast iron. Cast iron made possible floor spans of greater width than ever before.

Iron is plentiful because it is the final element formed out of a star's death.

Iron increases in weight as it rusts.

Iron is present in meat and is also found in hemoglobin in red blood cells.

Iron is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world.

The human body has enough iron to make a 3-inch long nail.

Some breakfast cereals, like Wheaties, are fortified with enough iron that individual flakes can be lifted and carried using common magnets.

Iron is toxic when large amounts are swallowed and can damage the body. When too many vitamins that have iron in them are consumed, people get sick.

Irn-Bru

In 1901 the Scottish company, A.G. Barr of Glasgow, developed a new caffeinated soft drink called Iron Brew. The formula for the beverage with an eccentric orange color was a closely guarded secret, but it proved popular among the Scots.

There is iron in the drink but it is not brewed.

In 1946, a change in laws required that the word brew be removed from the name, as the drink is not brewed. The chairman of  A.G. Barr came up with the idea of changing the spelling of both halves of the name, giving the Irn-Bru brand.

Today Irn-Bru is the best selling soft drink in Scotland. Scotland is one of the the few countries in the world where Coca-Cola is not the best selling soft drink. 

Irish Wolfhound

The origins of the Irish Wolfhound breed dates back to 100 BC. The ancestor of this breed was the Cu, a massive, shaggy-looking dog that was used to hunt wolves, elk and wild boar, which was mentioned by Julius Caesar.

It was reported that the King of Ulster in the 1100s traded 4,000 cattle for one wolfhound.

During the English conquest of Ireland, only the nobility were allowed to own Irish Wolfhounds. They were much coveted and were frequently given as gifts to important personages and foreign nobles. King John of England, in about 1210 presented an Irish hound, Gelert to Llewellyn, a prince of Wales. The poet The Hon William Robert Spencer immortalised this hound in a poem.

Almost extinct by the 1800s, the Irish Wolfhound was revived again by Capt. George Augustus Graham. The captain devoted his life to ensuring the survival of the breed and in 1885 Graham, with other breeders, founded the Irish Wolfhound Club.

The name originates from its purpose (wolf hunting with dogs) rather than from its appearance.

Irish Wolfhounds can be an imposing sight due to their formidable size; they are the tallest of all dog breeds, sometimes reaching 7 feet tall on their hind legs.

The Irish Wolfhound is the national dog of Ireland and is sometimes also called the Wolfdog, the Irish Greyhound, or the Great Dog of Ireland.

Famous Irish Wolfhound owners have included Richard III, Anne Boleyn, Henry VII, Queen Elizabeth I, George Washington, the singer Sting and composer Leonard Bernstein.

An Irish wolfhound called Keon, has a 2.6-foot-long tail, the Guinness World Record for the longest tail on a dog.

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc.

Irish troubles

Religion has been bound up with Northern Ireland's history, geography and politics for so many years that it is a difficult thing to unravel. In the north of Ireland in the 1600s many native Irish Catholic people were displaced from their land, which was seized and given to loyal English Protestant gentry. All this happened in the middle of much wider political turmoil and the religious upheaval of the Reformation. Thousands of ordinary English and Scottish Protestant families, were then sent to “settle” the land. Scottish Presbyterian, Anglican and later Methodist clergy came to serve the new planted communities.

For a long time, law, language and custom ensured that native Irish Catholics were treated less favourably. Unsurprisingly, this did not go unchallenged and for several hundred years, violent clashes continued to be a feature of the religious and political landscape. This was the case right up to (and beyond) 1921, when Ireland was divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a new and smaller constituent part of the United Kingdom.

The Irish troubles began in the late 1960s and was primarily political but with strong ethnic and sectarian dimensions. A key issue was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Unionists/loyalists, who are mostly Protestants and generally want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists/republicans, who are mostly Roman Catholics, generally want it to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.

On Sunday January 30, 1972, members of the British Parachute Regiment shot twenty-six civil rights protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing at least thirteen people. This "Bloody Sunday" massacre fermented fresh grievances for the Irish against the English and Catholics against Protestants.

Murder victims of Bloody Sunday" by Vintagekits at English Wikipedia. 

By 1976, the animosity between the two groups had deteriorated to such an extent that Northern Ireland was close to a civil war. Two Roman Catholic women, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire and Betty Williams, founded a movement for peace in Northern Ireland known as the 'Peace People'. The movement involved people from both the Catholic and Protestant communities who wished to see an end to the sectarian violence that was plaguing the province. As a result of their efforts the two women shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the 1980s there was a persistent rumor in the UK that McDonald's was funding the Irish Republican Army. This was ultimately traced back to a U.S. talk show where the company was praised for its generosity in funding Individual Retirement Accounts.

The decision of the General Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland in 1988 to allow members the freedom to call the pope "Antichrist", or not as they preferred, won approval from the Rev D.H. Porter. He laughably described it as "a victory for Christian charity".

During a visit to Northern Ireland, U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke on November 30, 1995 in favor of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall. He called terrorists "yesterday's men".

IRA members showing an improvised mortar and an RPG (1992)

The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumed a ceasefire to end their 25-year campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland on July 19, 1997.

The conflict is deemed by many to have ended with the Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998. UK prime minister Tony Blair said: "A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders."

In 2005 the IRA declared a formal end to its campaign and had its weaponry decommissioned under international supervision.

In July 2007, the British Army formally ended Operation Banner, their mission in Northern Ireland which began 38 years earlier, in 1969.

Source Christianity magazine April 2023 pgs 70-71Troubling Times by David Smyth 

Irish coffee

Irish coffee was invented by Joe Sheridan,  a barman in Foynes port, the precursor to Shannon International Airport, in the west of Ireland. Sheridan conceived this hot, adult beverage after a group of American passengers disembarked from a Pan Am flying boat on a miserable winter evening in the in 1942. He had many tired and exhausted customers at his bar, who after a long flight across the Atlantic needed a "pick-up." His remedy was a strong cup of coffee fortified with a dash of whiskey, and topped with whipped cream.

The travel writer Stanton Delaplane started publicizing Sheridan's Irish coffee in 1952 after he discovered it during one of his trips.

Most recipes say the Irish Coffee is made with hot, black coffee, sugar, a shot of Irish whiskey and whipped cream, but there are endless variations.

Ireland

Ireland is named after Eire, one of the land's three native goddesses in Celtic mythology.

Ireland’s oldest city is Waterford, which was founded by the Vikings back in 853.

Norman mercenaries first landed at Bannow Bay in Leinster on May 1, 1169, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. The invasion was at the request of Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurragh), the ousted King of Leinster, who had sought their help in regaining his kingdom. Diarmait and the Normans seized Leinster within weeks and launched raids into neighboring kingdoms.

Henry at Waterford", from A Chronicle of England (1864) by James Doyle

When Pope Alexander III wanted to eradicate Irish customs that conflicted with the teaching of the Catholic Church, he declared Henry II of England to be the rightful sovereign of Ireland in 1172. Henry accepted the title of Lord of Ireland which the English monarch conferred on his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Irish state as the Lordship of Ireland. It took seven and a half centuries for the Irish to regain their freedom.

Ireland is sometimes known as the Emerald Isle, a term coined by an Irish political radical and poet in 1795. Belfast born William Drennan (1754 – February 5, 1820), wrote in When Erin First Rose. "Let no feeling of vengeance presume to defile. The cause of, or men of, the Emerald Isle."

Saint Patrick's color was blue, not green. St. Patrick's blue, can be seen on ancient Irish flags and was used on armbands and flags by the Irish Citizen Army up until the 1798 Irish Rebellion. This is when the color green taken from Ireland's lush fields became a symbol for Ireland.

The Kingdom of Ireland was formally merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain, adding Saint Patrick's Saltire to the Union Flag. From 1801 until 1922, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Great Famine in the mid-1840's forced many to leave Ireland; it is estimated almost a million people died of starvation, and a million more emigrated. From a maximum of over 8 million in 1841, the total Irish population dropped to just over 4 million in the 1940s. The population of Ireland still hasn't returned to where it was before the Great Famine.

The Proclamation of the Irish Republic, issued on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, stands as a pivotal document in Irish history. It marked the formal declaration of independence by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter Rising, a pivotal but ultimately unsuccessful rebellion against British rule.

The First Dáil convened at the Mansion House in Dublin on January 21, 1919, and ratified the Proclamation of the Irish Republic of 1916, calling for the establishment of the Irish Republic.

Irish playwright and politician Terence MacSwiney was a member of Sinn Féin, an Irish political party that was fighting for independence from the United Kingdom. He was arrested by the British in 1920 and charged with sedition. He refused to recognize the authority of the British court and went on a hunger strike.

MacSwiney's hunger strike lasted for 74 days. During that time, he lost a great deal of weight and became very weak. He died on October 25, 1920, surrounded by his family and friends. MacSwiney's death was a major turning point in the Irish struggle for independence. It showed the British that the Irish people were willing to die for their freedom. It also sparked outrage around the world and put pressure on the British government to negotiate with the Irish rebels.

The Government of Ireland Act was passed on May 3, 1921, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland has stayed within the United Kingdom since then. The full name of the UK is 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.'

One year to the day after The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London by British and Irish representatives, the south of Ireland became the Irish Free State on December 6, 1922. Fifteen years later, the Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.

Ireland stayed neutral during World War II,

Ireland's link with the Commonwealth was terminated with the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into force on April 18, 1949 and declared that the state was a republic.

At midnight on April 17, 1949 the 26 Irish counties officially left the British Empire. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.

In 1995, a referendum in Ireland legalized divorce by 50.3 per cent to 49.7 per cent.

Over 8 million St. Patrick's Day cards are exchanged in America making today the ninth-largest card selling occasion in the US.

The term, Luck of the Irish, was originally an insult. It was said sarcastically as the Irish have historically had bad luck, such as the potato famine.

The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.

34.5 million U.S residents claim Irish ancestry, that is 9 times the current population of Ireland.

More than 40 percent of all American presidents have had some Irish ancestry.

Today almost 80 million people around the world are descended from Irish immigrants.

Iraq

Iraq was once known by the Greek name Mesopotamia which means 'Land between the rivers' and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing.

At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires.

Iraq's modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres. Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established the following year.

Iraq takes its name from the 5000 year old Sumerian city of Uruk, home of the legendary King Gilgamesh.

The Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932 and on July 14, 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was created. Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was overthrown by a military coup d'état led by Abd al-Karim Qasim.

From 1968 to 2003, Iraq was run by the Ba'ath Party. Saddam Hussein was the President from 1979 until the disbandment of the Ba'ath Party.

In 1990, Iraq ignited the Gulf War when they invaded Kuwait. Many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy, Pakistan, and others fought to free Kuwait.

During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein built a defensive line filled with trenches and tunnels, hoping to engage the coalition in World War 1-style trench warfare. Instead, the US forces charged with modified bulldozers and simply plowed through the Iraqi trenches, burying many alive

In the early hours of the March 20, 2003 morning, an invasion led by American, British, Australian, Danish and Polish forces commenced against Iraq to disarm them of weapons of mass destruction deployment and remove Saddam Hussein from power. It was claimed by a Palestinian official that the American president George W Bush told him that he was instructed by God to end the tyranny in Iraq.

By Photo: Photograph by Cpl Paul Jarvis/MOD, OGL, Wikipedia Commons

Iraqi Muslims accused President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of waging a crusade against Islam comparable to the Middle Ages.

Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005.

The Erbil Citadel, locally called Qelat is an occupied mound in the historical heart of the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The mound has been continuously inhabited since 5000 BC. In 2007 all inhabitants were temporarily evicted to conduct a restoration project, except for a single family, who was allowed to stay as to not break the continuous habitation record.

Iraq took 289 days to form a government after its 2010 elections — setting a new record for the longest that any country has been without a government as a result of conflict.

There were many U.S., British and multi-national troops in the country until December 18, 2011 when the Iraq War ended. Tensions between religious groups (Shia and Sunni Muslims, as well as attacks on Christians) lead to a great deal of instability and the Iraqi insurgency intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country.

Suicide bombings in Iraq killed 60 times as many civilians as it did soldiers.

In 2013, more than 800,000 international tourists visited Iraq, despite the fact that it was still a war zone.

The town of Tikrit in Iraq erected a monument of the shoe thrown at George W. Bush. The footwear was hurled by journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi during a press conference in Baghdad. Though Al-Zaidi was jailed for his actions, his angry gesture touched a defiant nerve throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

The design of the current Iraqi flag was confirmed by the Iraqi Parliament on January 22, 2008. It includes the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation flag. This basic tricolor has been in use since 1963, with several changes to the green symbols in the central white stripe; the most recent version bears the takbīr rendered in green.

Iraq is the world's number four in petroleum production and the world's number two in petroleum reserves.

Iraq is the only country that ends with a Q.

Iran

Iran is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, with settlements dating back to 4,000 BC.

The Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC stretched from the Balkans in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire to exist based on percentage of world population. It contained 44% of the global population in 480 BC.

The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, mainly due to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning "land of the Persians." In 1935, Reza Shāh Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, "Iran". This was done to show that Iran belongs to all the non-Persian Iranians as well as to Persian Iranians.

The name Iran means land of the Aryans. It is used in the ancient book of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta. The "Aryan Race" was a term that Hitler used to describe his "Superior" or "perfect" race, but it originally meant Iranians.

After Iran's first democratic government nationalized the country's oil industry in 1951, ending years of British control over Iran's oil supply, the US Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a coup d'etat at the suggestion of the British foreign office. The coup brought down Iran's prime minister and reinstated the pro-Western Shah.

In 1979, the Islamic Revolution of Iran overthrew the Shah and established an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The flag of Iran is a tricolor comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white and red. The tricolor flag was introduced in 1906, but after the Islamic Revolution the Arabic words 'Allahu akbar' ('God is great'), written in the Kufic script of the Qur'an and repeated 22 times, were added to the red and green strips where they border the white central strip. The new "holy" flag was adopted on July 29, 1980.

November 4th is national "Death to America" day in Iran, and it's an official national holiday.

Tehran is the capital of Iran and home to 12 million people. Tehran means "warm slope."

Iran has the highest rate of nose surgery in the world per capita, since the mandatory hijab tend to highlight the female face.

There is a rain forest in northern Iran, which stretches from the east in the Khorasan province to the west in the Ardebil province, covering the other provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan.

Iran is the only country that has both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline.

Nearly half of Iran has an arid desert climate. It receives less than 4 inches of rainfall per year.

The natural gas reserves of Iran are about 1,046 trillion cubic feet, about 15.8% of world's total reserves. It is the world's second largest reserves after Russia.

Iran has one of the largest rates of "brain drain" in the world. Up to 180,000 specialists and academic elite leave the country every year.

Iran is the only country in the world where it is legal to sell your kidneys — the government regulates the market.

Iran has the highest rate of nose surgery in the world per capita, since the mandatory hijab tend to highlight the female face.