News update 31/03/2022 19
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Spring and Autumn were replaced by the hard times of the Warring States, which lasted almost two centuries - from 403 to 221 BC. The rulers of the seven kingdoms entered into a deadly fight. “In the battles for the capture of cities, the dead overwhelmed the cities,” wrote a contemporary, “and in the battles for the lands, the battlefields were completely covered with the bodies of the dead.” After one such battle near Changping in 260 BC. the warriors of the Qin kingdom buried alive 400 thousand warriors of the Zhao kingdom who had surrendered.
The kingdom of Qin emerged victorious from the war. His victories over his neighbors were facilitated by the new organization of the troops: there were young people in the attacking detachments, and elderly soldiers in the defenders.
Having conquered all six kingdoms of rivals and perpetrated massacre there, the ruler of Qin, the thirteen-year-old Zheng-wang, declared himself "huangdi" (lord, emperor) and began to be called Qin Shw-huangdi - the first emperor of Qin. In the lands subject to him, he put an end to the power of the specific rulers. The whole country was divided into regions, and those, in turn, into counties. The heads of the regions and counties were appointed from the capital and could be removed at any moment at the will of the Huangdi. In the former six kingdoms, tortoise shells, shells, and pieces of jasper were used as money. Qin Shi Huangdi ordered to pay only in gold and copper coins. Life in the state had to go according to general rules. The emperor introduced unified written signs, streamlined measures of weight and length, established the same gauge for wagons, approved laws binding on all, ordered all ritual utensils and weapons to be made according to a single model.
Qin Shih Huangdi considered strict observance of the laws to be the paramount condition for order in the country. The rebels were to be executed. The family was responsible for the behavior of each of its members. So they hoped to eradicate robbers and robbers.
Once in Sanyang, the capital of the new state, more than 460 people were executed. All residents of the country were informed about this. The strength of family ties was strongly supported. The murder of a husband who destroys his family by his behavior was ordered not to be considered a crime.
Strengthening the state from within, Qin Shih Huangdi did not disregard his neighbors either. Several hundred thousand Qin warriors laid down their lives during a campaign against the state of Nanyue in the south.
Once a soothsayer predicted: "The Qin Hus, in the north, will be destroyed." The alarmed sovereign sent thousands of people to build a defensive rampart against the "northern savages". All the unjust judges were sent to erect this rampart. This was the beginning of the construction of Wan li chang cheng (ten thousand li wall) - the Great Wall of China. Descending into the valleys and crawling up the mountain steeps, it stretched from west to east. Many generations of Chinese built new walls and towers and renovated old ones.
Qin Shi-huangdi did not know how to restrain his whims. Whenever his army crushed the power of one of the sovereign princes, the Qin ruler ordered to build himself the same palace as that of the defeated sovereign. Roads fenced with ramparts were laid to the palaces located outside the capital.
The tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi can compete with the pyramids of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. For 37 years, 720,000 people built it on Mount Li. First, they dug a huge hole in the mountain, getting to the bottom of three keys. Their water was diverted, and the holes were filled with copper. A mound was poured over the pit, planted with trees and shrubs. The bottom of the grave and the walls were lined with lacquered stones and jasper. Models of sacred mountains and mercury-filled likenesses of seas and rivers with gold and silver birds floating on them were placed on the floor. The ceiling was given the appearance of the sky with various luminaries. Together with Qin Shi-huangdi, several hundred girls were put in the grave, including 10 sisters of the sovereign.
Soon after the death of the first Huangdi, civil strife broke out. The winner in the struggle for power was Liu Bang, the volost chief. He laid the foundation for the Early, or Western, Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD).
To stop robbery and bloodshed, to restore the economy destroyed during the internecine strife - these were the aspirations of the emperor of the new dynasty. “For murder - death to the murderer, for wounding and robbery - the appropriate punishment,” read the agreement concluded by Liu Bang with the elders of Qin. He abolished the cruel laws of the Qin Empire. At the end of the war with rivals, Liu Bang immediately disbanded part of the army, allowing the former soldiers to engage in agriculture and handicrafts. At the same time, some of the forced people were released.
The policy of restoring agriculture, carried out in the early stages of the existence of the Han Dynasty, has borne fruit. Previously abandoned and empty lands found owners and became fertile. The improvement of tools and methods of agricultural technology contributed to the rise in agricultural production. Zhao Guo, the “Authorized Grain Prospector”, applied the method of changing fields, i.e. tripartite system. The same Zhao Guo invented a steam plow. Two bulls were harnessed to it, driven by three plowmen. To increase the area of cultivated land, the irrigation system was expanded. River dams and canals were repaired and built. Under the rulers of the Han Dynasty, non-official people got the opportunity to develop minerals. During the reign of Emperor Wen-di, the population was allowed to freely mine salt and iron. The iron-working workshops created by the treasury contributed to the development of the craft. Skilled craftsmen worked in them.
National Museum of Science and Industry of Catalonia
Salvador Claret Automobile Collection
The first rulers of the House of Han had to focus on restoring the economy destroyed by internecine strife. By the time the sovereign Liu Che (140-87 BC) came to the throne, the central power was strengthened, the revival of production replenished the treasury. It was possible to turn forces to expand the borders. Liu Che justified his imperial name - Wu Di, "Sovereign Warrior".
But the wars were devastating for the country. Taxes to the treasury increased. Because of the wars, there were not enough hands to repair irrigation facilities. Floods and droughts have become more frequent. Destruction captured both the village and the city. Already at the end of Wu's reign, the people began to take up arms. Under Wu's successor, riots broke out in the capital itself.
The imperial throne was seized by the dignitary Wang Mang and in 9 AD. proclaimed himself ruler. To strengthen his power, he embarked on reforms. The response to them was powerful popular uprisings - the uprisings of the Red-brows, who painted their eyebrows red to distinguish themselves from the warriors of Wang Mang, and the inhabitants of the green forests (one of the centers of the uprising was in the mountains of Lulin shan, which means "Mountains of green forests").
On the wave of speeches against Wang Mang, who was killed in 23, Liu Xiu advanced. In 25, he assumed the title of sovereign, marking the beginning of the Eastern, or Late, Han Dynasty (25-220). It was called Eastern because the capital was moved from the west - from the city of Chang'an - to the east, to the city of Luoyang.
In the Eastern Han era, iron smelting and salt evaporation began to use hydraulic blowers in furnaces that ran on natural gas. A method was found for making cheap paper from tree bark, hemp combs, rags, and old fishing tackle.
The new dynasty was warlike. There were wars with North Vietnam, whose ruler refused to pay tribute to the Chinese court; Chinese troops fought fiercely with the Huns in Central Asia.
Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes
Monastery of Sant Feliu de Cadins
Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes
Monastery of Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes
Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet
Sanctuary de la Mare de Déu de Lord
Sanctuary of the Virgin of Montserrat de Montferri
There was also a struggle within the country. The mortal blow for the Eastern Han dynasty was in 184 the peasant uprising of the Yellow Bandages (such bandages were worn on the heads of the rebels). The fall of the dynasty was completed by the civil strife of officials and landowners. The last sovereign of the Eastern Han Xian-di was taken away from the capital and became a hostage of the military leaders Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao. Both, like their predecessor Wang Mang, are considered the greatest traitors in the history of China, for they betrayed their sovereign.
With the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the unified Chinese state broke up into three independent kingdoms: Wei with its capital in Luoyang, Wu with its capital in Jiankang, and Shu with its capital in Chengdu.
Abandoned places: Radio Liberty Station, Pals
Abandoned places: The Torre Blanca fortifications of Castellciutat in La Seu D’Urgell
Rome Aqueduct of Ferreras (Devil’s Bridge)
Roman arch in Tarragona province
Rural house with bas-reliefs at Llers
Segre Olympic rafting Park in La Seu D’Urgell
Vall de Boí and its UNESCO churches
The period of the Three Kingdoms began, which lasted from 220 to 280 and was accompanied by strife and unrest. In 263, the troops of the Wei kingdom destroyed the Shu kingdom, in 280 they conquered the Wu kingdom. Since 265, the ruling dynasty called itself the Western Jin. 10 years after the unification of the country, a rebellion of eight princes broke out, then there was an invasion of the western and northern nomadic tribes in the region of the Central Plain.
In 316, the Western Jin dynasty was forced to move the capital to the south. In 318, its ruler was overthrown, and the Eastern dynasty began to rule
Jin (317-420), with its capital in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). In 420, the commander Liu Yu seized the throne, establishing the Song Dynasty. The period of the southern dynasties began. The Chinese states of the southern dynasties were opposed by the states created in northern China by the non-Chinese Xian-bi people. They were led by rulers from the Northern Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou dynasties.
Despite the civil strife of the Khai rulers, by this time the formation and strengthening of the community of the Han people, based on the unity of language, writing and customs (primarily the custom of honoring ancestors) had taken place.
See here full list of Catalan castles (124 objects)
They say there is a beautiful country, surrounded on all sides by blue mountains. Why not go there? Iwa-ro turned to his brother Itsuse. Taking his silence as consent, Ivaro added resolutely: "Let's go there."
So, according to legend, the people of the Tenson and Izumo tribes migrated from the island of Kyushu to the island of Honshu. Ivaro put his people on the ships and set off. The campaign lasted 7 years. They rounded the shores of their native Kyushu, entered the Sea of Japan and landed on the western coast of Honshu. Moving east, they settled on flat lands, which later formed the possessions of the Yamato state they created, and were the center of the formation of the Japanese people.
However, Ivaro was met as an enemy by the elders of the tribes who had previously settled in these places. They put up strong resistance to the invaders. The local elder Nagasunz-hiko and his supporters fought especially hard. Ivaro even had to leave Yamato. Only after the death of the enemy, he and his fellow tribesmen returned there.
Banyoles – the largest lake in Catalonia
Canigou Peak – National Symbol of Catalonia
Cap de Creus — the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula
Salt Mountain Salins de Cardona
Alcalá de Henares – a UNESCO site
Nuevo Baztán and its historic center
The castle of Villarejo de Salvanés
Museum of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Mérida and its Roman heritage by UNESCO
Badajoz and its military heritage
Olivenza – the historic and artistic site
Fregenal de la Sierra – an important Historic-Artistic Complex
Alburquerque and its Luna castle
Medellín and its Roman theater
Higuera de Vargas and its castle
The García de Sola reservoir – one of the largest in Extremadura
The Hermitage of Nuestra Señora Virgen de Gracia
The Alconchel Castle dates back to the 12th century
The Encomienda Castle and its history
Capricho de Cotrina – a peculiar Gaudi style building
Don Benito museum of the classic cars
Guadalupe – one the most important pilgrimage centers in the Iberian Peninsula
Valencia de Alcántara and its attractions
Plasencia and its historical complex
Valverde de la Vera and its attractions
Alcántara and its Roman bridge
San Martín de Trevejo and its architecture
Robledillo de Gata and its architecture
The Monastery of Yuste – European Heritage
The Gabriel y Galán reservoir named for the Salamanca poet
The Museum of motorcycles and classic cars in Hervás
A Ponte Maceira and its bridge
Betanzos – the capital of Galician Gothic
Cape of Touriñán – the westernmost point of inland Spain
Having settled in a new place, Ivaro, as the legend says, first of all built a sanctuary to store three magical items: a metal mirror, a sword and a jasper necklace. According to beliefs, they were passed on as signs of power to her grandson, the god Ninigi, by the sun goddess Amaterasu. Possession of them gave Ivaro a reason to consider himself one of the heirs of the gods and consider his power divine.