Migration of the Oirats in the first quarter of the 17th century on the eve of returning to Dzungaria

In 1541 the Oirats managed to form the Middle Confederation, which was led by the Khoshuts as the most powerful people. In the second half of the same XVI century the Oirats, suffering from attacks of their neighbors - the Turkic peoples from the west and south and the eastern Mongols from the east, began to move towards southern Siberia. Earlier they used to roam along the Black Irtysh river and north of the lake Zaysan, but now they began to move below the lake Yamysh. Opinions on the migration routes of the Oirats, existing in the literature, need clarification. The author offers his vision based on the archival materials and the Mongolian sources: the Hoyt Oirats, driven out of Kharakhoto by the Tumat Altan Khan, were the first to go towards the Altai Mountains. The next were the Torgut Oirats, who crossed the Altai, and then, together with the Derbets, they moved down the Irtysh river. The Elelets, the future Dzungars, left Western Mongolia for the Yenisei river sources. Already in the second decade of the 17th century the Oirats wandered along Om, Kamyshlov, Tobol and Ishim rivers, that is, they were roaming along the middle reaches of the Irtysh river. In 1623, at lake Yamysh, they defeated the troops of the Hotogoit Altyn Khan Sholoi Ubashi-Khuntaiji, but this victory did not exclude an internal struggle in the ruling house of the Khoshuts, which resulted in weakening of this people. Further civil strife forced the Torguts to move towards west, and in the early 1630s they reached the Volga river. Migrations over such long distances were possible only if there was an effective management apparatus, while maintaining traditions and identity.

Visualising Small Traumas

Portugal's vibrant comics scene originated as early as the 19th century, bringing forth brilliant individual artists, but has remained mostly unknown beyond Portugal’s borders to this day. Now a new generation employs this medium to put into question hegemonic views on the economy, politics, and society. Following the experience of the financial crisis of the past decades and its impact on social policies, access to and rules of public discourse, and civil strife, comics have questioned what constitutes a traumatogenic situation and what can act as a creative response. By looking at established graphic novels by Marco Mendes and Miguel Rocha, fanzine-level, and even experimental productions, Visualising Small Traumas is the first English-language book that addresses Portuguese contemporary comics and investigates how trauma studies can both shed a light on comics making and be informed by that very same practice.

Coping with catastrophe: contributing to food security through crop diversity and crop production in Tigray National Regional State in northern Ethiopia

Tigray, the most northerly of Ethiopia’s ethnic based Regional States, covers an area of 53 386 km sq and has a population exceeding 5.17 million of whom some 24.3% are urban dwellers. Wide agroclimatic variations result from altitudinal differences (600–3000 + meters) and rainfall patterns. The area is a center of origin of many cultivated and wild plants. The mainly agricultural rural population, farming small areas of non-contiguous plots, makes wide use of these conditions to ensure its livelihood. Crops grown include ten species of cereals, seven pulses legumes), six oilseeds, and numerous fruits, vegetables and spices. Within these groups and species several varieties or landraces are recognized and used to advantage. Wild species are exploited for food, especially at times of crop failure, and for medicines. Crop production is beset by many biotic (weeds, pests, diseases), abiotic (infertile soils) and anthropic (government policy, civil strife, military actions) constraints. Drought is a frequent occurrence and leads to crop failure and famine. In normal times crop yield are low but some of the production is marketed to provide cash for other necessities. Tigray’s population is poverty stricken and often in need of food aid.

The Politics of Eco-violence: Why Is Conflict Escalating in Nigeria’s Middle Belt?

Competition for natural resources has intensified in recent years between nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary farmers in Nigeria's Middle Belt. What were initially sporadic conflicts over cropland and water have transformed into daily occurrences of mass violence. While extant research focuses on the root causes of such conflicts, the reasons for their escalation remain insufficiently understood. Based on fieldwork conducted during 2018-2019, this article examines how political developments have contributed to the escalation of conflict in the region. Using Homer-Dixon's theory of civil strife as a conceptual framework, the findings show that changes in the 'political opportunity structure' in Nigeria since 2014 were a catalyst for escalating the conflicts. These changes resulted from the 2014 insecurity in Nigeria caused by terrorist acts committed by non-state actors and the outcomes of the 2015 election. The consequences were the unvarnished adoption of nepotistic domestic policies and alliances between elites and militia members.

The Panathenaia and Local Festivals

Unlike the four Panhellenic festivals with their focus on what it meant to be Greek, regional and city celebrations and their competitions concentrated on more local concerns. At the Panathenaia at Athens, the Eretrian Artemisia at Amarynthos, and the Delia on Delos, how one participated in the competitions and other spectacles was crucial to the dynamics of the festival and the construction of its politics. In the case of the Panathenaia, the restrictions on participation kept the focus on Athenians and those closely associated with the city. The Artemisia concentrated on local issues, particularly in the years after 340 bce on recovering from civil strife, while the Delia functioned at the level of the region. Both the Artemisia and the Delia show how the politics of a celebration may change over time. These local festivals existed in tension between the needs of the sponsoring community and its relationships to other cities and region(s).

Impacts of population growth in relation to changes in aquaculture and fisheries prices

The paper reviewed the impacts of population growth and the ways it affects aquaculture and fisheries prices. As the world population continues to grow arithmetically, great pressure is placed on arable lands, water, energy, and biological resources to provide an adequate supply of food while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. In 2010, FAO projected the world population to double from 6.2 billion in October, 1999 to 12.5 billion in the year 2050. This had created serious negative impacts on the aquaculture and fisheries prices. At present fertile crop lands had been lost at an alarming rates while some abandoned during the past 50 years because erosions made it unproductive. Other vices such as food crisis, political unrest and war (Mexico, Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco and Sudan), civil strife and multiple years of draught (Niger, Mauritania and Senegal), impacts of HIV/AIDS Ebola, Lassa fever and Coronavirus the world over, clashes between cattle rearers and farmers and boko haram issues (Nigeria) as well as kidnapping and corruptions have severely affected aquaculture and fisheries production and accompanied prices. Thus, this review was conducted to raise a cry for farmers and citizens to engage and participate in intensive culture and fisheries practices in order to fill the demand - supply gap so as to make fish food products available for the teeming masses.

From Croatia to Transylvania

The article gives the history of the noble Croatian family of Perušić, following the life and career of its main male representatives across three generations, from its emergence in sources in the mid-15th century up until its extinction in the male line in 1603. All three men – Gaspar (Gašpar) the Elder, Gaspar the Younger, and Matthew (Mate) – had primarily military careers, leading cavalry units and fighting either the Turks or other Christian nobles in civil wars which burdened Croatia, Slavonia, Hungary, and Transylvania from the late 15th to the early 17th century. Gaspar the Elder was the vice-ban of Croatia-Dalmatia and is a relatively well-known figure in Croatian historiography, while the lives of his son and grandson are thoroughly researched for the first time in this article. Gaspar the Younger, initially a supporter of the Habsburgs, was fighting the Ottomans in Croatia until 1532, with significant success, and was later engaged in civil strife in Slavonia, changing the sides he supported several times. He finally opted for King John Zápolya around 1538 and migrated to Zápolya’s realm, settling finally in Transylvania, where he gained many estates and served several de jure and de facto rulers, including another fellow Croat – the bishop of Oradea, George Martinuzzi (Juraj Utišenović Martinušević). His son Matthew, the last male member of this line of the Perušić family, spent his lifetime as a military commander for various Transylvanian rulers, almost always joining the winning side in the conflict and gaining the house in the informal capital – Alba Iulia. He died in a battle in 1603, survived by his sisters’ (Catherine’s and Anna’s) descendants.