A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though generally located in rural areas, the term urban village may be applied to certain urban neighbourhoods. Villages normally are permanent with fixed dwellings, however transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, as against being scattered broadly over the landscape (‘dispersed settlement’).

Throughout the human past, villages have been the usual form of community for agricultural societies, and even for some non-agricultural societies. Towns and cities were few, and were home to only a small proportion of the population. The Industrial revolution led to growth of the communities into towns and cities, the this trend of urbanisation has continued and hastened since, though not always in connection with industrialisation. Villages have thus been eclipsed in importance, as units of human society and settlement.


Un village est en milieu rural un groupe d'habitations, assez important pour constituer un centre administratif, qui a une fonction sociale et commerciale. En général en Europe, un village se groupait à l'origine autour d'une église, siège d'une paroisse, et de nos jours est souvent le siège d'une municipalité administrant une commune (celle-ci peut toutefois englober plusieurs villages). Le village est aussi caractérisé par la présence de commerçants et d'artisans et de certains services publics comme la poste.

Le terme « village » dérive du latin villa, domaine rural.

Un gros village est un bourg ou une petite ville, la frontière entre les deux n'étant pas très nette. Un petit village, constitué de seulement quelques maisons, est un hameau.


Au Canada, le terme village peut désigner un type de municipalité, au Québec celui-ci est remplacé par municipalité de village.

Le village planétaire (en anglais global village) est une expression qui exprime le raccourcissement des distances dû au développement des communications, particulièrement avec Internet. Elle a été créée en 1971 par le Canadien Herbert Marshall Mac Luhan, professeur à l'université de Toronto, lorsqu'il publia War and Peace in the Global Village.

MMaxi

The locals living near the Calhau beach built the first church in Funchal. It was enlarged twice, first in 1438 and again in 1450, but still considered too small for the needs of the population. Finally, in November 1485, a new church started being built on the square Campo do Duque but the construction suffered several delays. Then, in the year 1500, the King insisted that the construction of the so-called ‘big church’ be finished, and in 1517 the new temple was finally consecrated.

The architecture of this Cathedral is a mixture of a rather heavy south European Gothic and Moorish, Manueline and locally based influences. Ten Gothic arches connect the naves and the dim natural light is coming from eight Manueline breaches, a rose window on the facade and a few spear-shaped windows above the high altar.
The original content of the church was very exceptional and can now be found a bit everywhere in Funchal’s museums. A few of the treasure’s pieces can be seen in the Sacred Art Museum. When entering the church you will find some of King Dom Manuel’s donations, such as the font, still located in its original place, the pulpit and the small high altar. Six chapels with Gothic arches occupy the lateral naves.

A triumphal arch gives passage to the sanctuary and the entire back wall of the chapel is covered with an impressive panel consisting of several magnificent gold-framed paintings. On each sidewall of the sanctuary you will find a Manueline lecture hall with two rows of chairs, of which the higher row was reserved to the capitularies and the lower one to the chaplains. The first row has beautifully wood carved seat rests that gather images of apostles and prophets. Both on the seats and on the armrests, you will find interesting drawings of medieval influence, some even a bit bold, probably the result of too much imagination of the Manueline artists. In the Capela do Santissimo, decorated in the style of the 18th and 19th century, you will find a large painting from the 17th century depicting the ‘Last Supper’.

Today there are two mechanic clocks at the top of the tower that set the city’s daily rhythm. But before these two, there had already been other clocks. The first was put up in 1776 and it was taken down in 1921, today being kept in the Municipal Library. The following clock, which was a donation from an English doctor, was put up in 1922. But it was only in 1923 that also the minutes could be seen, as until then this clock had only one hand to mark the hours. In 1989 this clock was finally replaced with the electronically controlled ones of today.

Dedicate to my Friend "JdS" alias cexhib, Let's make plans for a great Madeira tour later this year.
MMAxi

Madeira's almost five-century-old capital is said to have been named 'Funchal' because of the abundance of fennel (funcho) that was growing there.

Funchal is located in an absolutely unique area. The amphitheatre of Funchal city begins at the harbour and rises almost 1200 m high on gentle slopes. This provides a natural shelter and was what once attracted the first settlers.

The best harbour and the best climate combined with an excellent geographical position allowed Funchal to have a rapid population growth.
Today Funchal is a very modern city with over 104.000 inhabitants. This does however mean that traffic congestion in the centre can become sometimes quite confusing.

The city can easily be explored by foot and no matter where your hotel is located (as long as it is in the Funchal tourist area) you will find no difficulty in walking into the city centre to delight at its sights and sounds.

Probably the most central point is the ‘Sé’ Cathedral. It represents one of Madeira's numerous treasures.

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species, Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man") in the family Hominidae (the great apes).[1][2] Humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. Humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, but now they inhabit every continent except Antarctica, with a total population of over 6.5 billion as of 2007.

Like most primates, humans are social by nature. However, humans are particularly adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression and the exchange of ideas. Humans create complex social structures composed of cooperating and competing groups, ranging in scale from individual families to nations, and social interaction between humans has established a variety of traditions, rituals, ethics, values, social norms, and laws which form the basis of human society. Humans also have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which, combined with the human desire for self-expression, has led to cultural innovations such as art, literature and music.

Humans are also noted for their desire to understand and influence the world around them, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, mathematics, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills; humans are the only known species to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use numerous other technologies.