Renaissance 4

Renaissance painters turned from the purely religious subjects of the Middle Ages
to a depiction of the natural world. Technical advances in the representation of
perspective, anatomy, and light and shadow were matched by a great expansion in subject
matter. Portraits, studies of the human form, animals, landscapes, scenes of daily life, and
historic events all joined religious subjects as acceptable material for the painter.
Giotto, a 14th-century Florentine painter, is often considered the forerunner of
Renaissance painting. He broke with the highly formalized style of medieval painting, in
which static, expressionless, two-dimensional figures were arranged in size and form
according to their symbolic importance. Giotto based his art on observation of the real
world and tried to use space and light more dramatically.
In the 15th century the artists of Florence began to use scientific principles to
solve problems of perspective and to develop new techniques for representing light and
shade. At the same time, the painters of Venice experimented with color to produce a
more natural effect.
During the Middle Ages the Catholic Church had been almost the sole patron of
the arts, and most of the artwork produced had religious themes. By the 1400s private
collectors and patrons began to demand paintings of secular subjects. Personal portraiture
also appeared in the works of artists such as Piero della Francesca and Sandro Botticelli.
Representation of the natural world, however, was not enough for the great artists
of the later Italian Renaissance. The masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and
Michelangelo reveal not only the complete mastery of earlier technical advances, but also
profound reflection on the nature of the material world and an effort to represent ideal
qualities that underlie outward appearances. The work of Flemish artists such as Jan van
Eyck in the 15th century suggests a common interest in concrete detail, but for the rest of
Europe, the major impact of the new movement in art did not occur until the 17th
century.
Renaissance architecture was largely inspired by the rediscovery of classical
forms and principles. In the 15th century, architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi and
Leon Battista Alberti saw in the ruins of ancient Rome the foundation for a new
architecture based on the principles of geometry and mathematics. Brunelleschi produced
the first great works of Renaissance architecture in buildings such as the Church of San
Lorenzo and the Pazzi Chapel in Florence. Alberti wrote theoretical treatises explaining
the principles of Roman architect Vitruvius. His work on the Church of San Francesco, a
Gothic church in the central Italian city of Rimini, is typical of the early Renaissance. It
illustrates the tendency to remodel old buildings by adding classical approaches to form,
such as the use of symmetry, and classical features, such as arches and columns.
An important Renaissance contribution to the development of Western
architecture was the revival of the dome, an architectural feature that was first introduced
by the Romans. Brunelleschi's great dome on the cathedral of Florence is one of the
outstanding achievements of the period. Renaissance architects were also interested in
secular buildings of all kinds, including palaces, libraries, and theaters. Outstanding
examples of secular Renaissance architecture include Florence’s Palazzo Medici by
Italian architect Michelozzo and the Olympic Theater and Villa Rotonda, designed by
Andrea Palladio and located in the northern Italian town of Vicenza. Palladio's use of

7
columns and domes in houses and villas illustrates the application of classical principles
of design to secular structures.
Another important Renaissance architect was Donato Bramante. His Tempietto, a
shrine in Rome, is an outstanding example of a circular building with a domed roof, a
popular form during the Renaissance. Raphael, Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi, Giacomo
da Vignola, Michelangelo, and members of the Sangallo family were all among the
outstanding Renaissance architects of the 16th century.
The Renaissance was a time when long-standing beliefs were tested, and
Europeans became increasingly confident that they were creating a whole new culture. It
was a period of intellectual ferment that prepared the ground for the thinkers and
scientists of the 17th century. The Renaissance idea that humankind rules nature, for
example, contributed to the development of modern science and technology. Renaissance
thinkers used classical precedents to preserve and defend the concepts of republicanism
and human freedom. These ideas had a permanent impact on the course of English
constitutional theory. Renaissance political thought may also have been a source for the
form of government adopted in the United States. Above all, however, the Renaissance
left to the world monuments of artistic beauty that define Western culture.

Duomo, Florence Michelangelo, David

Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi – Baldasare Tomazo Peruci

Filippo Brunelleschi – Filipo Bruneleski
Giacomo da Vignola – ðakomo da Vinjola
Jan van Eyck – Jan van Ajk
Michelozzo – Mikeloco
Palazzo Medici – palata Medičijevih
Pazzi Chapel – kapela Pacijevih
Piero della Francesca – Pjero dela Frančeska
Raphael – Rafaelo
Firenca – pridevi: firentinski, florentinski, fjorentinski
from Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
Zanimljivi linkovi:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/renaissance/
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/art/111ren.html

8
Children and the Power of the Media (1)
By Michael Russell (adapted) 11
Media has the power to model personalities, to shape the way we see and
understand the world and the immediate reality. As grown-ups we can easily choose what
we want to hear, read or see; we can also choose what to believe. And it's a lot to choose
from: newspapers and magazines, music and radio, television and movies, Internet and
much more. While we can control our actions, yet we cannot control the media, what we
hear and see may not be good for our children especially for those under the age of six.
Media is everywhere, it is a normal part of life. Many families cannot conceive an
existence without a TV, radio or newspapers. More and more people depend on the
Internet to read the news, gather information and download music and movies, to have
fun and to work. This is the world we choose to live in. Let's ensure we make the right
choices for our children.
Children can see in the media sexual and violence-related images; can hear "bad"
words and mimic improper poses. Children watching too much TV tend to act
aggressively. Even obesity is added to the list of the consequences and there's no wonder
since watching TV means less physical exercise. Besides, media, while emphasizing the
importance of eating and living healthy, still advertises for junk food, alcohol and
tobacco. Although there are many laws stipulating what type of programs and
commercials are proper for kids, they are often ignored. Parents and child-care providers
should make all efforts to protect kids from undesirable media.
School-aged kids are more exposed to the media than children under the age of
six. In addition, friends might influence them. There's not too much you can do, except
talking and using modern technology on your TV and computer to prevent the children
from seeing certain websites and programs. Yet none of these programs are infallible.
The best you can do is to honestly explain to your children what sex really is and
how to prevent undesired consequences (pregnancy, disease), why alcohol and cigarettes
are not healthy, how junk food interacts, sooner or later, with their metabolism.
And maybe you should approach the "everyone does it" topic from a unique point
of view: "that's exactly why you should not do it". Make your kids understand uniqueness
is special.

The Power of the Media (2)

Why does it matter that entertainment is slipping morally? Consider this: Have
you ever gotten a tune stuck in your head? All you need to hear are a few bars and it
starts involuntarily buzzing around in there. For hours. It could be a commercial jingle or
an MTV hit. Maybe you heard it in a shopping mall or a restaurant. We wander through a
supermarket and find ourselves humming the last song we heard on the radio before
getting out of the car. We toss and turn in bed trying to expunge an uninvited television
theme song.
Then there’s the visual media. Most of us can recall disturbing images we wish
we could erase from our minds. Things we’ve seen in movies, in magazines, on TV. The
point is that music and images tend to travel with us. Good or bad, they rarely go in one

21
ear and out the other. And the downward trend of entertainment morality means that
we’re carrying around images and lyrics that are increasingly destructive.
So, it’s hard to deny that music and visual images have tremendous sticking
power. But do those lingering sensations really make a difference? The advertising
industry believes they do. Why else would intelligent people who run large corporations
plunk down $3 million for a mere 30 second commercial?
Of course, the cause and effect process is not that simple. Rather, the media first
affects our moods, attitudes and emotions, which then influence our actions. Plugged In*
recently spoke with Dr. Richard G. Pellegrino, an M.D., Ph.D. in neurology, about the
effect that music has on our emotions. He’s been working with the brain for 25 years, and
says that nothing he does can affect a person’s state of mind the way one simple song
can.
This makes sense. We’ve all experienced the emotions that accompany music.
That’s why we listen. The promise of emotional impact is why you’re more likely to hear
the theme from Rocky than a Celine Dion ballad at a sporting event—the people in the
sound booth want to create a mood, and they know that music is a powerful way to do it.
But getting this effect while dumping verbal garbage into your brain is much like getting
high on opium—it may feel so great that you don’t want it to quit, but ultimately, you’re
doing great damage to yourself. As Dr. Pellegrino told me, “You can pour messages in
and if you pour the wrong messages in, they take on a particular power more than the
listener understands.”
*Plugged In – ime časopisa

Prevedite sledeće izraze:

rating, talk show (chat show), box (What’s on the box?), PA system, CATV, newscast,
newscaster (newsreader), anchor (noun, verb), aerial, fourth estate, editorial,
journalist/reporter (uoči razliku), resident correspondent, host (of a show), tune (a TV
channel, verb), stay tuned, coverage (obično news coverage), classified(s) (in
newspapers), section (in newspapers), editor-in-chief, edited by (natpis na filmu ili TV
emisiji), zap (verb), communiqué, press release, the gutter press, e-zine, televise, teleplay.

22
Global Warming (1)
14
On Feb. 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change
declared that the evidence of a warming trend is “unequivocal,” and that human activity
has “very likely” been the driving force in that change over the last 50 years. The last
report by the group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2001, had found
that humanity had “likely” played a role.
The addition of that single word “very” did more than reflect mounting scientific
evidence that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from
smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests has played a central role in raising the average
surface temperature of the earth since 1900. It also added new momentum to a debate that
now seems centered less over whether humans are warming the planet, but instead over
what to do about it. In recent months, business groups have banded together to make
unprecedented calls for federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The subject had a red-
carpet moment when former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient
Truth, was awarded an Oscar; and the Supreme Court made its first global warming-
related decision, ruling 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency had not justified
its position that it was not authorized to regulate carbon dioxide.
The greenhouse effect has been part of the earth’s workings since its earliest days.
Gases like carbon dioxide and methane allow sunlight to reach the earth, but prevent
some of the resulting heat from radiating back out into space. Without the greenhouse
effect, the planet would never have warmed enough to allow life to form. But as ever
larger amounts of carbon dioxide have been released along with the development of
industrial economies, the atmosphere has grown warmer at an accelerating rate. Since
1970, temperatures have gone up at nearly three times the average for the 20th century.
The latest report from the climate panel predicted that the global climate is likely
to rise if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere reaches twice the level of
1750. By 2100, sea levels are likely to rise between 7 to 23 inches, it said, and the
changes now underway will continue for centuries to come.
Izvor:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – Meñunarodni panel za promenu klime

(prevod u dokumentima Republičkog hidrometeorološkog zavoda Srbije); takoñe:
komisija
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2)
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Rising temperatures will leave millions more people
hungry by 2080 and cause critical water shortages in China and Australia, as well as parts
of Europe and the United States, according to a new global climate report.
By the end of the century, climate change will bring water scarcity to between 1.1
and 3.2 billion people as temperatures rise by 2 to 3 Celsius, a leaked draft of an
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report said.

27
 The report, due for release in April but detailed in The Age newspaper, said an
additional 200 million to 600 million people across the world would face food shortages
in another 70 years, while coastal flooding would hit another 7 million homes.
“The message is that every region of the earth will have exposure,” Dr Graeme
Pearman, who helped draft the report, told Reuters on Tuesday.
“If you look at China, like Australia they will lose significant rainfall in their
agricultural areas,” said Pearman, the former climate director of Australia’s top science
body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
Africa and poor countries such as Bangladesh would be most affected because
they were least able to cope with greater coastal damage and drought, said Pearman. The
IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.N.
Environment Program to guide policy makers globally on the impact of climate change.
The panel is to release a report on Friday in Paris forecasting global temperatures rising
by 2 to 4.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, with a “best estimate” of a 3C
(5.4 F) rise.
That report will summarize the scientific basis of climate change, while the April
draft details the consequences of global warming and options for adapting to them. The
draft contains an entire chapter on Australia – which is in the grip of its worst recorded
drought – warning the country’s Great Barrier Reef would become “functionally extinct”
because of coral bleaching. As well, snow would disappear from Australia’s southeast
alps, while water inflows to the Murray-Darling river basin, the country’s main
agricultural region, would fall by 10 and 25 percent by 2050.
In Europe, glaciers would disappear from the central Alps, while some Pacific
island nations would be hit hard by rising sea levels and more frequent tropical storms.
“It’s really a story of trying to assess in your own region what your exposure will be, and
making sure you have ways to deal with it,” said Pearman.
On the positive side, Pearman said there was an enormous amount the
international community could do to avert climate change if swift action was taken.
“The projections in the report that comes out this week are based on the
assumption that we are slow to respond and that things continue more-or-less as they
have in the past.”
Some scientists say Australia – the world’s driest inhabited continent – is
suffering from “accelerated climate change” compared to other nations.
I.D.Novikov

Izvor: http://blog.b92.net/arhiva/node/4108#comment-111861

U.N. Environment Program – Program Ujedinjenih nacija za zaštitu životne sredine

Great Barrier Reef – Veliki koralni sprud (toponim)

28
 16
The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound
effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain and subsequently spread
throughout Europe and North America and eventually the world, a process that continues
as industrialisation. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point
in history, comparable to the invention of farming or the rise of city-states. In the later
part of the 1700s the manual labour-based economy began to be replaced by one
dominated by industry. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the
development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade
expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. The
introduction of steam power and machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing)
underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all-metal
machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of
more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread
throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually
affecting most of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous.
The causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated and remain a topic for
debate, with some historians feeling the Revolution as an outgrowth of social and
institutional changes brought by the end of feudalism in Britain after the English Civil
War. Technological innovation was the heart of the Industrial Revolution and the key
enabling technology was the invention and improvement of the steam engine.
The presence of a large domestic market should also be considered an important
driver of the Industrial Revolution. In other nations, such as France, markets were split up
by local regions, which often imposed tolls and tariffs on goods traded amongst them.
Ordinary working people found increased opportunities for employment in new
factories, but often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour. However,
harsh working conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution took place
as well. Pre-industrial society was very static and often cruel – child labour, dirty living
conditions and long working hours were just as prevalent before the Industrial
Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution led to a population increase, but the chance of surviving
childhood didn’t improve throughout the industrial revolution. There was still limited
opportunity for education, and children were expected to work. Employers could pay a
child less than an adult even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need
for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was
completely new there were no experienced adult labourers. Child labour had existed
before the Industrial Revolution, but with the increase in population and education it
became more visible. Before the passing of laws protecting children, many were forced to
work in terrible conditions for much lower pay than their elders.
Poor people lived in very small houses in cramped streets. Their homes would
share toilet facilities, have open sewers and would be at risk of damp. Disease was spread
through a contaminated water supply. Conditions did improve during the 19th century as
public health acts were introduced covering things such as sewage, hygiene and making

31
some boundaries upon the construction of homes. Not everybody lived in homes like
these. The Industrial Revolution created a larger middle class of professionals such as
lawyers and doctors. The conditions for the poor improved over the course of the 19th
century because of government plans which led to cities becoming cleaner places, but life
had not been easy for the poor before industrialisation. However, as a result of the
Revolution, huge numbers of the working class died due to diseases spreading through
the cramped living conditions. Chest diseases from the mines, cholera from polluted
water and typhoid were also common, as was smallpox. Accidents in factories with child
and female workers were regular. Dickens’ novels perhaps best illustrate this; even some
government officials were horrified by what they saw.
The Industrial Revolution concentrated labour into mills, factories and mines, thus
facilitating the organisation of trade unions to help advance the interests of working
people. The power of a union could demand better terms by withdrawing all labour and
causing a consequent cessation of production. Skilled workers were hard to replace, and
these were the first groups to successfully advance their conditions through this kind of
bargaining. The main method the unions used to effect change was strike action. Many
strikes were painful events for both sides. In England, the Combination Act forbade
workers to form any kind of trade union from 1799 until its repeal in 1824. Even after
this, unions were still severely restricted. In the 1830s and 1840s the Chartist movement
was the first large-scale organised working class political movement which campaigned
for political equality and social justice.
Unions slowly overcame the legal restrictions on the right to strike. In 1842, a
General Strike involving cotton workers and colliers was organised through the Chartist
movement which stopped production across Great Britain.
Eventually effective political organisation for working people was achieved
through the unions who began to support socialist political parties that later merged to
become the British Labour Party.

• smallpox – velike boginje

• chest diseases – bolesti pluća
• Combination Act – Zakon o udruživanju
• Chartist Movement – Čartistički pokret

32
 Japan (Arts and Culture)
18
Japanese cultural history is marked by periods of extensive borrowing from other
civilizations, followed by assimilation of foreign traditions with native ones, and finally
transformation of these elements into uniquely Japanese art forms. Japan borrowed
primarily from China and Korea in premodern times and from the West in the modern
age.
Cultural imports began to arrive in Japan from continental East Asia around 300
BC, starting with agriculture and the use of metals. These new technologies eventually
helped build a more complex Japanese society, whose most remarkable and enduring
structures were huge, key-shaped tombs. Named for these tombs, the Kofun period
endured from the early 4th to the 6th century AD.
In the middle of the 6th century, Japan embarked on a second phase of extensive
cultural borrowing from the Asian continent – largely from China. Among the major
imports from China were Buddhism and Confucianism. Buddhism was particularly
important, not only as a religion but also as a source of art, especially in the form of
temples and statues. Although Buddhism eventually became a major religion of Japan,
some evidence indicates that the Japanese initially were drawn more to its architecture
and art than to its religious doctrines.
In Japan’s first state, the arts were almost exclusively the preserve of the ruling
elite, a class of courtiers who served as ministers to the emperor. For most of the 8th
century the court was located at Nara, the first capital of Japan, which gave its name to
the Nara period (710-794). At the end of the 8th century the capital moved to Heian-kyō
(modern Kyōto), and Japan entered its classical age, known as the Heian period (794-
1185). By the beginning of the 11th century, the emperor’s courtiers had developed a
brilliant culture and lifestyle that owed much to China but was still uniquely Japanese.
Poetry flourished especially, but important developments also took place in prose
literature, architecture (especially residential architecture), music, and painting (both
Buddhist and secular).
As the Heian court reached its height of cultural brilliance, however, a class of
warriors (samurai) emerged in the provinces. In the late 12th century the first warrior
government (known as a shogunate) was established at Kamakura. Japan entered a feudal
era of frequent wars and samurai dominance that would last for nearly four centuries, first
under the Kamakura and then under the Ashikaga shoguns.
The culture of the Kamakura period (1185-1333) is noteworthy particularly for its
poetry, prose, and painting. Although the Kyōto courtiers lost their political power to the
samurai, they continued to produce outstanding poetry. Warrior society contributed to the
national culture as well. Anonymous war tales were among the major achievements in
prose. Painters produced narrative picture scrolls depicting military and religious subjects
such as battles, the lives of Buddhist priests, and histories of Buddhist temples and of
shrines of Japan’s native religion, Shinto.
The Kamakura shogunate ended with a brief attempt to restore imperial rule. Then
in 1338 the Ashikaga shoguns established their seat near the emperor’s court in the
Muromachi district of Kyōto. During the reign of the Ashikaga (known as the Muromachi
period), which lasted until 1573, Japan again sent missions to China. This time they

35
brought back the latest teachings of Zen Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, as well as
countless objects of art and craft. Zen Buddhism, which had been introduced to Japan
during the Kamakura period, contributed to the development of Muromachi-period
artistic forms. Chinese monochrome ink painting became the principal painting style.
Dramatists created classical nō theater, which performed for the upper classes of society.
And beginning in the 15th century, the tea ceremony, a gathering of people to drink tea
according to prescribed etiquette, evolved. The poetic form of renga, or linked verse, also
developed at this time. The linked verse style, in which several poets take turns
composing alternate verses of a single long poem, became popular among all classes of
society.
In 1603 a third warrior government, the Tokugawa shogunate, established itself in
Edo (present-day Tokyo), and Japan entered a long period of peace that historians
consider the beginning of the country’s modern age. During this era, known as the
Tokugawa period (1603-1867), Japan adopted a policy of national seclusion, closing its
borders to almost all foreigners. Domestic commerce thrived, and cities grew larger than
they had ever been. In great cities such as Edo, Ōsaka, and Kyōto, performers and
courtesans mingled with rich merchants and idle samurai in the restaurants, wrestling
booths, and brothels of the areas known as the pleasure quarters. These so-called chōnin,
or townsmen, the urban class dominated by merchants, produced a new, bourgeois
culture that included 17-syllable haiku poetry, prose literature of the pleasure quarters,
the puppet and kabuki theaters, and the art of the wood-block print.
Japan’s seclusion policy ended when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United
States sailed into Edo Bay in 1853 and established a treaty with Japan the following year.
The Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and Japan
entered the modern world. During the early years of the new order, known as the Meiji
period (1868-1912), Western culture largely overwhelmed Japan’s native heritage.
Ignoring many of their traditional arts, the Japanese set about adopting Western artistic
styles, literary forms, and music. By the end of the Meiji period, however, the Japanese
not only had resuscitated many traditional art forms but also were making impressive
advances in modern styles of architecture, painting, and the novel.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Japan has moved steadily into the stream
of international culture. Japan’s influence on that culture has been especially pronounced
since the end of World War II (1939-1945). Japanese movies, for example, have received
international recognition and acclaim, and Japanese novels have been translated into
English and other languages. Meanwhile, traditional Japanese culture has flowed around
the world, influencing styles in design, architecture, and various crafts, such as ceramics
and textiles.
From Encarta

36
 Morocco 19
The area of modern Morocco has been inhabited since Neolithic times, at least
8000 BC, as attested by signs of the Capsian culture, in a time when the Maghreb was
less arid than it is today. Modern genetic analyses have confirmed that various
populations have contributed to the present-day population, including (in addition to the
main Berber and Arab groups) Jews and sub-Saharan Africans. In the classical period,
Morocco was known as Mauretania, although this should not be confused with the
modern country of Mauritania.
North Africa and Morocco were slowly drawn into the wider emerging
Mediterranean world by Phoenician trading colonies and settlements in the late classical
period. The arrival of Phoenicians heralded a long engagement with the wider
Mediterranean, as this strategic region formed part of the Roman Empire. In the 5th
century, as the Roman Empire declined, the region fell to the Vandals, Visigoths, and
then Byzantine Greeks in rapid succession. During this time, however, the high
mountains of most of modern Morocco remained unsubdued, and stayed in the hands of
their Berber inhabitants.
By the 7th century, Islamic expansion was at its greatest. In 670 AD, the first
Islamic conquest of the North African coastal plain took place under Uqba ibn Nafi. His
delegates went to what is now Morocco in 683. The delegates supported the assimilation
process that took about a century.
What became modern Morocco in the 7th century was an area of Berbers
influenced by the Arabs, who brought their customs, culture, and Islam, to which most of
the Berbers converted, forming states and kingdoms sometimes after long-running series
of civil wars. Under Idris ibn Abdallah who founded the Idrisid Dynasty, the country
soon cut ties and broke away from the control of the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad and the
Umayyad rule in Spain. The Idrisids established Fez as their capital and Morocco became
a centre of learning and a major regional power.
After the reign of the Idrisids, Arab settlers lost political control in the region of
Morocco. After adopting Islam, Berber dynasties formed governments and reigned over
the country. Morocco would reach its height under these Berber dynasties that replaced
the Arab Idrisids after the 11th century.
Successful Portuguese efforts to invade and control the Atlantic coast in the 15th
century did not profoundly affect the Mediterranean heart of Morocco. After the
Napoleonic Wars, Egypt and the North African Maghreb became increasingly
ungovernable from Istanbul, and as Europe industrialized, an increasingly prized
potential for colonization. For the first time, Morocco became a state of some interest in
itself to the European Powers. France showed a strong interest in Morocco as early as
1830. Recognition by the United Kingdom in 1904 of France’s sphere of influence in
Morocco provoked a German reaction; the crisis of June 1905 was resolved at the
Algeciras Conference, Spain in 1906, which formalized France’s “special position” and
entrusted policing of Morocco to France and Spain jointly. A second Moroccan crisis
provoked by Berlin, increased tensions between European powers. The Treaty of Fez
made Morocco a protectorate of France. By the same treaty, Spain assumed the role of
protecting power over the northern and southern Saharan zones on November 27, 1912.
Morocco is a country of multi-ethnic groups with a rich culture and civilization.
Through Moroccan history, Morocco hosted many people coming from both East

37
(Phoenicians, Jews and Arabs), South (Moors and Sub-Saharan Africans) and North
(Romans and Vandals), all of which have had an impact on the social structure of
Morocco.
Each region possesses its own specificities, contributing to the national culture.
Morocco has set among its top priorities the protection of its diversity and the
preservation of its cultural heritage.
Dar, the name given to one of the most common types of domestic structures in
Morocco, is a home found in a medina, or walled urban area of a city. Most Moroccan
homes traditionally adhere to the Dar al-Islam, a series of tenets on Islamic domestic life.
Dar exteriors are typically devoid of ornamentation and windows, except occasional
small openings in secondary quarters, such as stairways and service areas. Dars are
typically composed of thick, high walls that protect inhabitants from thievery, animals,
and other such hazards; however, they have a much more symbolic value from an Arabic
perspective. In this culture the exterior represents a place of work, while the interior
represents a place of refuge. Thus, Moroccan interiors are often very lavish in decoration
and craft.
Consistent with most Islamic architecture, dars are based around small open-air
patios, surrounded by very tall thick walls, to block direct light and minimize heat.
Intermediary triple-arched porticos lead to usually two to four symmetrically located
rooms. These rooms have to be long and narrow, creating very vertical spaces, because
the regional resources and construction technology typically only allow for joists that are
usually less than thirteen feet.
Upon entering a dar, guests move through a zigzagging passageway that hides the
central courtyard. The passageway opens to a staircase leading to an upstairs reception
area called a dormiria, which often is the most lavish room in the home adorned with
decorative tilework, painted furniture, and piles of embroidered pillows and rugs. More
affluent families also have greenhouses and a second dormiria, accessible from a street-
level staircase. Service quarters and stairways were always at the corners of the
structures.
The traditional dress for men is called djellaba; a long, loose, hooded garment
with full sleeves. For special occasions, men also wear a red cap called tarbouche and
mostly referred to as fez. Nearly all men wear babouches – those soft leather slippers with
no heel, often in yellow. Many women do as well but others wear high-heeled sandals,
often in silver or gold tinsel.
The women’s djellabas are mostly of bright colors with ornate patterns, stitching,
or beading, while men wear djellabas in plainer, neutral colors. Women are strongly
attached to their “Moroccan wardrobe”, despite the financial costs involved. The
production of such garments is relatively expensive, as most of the work is done by hand.
Despite the costs involved most women purchase a minimum of one djellaba every year,
normally for a special, social event, such as a religious festival or a wedding. Nowadays,
it is an unwritten rule that Moroccan dress is worn at such events.

• Uqba ibn Nafi – Okba ibn Nafi

• Umayyad – (dinastija) Umajada; postoje i drugi oblici u transkripciji
• Algeciras - Alhesiras

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