Answer: has also relaxed reporting laws, but these remain highly restrictive.

Context: The government has also relaxed reporting laws, but these remain highly restrictive. In September 2011, several banned websites, including YouTube, Democratic Voice of Burma and Voice of America, were unblocked. A 2011 report by the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations found that, while contact with the Myanmar government was constrained by donor restrictions, international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) see opportunities for effective advocacy with government officials, especially at the local level. At the same time, international NGOs are mindful of the ethical quandary of how to work with the government without bolstering or appeasing it.

Question: Has the government of Myanmar made life any easier for it's inhabitants ?


Answer: several banned websites, including YouTube, Democratic Voice of Burma and Voice of America, were unblocked.

Question: Does the government allow access to any desired media channels for residents ?


Answer: international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

Question: Are there any groups who are able to effectively operate in Burma ?


Answer: ethical quandary of how to work with the government without bolstering or appeasing it.

Question: Why are groups hesitant to work with government officials ?


Answer: Thein Sein

Context: Following Thein Sein's first ever visit to the UK and a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, the Myanmar president declared that all of his nation's political prisoners will be released by the end of 2013, in addition to a statement of support for the well-being of the Rohingya Muslim community. In a speech at Chatham House, he revealed that "We [Myanmar government] are reviewing all cases. I guarantee to you that by the end of this year, there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.", in addition to expressing a desire to strengthen links between the UK and Myanmar's military forces.

Question: What official was the first to visit the grounds of Great Britain from Burma?


Answer: Prime Minister David Cameron,

Question: Who did the official from Myanmar meet with ?


Answer: Myanmar president declared that all of his nation's political prisoners will be released by the end of 2013

Question: What was the outcome of the meeting ?


Answer: at Chatham House

Question: Where did the official make his announcement of the meetings outcome ?


Answer: a desire to strengthen links between the UK and Myanmar's military forces

Question: What would the official like to see happen between the two countries ?


Answer: Under British administration, Myanmar was the second-wealthiest country in South-East Asia.

Context: Under British administration, Myanmar was the second-wealthiest country in South-East Asia. It had been the world's largest exporter of rice. Myanmar also had a wealth of natural and labour resources. British Burma began exporting crude oil in 1853, making it one of the earliest petroleum producers in the world. It produced 75% of the world's teak and had a highly literate population. The wealth was however, mainly concentrated in the hands of Europeans. In 1930s, agricultural production fell dramatically as international rice prices declined, and did not recover for several decades.

Question: In terms of finance, when being ruled by the English, where did Burma stand ?


Answer: rice

Question: What was Burma's greatest export during that time of English rule ?


Answer: Burma began exporting crude oil in 1853, making it one of the earliest petroleum producers in the world.

Question: What did Myanmar do that made it know to be one of the originals in a particular finance producing endeavor ?


Answer: 75% of the world's teak

Question: What wood product was produced primarily in Myanmar during British rule ?


Answer: a highly literate population

Question: What notable quality made Burma stand out from other South East Asian countries ?


Answer: British destroyed the major government buildings, oil wells and mines for tungsten, tin, lead and silver to keep them from the Japanese.

Context: During World War II, the British destroyed the major government buildings, oil wells and mines for tungsten, tin, lead and silver to keep them from the Japanese. Myanmar was bombed extensively by both sides. After independence, the country was in ruins with its major infrastructure completely destroyed. After a parliamentary government was formed in 1948, Prime Minister U Nu embarked upon a policy of nationalisation and the state was declared the owner of all land. The government also tried to implement a poorly considered Eight-Year plan. By the 1950s, rice exports had fallen by two thirds and mineral exports by over 96% (as compared to the pre-World War II period). Plans were partly financed by printing money, which led to inflation.

Question: How did world war two affect Burmese business and economy ?


Answer: the country was in ruins with its major infrastructure completely destroyed.

Question: How was the Burma framework affected by WWII ?


Answer: bombed extensively

Question: What lead to the architectural changes in Myanmar ?


Answer: bombed extensively by both sides

Question: Who was credited with changes that occurred to the interior due to the war's effects ?


Answer: 1948, Prime Minister U Nu embarked upon a policy of nationalisation and the state was declared the owner of all land.

Question: When was Myanmar given sovereignty to rule it's own nation ?


Answer: rice

Context: The major agricultural product is rice, which covers about 60% of the country's total cultivated land area. Rice accounts for 97% of total food grain production by weight. Through collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute 52 modern rice varieties were released in the country between 1966 and 1997, helping increase national rice production to 14 million tons in 1987 and to 19 million tons in 1996. By 1988, modern varieties were planted on half of the country's ricelands, including 98 percent of the irrigated areas. In 2008 rice production was estimated at 50 million tons.

Question: What is the major farming production crop in Burma?


Answer: 60%

Question: What percentage of the countries's farm-able land is used for the major farming production crop in Burma?


Answer: food grain production

Question: What category does the major farming production crop in Burma fall into ?


Answer: by weight

Question: How is production in the category tallied ?


Answer: 52 modern rice varieties

Question: How many novel types of this crop did Burma develop as of 1997 ?


Answer: US and European jewellery companies, including Bulgari, Tiffany, and Cartier, refuse to import these stones based

Context: Many US and European jewellery companies, including Bulgari, Tiffany, and Cartier, refuse to import these stones based on reports of deplorable working conditions in the mines. Human Rights Watch has encouraged a complete ban on the purchase of Burmese gems based on these reports and because nearly all profits go to the ruling junta, as the majority of mining activity in the country is government-run. The government of Myanmar controls the gem trade by direct ownership or by joint ventures with private owners of mines.

Question: What is the difficulty with expanding the gem business in Burma ?


Answer: reports of deplorable working conditions in the mines.

Question: Why is Burma experiencing this problem with the gems industry ?


Answer: Human Rights Watch

Question: Who gave information on the gem industries in Burma ?


Answer: encouraged a complete ban on the purchase of Burmese gems based

Question: What did the group advised based on the information's results ?


Answer: the ruling junta

Question: Who receives the majority of financial benefits from the gem mining ?


Answer: Yangon and Mandalay

Context: The most popular available tourist destinations in Myanmar include big cities such as Yangon and Mandalay; religious sites in Mon State, Pindaya, Bago and Hpa-An; nature trails in Inle Lake, Kengtung, Putao, Pyin Oo Lwin; ancient cities such as Bagan and Mrauk-U; as well as beaches in Nabule, Ngapali, Ngwe-Saung, Mergui. Nevertheless, much of the country is off-limits to tourists, and interactions between foreigners and the people of Myanmar, particularly in the border regions, are subject to police scrutiny. They are not to discuss politics with foreigners, under penalty of imprisonment and, in 2001, the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board issued an order for local officials to protect tourists and limit "unnecessary contact" between foreigners and ordinary Burmese people.

Question: Name two of the metropolitan areas that are enjoyed most frequently by tourist in Myanmar ?


Answer: Mon State, Pindaya, Bago and Hpa-An

Question: What are two of the top spiritual destination that Myanmar offers ?


Answer: nature trails in Inle Lake, Kengtung, Putao, Pyin Oo Lwin

Question: Does Myanmar offer any destinations that might be good for outside enthusiasts ?


Answer: ancient cities such as Bagan and Mrauk-U; as well as beaches in Nabule, Ngapali, Ngwe-Saung, Mergui.

Question: Are there any edifice points of interest that may be of note to visitors of Burma?


Answer: much of the country is off-limits to tourists

Question: Can visitors travel unrestricted through the country ?


Answer: by air

Context: The most common way for travellers to enter the country seems to be by air. According to the website Lonely Planet, getting into Myanmar is problematic: "No bus or train service connects Myanmar with another country, nor can you travel by car or motorcycle across the border – you must walk across.", and states that, "It is not possible for foreigners to go to/from Myanmar by sea or river." There are a small number of border crossings that allow the passage of private vehicles, such as the border between Ruili (China) to Mu-se, the border between Htee Kee (Myanmar) and Ban Phu Nam Ron (Thailand) (the most direct border between Dawei and Kanchanaburi), and the border between Myawaddy (Myanmar) and Mae Sot (Thailand). At least one tourist company has successfully run commercial overland routes through these borders since 2013. "From Mae Sai (Thailand) you can cross to Tachileik, but can only go as far as Kengtung. Those in Thailand on a visa run can cross to Kawthaung but cannot venture farther into Myanmar."

Question: How are most visitors ushered into the city of Myanmar ?


Answer: No bus or train service connects Myanmar with another country, nor can you travel by car or motorcycle across the border – you must walk across

Question: Is Myanmar convenient to other countries in South East Asia ?


Answer: It is not possible for foreigners to go to/from Myanmar by sea or river.

Question: Are there any cruise travel destinations for Myanmar ?


Answer: one tourist company has successfully run commercial overland routes through these borders since 2013.

Question: How long have bus tours been available to tourist of Myanmar ?


Answer: Those in Thailand on a visa run can cross to Kawthaung but cannot venture farther into Myanmar

Question: How far are the people from Taiwan ,but not actually citizens of Taiwan, allowed to venture into the Myanmar territory ?


Answer: Flights are available from most countries

Context: Flights are available from most countries, though direct flights are limited to mainly Thai and other ASEAN airlines. According to Eleven magazine, "In the past, there were only 15 international airlines and increasing numbers of airlines have began launching direct flights from Japan, Qatar, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany and Singapore." Expansions were expected in September 2013, but yet again are mainly Thai and other Asian-based airlines according to Eleven Media Group's Eleven, "Thailand-based Nok Air and Business Airlines and Singapore-based Tiger Airline".

Question: Can one travel by plane from any country in Myanmar ?


Answer: direct flights are limited to mainly Thai and other ASEAN airlines

Question: Is there anyway to decrease travel time in getting to Myanmar ?


Answer: 5 international airlines and increasing numbers of airlines have began launching direct flights from Japan, Qatar, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany and Singapore.

Question: Has the travel industry considered making changes to fight plans for Myanmar ?


Answer: Thailand-based Nok Air and Business Airlines and Singapore-based Tiger Airline".

Question: What airlines travel to Myanmar that currently has development plans towards expanding ?


Answer: December 2014, Myanmar signed an agreement to set up its first stock exchange

Context: In December 2014, Myanmar signed an agreement to set up its first stock exchange. The Yangon Stock Exchange Joint Venture Co. Ltd will be set up with Myanma Economic Bank sharing 51 percent, Japan's Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd 30.25 percent and Japan Exchange Group 18.75 percent. The Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) officially opened for business on Friday, March 25, 2016. First Myanmar Investment Co., Ltd. (FMI) became the first stock to be traded after receiving approval for an opening price of 26,000 kyats ($22).

Question: What occurred in the winter of 2014 of significance for Myanmar ?


Answer: Yangon Stock Exchange Joint Venture Co. Ltd

Question: What is the name of the business that first rang a bell to begin in the winter of 2014 in Myanmar ?


Answer: Myanma Economic Bank sharing 51 percent

Question: W is set to to be the major stock holder of the business that first rang a bell to begin in the winter of 2014 in Myanmar ?


Answer: Japan's Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd 30.25 percent and Japan Exchange Group 18.75 percent.

Question: Did other countries actively participate in business that first rang a bell to begin in the winter of 2014 in Myanmar ?


Answer: Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) officially opened for business on Friday, March 25, 2016.

Question: What day did the business that first rang a bell to begin in the winter of 2014 in Myanmar open its doors to customers?


Answer: provisional results of the 2014 Myanmar Census show that the total population is 51,419,420

Context: The provisional results of the 2014 Myanmar Census show that the total population is 51,419,420. This figure includes an estimated 1,206,353 persons in parts of northern Rakhine State, Kachin State and Kayin State who were not counted. People who were out of the country at the time of the census are not included in these figures. There are over 600,000 registered migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand, and millions more work illegally. Burmese migrant workers account for 80% of Thailand's migrant workers. Population density is 76 per square kilometre (200/sq mi), among the lowest in Southeast Asia.

Question: How many are estimated people live in Burma officially?


Answer: an estimated 1,206,353 persons in parts of northern Rakhine State, Kachin State and Kayin State who were not counted.

Question: Who may have been left out of the 2014 census in Burma ?


Answer: 600,000 registered migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand

Question: How many people in Burma are currently using a work visa for Thailand?


Answer: millions more work illegally

Question: How many of the Burmese people are predicted to work in Thailand without authorization


Answer: 80% of Thailand's migrant workers

Question: What percentage of emigrant workers in Thailand that are from Myanmar ?


Answer: Bamar form an estimated 68% of the population

Context: The Bamar form an estimated 68% of the population. 10% of the population are Shan. The Kayin make up 7% of the population. The Rakhine people constitute 4% of the population. Overseas Chinese form approximately 3% of the population. Myanmar's ethnic minority groups prefer the term "ethnic nationality" over "ethnic minority" as the term "minority" furthers their sense of insecurity in the face of what is often described as "Burmanisation"—the proliferation and domination of the dominant Bamar culture over minority cultures.

Question: What is the largest percentage of the Burmese populace ?


Answer: Overseas Chinese form approximately 3% of the population

Question: What is the smallest percentage of the Burmese populace ?


Answer: ethnic nationality

Question: What is the preferential term for those in Burma that are not a part of the racial majority ?


Answer: Rakhine people constitute 4% of the population

Question: What percentage of the population is of the Rakhine descendant line ?


Answer: the proliferation and domination of the dominant Bamar culture over minority cultures.

Question: What does the term Burmanisation make people feel ?


Answer: 2% of the population, are ethno-linguistically related to the Khmer

Context: Mon, who form 2% of the population, are ethno-linguistically related to the Khmer. Overseas Indians are 2%. The remainder are Kachin, Chin, Rohingya, Anglo-Indians, Gurkha, Nepali and other ethnic minorities. Included in this group are the Anglo-Burmese. Once forming a large and influential community, the Anglo-Burmese left the country in steady streams from 1958 onwards, principally to Australia and the UK. It is estimated that 52,000 Anglo-Burmese remain in Myanmar. As of 2009[update], 110,000 Burmese refugees were living in refugee camps in Thailand.

Question: What percentage of people in Burma are related by linguistically lines to the Khmer.


Answer: Anglo-Burmese

Question: Which community previously held a persuasive authority on the Burmese population?


Answer: 1958 onwards

Question: When did a mass migration of the community that previously held a persuasive authority on the Burmese population start?


Answer: principally to Australia and the UK

Question: Where did the majority of these people end up after Burma ?


Answer: Sino-Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Austro-Asiatic, and Indo-European.

Context: Myanmar is home to four major language families: Sino-Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Austro-Asiatic, and Indo-European. Sino-Tibetan languages are most widely spoken. They include Burmese, Karen, Kachin, Chin, and Chinese (mainly Hokkien). The primary Tai–Kadai language is Shan. Mon, Palaung, and Wa are the major Austroasiatic languages spoken in Myanmar. The two major Indo-European languages are Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, and English. Little known fact about Myanmar is there are more than 130 languages spoken by people in Myanmar. Since many of them are known only within small tribes around the country, they may have been lost (many if not all) after a few generations.

Question: What are the four categories for the most prolific dialects used in Burma ?


Answer: Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, and English

Question: What are the primary languages of Europe that are used in Burma ?


Answer: there are more than 130 languages spoken by people in Myanmar

Question: How many different types of dictionaries could you potentially need to cover all the languages spoken in Myanmar


Answer: many of them are known only within small tribes around the country

Question: Are the languages of Myanmar widely used by other nations ?


Answer: The primary Tai–Kadai language is Shan

Question: What is the preferred lingo for the Tai–Kadai language?


Answer: Burmese

Context: Burmese, the mother tongue of the Bamar and official language of Myanmar, is related to Tibetan and Chinese language. It is written in a script consisting of circular and semi-circular letters, which were adapted from the Mon script, which in turn was developed from a southern Indian script in the 5th century. The earliest known inscriptions in the Burmese script date from the 11th century. It is also used to write Pali, the sacred language of Theravada Buddhism, as well as several ethnic minority languages, including Shan, several Karen dialects, and Kayah (Karenni), with the addition of specialised characters and diacritics for each language.

Question: What is the matriarchal brogue of Burma that became the countries' standard vernacular ?


Answer: Tibetan and Chinese language

Question: Which two vernaculars hold relation to the official language?


Answer: It is written in a script consisting of circular and semi-circular letters

Question: How is the recognized official language of Burma displayed ?


Answer: the Mon script, which in turn was developed from a southern Indian script in the 5th century

Question: On what is the visual display of the language a subset of ?


Answer: The earliest known inscriptions in the Burmese script date from the 11th century.

Question: From when are the first impressions of the visually displayed language ?


Answer: Many religions are practised in Myanmar

Context: Many religions are practised in Myanmar. Religious edifices and orders have been in existence for many years. Festivals can be held on a grand scale. The Christian and Muslim populations do, however, face religious persecution and it is hard, if not impossible, for non-Buddhists to join the army or get government jobs, the main route to success in the country. Such persecution and targeting of civilians is particularly notable in Eastern Myanmar, where over 3000 villages have been destroyed in the past ten years. More than 200,000 Muslims have fled to Bangladesh over the last 20 years to escape Islamophobic persecution.

Question: Does Burma have more than one religion ?


Answer: Festivals can be held on a grand scale.

Question: Are public displays allowed for the celebration of religion in Myanmar ?


Answer: Christian and Muslim populations do, however, face religious persecution

Question: Are all welcomed to practice faith openly in Burma


Answer: it is hard, if not impossible, for non-Buddhists to join the army

Question: Can anyone in Burma Join the military forces in Burma ?


Answer: join the army or get government jobs, the main route to success in the country.

Question: What are the best routes for career achievement in Burma ?


Answer: 7% of the population identifies as Christian; 4% as Muslim; 1% follows traditional animistic beliefs; and 2% follow other religions

Context: According to Pew Research, 7% of the population identifies as Christian; 4% as Muslim; 1% follows traditional animistic beliefs; and 2% follow other religions, including Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism, and East Asian religions. However, according to a US State Department's 2010 international religious freedom report, official statistics are alleged to underestimate the non-Buddhist population. Independent researchers put the Muslim population at 6 to 10% of the population[citation needed]. Jehovah's Witnesses have been present since 1914 and have about 80 congregations around the country and a branch office in Yangon publishing in 16 languages. A tiny Jewish community in Rangoon had a synagogue but no resident rabbi to conduct services.

Question: What part of the populace does not identify with conformists religious majority?


Answer: international religious freedom report, official statistics are alleged to underestimate the non-Buddhist population.

Question: Are these percentages an accurate estimate of nonconformists religious groups ?


Answer: 80 congregations around the country and a branch office in Yangon

Question: How many dwelling are dedicated to the worship of the faith Jehovah's Witnesses ?


Answer: 16 languages

Question: How many dialects are the publications distributed by the Jehovah Witness available in ?


Answer: a synagogue but no resident rabbi to conduct services

Question: What problem presented itself to the Jewish locale in Rangoon ?


Answer: the Ministry of Education

Context: The educational system of Myanmar is operated by the government agency, the Ministry of Education. The education system is based on the United Kingdom's system due to nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Myanmar. Nearly all schools are government-operated, but there has been a recent increase in privately funded English language schools. Schooling is compulsory until the end of elementary school, approximately about 9 years old, while the compulsory schooling age is 15 or 16 at international level.

Question: Who runs the school system in Myanmar ?


Answer: United Kingdom's

Question: What country is Burma to credit for its academic system ?


Answer: due to nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Myanmar.

Question: Why is this country so influential to the Burma academics ?


Answer: privately funded English language schoo

Question: Are there any alternatives to the public school system in Burma ?


Answer: Schooling is compulsory until the end of elementary school

Question: Are children required to go to school or can they choose to stay at home and work ?


Answer: the majority culture is primarily Buddhist and Bamar.

Context: A diverse range of indigenous cultures exist in Myanmar, the majority culture is primarily Buddhist and Bamar. Bamar culture has been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries. This is manifested in its language, cuisine, music, dance and theatre. The arts, particularly literature, have historically been influenced by the local form of Theravada Buddhism. Considered the national epic of Myanmar, the Yama Zatdaw, an adaptation of India's Ramayana, has been influenced greatly by Thai, Mon, and Indian versions of the play. Buddhism is practised along with nat worship, which involves elaborate rituals to propitiate one from a pantheon of 37 nats.

Question: What are the pervasive culture that is sanctioned in Burma ?


Answer: Bamar culture has been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries

Question: Have these cultures developed on there own over time ?


Answer: The arts, particularly literature, have historically been influenced by the local form of Theravada Buddhism

Question: What type of effect did Theravada Buddhism.have on Bamar?


Answer: Buddhism is practised along with nat worship, which involves elaborate rituals to propitiate one from a pantheon of 37 nats.

Question: What is the connection between an insect that has devotional following and Buddhism ?


Answer: In a traditional village, the monastery is the centre of cultural life.

Context: In a traditional village, the monastery is the centre of cultural life. Monks are venerated and supported by the lay people. A novitiation ceremony called shinbyu is the most important coming of age events for a boy, during which he enters the monastery for a short time. All male children in Buddhist families are encouraged to be a novice (beginner for Buddhism) before the age of twenty and to be a monk after the age of twenty. Girls have ear-piercing ceremonies (နားသ) at the same time. Burmese culture is most evident in villages where local festivals are held throughout the year, the most important being the pagoda festival. Many villages have a guardian nat, and superstition and taboos are commonplace.

Question: Customarily where is the expected place in the lives of the people for the home of monks in Burma ?


Answer: A novitiation ceremony called shinbyu

Question: What event is exceedingly relevant for young males that involves monks in Burma ?


Answer: Girls have ear-piercing ceremonies (နားသ) at the same time.

Question: What do girls of the village get in comparison the the young male event ?


Answer: the most important being the pagoda festival

Question: What is the biggest celebration held in local events in Burma ?


Answer: Many villages have a guardian nat

Question: What do many villages have that protects them in times of imminent or impending danger ?


Answer: Colonial architectural influences are most evident in major cities

Context: British colonial rule introduced Western elements of culture to Burma. Burma's education system is modelled after that of the United Kingdom. Colonial architectural influences are most evident in major cities such as Yangon. Many ethnic minorities, particularly the Karen in the southeast and the Kachin and Chin who populate the north and northeast, practice Christianity. According to the The World Factbook, the Burman population is 68% and the ethnic groups constitute 32%. However, the exiled leaders and organisations claims that ethnic population is 40%, which is implicitly contrasted with CIA report (official US report).

Question: What evidence of previous rule is evident in the buildings in Burma ?


Answer: ethnic groups constitute 32%

Question: What part of the Burmese population is considered not a part of the mainstream group?


Answer: exiled leaders and organisations claims that ethnic population is 40%, which is implicitly contrasted with CIA report (official US report).

Question: Do opinions differ on the numbers for that population is considered not a part of the mainstream


Answer: The World Factbook

Question: What is the name of the group that reported the information regarding the populace in Burma ?


Answer: Mohinga is the traditional breakfast dish

Context: Mohinga is the traditional breakfast dish and is Myanmar's national dish. Seafood is a common ingredient in coastal cities such as Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, Mawlamyaing (formerly Moulmein), Mergui (Myeik) and Dawei, while meat and poultry are more commonly used in landlocked cities like Mandalay. Freshwater fish and shrimp have been incorporated into inland cooking as a primary source of protein and are used in a variety of ways, fresh, salted whole or filleted, salted and dried, made into a salty paste, or fermented sour and pressed.

Question: What is the time-honored dish served for the morning meal in Burma ?


Answer: Seafood is a common ingredient in coastal cities

Question: What is most commonly enjoyed to eat along the coast of Myanmar ?


Answer: landlocked cities

Question: Where is the most chicken enjoyed in Burma ?


Answer: Freshwater fish and shrimp have been incorporated into inland cooking as a primary source of protein

Question: What is considered as an alternative to tofu for the valuable ingredient it holds for those not living near water in BUrma?


Answer: fresh, salted whole or filleted, salted and dried, made into a salty paste, or fermented sour and pressed.

Question: What are popular ways that fish are used in Burma ?


Answer: Myanmar's first film was a documentary of the funeral of Tun Shein

Context: Myanmar's first film was a documentary of the funeral of Tun Shein — a leading politician of the 1910s, who campaigned for Burmese independence in London. The first Burmese silent film Myitta Ne Thuya (Love and Liquor) in 1920 which proved a major success, despite its poor quality due to a fixed camera position and inadequate film accessories. During the 1920s and 1930s, many Burmese-owned film companies made and produced several films. The first Burmese sound film was produced in 1932 in Bombay, India with the title Ngwe Pay Lo Ma Ya (Money Can't Buy It). After World War II, Burmese cinema continued to address political themes. Many of the films produced in the early Cold War era had a strong propaganda element to them.

Question: What was the first motion picture about someone's life filmed in Myanmar ?


Answer: Tun Shein — a leading politician of the 1910s, who campaigned for Burmese independence in London.

Question: Why was this film relevant enough to be the first ?


Answer: first Burmese silent film Myitta Ne Thuya (Love and Liquor) in 1920

Question: Before the advent of talking pictures, what was the name of the first movie in Myanmar and when was it 's debut ?


Answer: After World War II, Burmese cinema continued to address political themes

Question: Following the end of the second World War, what was a still a popular theme among films makers in Burma ?


Answer: Many of the films produced in the early Cold War era had a strong propaganda element to them.

Question: Where any of the Burmese films ever used as an instrument to influence the people ?


Answer: Jews

Context: Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel. The Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, and the Kingdom of Judah. Some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as 'Hebrews'. Though few sources in the Bible mention the exilic periods in detail, the experience of diaspora life, from the Ancient Egyptian rule over the Levant, to Assyrian Captivity and Exile, to Babylonian Captivity and Exile, to Seleucid Imperial rule, to the Roman occupation, and the historical relations between Israelites and the homeland, became a major feature of Jewish history, identity and memory.

Question: Which group originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel?


Answer: Israelites

Question: Who consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, and the kingdom of Judah?


Answer: Hebrews

Question: What were incoming nomadic groups known as?


Answer: during the second millennium BCE, in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel

Question: When did Jews originate as a national and religious group in the Middle East?


Answer: The Merneptah Stele

Question: What appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel?


Answer: 43%

Context: According to a report published in 2014, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel (6.1 million), and 40% in the United States (5.7 million), with most of the remainder living in Europe (1.4 million) and Canada (0.4 million). These numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure. In addition to issues with census methodology, disputes among proponents of halakhic, secular, political, and ancestral identification factors regarding who is a Jew may affect the figure considerably depending on the source.

Question: What percentage of Jews reside in Israel?


Answer: 40%

Question: What percentage of Jews reside in the U.S.?


Answer: 1.4 million

Question: How many Jews live in Europe?


Answer: 0.4 million

Question: How many Jews live in Canada?


Answer: issues with census methodology

Question: What is one reason the world population of Jews difficult to determine?


Answer: Jude

Context: The etymological equivalent is in use in other languages, e.g., يَهُودِيّ yahūdī (sg.), al-yahūd (pl.), and بَنُو اِسرَائِيل banū isrāʼīl in Arabic, "Jude" in German, "judeu" in Portuguese, "juif" in French, "jøde" in Danish and Norwegian, "judío" in Spanish, "jood" in Dutch, etc., but derivations of the word "Hebrew" are also in use to describe a Jew, e.g., in Italian (Ebreo), in Persian ("Ebri/Ebrani" (Persian: عبری/عبرانی)) and Russian (Еврей, Yevrey). The German word "Jude" is pronounced [ˈjuːdə], the corresponding adjective "jüdisch" [ˈjyːdɪʃ] (Jewish) is the origin of the word "Yiddish". (See Jewish ethnonyms for a full overview.)

Question: What is the origin of the word Yiddish?


Answer: Ebreo

Question: What is another word to describe a Jew?


Answer: Еврей, Yevrey

Question: What is a Russian word used to describe a Jew?


Answer: Hebrew

Question: Ebreo is an Italian word derivation of what word?


Answer: Abraham

Context: According to the Hebrew Bible narrative, Jewish ancestry is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Biblical matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel, who lived in Canaan around the 18th century BCE. Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacob's son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs' descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, after which the Israelites conquered Canaan.[citation needed]

Question: Name one person that Jewish ancestry traced back to?


Answer: Ancient Egypt

Question: Where did Jacob and his family migrate to?


Answer: Moses

Question: Who led the Exodus?


Answer: Joseph

Question: Who was Jacob's son?


Answer: Jacob

Question: Who was Joseph's father?


Answer: Israelite

Context: Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites' inspiring national myth narrative. The Israelites and their culture, according to the modern archaeological account, did not overtake the region by force, but instead branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatristic — and later monotheistic — religion centered on Yahweh, one of the Ancient Canaanite deities. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of cultic practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group, setting them apart from other Canaanites. The Canaanites themselves are archeologically attested in the Middle Bronze Age, while the Hebrew language is the last extant member of the Canaanite languages. In the Iron Age I period (1200–1000 BCE) Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature.

Question: Which culture was largely Canaanite in nature?


Answer: Yahweh

Question: What is one of the Ancient Canaanite deities?


Answer: Iron Age

Question: The period of time from 1200 to 1000 BCE is known as what?


Answer: Israelites

Context: Although the Israelites were divided into Twelve Tribes, the Jews (being one offshoot of the Israelites, another being the Samaritans) are traditionally said to descend mostly from the Israelite tribes of Judah (from where the Jews derive their ethnonym) and Benjamin, and partially from the tribe of Levi, who had together formed the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and the remnants of the northern Kingdom of Israel who migrated to the Kingdom of Judah and assimilated after the 720s BCE, when the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Question: What group was divided into Twelve Tribes?


Answer: after the 720s BCE

Question: When was the Kingdom of Israel conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire?


Answer: Israelite tribes of Judah

Question: From where do the Jews derive their ethonynm?


Answer: twice

Context: Israelites enjoyed political independence twice in ancient history, first during the periods of the Biblical judges followed by the United Monarchy.[disputed – discuss] After the fall of the United Monarchy the land was divided into Israel and Judah. The term Jew originated from the Roman "Judean" and denoted someone from the southern kingdom of Judah. The shift of ethnonym from "Israelites" to "Jews" (inhabitant of Judah), although not contained in the Torah, is made explicit in the Book of Esther (4th century BCE), a book in the Ketuvim, the third section of the Jewish Tanakh. In 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar II, King of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, besieged Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple, and deported the most prominent citizens of Judah. In 586 BC, Judah itself ceased to be an independent kingdom, and its remaining Jews were left stateless. The Babylonian exile ended in 539 BCE when the Achaemenid Empire conquered Babylon and Cyrus the Great allowed the exiled Jews to return to Yehud and rebuild their Temple. The Second Temple was completed in 515 BCE. Yehud province was a peaceful part of the Achaemenid Empire until the fall of the Empire in c. 333 BCE to Alexander the Great. Jews were also politically independent during the Hasmonean dynasty spanning from 140 to 37 BCE and to some degree under the Herodian dynasty from 37 BCE to 6 CE. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, most Jews have lived in diaspora. As an ethnic minority in every country in which they live (except Israel), they have frequently experienced persecution throughout history, resulting in a population that has fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.[citation needed]

Question: How many times did Israelites have political independence in ancient history?


Answer: Roman "Judean

Question: From where did the term Jews originate?


Answer: After the fall of the United Monarchy

Question: When was land divided into Israel and Judah?


Answer: Jews

Question: Inhabitants of Judah are known as what?


Answer: 539 BCE

Question: When did the Babylonian exile end?


Answer: Fertile Crescent

Context: Genetic studies on Jews show that most Jews worldwide bear a common genetic heritage which originates in the Middle East, and that they bear their strongest resemblance to the peoples of the Fertile Crescent. The genetic composition of different Jewish groups shows that Jews share a common genetic pool dating back 4,000 years, as a marker of their common ancestral origin. Despite their long-term separation and beside their shared genetic origin, Jews also maintained a common culture, tradition, and language.

Question: Genetic studies show that Jews bear their strongest resemblance to the peoples of where?


Answer: 4,000 years

Question: How far back does the Jews' shared common genetic pool date?


Answer: Middle East

Question: Most Jews share a common genetic heritage that originates from what place?


Answer: The Hebrew Bible

Context: The Hebrew Bible, a religious interpretation of the traditions and early national history of the Jews, established the first of the Abrahamic religions, which are now practiced by 54% of the world. Judaism guides its adherents in both practice and belief, and has been called not only a religion, but also a "way of life," which has made drawing a clear distinction between Judaism, Jewish culture, and Jewish identity rather difficult. Throughout history, in eras and places as diverse as the ancient Hellenic world, in Europe before and after The Age of Enlightenment (see Haskalah), in Islamic Spain and Portugal, in North Africa and the Middle East, India, China, or the contemporary United States and Israel, cultural phenomena have developed that are in some sense characteristically Jewish without being at all specifically religious. Some factors in this come from within Judaism, others from the interaction of Jews or specific communities of Jews with their surroundings, others from the inner social and cultural dynamics of the community, as opposed to from the religion itself. This phenomenon has led to considerably different Jewish cultures unique to their own communities, each as authentically Jewish as the next.

Question: What book is considered a religious interpretation of the traditions and early national history of the Jews?


Answer: Abrahamic religions

Question: What religions are now practiced by 54% of the world?


Answer: a religious interpretation of the traditions and early national history of the Jews

Question: What is the Hebrew Bible?


Answer: three

Context: Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used. Generally, in modern secular usage Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of the religion.

Question: In modern secular usage Jews include how many groups?


Answer: whether a religious or national approach to identity is used

Question: What makes the definition of a Jew vary slightly?


Answer: Judaism

Question: Which religion shares some characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion and a culture?


Answer: halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions

Context: Historical definitions of Jewish identity have traditionally been based on halakhic definitions of matrilineal descent, and halakhic conversions. Historical definitions of who is a Jew date back to the codification of the Oral Torah into the Babylonian Talmud, around 200 CE. Interpretations of sections of the Tanakh, such as Deuteronomy 7:1–5, by Jewish sages, are used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and Canaanites because "[the non-Jewish husband] will cause your child to turn away from Me and they will worship the gods (i.e., idols) of others." Leviticus 24:10 says that the son in a marriage between a Hebrew woman and an Egyptian man is "of the community of Israel." This is complemented by Ezra 10:2–3, where Israelites returning from Babylon vow to put aside their gentile wives and their children. Since the anti-religious Haskalah movement of the late 18th and 19th centuries, halakhic interpretations of Jewish identity have been challenged.

Question: What have historical definitions of Jewish identity been based on?


Answer: 200 CE

Question: Historical definitions of who a Jew is dates back to what year?


Answer: Jewish sages

Question: What is used as a warning against intermarriage between Jews and Canaanites?


Answer: Shaye J. D. Cohen

Context: According to historian Shaye J. D. Cohen, the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined patrilineally in the Bible. He brings two likely explanations for the change in Mishnaic times: first, the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures (Kil'ayim). Thus, a mixed marriage is forbidden as is the union of a horse and a donkey, and in both unions the offspring are judged matrilineally. Second, the Tannaim may have been influenced by Roman law, which dictated that when a parent could not contract a legal marriage, offspring would follow the mother.

Question: Who believed the status of the offspring of mixed marriages was determined patrilineally in the Bible?


Answer: Roman law

Question: What dictated that when a parent could not contract a legal marriage, offspring would follow the mother?


Answer: the Mishnah may have been applying the same logic to mixed marriages as it had applied to other mixtures

Question: What is one explanation for the change in Mishnaic times?


Answer: Babylonia

Context: By the 1st century, Babylonia, to which Jews migrated to after the Babylonian conquest as well as after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, already held a speedily growing population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million between the years 200 CE – 500 CE, both by natural growth and by immigration of more Jews from the Land of Israel, making up about 1/6 of the world Jewish population at that era. At times conversion has accounted for a part of Jewish population growth. Some have claimed that in the 1st century of the Christian era, for example, the population more than doubled, from four to 8–10 million within the confines of the Roman Empire, in good part as a result of a wave of conversion.

Question: Where did Jews migrate to after the Babylonian conquest?


Answer: 200 CE – 500 CE

Question: Between what years did Jews increase to an estimated 2 million?


Answer: conversion

Question: Name one thing that has accounted for Jewish population growth?


Answer: The Fiscus Judaicus

Context: Other historians believe that conversion during the Roman era was limited in number and did not account for much of the Jewish population growth, due to various factors such as the illegality of male conversion to Judaism in the Roman world from the mid-2nd century. Another factor that would have made conversion difficult in the Roman world was the halakhic requirement of circumcision, a requirement that proselytizing Christianity quickly dropped. The Fiscus Judaicus, a tax imposed on Jews in 70 CE and relaxed to exclude Christians in 96 CE, also limited Judaism's appeal. In addition, historians argue the very figure (4 million) that had been guessed to account for the population of Jews in the ancient Roman Empire is an error that has long been disproven and thus the assumption that conversion impacted Jewish population growth in ancient Rome on a large scale is false. The 8 million figure is also in doubt as it may refer to a census of total Roman citizens.

Question: What is a tax imposed on Jews in 70 CE?


Answer: 96 CE

Question: When did the FIscus Judaicus relax to exclude Christians?


Answer: illegality of male conversion to Judaism

Question: Name one reason historians believe the conversion during the Roman era was limited in number and did not account for much of the Jewish population growth?


Answer: An array of Jewish communities was established by Jewish settlers in various places around the Old World, often at great distances from one another

Context: Within the world's Jewish population there are distinct ethnic divisions, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, and subsequent independent evolutions. An array of Jewish communities was established by Jewish settlers in various places around the Old World, often at great distances from one another, resulting in effective and often long-term isolation. During the millennia of the Jewish diaspora the communities would develop under the influence of their local environments: political, cultural, natural, and populational. Today, manifestations of these differences among the Jews can be observed in Jewish cultural expressions of each community, including Jewish linguistic diversity, culinary preferences, liturgical practices, religious interpretations, as well as degrees and sources of genetic admixture.

Question: What resulted in effective and long-term isolation of Jewish communities?


Answer: religious interpretations

Question: Name one way Jewish cultural expressions differ in each community?


Answer: culinary preferences

Question: Name another way Jewish cultural expressions differ in each community?


Answer: Ashkenazim

Context: Jews are often identified as belonging to one of two major groups: the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. Ashkenazim, or "Germanics" (Ashkenaz meaning "Germany" in Hebrew), are so named denoting their German Jewish cultural and geographical origins, while Sephardim, or "Hispanics" (Sefarad meaning "Spain/Hispania" or "Iberia" in Hebrew), are so named denoting their Spanish/Portuguese Jewish cultural and geographic origins. The more common term in Israel for many of those broadly called Sephardim, is Mizrahim (lit. "Easterners", Mizrach being "East" in Hebrew), that is, in reference to the diverse collection of Middle Eastern and North African Jews who are often, as a group, referred to collectively as Sephardim (together with Sephardim proper) for liturgical reasons, although Mizrahi Jewish groups and Sephardi Jews proper are ethnically distinct.

Question: Name one major group that Jews are often identified as belonging to.


Answer: Sephardim

Question: Name another major group that Jews are often identified as belonging to?


Answer: Germany

Question: What does Ashkenaz mean in Hebrew?


Answer: Mizrahim

Question: What is the more common term in Israel for many of those broadly called Sephardim?


Answer: East

Question: What does Mizrach mean in Hebrew?


Answer: due to similar styles of liturgy

Context: The divisions between all these groups are approximate and their boundaries are not always clear. The Mizrahim for example, are a heterogeneous collection of North African, Central Asian, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern Jewish communities that are no closer related to each other than they are to any of the earlier mentioned Jewish groups. In modern usage, however, the Mizrahim are sometimes termed Sephardi due to similar styles of liturgy, despite independent development from Sephardim proper. Thus, among Mizrahim there are Egyptian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Lebanese Jews, Kurdish Jews, Libyan Jews, Syrian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Mountain Jews, Georgian Jews, Iranian Jews and various others. The Teimanim from Yemen are sometimes included, although their style of liturgy is unique and they differ in respect to the admixture found among them to that found in Mizrahim. In addition, there is a differentiation made between Sephardi migrants who established themselves in the Middle East and North Africa after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s and the pre-existing Jewish communities in those regions.

Question: In modern usage, why is Mizrahim sometimes termed Sephardi?


Answer: the 1490s

Question: When did the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal occur?


Answer: Yemen

Question: Where are the Teimanim from?


Answer: Ashkenazi Jews

Context: Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70% of Jews worldwide (and up to 90% prior to World War II and the Holocaust). As a result of their emigration from Europe, Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the New World continents, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil. In France, the immigration of Jews from Algeria (Sephardim) has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim. Only in Israel is the Jewish population representative of all groups, a melting pot independent of each group's proportion within the overall world Jewish population.

Question: What group of Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry?


Answer: Ashkenazi Jews

Question: Which group represents at least 70% of Jews worldwide?


Answer: As a result of their emigration from Europe

Question: Why does Ashkenazim represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the New World continents?


Answer: France

Question: In what country does the immigration of Jews from Algeria (Sephardim) has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim?


Answer: Hebrew

Context: Hebrew is the liturgical language of Judaism (termed lashon ha-kodesh, "the holy tongue"), the language in which most of the Hebrew scriptures (Tanakh) were composed, and the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries. By the 5th century BCE, Aramaic, a closely related tongue, joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea. By the 3rd century BCE, some Jews of the diaspora were speaking Greek. Others, such as in the Jewish communities of Babylonia, were speaking Hebrew and Aramaic, the languages of the Babylonian Talmud. These languages were also used by the Jews of Israel at that time.[citation needed]

Question: What is the liturgical language of Judaism?


Answer: Hebrew

Question: What is also termed lason ha-kodesh, "the holy tongue?"


Answer: Hebrew and Aramaic

Question: What are the two languages of the Babylonian Talmud?


Answer: Tanakh

Question: What are the Hebrew scriptures called?


Answer: Aramaic

Question: What is a closely related tongue to Hebrew?


Answer: Yiddish

Context: For centuries, Jews worldwide have spoken the local or dominant languages of the regions they migrated to, often developing distinctive dialectal forms or branches that became independent languages. Yiddish is the Judæo-German language developed by Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Central Europe. Ladino is the Judæo-Spanish language developed by Sephardic Jews who migrated to the Iberian peninsula. Due to many factors, including the impact of the Holocaust on European Jewry, the Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries, and widespread emigration from other Jewish communities around the world, ancient and distinct Jewish languages of several communities, including Judæo-Georgian, Judæo-Arabic, Judæo-Berber, Krymchak, Judæo-Malayalam and many others, have largely fallen out of use.

Question: What is the Judaeo-German language developed by Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Central Europe?


Answer: Ladino

Question: What is the Judaeo-Spanish language developed by Sephardic Jews who migrated to the Iberian peninsula?


Answer: Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries

Question: Name one reason the ancient and distinct Jewish languages have largely fallen out of use?


Answer: Yiddish

Context: Despite efforts to revive Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people, knowledge of the language is not commonly possessed by Jews worldwide and English has emerged as the lingua franca of the Jewish diaspora. Although many Jews once had sufficient knowledge of Hebrew to study the classic literature, and Jewish languages like Yiddish and Ladino were commonly used as recently as the early 20th century, most Jews lack such knowledge today and English has by and large superseded most Jewish vernaculars. The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are Hebrew, English, and Russian. Some Romance languages, particularly French and Spanish, are also widely used. Yiddish has been spoken by more Jews in history than any other language, but it is far less used today following the Holocaust and the adoption of Modern Hebrew by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel. In some places, the mother language of the Jewish community differs from that of the general population or the dominant group. For example, in Quebec, the Ashkenazic majority has adopted English, while the Sephardic minority uses French as its primary language. Similarly, South African Jews adopted English rather than Afrikaans. Due to both Czarist and Soviet policies, Russian has superseded Yiddish as the language of Russian Jews, but these policies have also affected neighboring communities. Today, Russian is the first language for many Jewish communities in a number of Post-Soviet states, such as Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as for Ashkenazic Jews in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan. Although communities in North Africa today are small and dwindling, Jews there had shifted from a multilingual group to a monolingual one (or nearly so), speaking French in Algeria, Morocco, and the city of Tunis, while most North Africans continue to use Arabic as their mother tongue.[citation needed]

Question: What language is spoken by more Jews in history than any other language?


Answer: North Africans

Question: North Africans continue to use what language as their mother tongue?


Answer: Hebrew, English, and Russian

Question: What are the three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today?


Answer: English

Question: South African Jews adopted which language?


Answer: English

Question: Which language has by and far superseded most Jewish vernaculars?


Answer: Jewish and Middle Eastern groups

Context: Y DNA studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths. In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in Eastern Europe, Germany and the French Rhine Valley. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East. Conversely, the maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at mitochondrial DNA, are generally more heterogeneous. Scholars such as Harry Ostrer and Raphael Falk believe this indicates that many Jewish males found new mates from European and other communities in the places where they migrated in the diaspora after fleeing ancient Israel. In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews originate maternally from just four female founders, who were of Middle Eastern origin. The populations of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish communities "showed no evidence for a narrow founder effect." Subsequent studies carried out by Feder et al. confirmed the large portion of non-local maternal origin among Ashkenazi Jews. Reflecting on their findings related to the maternal origin of Ashkenazi Jews, the authors conclude "Clearly, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. Hence, differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons."

Question: Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with what group?


Answer: Middle East

Question: Jewish traditions place most Jewish paternal origins in which region?


Answer: maternal lineages

Question: Which lineages are generally more heterogeneous?


Answer: autosomal DNA

Context: Studies of autosomal DNA, which look at the entire DNA mixture, have become increasingly important as the technology develops. They show that Jewish populations have tended to form relatively closely related groups in independent communities, with most in a community sharing significant ancestry in common. For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jewish populations show a predominant amount of shared Middle Eastern ancestry. According to Behar, the most parsimonious explanation for this shared Middle Eastern ancestry is that it is "consistent with the historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant" and "the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the Old World". North African, Italian and others of Iberian origin show variable frequencies of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations among the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular Moroccan Jews), who are closely related, the source of non-Jewish admixture is mainly southern European, while Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with other Middle Eastern populations and Sub-Saharan Africans. Behar et al. have remarked on an especially close relationship of Ashkenazi Jews and modern Italians.

Question: What looks at the entire DNA mixture?


Answer: autosomal DNA

Question: What has become increasingly important as the technology deveops?


Answer: Middle Eastern populations and Sub-Saharan Africans

Question: Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with whom?


Answer: descendants of the "anusim" forced converts to Catholicism

Context: The studies also show that the Sephardic Bnei Anusim (descendants of the "anusim" forced converts to Catholicism) of Iberia (estimated at about 19.8% of modern Iberia) and Ibero-America (estimated at least 10% of modern Ibero-America) have Sephardic Jewish origins within the last few centuries, while the Bene Israel and Cochin Jews of India, Beta Israel of Ethiopia, and a portion of the Lemba people of Southern Africa, despite more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, also have some more remote ancient Jewish descent.

Question: What are Sephardic Bnei Anusim?


Answer: Sephardic Bnei Anusim

Question: Who are descendants of the "anusim" forced converts to Catholicism?


Answer: 19.8%

Question: What percentage of Iberians are Sephardic Bnei Anusim?


Answer: 1948 and 1958

Context: Between 1948 and 1958, the Jewish population rose from 800,000 to two million. Currently, Jews account for 75.4% of the Israeli population, or 6 million people. The early years of the State of Israel were marked by the mass immigration of Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of the Holocaust and Jews fleeing Arab lands. Israel also has a large population of Ethiopian Jews, many of whom were airlifted to Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Between 1974 and 1979 nearly 227,258 immigrants arrived in Israel, about half being from the Soviet Union. This period also saw an increase in immigration to Israel from Western Europe, Latin America, and North America.

Question: What years did the Jewish population rise from 800,000 to two million?


Answer: 6 million

Question: What is the population of Israel?


Answer: 227,258

Question: Between 1974 and 1979, how many immigrants arrived in Israel?


Answer: Diaspora

Context: More than half of the Jews live in the Diaspora (see Population table). Currently, the largest Jewish community outside Israel, and either the largest or second-largest Jewish community in the world, is located in the United States, with 5.2 million to 6.4 million Jews by various estimates. Elsewhere in the Americas, there are also large Jewish populations in Canada (315,000), Argentina (180,000-300,000), and Brazil (196,000-600,000), and smaller populations in Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia and several other countries (see History of the Jews in Latin America). Demographers disagree on whether the United States has a larger Jewish population than Israel, with many maintaining that Israel surpassed the United States in Jewish population during the 2000s, while others maintain that the United States still has the largest Jewish population in the world. Currently, a major national Jewish population survey is planned to ascertain whether or not Israel has overtaken the United States in Jewish population.

Question: More than half of the Jews live where?


Answer: 315,000

Question: How many Jews live in Canada?


Answer: 180,000-300,000

Question: How many Jews live in Argentina?


Answer: 196,000-600,000

Question: How many Jews live in Brazil?


Answer: France

Context: Western Europe's largest Jewish community, and the third-largest Jewish community in the world, can be found in France, home to between 483,000 and 500,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (or their descendants). The United Kingdom has a Jewish community of 292,000. In Eastern Europe, there are anywhere from 350,000 to one million Jews living in the former Soviet Union, but exact figures are difficult to establish. In Germany, the 102,000 Jews registered with the Jewish community are a slowly declining population, despite the immigration of tens of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Thousands of Israelis also live in Germany, either permanently or temporarily, for economic reasons.

Question: Where is Western Europe's largest Jewish community?


Answer: between 483,000 and 500,000

Question: How many Jews live in France?


Answer: 292,000

Question: What is the population of Jews in the United Kingdom?


Answer: 800,000

Context: Prior to 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living in lands which now make up the Arab world (excluding Israel). Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French-controlled Maghreb region, 15–20% in the Kingdom of Iraq, approximately 10% in the Kingdom of Egypt and approximately 7% in the Kingdom of Yemen. A further 200,000 lived in Pahlavi Iran and the Republic of Turkey. Today, around 26,000 Jews live in Arab countries and around 30,000 in Iran and Turkey. A small-scale exodus had begun in many countries in the early decades of the 20th century, although the only substantial aliyah came from Yemen and Syria. The exodus from Arab and Muslim countries took place primarily from 1948. The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily in Iraq, Yemen and Libya, with up to 90% of these communities leaving within a few years. The peak of the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1956. The exodus in the Maghreb countries peaked in the 1960s. Lebanon was the only Arab country to see a temporary increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of refugees from other Arab countries, although by the mid-1970s the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. In the aftermath of the exodus wave from Arab states, an additional migration of Iranian Jews peaked in the 1980s when around 80% of Iranian Jews left the country.[citation needed]

Question: Prior to 1948, how many Jews were living in lands which now make up the Arab world (excluding Israel)?


Answer: Yemen and Syria

Question: The only substantial aliyah came from where?


Answer: early decades of the 20th century

Question: When did a small-scale exodus begin in many countries?


Answer: 18th century

Context: Since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their Jewish identity. Assimilation took place in all areas, and during all time periods, with some Jewish communities, for example the Kaifeng Jews of China, disappearing entirely. The advent of the Jewish Enlightenment of the 18th century (see Haskalah) and the subsequent emancipation of the Jewish populations of Europe and America in the 19th century, accelerated the situation, encouraging Jews to increasingly participate in, and become part of, secular society. The result has been a growing trend of assimilation, as Jews marry non-Jewish spouses and stop participating in the Jewish community.

Question: When did the advent of the Jewish Enlightenment occur?


Answer: growing trend of assimilation

Question: What was a result of the Jewish Enlightenment?


Answer: Kaifeng Jews of China

Question: Name a Jewish community that disappeared entirely?


Answer: just under 50%

Context: Rates of interreligious marriage vary widely: In the United States, it is just under 50%, in the United Kingdom, around 53%; in France; around 30%, and in Australia and Mexico, as low as 10%. In the United States, only about a third of children from intermarriages affiliate with Jewish religious practice. The result is that most countries in the Diaspora have steady or slightly declining religiously Jewish populations as Jews continue to assimilate into the countries in which they live.[citation needed]

Question: What is the rate of interreligious marriage in the United States?


Answer: 53%

Question: What is the rate of interreligious marriage in the United Kingdom?


Answer: 30%

Question: What is the rate of interreligious marriage in France?


Answer: as low as 10%

Question: What is the rate of interreligious marriage in Mexico?


Answer: as low as 10%

Question: What is the rate of interreligious marriage in Australia?


Answer: until 1870

Context: In the Papal States, which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called ghettos. In the 19th and (before the end of World War II) 20th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church adhered to a distinction between "good antisemitism" and "bad antisemitism". The "bad" kind promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered un-Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The "good" kind criticized alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about accumulation of wealth, etc.

Question: When did the Papal States exist?


Answer: ghettos

Question: In the Papal States, what is the name for the specified neighborhoods where Jews were required to live?


Answer: bad antisemitism

Question: What promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent?


Answer: dhimmis

Context: Islam and Judaism have a complex relationship. Traditionally Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands, known as dhimmis, were allowed to practice their religions and administer their internal affairs, but they were subject to certain conditions. They had to pay the jizya (a per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males) to the Islamic state. Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal disabilities such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims. Many of the disabilities were highly symbolic. The one described by Bernard Lewis as "most degrading" was the requirement of distinctive clothing, not found in the Quran or hadith but invented in early medieval Baghdad; its enforcement was highly erratic. On the other hand, Jews rarely faced martyrdom or exile, or forced compulsion to change their religion, and they were mostly free in their choice of residence and profession.

Question: What were Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands known as?


Answer: jizya

Question: What is the per capita tax imposed on free adult non-Muslim males known as?


Answer: requirement of distinctive clothing

Question: What was the disability described by Bernard Lewis as "most degrading?"


Answer: Dhimmis

Question: Which group had an inferior status under Islamic rule?


Answer: mellahs

Context: Notable exceptions include the massacre of Jews and forcible conversion of some Jews by the rulers of the Almohad dynasty in Al-Andalus in the 12th century, as well as in Islamic Persia, and the forced confinement of Moroccan Jews to walled quarters known as mellahs beginning from the 15th century and especially in the early 19th century. In modern times, it has become commonplace for standard antisemitic themes to be conflated with anti-Zionist publications and pronouncements of Islamic movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas, in the pronouncements of various agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and even in the newspapers and other publications of Turkish Refah Partisi."

Question: What were walled quarters known as?


Answer: Moroccan Jews

Question: Who was forced into confinement in mellahs?


Answer: 15th century

Question: When did the confinement of Moroccan Jews in mellahs begin?


Answer: expulsion

Context: Throughout history, many rulers, empires and nations have oppressed their Jewish populations or sought to eliminate them entirely. Methods employed ranged from expulsion to outright genocide; within nations, often the threat of these extreme methods was sufficient to silence dissent. The history of antisemitism includes the First Crusade which resulted in the massacre of Jews; the Spanish Inquisition (led by Tomás de Torquemada) and the Portuguese Inquisition, with their persecution and autos-da-fé against the New Christians and Marrano Jews; the Bohdan Chmielnicki Cossack massacres in Ukraine; the Pogroms backed by the Russian Tsars; as well as expulsions from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Germany, and other countries in which the Jews had settled. According to a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, 19.8% of the modern Iberian population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry, indicating that the number of conversos may have been much higher than originally thought.

Question: What was one method used to entirely eliminate Jewish populations?


Answer: First Crusade

Question: What resulted in the massacre of Jews?


Answer: Tomás de Torquemada

Question: Who led the Spanish Inquisition?


Answer: 19.8%

Question: According to the American Journal of Human Genetics, what percentage of modern Iberian population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry?


Answer: approximately 6 million

Context: The persecution reached a peak in Nazi Germany's Final Solution, which led to the Holocaust and the slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews. Of the world's 15 million Jews in 1939, more than a third were killed in the Holocaust. The Holocaust—the state-led systematic persecution and genocide of European Jews (and certain communities of North African Jews in European controlled North Africa) and other minority groups of Europe during World War II by Germany and its collaborators remains the most notable modern-day persecution of Jews. The persecution and genocide were accomplished in stages. Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in Eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. Jews and Roma were crammed into ghettos before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers. Virtually every arm of Germany's bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal nation."

Question: How many Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust?


Answer: 15 million

Question: Worldwide, how many Jews were there in 1939?


Answer: The Holocaust

Question: What was the state-led systematic persecution and genocide of European Jews and other minority groups?


Answer: more than a third

Question: In 1939, what fraction of Jews were killed in The Holocaust?


Answer: pursuing secular Jews in order to give them a stronger Jewish identity

Context: There is also a trend of Orthodox movements pursuing secular Jews in order to give them a stronger Jewish identity so there is less chance of intermarriage. As a result of the efforts by these and other Jewish groups over the past 25 years, there has been a trend (known as the Baal Teshuva movement) for secular Jews to become more religiously observant, though the demographic implications of the trend are unknown. Additionally, there is also a growing rate of conversion to Jews by Choice of gentiles who make the decision to head in the direction of becoming Jews.

Question: What is one method used to prevent intermarriage?


Answer: the Baal Teshuva movement

Question: What is the trend for secular Jews to become more religiously observant known as?


Answer: Orthodox

Question: Who leads the movement that pursues secular Jews in order to give them stronger Jewish identity?


Answer: fabric

Context: The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and the Indus Valley Civilization in Ancient India (modern-day Pakistan and some parts of India). Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.

Question: What is the most frequent use of cotton?


Answer: 5000 BC

Question: To what date has cotton been dated?


Answer: Indus Valley

Question: Where in India has cotton been found from prehistoric times?


Answer: Mexico

Question: In what Central American country has cotton use been found from early times?


Answer: cotton gin

Question: What machinery has lead to the easily made and widespread use of cotton?


Answer: Mehrgarh, Pakistan

Context: The earliest evidence of cotton use in South Asia has been found at the site of Mehrgarh, Pakistan, where cotton threads have been found preserved in copper beads; these finds have been dated to Neolithic (between 6000 and 5000 BCE). Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, which covered parts of modern eastern Pakistan and northwestern India between 3300 and 1300 BCE The Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India. For example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC.

Question: Where in Southeast Asia has early use of cotton been discovered?


Answer: Neolithic

Question: To what period has cotton been dated in Pakistan?


Answer: 3300 and 1300 BCE

Question: When did the Indus Valley Civilization cover parts of India and Pakistan?


Answer: industrialization

Question: Until what event did the ancient methods of spinning and fabrication of cotton last?


Answer: 2000 and 1000 BC

Question: During what time did cotton become widely used in India?


Answer: Achaemenid era

Context: In Iran (Persia), the history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era (5th century BC); however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran. In Persian poets' poems, especially Ferdowsi's Shahname, there are references to cotton ("panbe" in Persian). Marco Polo (13th century) refers to the major products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid Persia, spoke approvingly of the vast cotton farms of Persia.

Question: Use of cotton in Iran dates back to what period?


Answer: 5th century BC

Question: When was the Achaemenid era?


Answer: Persian poets' poems

Question: In what source can references to cotton be found in Iran?


Answer: Marco Polo

Question: What 13th century explorer saw cotton in Persia?


Answer: John Chardin

Question: What Frenchman in the 17th century noted cotton farming in Persia?


Answer: 1820's,

Context: Though known since antiquity the commercial growing of cotton in Egypt only started in 1820's, following a Frenchman, by the name of M. Jumel, propositioning the then ruler, Mohamed Ali Pasha, that he could earn a substantial income by growing an extra-long staple Maho (Barbadence) cotton, in Lower Egypt, for the French market. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt; and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops. By the time of the American Civil war annual exports had reached $16 million (120,000 bales), which rose to $56 million by 1864, primarily due to the loss of the Confederate supply on the world market. Exports continued to grow even after the reintroduction of US cotton, produced now by a paid workforce, and Egyptian exports reached 1.2 million bales a year by 1903.

Question: When did cotton begin to be commercially grown in Egypt?


Answer: M. Jumel

Question: What French businessman convinced the ruler of Egypt to grow cotton for the French market?


Answer: Mohamed Ali Pasha

Question: Who was ruler of Egypt in the 1820s?


Answer: $56 million

Question: How high had cotton revenues risen by the time of the American Civil War?


Answer: 1.2 million bales a year

Question: How many bales of cotton were produced by Egypt by 1903?


Answer: imported fiber

Context: During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories, Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as German Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool" (Baum means "tree"; Wolle means "wool"). Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie [sic]." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Asia and the Americas.

Question: In the late medieval period in Europe as what was cotton viewed?


Answer: John Mandeville

Question: What 1350 writer stated that cotton was produced by sheep that grew on trees?


Answer: Herodotus

Question: What ancient writer gave later eras the idea that cotton might be a tree?


Answer: 16th century

Question: By the end of what century was cotton grown in the Americas and Asia?


Answer: similarities to wool

Question: Why was it easy for people to believe that cotton grew on sheep that grew in plants?


Answer: declined

Context: India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during British expansion in India and the establishment of colonial rule during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to aggressive colonialist mercantile policies of the British East India Company, which made cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India uncompetitive. Indian markets were increasingly forced to supply only raw cotton and, by British-imposed law, to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.[citation needed]

Question: How did British rule effect Indian cotton processing?


Answer: late 18th and early 19th

Question: During what centuries did British rule effect Indian cotton production?


Answer: British East India Company

Question: What British business's policies damaged the Indian cotton industry?


Answer: raw cotton

Question: What cotton products did British law mandate that India was allowed to sell?


Answer: Britain

Question: If instead of producing fabrics, where was India forced to purchase cotton products?


Answer: Industrial Revolution

Context: The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738, Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, of Birmingham, England, patented the roller spinning machine, as well as the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that traveled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the James Hargreaves' spinning jenny in 1764, Richard Arkwright's spinning frame in 1769 and Samuel Crompton's spinning mule in 1775 enabled British spinners to produce cotton yarn at much higher rates. From the late 18th century on, the British city of Manchester acquired the nickname "Cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade.

Question: What event produced an expansion of the British cotton industry?


Answer: 1738

Question: When was a new spinning machine patented that boosted cotton production?


Answer: spinning jenny

Question: What device did James Hargreaves invent?


Answer: spinning mule

Question: What was Samuel Crompton's invention of 1775?


Answer: Manchester

Question: Whic British city was nicknamed "Cottonopolis" because of its cotton production?


Answer: cotton gin

Context: Production capacity in Britain and the United States was improved by the invention of the cotton gin by the American Eli Whitney in 1793. Before the development of cotton gins, the cotton fibers had to be pulled from the seeds tediously by hand. By the late 1700s a number of crude ginning machines had been developed. However, to produce a bale of cotton required over 600 hours of human labor, making large-scale production uneconomical in the United States, even with the use of humans as slave labor. The gin that Whitney manufactured (the Holmes design) reduced the hours down to just a dozen or so per bale. Although Whitney patented his own design for a cotton gin, he manufactured a prior design from Henry Odgen Holmes, for which Holmes filed a patent in 1796. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire, and then exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in West Africa, India, and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong).

Question: What invention improved the cotton industry in both America and Britain?


Answer: Eli Whitney

Question: What American invented the cotton gin?


Answer: by hand

Question: Before the use of the cotton gin, how was cotton separated?


Answer: commercial chain

Question: What business development did the British use to establish a hold on the global cotton market?


Answer: colonial markets

Question: From what source was raw cotton first bought and later resold?


Answer: longer, stronger fibers

Context: By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanized British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase cotton from plantations in the United States and plantations in the Caribbean. By the mid-19th century, "King Cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slaves.

Question: What was the difference that made American cotton preferred over Indian cotton?


Answer: India

Question: In the 1840s, what country could no longer adequately supply the British cotton mills?


Answer: Caribbean

Question: Besides buying from the American plantations, where else in the western hemisphere did Britain buy cotton?


Answer: mid-19th century

Question: By what time had cotton become prominent in the American economy of the south?


Answer: King Cotton

Question: What was cotton called in the 19th century?


Answer: Union blockade

Context: During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a Union blockade on Southern ports, and also because of a strategic decision by the Confederate government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter the war. This prompted the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France, to turn to Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations. The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports,[citation needed] sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882.

Question: What action of the Union damaged the southern cotton exports?


Answer: American Civil War

Question: When did the American cotton industry fail?


Answer: Egyptian

Question: To what county's cotton did European buyers turn due to the American Civil War?


Answer: cheap

Question: What characteristic of American cotton attracted buyers after the end of the Civil war?


Answer: bankruptcy

Question: What did the abandonment of Egyptian cotton mean to the Egyptian economy?


Answer: sharecropping

Context: Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which landless black and white farmers worked land owned by others in return for a share of the profits. Some farmers rented the land and bore the production costs themselves. Until mechanical cotton pickers were developed, cotton farmers needed additional labor to hand-pick cotton. Picking cotton was a source of income for families across the South. Rural and small town school systems had split vacations so children could work in the fields during "cotton-picking."

Question: What was the procedure called which involved workers to work for a share of the profits?


Answer: hand-pick

Question: What difficulty in harvesting cotton required a large labor force?


Answer: children

Question: Besides adults what segment of the southern US population was involved in the harvesting of cotton?


Answer: split vacations

Question: What function of southern schools was created for children to pick cotton?


Answer: landless

Question: What part of the southern population worked as sharecroppers?


Answer: 600 to 1,200 mm

Context: Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1,200 mm (24 to 47 in). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, although the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Cotton is naturally a perennial but is grown as an annual to help control pests. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. While dryland (non-irrigated) cotton is successfully grown in this region, consistent yields are only produced with heavy reliance on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since cotton is somewhat salt and drought tolerant, this makes it an attractive crop for arid and semiarid regions. As water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, improper cropping and irrigation practices have led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where cotton is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.

Question: What is the optimum amount of rainfall for cotton growth?


Answer: heavy

Question: In what soil type does cotton prefer to grow ?


Answer: control pests

Question: Why is cotton grown as an annual crop?


Answer: South Plains

Question: Where in the US is considered the best place to grow cotton on Earth?


Answer: salt and drought

Question: What type of tolerances make cotton an ideal crop for semiarid areas?


Answer: pesticides

Context: Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects, most notably the larvae of moths and butterflies, beetles, and flies, and harmless to other forms of life. The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton, called Bt cotton, to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many regions, the main pests in commercial cotton are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the Bt protein in the transgenic cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests (some of which have developed pyrethroid resistance). This spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further contributes to noninsecticide pest management.

Question: To stop reliance on what was GM cotton developed?


Answer: Genetically modified

Question: What form of cotton is GM?


Answer: Bacillus thuringiensis

Question: What bacterium is used to produced GM cotton?


Answer: noninsecticide

Question: What farming pest management technique does the use of GM grown plants promote?


Answer: larvae

Question: What part of the life cycle of moths does Bt toxin effect?


Answer: 2006

Context: But Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests, however, such as plant bugs, stink bugs, and aphids; depending on circumstances it may still be desirable to use insecticides against these. A 2006 study done by Cornell researchers, the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in China found that after seven years these secondary pests that were normally controlled by pesticide had increased, necessitating the use of pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less profit for farmers because of the extra expense of GM seeds. However, a 2009 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and Rutgers University refuted this. They concluded that the GM cotton effectively controlled bollworm. The secondary pests were mostly miridae (plant bugs) whose increase was related to local temperature and rainfall and only continued to increase in half the villages studied. Moreover, the increase in insecticide use for the control of these secondary insects was far smaller than the reduction in total insecticide use due to Bt cotton adoption. A 2012 Chinese study concluded that Bt cotton halved the use of pesticides and doubled the level of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 25 million hectares in 2011. This was 69% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton.

Question: In what year did a research study find that the use of Bt toxin plants failed to be effective after 7 years?


Answer: temperature and rainfall

Question: On what did a 2009 study conclude that increased insects were dependent?


Answer: pesticides

Question: What did a 2012 study suggest was halved by the use of GM plants?


Answer: ladybirds, lacewings and spiders

Question: What did the 2012 study say was doubled by the use of GM cotton?


Answer: 69%

Question: How much of the Earth's cotton crops are planted in GM cotton?


Answer: 10.6 million hectares

Context: GM cotton acreage in India grew at a rapid rate, increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 10.6 million hectares in 2011. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, so GM cotton was grown on 88% of the cotton area. This made India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in the world. A long-term study on the economic impacts of Bt cotton in India, published in the Journal PNAS in 2012, showed that Bt cotton has increased yields, profits, and living standards of smallholder farmers. The U.S. GM cotton crop was 4.0 million hectares in 2011 the second largest area in the world, the Chinese GM cotton crop was third largest by area with 3.9 million hectares and Pakistan had the fourth largest GM cotton crop area of 2.6 million hectares in 2011. The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a success in Australia – the yields were equivalent to the non-transgenic varieties and the crop used much less pesticide to produce (85% reduction). The subsequent introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to increases in GM cotton production until 95% of the Australian cotton crop was GM in 2009 making Australia the country with the fifth largest GM cotton crop in the world. Other GM cotton growing countries in 2011 were Argentina, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and Costa Rica.

Question: How much area was planted in India in GM cotton in 2011?


Answer: 88%

Question: What was the percentage of GM cotton planted in India in 2011?


Answer: India

Question: Waht country has the largest area of GM cotton on Earth?


Answer: second largest

Question: At what rank does US GM cotton stand in the world?


Answer: 95%

Question: What percentage of Australia's cotton crop was GM in 2009?