Lake Orta

Lake Orta (Italian: Lago d’Orta) is a lake in northern Italy west of Lake Maggiore.

It has been so named since the 16th century, but was previously called the Lago di San Giulio, after Saint Julius (4th century), the patron saint of the region; . Its southern end is about 35 kilometres (22 miles) by rail NW of Novara on the main Turin-Milan line, while its north end is about 6 kilometres (4 miles) by rail south of the Gravellona-Toce railway station, half-way between Ornavasso and Omegna.

Its scenery is characteristically Italian, while the San Giulio island has some very picturesque buildings, and takes its name from the local saint, who lived in the 4th century.

Located around the lake are Orta San Giulio, built on a peninsula projecting from the east shore of the lake, Omegna at its northern extremity, Pettenasco to the east, and Pella to the west. It is supposed that the lake is the remnant of a much larger sheet of water by which originally the waters of the Toce flowed south towards Novara. As the glaciers retreated the waters flowing from them sank, and were gradually diverted into Lake Maggiore.

Orta

Orta, formerly Kari Pazarı, is a town and district of Çankırı Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey.

References

Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. "Geographical information on Orta, Turkey". Retrieved 2008-03-13. 

A company of Turkish soldiers, the number varying by corps. A jannissary orta in the time of Suleiman comprised 196 men.

External links

Coordinates: 40°37′N 33°06′E / 40.617°N 33.100°E / 40.617; 33.100

Janissaries

The Janissaries (Ottoman Turkish: يڭيچرى‎ yeniçeri, meaning "new soldier") were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards. Sultan Murad I created the force in 1383. The number of Janissaries grew from 20,000 in 1575, to 49,000 (1591), dropped to a low of 17,000 (1648), then rebounded to 135,000 in 1826.

They began as an elite corps of slaves recruited from young Christian boys, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. By 1620 they were hereditary and corrupt and an impediment to reform. The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident in which 6,000 or more were executed.

Origins

Some historians such as Patrick Kinross date the formation of the Janissaries to around 1365, during the rule of Orhan's son Murad I, the first sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Janissaries became the first Ottoman standing army, replacing forces that mostly consisted of tribal warriors (ghazis) whose loyalty and morale were not always guaranteed.

Orta (disambiguation)

Orta may refer to:

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