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FOR SALE:
A statement shower curtain that's also educational
2009 TARGET HOME WORLD MAP SHOWER CURTAIN
DETAILS:
Take your bathing experience to a whole new place!
With its timeless
design, durability, and educational value, Target Home's World Map shower curtain will surely add a touch of
elegance and intrigue to your bathroom. Transform your bathroom into a place of inspiration,
relaxation, and endless wanderlust.
Educational and Inspirational:
Transform your shower time into a fascinating learning
experience with the detailed world map imprinted on the curtain. Explore
continents, countries, and even bodies of water as you shower,
satisfying your wanderlust and igniting your sense of adventure. The world map pattern
serves as a fascinating educational tool for all. It can spark later
conversations about different countries, cultures, and inspire
wanderlust in the comfort of your own bathroom.
Thoughtful Gift Idea:Looking
for a unique and memorable gift? This shower curtain is perfect for
travel enthusiasts, geography buffs, or anyone who appreciates a touch
of amusement in their bathroom. It's a gift that combines practicality,
style, and a love for exploration.
Compatible, Versatile, and Functional:
Measuring a standard shower curtain size, this 2009 Target
Home World Map curtain will fit most standard
shower curtain rods seamlessly, allowing for a quick and easy setup. Its universal
appeal and overall clear design make it compatible with various bathroom
themes, adding a touch of elegance and dazzle to any decor style. Besides its primary function of keeping your bathroom dry, this shower curtain can also serve as a room divider or a decorative backdrop for photography projects. Its versatility makes it an excellent addition to any space in your home.
High-Quality, Easy-to-Maintain Material:
Crafted from PEVA (polyethylene vinyl acetate), this shower curtain is eco-friendly, durable, and easy to clean. PEVA is a non-toxic alternative to PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and ensures a safe and hygienic showering experience for you and your family. The PEVA material is highly water-resistant, making it resistant to mildew and mold. Cleaning becomes a breeze as the curtain is wipeable and can be effortlessly maintained with mild soap and water. No more hassles of dealing with stained or discolored curtains!
Dimensions:
70" x 72" (177.8 cm x 182.8 cm)
CONDITION:
New in package; new old stock. Please see photos.
To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.
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*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*
"Target Corporation is an American retail corporation headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a component of the S&P 500 Index.[3] The company is one of the largest American-owned private employers in the United States.
Target was established as the discount division of Dayton's department store of Minneapolis in 1962. It began expanding the store nationwide in the 1980s (as part of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation), and introduced new store formats under the Target brand in the 1990s. The company has found success as a cheap-chic player in the industry.[4] The parent company was renamed Target Corporation in 2000, and divested itself of its last department store chains in 2004. It suffered from a massive, highly publicized security breach of customer credit card data and the failure of its short-lived Target Canada subsidiary in the early 2010s, but experienced revitalized success with its expansion in urban markets within the United States.
Map of Target stores in United States, as of December 2020
As of 2023, Target operates 1,948 stores throughout the United States,[2] and is ranked No. 32 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue.[5] Their retail formats include the discount store Target, the hypermarket SuperTarget, and "small-format" stores previously named CityTarget and TargetExpress before being consolidated under the Target branding.
History
Main article: History of Target Corporation
Target's original bullseye logo, used from 1962 until 1968[6]
The history of what would become Target Corporation first began in June 1902, when George Dayton purchased a company called Goodfellow Dry Goods. The company was renamed the Dayton's Dry Goods Company in 1903 and later the Dayton Company in 1910. The first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962 while the parent company was renamed the Dayton Corporation in 1967. It became the Dayton-Hudson Corporation after merging with the J. L. Hudson Company in 1969 and held ownership of several department store chains including Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, and Mervyn's. In 2000, the Dayton-Hudson Corporation was renamed to Target Corporation.
Store formats/History
Target
The exterior of a typical Target store in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in May 2012 (Store #1371)
CVS Pharmacy inside of a Target store (store #1910 in Savannah, Georgia)
The first Target discount store opened in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, on May 1, 1962.[7] Present-day properties are roughly 135,000 square feet (12,500 m2) and sell general merchandise, including hardlines and softlines.[8] While many Target stores follow a standard big-box architectural style,[9] the company has focused on "customizing each new store to ensure a locally relevant experience [...] that best fit the surrounding neighborhood's needs" since August 2006.[10] Initially, only SuperTarget locations operated Starbucks Coffee counters, although they were integrated into general-merchandise stores through their expanded partnership beginning in 2003.[11]
Target introduced the "PFresh" store prototype in 2006, which expanded its grocery selection in general-merchandise locations by upwards of 200%. Newly constructed stores that follow the PFresh format are roughly 1,500 square feet (140 m2) larger than properties without groceries, although retain the Target branding because their offerings are considerably more limited than SuperTarget. PFresh sells perishable and frozen foods, baked goods, meat, and dairy. The company remodeled 109 stores accordingly in 2006, and renovated another 350 stores the following year.[12] The company's decision to close their garden centers opened floor space for PFresh expansion and larger seasonal departments beginning in 2010.[13]
CVS Health
On June 15, 2015, CVS Health announced an agreement with Target to acquire all of Target's pharmacies and clinic businesses for around $1.9 billion. The Target pharmacies were rebranded as CVS Health pharmacies, which totaled 1,672 pharmacies in February 2016. The Target clinics were also rebranded as MinuteClinic. The acquisition of the Target pharmacies enabled CVS to expand its market into Seattle, Denver, Portland, and Salt Lake City.[14][15]
SuperTarget
The exterior of a SuperTarget in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2020. This store was remodeled in October of 2017. (Store #1777)
The first Target Greatland location opened in Apple Valley, Minnesota, in September 1990. They were about 50% larger than traditional Target stores, and pioneered company standards, including an increased number of checkout lanes and price scanners, larger aisles, expanded pharmacy and photography departments, and a food court. Target Greatland locations have since been converted to stores following the PFresh format beginning in 2009.[16]
The first SuperTarget hypermarket opened in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1995, and expanded upon the Target Greatland concept with the inclusion of a full grocery department.[7] The company expanded their grocery assortment in 2003 and adopted the modified tagline "Eat Well. Pay Less." (in reference to their tagline "Expect More. Pay Less.") in 2004.[7][17] In the early 2000s, 43 locations (of nearly 100) featured E-Trade trading stations, although they were all closed by June 2003 after E-Trade determined that "we were not able to make it into a profitable distribution channel."[18]
When comparing itself with rival Walmart Supercenter hypermarkets, then-chief executive Gregg Steinhafel opined that Walmart operates like "a grocer that happens to also sell general merchandise," where in contrast, its less aggressive expansion of SuperTarget stores is indicative of their position that the grocery industry as a "high-impact, low-cost" side project.[17] The company operated 239 SuperTarget locations as of September 2015;[19] they each encompass an estimate of 174,000 square feet (16,200 m2).[20]
In article written in August 2015, Target was quoted as saying "Big or small, our stores have one thing in common: they're all Target."[21] Since then, newer stores have opened under the Target name.
Small-format Target
The exterior of the CityTarget in Boston, Massachusetts, in October 2015, now rebranded as Target (store #2822)
While typical Target locations are about 135,000 square feet (12,500 m2), the majority of "small-format" CityTarget stores are roughly 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2). The first stores were opened in July 2012, in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle;[8] the 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2) location in Boston is the largest CityTarget and opened in July 2015.[22] TargetExpress stores hover around 14,000 to 21,000 square feet (1,300 to 2,000 m2); the first opened in Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota in July 2014.[23] Products in these flexible-format properties are typically sold in smaller packages geared towards customers using public transportation. Locations built in college communities often carry an extended home department of apartment and dormitory furnishings.[24] In August 2015, Target announced that it would rename its nine CityTarget and five TargetExpress stores as Target beginning that October, deciding that "Big or small, our stores have one thing in common: they're all Target."[22] The first small-format stores under the unified naming scheme opened later that month in Chicago, Rosslyn, San Diego, and San Francisco.[25] The company opened a 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) store in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York in October 2016. In that same month, three other similar-sized stores opened in Philadelphia, Cupertino, California, and the area around Pennsylvania State University.[4] Target opened a 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) store in Austin's Dobie Twenty21, adjacent to the UT Austin campus.[26]
Nearly all of its planned openings through 2019 are small formats, which are less than 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2).[4] The goal of these smaller-format stores is to win over the business of millennial customers. The nearly 30 new locations were to be situated in college towns or densely populated areas.[4]
Brands and subsidiaries
As of 2018, Target has four subsidiaries: Target Brands, Inc., Target Capital Corporation, Target Enterprise, Inc., and Target General Merchandise, Inc.[27]
Cash registers inside the now-closed Target (Store #3609, a former Zellers, later Lowe's that opened in 2016 and closed in 2019 and is now Canada Computers) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Financial and Retail Services
Financial and Retail Services (FRS), formerly Target Financial Services, issues Target's credit cards, known as the Target REDcard (formerly the Target Guest Card), issued through Target National Bank (formerly Retailers National Bank) for consumers and through Target Bank for businesses. FRS also oversees GiftCard balances. Target launched its PIN-x debit card, the Target Check Card, which was later rebranded the Target Debit Card. The Target Debit Card withdraws funds from the customer's existing checking account, and allows for up to $40 "cash back". The debit card allows guests to save 5% off each purchase. In late 2017, Target replaced its REDcard slogan, "Save 5% Today, Tomorrow, & Everyday with Target REDcard", when it rolled out new benefits for REDcard holders by offering exclusive products on Target and preorders with "Everyday Savings. Exclusive Extras."[28]
Target Sourcing Services
This global sourcing organization locates merchandise from around the world for Target and helps import the merchandise to the United States. Such merchandise includes garments, furniture, bedding, and towels. Target Sourcing Services (TSS) has 27 full-service offices, 48 quality-control offices, and seven concessionaires located throughout the world. TSS employs 1,200 people. Its engineers are responsible for evaluating the factories that do business with Target Corporation for quality, labor rights, and transshipment issues.[29] TSS was acquired by Target Corporation in 1998, was founded in 1916 as the Associated Merchandising Corporation, and was previously owned by the clients it served.[30] TSS ceased operations in its department-store group, the division of the former Associated Merchandising Corporation that acted as a buying office for Saks, Inc., Bloomingdale's, Stage Stores Inc., TJ Maxx, and Marshalls.[31]
Private-label brands
Electronics department inside a Target in Dublin, California (store #2771)
Grocery department inside a Target in Dublin, California (store #2771)
Target Brands is the company's brand-management division that oversees the company's private-label products. In addition, Bullseye (a white Bull Terrier), is Target's mascot.
Good & Gather, a food and beverage brand, replaced Archer Farms and Simply Balanced.[32]
Market Pantry, value grocery products
Sutton & Dodge, a premium meat line
Boots & Barkley, a pet food and supply line
Embark, an outdoor gear line of camping and travel equipment
Room Essentials, a low-end home-goods line
Brightroom, a line of storage solutions
Threshold, a premium furniture line
Wondershop, a christmas decoration brand
Hyde and Eek, a halloween decoration brand
Fieldcrest, bedding and bath line in partnership with brand owner Iconix Brand Group
up & up, offers essential commodities, including household, healthcare, beauty, baby, and personal-care products.
Xhilaration, a line of intimate and sleepwear, along with swimwear.
Other private labels include brands launched in July 2016, during back-to-school sales.
Goodfellow & Co. clothes at a Target store in Gainesville, Florida (Store #687).
Pillowfort, a children's line of bedding
Cat and Jack, a children's line of apparel and accessories
Cloud Island, a baby's line of bedding and clothing
Project 62, a household-goods line placed alongside Room Essentials
Goodfellow & Co., a clothing and personal-care line for men, with the name being an homage to their beginnings as Goodfellow Dry Goods
A New Day, a clothing line for women
JoyLab, a fitness-clothing line for women
Hearth and Hand, a home and lifestyle brand, in collaboration with designer Joanna Gaines
Eight Target private-label brands that launched in 2018:[33]
Universal Thread, a denim lifestyle brand
Opalhouse, eclectic home decor
Heyday, a line of electronic accessories
Original Use, male clothing brand targeting gen-Z and millennials
Wild Fable, women's clothing brand targeting gen-Z
Made By Design, a homelines brand, made up of home basics such as towels, cooking utensils, glassware, plates, pots, kitchen gadgets, and more
Prologue, a line of sophisticated female clothing
Smartly, essential a commodity brand, including household, healthcare, beauty, and personal-care products
In addition, Target recently released three new intimates, loungewear, and sleepwear brands for women on February 25, 2019:[34]
Auden, an intimates and lingerie exclusive brand
Stars Above, an in-house brand for sleepwear
Colsie, an intimates and loungewear brand
On January 9, 2020, Target announced its new activewear brand, All In Motion, an athleisure line with products for men, women, boys, and girls.[35] The brand's logo plays homage to a previous Dayton's logo.[36]
On March 9, 2021, Target announced a new brand called Favorite Day, a brand that sells bakery, snacks, candy, premium ice cream, cake decorating supplies, beverage mixers, mocktails items. It launched on April 5, 2021.[37]
Former brands include:
Cherokee, children's and women's clothing: On September 10, 2015, Target stores announced they would cease carrying the brand when its partnership with Cherokee Inc. expired on January 31, 2017. It was replaced by Cat & Jack.
Circo, toddler's and kids clothing: The brand was replaced by Cat & Jack upon debut.
Merona, a clothing brand purchased by Target in 1991
Mossimo Supply Co., a clothing line, in partnership with the brand owner Iconix Brand Group
Gilligan & O'Malley product lines of intimates and sleepwear were discontinued after the release of the brands Auden, Stars Above, and Colsie.
Website
Target
Screenshot
Type of site
E-commerce
URL www.target
Commercial Yes
Registration Optional but required for some features
Launched 2000; 23 years ago
August 2011; 11 years ago (rebrand)
Current status Online
Target owns and oversees the company's e-commerce initiatives, such as the Target domain. Founded in early 2000 as target.direct, it was formed by separating the company's existing e-commerce operations from its retailing division and combining it with its Rivertown Trading direct-marketing unit into a stand-alone subsidiary.[38] In 2002, target.direct and subsidiary Amazon Enterprise Solutions created a partnership in which would provide order fulfillment and guest services for Target in exchange for fixed and variable fees. After the company sold Marshall Field's and Mervyn's in 2004, target.direct became Target. The domain target attracted at least 288 million visitors annually by 2008, according to a Compete survey.[39] In August 2009, Target announced that they would build and manage a new Target platform, independent of This new platform was to launch in 2011, in advance of the holiday season. Prior to the announcement, Target and Amazon had extended their partnership until 2011.[40] In January 2010, Target announced their vendor partners for the re-platforming project. These partners include Sapient, IBM, Oracle, Endeca, Autonomy, Sterling Commerce, and Huge, among others.[41] The re-platformed Target officially launched on August 23, 2011, effectively ending the partnership with [42] Over the last few years, Target has been working to grow their fulfillment strategy via the orders placed through their website.[43]
Former subsidiaries
Target Portrait Studio was a chain of portrait studios that were located in select Target stores. The chain, which was operated by Lifetouch, opened in 1996 and ceased operations on January 28, 2017.[44]
Target Garden Center was a chain of garden centers that were located in Target, Super Target, and Target Greatland stores. Around 260 Target stores in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida had garden centers. All of Target's garden centers closed in September 2010. Target spokesperson Jana O'Leary claimed that the reason why their garden centers closed was because that "the garden centers don't provide significant value to our guests. Also, it's no longer a profitable business for us."[45]
Target Canada was the chain of Target stores in Canada. It was formed in 2013 when Target acquired Zellers leases and converted them into Target stores. Target Canada was in operation for two years until the closure of all stores in 2015.[46] The retail chain racked up losses of $2.1 billion in its brief lifespan, and the Canadian news media termed Target's foray into Canada as a "spectacular failure",[47] "an unmitigated disaster",[48] and "a gold standard case study in what retailers should not do when they enter a new market".[49]
Supply chain
Truck arriving at a Target distribution center
As of May 2016, Target Corporation operates 41 distribution centers across the United States.[50] With the exception of vendor-supplied items, such as greeting cards and soda, these distribution centers ship items directly to Target stores. Also, unlike Walmart, Target's grocery selection does not come from their own distribution centers, but from the companies with whom Target has partnered.[51]
The retail chain's first distribution center opened in Fridley, Minnesota, in 1969. It included a computerized distribution system and was known as the Northern Distribution Center. During this time, the chain consisted of 17 stores after having expanded into Oklahoma and Texas.[52]
On August 9, 2004, Target announced to their suppliers that they were going to perform a trial on the effects of radio-frequency identification on the efficiency of supply chain management in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. This trial involved one Target distribution center and 10 nearby Target stores. Here, RFID tags were placed on the bar codes of pallets and cartons to track the goods from the suppliers to the distribution center, and from the distribution center to the stores.[53] As of 2009, RFID had been phased out of the Dallas–Fort Worth stores. In 2016, Target planned to roll out the RFID technology at all 1,795 of its store locations across the United States.[54]
Target opened new distribution centers in 2006 (Rialto, California, DeKalb, Illinois) to support the growth of its stores. On January 27, 2009, Target announced the closing of its distribution center in Maumelle, Arkansas, the second-oldest in the company. The reason cited was the need to ensure that Target remains competitive in the long term.[55] In June 2009, Target opened a new distribution center to supply more than 60 stores in three states.[56]
SuperTarget and PFresh stores require fresh produce and refrigerated and frozen items. Food-distribution centers owned by SuperValu have been used by Target for many years. In October 2003, SuperValu's facility in Phoenix, Arizona, was converted to serve Target exclusively.[57] The same change was implemented at the SuperValu center in Fort Worth, Texas.[58] A new distribution center was constructed by Target in Lake City, Florida, to serve the Southeast, but it was operated by SuperValu until 2011, when it transitioned to Target.[57] A fourth center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, opened in 2009 and is unique in that it is located adjacent to a standard Target Distribution Center, each using the same dispatch office.[58] Other warehouses owned by SuperValu are still used in other regions, but Target plans to replace those over the next few years.[57] In Colorado, stores are serviced through FreshPack Produce Inc. of Denver.[51] In the mid-Atlantic region/Philadelphia market, C&S Wholesale Grocers services the fresh produce, meat, dairy, bakery, and frozen-food needs to PFresh stores. Target partnered with Swisslog Holding to use a semiautomated monorail picking system called the CaddyPick system for use in the food-distribution centers.
The company operates four facilities to receive shipments from overseas manufacturers and suppliers. They are located near ports at Rialto, California; Savannah, Georgia; Lacey, Washington; and Suffolk, Virginia. Merchandise received is sent directly to Regional Distribution Centers. Internet sales orders from the Target Direct division, which operates from the Target website, are processed by the facility in Woodbury, Minnesota, with some support from Savannah, Georgia, and other vendors. New centers opened in Ontario, California, and Tucson, Arizona, in 2009.[58] In 2021, during the Covid-19, Target supply chain and inventory teams have been working proactively to move products fast, and they hired more than 30,000 year-round supply chain team members to bolster their team....Differentiation from competitors
Since its founding, it has intended to differentiate its stores from its competitors by offering what it believes is more upscale, trend-forward merchandise at lower costs, rather than the traditional concept of focusing on low-priced goods. Douglas J. Dayton, one of the Dayton brothers, explained John Geisse's concept:
"We will offer high-quality merchandise at low margins because we are cutting expenses. We would much rather do this than trumpet dramatic price cuts on cheap merchandise."[52]
As a result, Target stores tend to attract younger customers than Walmart, among other competitors. The median Target shopper is 40, the youngest of all major discount retailers that Target competes directly against. The median household income of Target's customer base is roughly $64,000. Roughly 76% of Target customers are female, and more than 43% have children at home. About 80% have attended college and 57% have completed college.[115][116]
In October 2008, Target announced plans to fight the perception that their products are more expensive than those of other discount retailers. It added perishables to their inventory, cut back on discretionary items, and spent three-quarters of their marketing budget on advertising that emphasizes value and includes actual prices of items featured in ads. Target also planned to slow its expansion from about 100 stores a year down to 70 stores a year.[117][118][119]
Target stores are designed to be more attractive than large big-box stores by having wider aisles, drop ceilings, a more attractive presentation of merchandise, and generally cleaner fixtures. Special attention is given to the design of the store environment: graphics reinforce its advertising imagery, while shelves are dressed with contemporary signage, backdrops, and liners, often printed on inexpensive material such as paper, corrugated and foam boards. Some stores, particularly those in the vicinity of major airports, have a bullseye painted on the roof that can be seen from above: the stores in East Point, Georgia near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Rosemont, Illinois, near O'Hare International Airport; Potomac Yard, Virginia, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; College Point, New York (Queens), east of LaGuardia Airport; and Richfield, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport are among such locations. The location in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles International Airport and SoFi Stadium, has an LED bullseye logo on it's roof, made out of solar panels.[120] [121]
Target stores do not sell firearms. In the early 1990s, they ceased sales of toy guns that looked realistic and limited its toy gun selection to ones that were brightly colored and oddly shaped. In 2014, Target also "respectfully" asked their guests to leave any firearms at home when visiting the store.[122] They do not sell tobacco products and have not sold cigarettes since 1996.[123][124] Most Target stores do not play music, but may be changing that from 2017 with a rebranding process, adding music to the rebranded stores.[125]
Targét
Some people jokingly give Target the pseudo-French pronunciation /tɑːrˈʒeɪ/ tar-ZHAY, as though it were an upscale boutique.[126][127] Though this practice is often attributed to Oprah Winfrey's usage on her television show, it is first attested in 1962, the year the first Target store opened.[127] Target once sold a line of shoes called "Miss Targé;"[128] this was reinforced by a 1980s television advertisement starring Didi Conn.[citation needed] This pronunciation has also led some people to incorrectly believe that the company is French-owned.[51] In recognition of the nickname's popularity and cachet, Target Corporation licensed its new name and logo to Brand Central LLC in 2006, complete with an accent over the letter "E" for a new line of clothing aimed at more upscale fashion customers. The line, "Targét Couture", was originally sold in Los Angeles-based store Intuition, which deals with high-end brands.[129][130]
Nomenclature
Target uses a practice that was derived in 1989 from The Walt Disney Company[51] by calling its customers "Guests", its base-level employees "Team Members", and its supervisors "Team Leaders". Also, managers are known as "Executive Team Leaders (ETLs)", "Senior Team Leaders (SRTLs)", or "Service and Engagement Team Leaders (SETLs)", and the Store Manager is known as the "Store Team Leader (STL)", Further up the "chain of command" are "District Team Leaders (DTL)", "Group Team Leaders (GTL, sometimes also Group Vice President)", "Regional Team Leaders (RTL, sometimes also Regional Vice President)", and corporate-level executives.
This practice began to be revised in 2018 and became more widespread in 2019 as the Group Team Leader became the Group Operations Director. District Team Leader became the District Senior Director. The Store Team Leader became Store Director. Executive Team Leaders were shortened to Executive Team Lead. Other Team Leaders retained their title though some of the department names changed such as Guest Service Team Leader was renamed Service & Engagement Team Leader. Front of store team members was renamed Guest Advocates. Specialty areas in Style, Beauty and Tech are considered Consultants. Other areas such as General Merchandise, Presentation, Inbound, Fulfillment, Food Service and Reverse Logistics are considered Experts, and Assets Protection and Security Officers are Specialists. Distribution centers and the supply chain including corporate office refers to its employees as Team members, Operations manager, Senior operations manager, Distribution Director, Problem Solvers, and Leads.[131]
Product lines and partnerships
Target has many exclusive deals with various designers and name brands, including Finnish design company Marimekko; architect Michael Graves; athletic wear company Converse; Portland-based undergarment designer Pair of Thieves; Italian fashion label Fiorucci; fashion designers Lilly Pulitzer, Liz Lange, Mossimo Giannulli, and Isaac Mizrahi, among others.[132] To further increase its fashion profile, Target also created its fashion-forward Go International line, which hires famous designers to design collections available only for a few months.[133]
After hiring architect Michael Graves to design the scaffolding used to renovate the Washington Monument and contributing US$6 million to the restoration plan, Target introduced its first designer line of products in 1999, the Michael Graves Collection of housewares and home decor products.[133] Walmart and Kmart have followed Target's lead by signing exclusive designers to their stores as well.[134] Target also partners with well-established national brands to create exclusive collections for its stores.[133]
Target also signed an exclusive deal with Food Network to sell VHS tapes of TV shows featuring popular chefs such as Alton Brown, Paula Deen, and Rachael Ray.[when?][citation needed]
In 2005, Target introduced a major revision of prescription bottles, which it calls the ClearRx system. The redesigned bottles are color-coded, flattened-out and turned upside down, providing more room for the label. This system was based on the patent[135] by student Deborah Adler and was named one of TIME's "Most Amazing Inventions of 2005".[136] After Target sold their in-store pharmacy and clinic operations to CVS Health in December 2015, CVS discontinued the use of ClearRx.[137]
Sometimes manufacturers will create red-colored items exclusively for Target. In 2002, Nintendo produced a red special edition variant of the Game Boy Advance, which featured the Target logo above the screen.[138]
In 2005, IFC began a partnership with Target to promote a selection of independent films, both in Target stores and on IFC Monday nights at 9:00 pm Eastern. Originally titled IFC Cinema Red, the promotion was rebranded on-air as The Spotlight in 2007. The in-store headers refer to the selected titles as IFC Indies – Independent films chosen for Target by the Independent Film Channel.[139]
In 2016, Target began to enforce gender neutrality in its marketing of toys, and stopped explicitly listed specific toys as being for "boys" or "girls".[140] This change came after the store stopped color coding toy aisles with pink and blue for "girls" or "boys," respectively.[141] This practice was expanded with the February 2016 launch of new children's decor line, Pillowfort, which replaced its Circo brand and features more gender-neutral designs and color schemes.[142]
In February 2021, Target announced it would begin opening "mini Apple shops" in some of its stores....In popular culture
One of the earliest references to Target in popular culture is the film Career Opportunities (1991), written by John Hughes, in which an employee and a customer fall in love after hours inside a Target store.[217]
American television program Saturday Night Live featured a recurring sketch in the 2000s starring the Target Lady, an overly enthusiastic Target cashier, played by cast member Kristen Wiig.
Target is the namesake of an episode of the third season of American TV comedy Superstore. In the episode, an employee at the fictional big-box retailer "Cloud 9" leaves for a job at Target, and is accused of poaching employees." (wikipedia.org)
"In popular culture
One of the earliest references to Target in popular culture is the film Career Opportunities (1991), written by John Hughes, in which an employee and a customer fall in love after hours inside a Target store.[217]
American television program Saturday Night Live featured a recurring sketch in the 2000s starring the Target Lady, an overly enthusiastic Target cashier, played by cast member Kristen Wiig.
Target is the namesake of an episode of the third season of American TV comedy Superstore. In the episode, an employee at the fictional big-box retailer "Cloud 9" leaves for a job at Target, and is accused of poaching employees." (wikipedia.org)
"A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of the earth. While this is true of any map, these distortions reach extremes in a world map. Many techniques have been developed to present world maps that address diverse technical and aesthetic goals.[2]
Charting a world map requires global knowledge of the earth, its oceans, and its continents. From prehistory through the Middle ages, creating an accurate world map would have been impossible because less than half of Earth's coastlines and only a small fraction of its continental interiors were known to any culture. With exploration that began during the European Renaissance, knowledge of the Earth's surface accumulated rapidly, such that most of the world's coastlines had been mapped, at least roughly, by the mid-1700s and the continental interiors by the twentieth century.
Maps of the world generally focus either on political features or on physical features. Political maps emphasize territorial boundaries and human settlement. Physical maps show geographical features such as mountains, soil type, or land use. Geological maps show not only the surface, but characteristics of the underlying rock, fault lines, and subsurface structures. Choropleth maps use color hue and intensity to contrast differences between regions, such as demographic or economic statistics.
Map projections
Further information: Map projection
See also: List of map projections
All world maps are based on one of several map projections, or methods of representing a globe on a plane. All projections distort geographic features, distances, and directions in some way. The various map projections that have been developed provide different ways of balancing accuracy and the unavoidable distortion inherent in making world maps.
Perhaps the best-known projection is the Mercator Projection, originally designed as a nautical chart.
Mercator projection (82°S and 82°N)
Mercator projection
(82°S and 82°N)
Mollweide projection
Mollweide projection
B.J.S. Cahill Butterfly Map, 1909, from 1919 pamphlet
B.J.S. Cahill Butterfly Map, 1909, from 1919 pamphlet
Polar azimuthal equidistant projection
Polar azimuthal equidistant projection
A south-up map
A south-up map
Pacific-centric map (more commonly used in East Asian and Oceania countries)
Pacific-centric map
(more commonly used in East Asian and Oceania countries)
Gall–Peters projection, an equal-area map projection
Gall–Peters projection, an equal-area map projection
Robinson projection, formerly used by National Geographic Society
Robinson projection, formerly used by National Geographic Society
Thematic maps
Further information: Thematic map
A thematic map shows geographical information about one or a few focused subjects. These maps "can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region, nation, or continent".[3]
Clickable world map (with climate classification)
Clickable world map
(with climate classification)
A simple political map of the world
A simple political map of the world
Topographical map of the world
Topographical map of the world
Map of anthropogenic CO2 emission by country
Map of anthropogenic CO2 emission by country
United Nations Human Development Index by country as of 2016
United Nations Human Development Index by country as of 2016
World map showing life expectancy
World map showing life expectancy
2018 population density (people per km2) by country
2018 population density
(people per km2) by country
Volcano map
Volcano map
World map showing the continents circa 200 million years ago (Triassic period)
World map showing the continents circa 200 million years ago (Triassic period)
Satellite image of Earth at night
Satellite image of Earth at night" (wikipedia.org)
"A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe of Earth is called a terrestrial globe. A model globe of the celestial sphere is called a celestial globe.
A globe shows details of its subject. A terrestrial globe shows landmasses and water bodies. It might show nations and major cities and the network of latitude and longitude lines. Some have raised relief to show mountains and other large landforms. A celestial globe shows notable stars, and may also show positions of other prominent astronomical objects. Typically, it will also divide the celestial sphere into constellations.
The word globe comes from the Latin word globus, meaning "sphere". Globes have a long history. The first known mention of a globe is from Strabo, describing the Globe of Crates from about 150 BC. The oldest surviving terrestrial globe is the Erdapfel, made by Martin Behaim in 1492. The oldest surviving celestial globe sits atop the Farnese Atlas, carved in the 2nd century Roman Empire.
Terrestrial and planetary
Students and teacher looking at a terrestrial globe of the earth.
Flat maps are created using a map projection that inevitably introduces an increasing amount of distortion the larger the area that the map shows. A globe is the only representation of the Earth that does not distort either the shape or the size of large features – land masses, bodies of water, etc.
The Earth's circumference is quite close to 40 million metres.[1][2] Many globes are made with a circumference of one metre, so they are models of the Earth at a scale of 1:40 million. In imperial units, many globes are made with a diameter of one foot[citation needed] (about 30 cm), yielding a circumference of 3.14 feet (about 96 cm) and a scale of 1:42 million. Globes are also made in many other sizes.
Some globes have surface texture showing topography or bathymetry. In these, elevations and depressions are purposely exaggerated, as they otherwise would be hardly visible. For example, one manufacturer produces a three dimensional raised relief globe with a 64 cm (25 in) diameter (equivalent to a 200 cm circumference, or approximately a scale of 1:20 million) showing the highest mountains as over 2.5 cm (1 in) tall, which is about 57 times higher than the correct scale of Mount Everest.[3][4]
Most modern globes are also imprinted with parallels and meridians, so that one can tell the approximate coordinates of a specific location. Globes may also show the boundaries of countries and their names.
Many terrestrial globes have one celestial feature marked on them: a diagram called the analemma, which shows the apparent motion of the Sun in the sky during a year.
Globes generally show north at the top, but many globes allow the axis to be swiveled so that southern portions can be viewed conveniently. This capability also permits exploring the Earth from different orientations to help counter the north-up bias caused by conventional map presentation.
Celestial
Trainer using a celestial sphere to show student a point used to see the apparent path the sun takes through the stars.
See also: Celestial globe
Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated. In their most basic form celestial globes represent the stars as if the viewer were looking down upon the sky as a globe that surrounds the earth." (wikipedia.org)
"Global Map is a set of digital maps that accurately cover the whole globe to express the status of global environment. It is developed through the cooperation of National Geospatial Information Authorities (NGIAs) in the world. An initiative to develop Global Map under international cooperation, the Global Mapping Project, was advocated in 1992 by Ministry of Construction, Japan (MOC) at the time (the current Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan-MLIT).
Global Map is digital geospatial information in 1 km resolution which satisfies the following conditions:
Covering the whole land area of the globe
In consistent specifications
Easily accessible by anyone in marginal cost
The global geospatial information developed as Global Map mainly consists of the following thematic layers:
Transportation
Boundary
Drainage
Population Centers
Elevation
Vegetation （Percent Tree Cover）
Land Cover
Land Use
History
Since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, global environmental challenges have been recognized as an issue which is common to humankind. “The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit)” in Brazil in 1992 adopted “An action plan of humankind for sustainable development: Agenda 21.” Agenda 21 describes in many parts the importance of information for decision-making to appropriately cope with global environmental challenges. Especially geospatial information is regarded to be critical.
In response to the objectives of Agenda 21 and in recognition of the need for further contribution to the development of geospatial information, the MOC at the time (the current MLIT) advocated, in the same year, the Global Mapping Project, an international cooperation initiative to develop global geospatial information to understand the present status and changes of global environment. This concept was presented at the Fifth United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for the Americas in New York in 1993. At the same time, resolution[1] calling for the promotion of the development of global geospatial data was adopted at this conference. Following this conference, a similar resolution[2] was adopted at Thirteenth United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Beijing in 1994.
In 1996, International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM), which consists of heads or its equivalents of NGIAs, was established to promote the Global Mapping Project. Thus the mechanism for the international promotion was formed. The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) has been serving as the secretariat of the ISCGM. In the following year, in 1997, which was five years after the Earth Summit, the nineteenth special session of the United Nations General Assembly (19th UNGASS) was held. At the paragraph 112 of the resolution[3] adopted by the 19th UNGASS, importance of a supportive environment to enhance national capacities and capabilities for information collection and processing, especially in developing countries, to facilitate public access to information on global environmental issues was mentioned along with the description mentioning the significance of international cooperation, including global mapping, as a means to develop the supportive environment.
As a result of such movement, In 1998, a recommendatory letter to participate in the Global Mapping Project was sent from the United Nations to NGIAs of respective countries in the world.
Further, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg Summit) held in 2002, global mapping was included in the Plan of Implementation." (wikipedia.org)
"A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.
Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to context or scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables.
Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the medieval Latin: Mappa mundi, wherein mappa meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and mundi 'the world'. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the surface of the world.
History
Main article: History of cartography
Tabula Rogeriana, one of the most advanced early world maps, by Muhammad al-Idrisi, 1154
The history of cartography traces the development of cartography, or mapmaking technology, in human history. Maps have been one of the most important human inventions for millennia, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way through the world. The earliest surviving maps include cave paintings and etchings on tusk and stone, followed by extensive maps produced by ancient Babylon, Greece and Rome, China, and India. In their most simple form maps are two dimensional constructs, however since the age of Classical Greece maps have also been projected onto a three-dimensional sphere known as a globe. The Mercator Projection, developed by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator, was widely used as the standard two-dimensional projection of the earth for world maps until the late 20th century, when more accurate projections were formulated. Mercator was also the first to use and popularise the concept of the atlas as a collection of maps.
Geography
Celestial map by the cartographer Frederik de Wit, 17th century
Cartography or map-making is the study and practice of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface (see History of cartography), and one who makes maps is called a cartographer.
Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and nautical charts, railroad network maps, and hiking and bicycling maps. In terms of quantity, the largest number of drawn map sheets is probably made up by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies. Many national surveying projects have been carried out by the military, such as the British Ordnance Survey: a civilian government agency, internationally renowned for its comprehensively detailed work.
In addition to location information, maps may also be used to portray contour lines indicating constant values of elevation, temperature, rainfall, etc.
Orientation
The Hereford Mappa Mundi, Hereford Cathedral, England, circa 1300, a classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at the center, east toward the top, Europe the bottom left and Africa on the right
The orientation of a map is the relationship between the directions on the map and the corresponding compass directions in reality. The word "orient" is derived from Latin oriens, meaning east. In the Middle Ages many maps, including the T and O maps, were drawn with east at the top (meaning that the direction "up" on the map corresponds to East on the compass). The most common cartographic convention is that north is at the top of a map.
Map of Utrecht, Netherlands (1695).
Maps not oriented with north at the top:
Maps from non-Western traditions have oriented a variety of ways. Old maps of Edo show the Japanese imperial palace as the "top", but also at the center, of the map. Labels on the map are oriented in such a way that you cannot read them properly unless you put the imperial palace above your head.[1]
Medieval European T and O maps such as the Hereford Mappa Mundi were centered on Jerusalem with East at the top. Indeed, before the reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to Europe around 1400, there was no single convention in the West. Portolan charts, for example, are oriented to the shores they describe.
Maps of cities bordering a sea are often conventionally oriented with the sea at the top.
Route and channel maps have traditionally been oriented to the road or waterway they describe.
Polar maps of the Arctic or Antarctic regions are conventionally centered on the pole; the direction North would be toward or away from the center of the map, respectively. Typical maps of the Arctic have 0° meridian toward the bottom of the page; maps of the Antarctic have the 0° meridian toward the top of the page.
South-up maps invert the North is up convention by having south at the top. Ancient Africans including in Ancient Egypt used this orientation, as some maps in Brazil do today.[2]
Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion maps are based on a projection of the Earth's sphere onto an icosahedron. The resulting triangular pieces may be arranged in any order or orientation.
Using the equator as the edge, the world map of Gott, Vanderbei, and Goldberg is arranged as a pair of disks back-to-back designed to present the least error possible.[3] They are designed to be printed as a two-sided flat object that could be held easily for educational purposes.
Scale and accuracy
Main article: Scale (map)
Many maps are drawn to a scale expressed as a ratio, such as 1:10,000, which means that 1 unit of measurement on the map corresponds to 10,000 of that same unit on the ground. The scale statement can be accurate when the region mapped is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, such as a city map. Mapping larger regions, where the curvature cannot be ignored, requires projections to map from the curved surface of the Earth to the plane. The impossibility of flattening the sphere to the plane without distortion means that the map cannot have a constant scale. Rather, on most projections, the best that can be attained is an accurate scale along one or two paths on the projection. Because scale differs everywhere, it can only be measured meaningfully as point scale per location. Most maps strive to keep point scale variation within narrow bounds. Although the scale statement is nominal it is usually accurate enough for most purposes unless the map covers a large fraction of the earth. At the scope of a world map, scale as a single number is practically meaningless throughout most of the map. Instead, it usually refers to the scale along the equator.
Cartogram of the EU – distorted to show population distributions as of 2008
Some maps, called cartograms, have the scale deliberately distorted to reflect information other than land area or distance. For example, this map (at the right) of Europe has been distorted to show population distribution, while the rough shape of the continent is still discernible.
Another example of distorted scale is the famous London Underground map. The basic geographical structure is respected but the tube lines (and the River Thames) are smoothed to clarify the relationships between stations. Near the center of the map, stations are spaced out more than near the edges of the map.
Further inaccuracies may be deliberate. For example, cartographers may simply omit military installations or remove features solely to enhance the clarity of the map. For example, a road map may not show railroads, smaller waterways, or other prominent non-road objects, and even if it does, it may show them less clearly (e.g. dashed or dotted lines/outlines) than the main roads. Known as decluttering, the practice makes the subject matter that the user is interested in easier to read, usually without sacrificing overall accuracy. Software-based maps often allow the user to toggle decluttering between ON, OFF, and AUTO as needed. In AUTO the degree of decluttering is adjusted as the user changes the scale being displayed.
Projection
Main article: Map projection
Geographic maps use a projection to translate the three-dimensional real surface of the geoid to a two-dimensional picture. Projection always distorts the surface. There are many ways to apportion the distortion, and so there are many map projections. Which projection to use depends on the purpose of the map.[4]
Symbology
Main article: Map symbol
The various features shown on a map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads. Those signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet.[5]
Some cartographers prefer to make the map cover practically the entire screen or sheet of paper, leaving no room "outside" the map for information about the map as a whole. These cartographers typically place such information in an otherwise "blank" region "inside" the map—cartouche, map legend, title, compass rose, bar scale, etc. In particular, some maps contain smaller "sub-maps" in otherwise blank regions—often one at a much smaller scale showing the whole globe and where the whole map fits on that globe, and a few showing "regions of interest" at a larger scale to show details that wouldn't otherwise fit. Occasionally sub-maps use the same scale as the large map—a few maps of the contiguous United States include a sub-map to the same scale for each of the two non-contiguous states.
Design
Main article: Cartographic design
The design and production of maps is a craft that has developed over thousands of years, from clay tablets to Geographic information systems. As a form of Design, particularly closely related to Graphic design, map making incorporates scientific knowledge about how maps are used, integrated with principles of artistic expression, to create an aesthetically attractive product, carries an aura of authority, and functionally serves a particular purpose for an intended audience.
Designing a map involves bringing together a number of elements and making a large number of decisions. The elements of design fall into several broad topics, each of which has its own theory, its own research agenda, and its own best practices. That said, there are synergistic effects between these elements, meaning that the overall design process is not just working on each element one at a time, but an iterative feedback process of adjusting each to achieve the desired gestalt.
Map projections: The foundation of the map is the plane on which it rests (whether paper or screen), but projections are required to flatten the surface of the earth. All projections distort this surface, but the cartographer can be strategic about how and where distortion occurs.[6]
Generalization: All maps must be drawn at a smaller scale than reality, requiring that the information included on a map be a very small sample of the wealth of information about a place. Generalization is the process of adjusting the level of detail in geographic information to be appropriate for the scale and purpose of a map, through procedures such as selection, simplification, and classification.
Symbology: Any map visually represents the location and properties of geographic phenomena using map symbols, graphical depictions composed of several visual variables, such as size, shape, color, and pattern.
Composition: As all of the symbols are brought together, their interactions have major effects on map reading, such as grouping and Visual hierarchy.
Typography or Labeling: Text serves a number of purposes on the map, especially aiding the recognition of features, but labels must be designed and positioned well to be effective.[7]
Layout: The map image must be placed on the page (whether paper, web, or other media), along with related elements, such as the title, legend, additional maps, text, images, and so on. Each of these elements have their own design considerations, as does their integration, which largely follows the principles of Graphic design.
Map type-specific design: Different kinds of maps, especially thematic maps, have their own design needs and best practices.
Types
See also: Category:Map types
Bathymetry of the ocean floor showing the continental shelves and oceanic plateaus (red), the mid-ocean ridges (yellow-green) and the abyssal plains (blue to purple)
Geological map of the Moon
Maps of the world or large areas are often either 'political' or 'physical'. The most important purpose of the political map is to show territorial borders; the purpose of the physical is to show features of geography such as mountains, soil type, or land use including infrastructures such as roads, railroads, and buildings. Topographic maps show elevations and relief with contour lines or shading. Geological maps show not only the physical surface, but characteristics of the underlying rock, fault lines, and subsurface structures. " (wikipedia.org)
"Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only place known in the universe where life has originated and found habitability. Earth is the only planet to sustain liquid surface water, with ocean water extending over 70.8% of the planet, making it an ocean world. Most of all other water is retained in Earth's polar regions, with large sheets of ice covering ocean and land, dwarfing Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers and atmospheric water. The other 29.2% of the Earth's surface is land, consisting of continents and islands, and is widely covered by vegetation. Below the planet's surface lies the crust, consisting of several slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Inside the Earth's crust is a liquid outer core that generates the magnetosphere, deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.
Earth has a dynamic atmosphere, which sustains Earth's surface conditions and protects it from most meteoroids and UV-light at entry. It has a composition of primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere, forming clouds that cover most of the planet. The water vapor acts as a greenhouse gas and, together with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), creates the conditions for both liquid surface water and water vapor to persist via the capturing of energy from the Sun's light. This process maintains the current average surface temperature of 14.76 °C, at which water is liquid under atmospheric pressure. Differences in the amount of captured energy between geographic regions (as with the equatorial region receiving more sunlight than the polar regions) drive atmospheric and ocean currents, producing a global climate system with different climate regions, and a range of weather phenomena such as precipitation, allowing components such as nitrogen to cycle.
Earth is rounded into an ellipsoid with a circumference of about 40,000 km. It is the densest planet in the Solar System. Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive. Earth is about eight light-minutes away from the Sun and orbits it, taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution. The Earth rotates around its own axis in slightly less than a day (in about 23 hours and 56 minutes). The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted with respect to the perpendicular to its orbital plane around the Sun, producing seasons. Earth is orbited by one permanent natural satellite, the Moon, which orbits Earth at 384,400 km (1.28 light seconds) and is roughly a quarter as wide as Earth. Through tidal locking, the Moon always faces the Earth with the same side, which causes tides, stabilizes Earth's axis, and gradually slows its rotation.
Earth, like most other bodies in the Solar System, formed 4.5 billion years ago from gas in the early Solar System. During the first billion years of Earth's history, the ocean formed and then life developed within it. Life spread globally and has been altering Earth's atmosphere and surface, leading to the Great Oxidation Event two billion years ago. Humans emerged 300,000 years ago in Africa and have spread across every continent on Earth with the exception of Antarctica. Humans depend on Earth's biosphere and natural resources for their survival, but have increasingly impacted the planet's environment. Humanity's current impact on Earth's climate and biosphere is unsustainable, threatening the livelihood of humans and many other forms of life, and causing widespread extinctions.[24]
Etymology
The Modern English word Earth developed, via Middle English, from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe.[25] It has cognates in every Germanic language, and their ancestral root has been reconstructed as *erþō. In its earliest attestation, the word eorðe was already being used to translate the many senses of Latin terra and Greek γῆ gē: the ground, its soil, dry land, the human world, the surface of the world (including the sea), and the globe itself. As with Roman Terra/Tellūs and Greek Gaia, Earth may have been a personified goddess in Germanic paganism: late Norse mythology included Jörð ('Earth'), a giantess often given as the mother of Thor.[26]
Historically, earth has been written in lowercase. From early Middle English, its definite sense as "the globe" was expressed as the earth. By the era of Early Modern English, capitalization of nouns began to prevail, and the earth was also written the Earth, particularly when referenced along with other heavenly bodies. More recently, the name is sometimes simply given as Earth, by analogy with the names of the other planets, though earth and forms with the remain common.[25] House styles now vary: Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, with the capitalized form an acceptable variant. Another convention capitalizes "Earth" when appearing as a name (for example, "Earth's atmosphere") but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the (for example, "the atmosphere of the earth"). It almost always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as "what on earth are you doing?"[27]
Occasionally, the name Terra /ˈtɛrə/ is used in scientific writing and especially in science fiction to distinguish humanity's inhabited planet from others,[28] while in poetry Tellus /ˈtɛləs/ has been used to denote personification of the Earth.[29] Terra is also the name of the planet in some Romance languages (languages that evolved from Latin) like Italian and Portuguese, while in other Romance languages the word gave rise to names with slightly altered spellings (like the Spanish Tierra and the French Terre). The Latinate form Gæa or Gaea (English: /ˈdʒiː.ə/) of the Greek poetic name Gaia (Γαῖα; Ancient Greek: [ɡâi̯.a] or [ɡâj.ja]) is rare, though the alternative spelling Gaia has become common due to the Gaia hypothesis, in which case its pronunciation is /ˈɡaɪ.ə/ rather than the more classical English /ˈɡeɪ.ə/.[30]
There are a number of adjectives for the planet Earth. From Earth itself comes earthly. From the Latin Terra comes terran /ˈtɛrən/,[31] terrestrial /təˈrɛstriəl/,[32] and (via French) terrene /təˈriːn/,[33] and from the Latin Tellus comes tellurian /tɛˈlʊəriən/[34] and telluric.[35]
Natural history
Main articles: History of Earth and Timeline of natural history
Formation
Further information: Early Earth and Hadean
Artist's impression of the early Solar System's protoplanetary disk, out of which Earth and other Solar System bodies formed
The oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4.5682+0.0002
−0.0004 Ga (billion years) ago.[36] By 4.54±0.04 Ga the primordial Earth had formed.[37] The bodies in the Solar System formed and evolved with the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out of a molecular cloud by gravitational collapse, which begins to spin and flatten into a circumstellar disk, and then the planets grow out of that disk with the Sun. A nebula contains gas, ice grains, and dust (including primordial nuclides). According to nebular theory, planetesimals formed by accretion, with the primordial Earth being estimated as likely taking anywhere from 70 to 100 million years to form.[38]
Estimates of the age of the Moon range from 4.5 Ga to significantly younger.[39] A leading hypothesis is that it was formed by accretion from material loosed from Earth after a Mars-sized object with about 10% of Earth's mass, named Theia, collided with Earth.[40] It hit Earth with a glancing blow and some of its mass merged with Earth.[41][42] Between approximately 4.1 and 3.8 Ga, numerous asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment caused significant changes to the greater surface environment of the Moon and, by inference, to that of Earth....Size and shape
Main article: Figure of the Earth
Further information: Earth radius, Earth's circumference, Earth curvature, and Geomorphology
See also: List of highest mountains on Earth
Earth's western hemisphere showing topography relative to Earth's center (instead of to mean sea level, as in common topographic maps)
Earth has a rounded shape, through hydrostatic equilibrium,[85] with an average diameter of 12,742 kilometers (7,918 mi), making it the fifth largest planetary sized and largest terrestrial object of the Solar System.
Due to Earth's rotation it has the shape of an ellipsoid, bulging at its Equator, reaching 43 kilometers (27 mi) further out from its center of mass than at its poles.[86][87] Earth's shape furthermore has local topographic variations. Though the largest local variations, like the Mariana Trench (10,925 meters or 35,843 feet below local sea level),[88] only shortens Earth's average radius by 0.17% and Mount Everest (8,848 meters or 29,029 feet above local sea level) lengthens it by only 0.14%.[n 5][90] Since Earth's surface is farthest out from Earth's center of mass at its equatorial bulge, the summit of the volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador (6,384.4 km or 3,967.1 mi) is its farthest point out.[91][92] Parallel to the rigid land topography the Ocean exhibits a more dynamic topography.[93]
To measure the local variation of Earth's topography, geodesy employs an idealized Earth producing a shape called a geoid. Such a geoid shape is gained if the ocean is idealized, covering Earth completely and without any perturbations such as tides and winds. The result is a smooth but gravitational irregular geoid surface, providing a mean sea level (MSL) as a reference level for topographic measurements.[94]
Surface
Further information: Planetary surface, Land cover, Land, Pedosphere, Ocean, Sea, Cryosphere, and Peplosphere
Orbital imagery of surrounding Lake Kyoga, showing vegetation, clouds and bodies of water
Earth's surface is the boundary between the atmosphere, and the solid Earth and oceans. Defined in this way, Earth's shape is an idealized spheroid - a squashed sphere - with a surface area of about 510 million km2 (197 million sq mi).[12] Earth can be divided into two hemispheres: by latitude into the polar Northern and Southern hemispheres; or by longitude into the continental Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Most of Earth's surface is ocean water: 70.8% or 361 million km2 (139 million sq mi).[95] This vast pool of salty water is often called the world ocean,[96][97] and makes Earth with its dynamic hydrosphere a water world[98][99] or ocean world.[100][101] Indeed, in Earth's early history the ocean may have covered Earth completely.[102] The world ocean is commonly divided into the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean, from largest to smallest. The ocean fills the oceanic basins, and the ocean floor comprises abyssal plains, continental shelves, seamounts, submarine volcanoes,[86] oceanic trenches, submarine canyons, oceanic plateaus, and a globe-spanning mid-ocean ridge system.
At Earth's polar regions, the ocean surface is covered by seasonally variable amounts of sea ice that often connects with polar land, permafrost and ice sheets, forming polar ice caps.
Earth's land covers 29.2%, or 149 million km2 (58 million sq mi) of Earth's surface. The land surface includes many islands around the globe, but most of the land surface is taken by the four continental landmasses, which are (in descending order): Africa-Eurasia, America (landmass), Antarctica, and Australia (landmass).[103][104][105] These landmasses are further broken down and grouped into the continents. The terrain of the land surface varies greatly and consists of mountains, deserts, plains, plateaus, and other landforms. The elevation of the land surface varies from a low point of −418 m (−1,371 ft) at the Dead Sea, to a maximum altitude of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) at the top of Mount Everest. The mean height of land above sea level is about 797 m (2,615 ft).[106]
Land can be covered by surface water, snow, ice, artificial structures or vegetation. Most of Earth's land hosts vegetation,[107] but ice sheets (10%,[108] not including the equally large land under permafrost)[109] or cold as well as hot deserts (33%)[110] occupy also considerable amounts of it.
The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's land surface and is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. Soil is crucial for land to be arable. Earth's total arable land is 10.7% of the land surface, with 1.3% being permanent cropland.[111][112] Earth has an estimated 16.7 million km2 (6.4 million sq mi) of cropland and 33.5 million km2 (12.9 million sq mi) of pastureland.[113]
The land surface and the ocean floor form the top of the Earth's crust, which together with parts of the upper mantle form Earth's lithosphere. Earth's crust may be divided into oceanic and continental crust. Beneath the ocean-floor sediments, the oceanic crust is predominantly basaltic, while the continental crust may include lower density materials such as granite, sediments and metamorphic rocks.[114] Nearly 75% of the continental surfaces are covered by sedimentary rocks, although they form about 5% of the mass of the crust.[115]
Relief of Earth's crust
Earth's surface topography comprises both the topography of the ocean surface, and the shape of Earth's land surface. The submarine terrain of the ocean floor has an average bathymetric depth of 4 km, and is as varied as the terrain above sea level.
Earth's surface is continually being shaped by internal plate tectonic processes including earthquakes and volcanism; by weathering and erosion driven by ice, water, wind and temperature; and by biological processes including the growth and decomposition of biomass into soil....Originating from earlier primates in eastern Africa 300,000 years ago humans have since been migrating and with the advent of agriculture in the 10th millennium BC increasingly settling Earth's land. In the 20th century Antarctica had been the last continent to see a first and until today limited human presence.
Human population has since the 19th century grown exponentially to seven billion in the early 2010s,[247] and is projected to peak at around ten billion in the second half of the 21st century.[248] Most of the growth is expected to take place in sub-Saharan Africa.[248]
Distribution and density of human population varies greatly around the world with the majority living in south to eastern Asia and 90% inhabiting only the Northern Hemisphere of Earth,[249] partly due to the hemispherical predominance of the world's land mass, with 68% of the world's land mass being in the Northern Hemisphere.[250] Furthermore, since the 19th century humans have increasingly converged into urban areas with the majority living in urban areas by the 21st century.[251]
Beyond Earth's surface humans have lived on a temporary basis, with only special purpose deep underground and underwater presence, and a few space stations. Human population virtually completely remains on Earth's surface, fully depending on Earth and the environment it sustains. Humans have gone and temporarily stayed beyond Earth with some hundreds of people, since the latter half of the 20th century, and only a fraction of them reaching another celestial body, the Moon.[252][253]
Earth has been subject to extensive human settlement, and humans have developed diverse societies and cultures. Most of Earth's land has been territorially claimed since the 19th century by sovereign states (countries) separated by political borders, and more than 200 such states exist today,[254] with only parts of Antarctica and few small regions remaining unclaimed.[255] Most of these states together form the United Nations, the leading worldwide intergovernmental organization,[256] which extends human governance over the ocean and Antarctica, and therefore all of Earth.
Natural resources and land use
Main articles: Natural resource and Land use
Earth's land use for human agriculture
Earth has resources that have been exploited by humans.[257] Those termed non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels, are only replenished over geological timescales.[258] Large deposits of fossil fuels are obtained from Earth's crust, consisting of coal, petroleum, and natural gas.[259] These deposits are used by humans both for energy production and as feedstock for chemical production.[260] Mineral ore bodies have also been formed within the crust through a process of ore genesis, resulting from actions of magmatism, erosion, and plate tectonics.[261] These metals and other elements are extracted by mining, a process which often brings environmental and health damage.[262]
Earth's biosphere produces many useful biological products for humans, including food, wood, pharmaceuticals, oxygen, and the recycling of organic waste. The land-based ecosystem depends upon topsoil and fresh water, and the oceanic ecosystem depends on dissolved nutrients washed down from the land.[263] In 2019, 39 million km2 (15 million sq mi) of Earth's land surface consisted of forest and woodlands, 12 million km2 (4.6 million sq mi) was shrub and grassland, 40 million km2 (15 million sq mi) were used for animal feed production and grazing, and 11 million km2 (4.2 million sq mi) were cultivated as croplands.[264] Of the 12–14% of ice-free land that is used for croplands, 2 percentage points were irrigated in 2015.[265] Humans use building materials to construct shelters.[266]
Humans and the environment
Main articles: Human impact on the environment and Climate change
The graph from 1880 to 2020 shows natural drivers exhibiting fluctuations of about 0.3 degrees Celsius. Human drivers steadily increase by 0.3 degrees over 100 years to 1980, then steeply by 0.8 degrees more over the past 40 years.
Change in average surface air temperature and drivers for that change. Human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability.[267]
Human activities have impacted Earth's environments. Through activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, humans have been increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, altering Earth's energy budget and climate.[245][268] It is estimated that global temperatures in the year 2020 were 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) warmer than the preindustrial baseline.[269] This increase in temperature, known as global warming, has contributed to the melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, increased risk of drought and wildfires, and migration of species to colder areas.[246]
The concept of planetary boundaries was introduced to quantify humanity's impact on Earth. Of the nine identified boundaries, five have been crossed: Biosphere integrity, climate change, chemical pollution, destruction of wild habitats and the nitrogen cycle are thought to have passed the safe threshold.[270][271] As of 2018, no country meets the basic needs of its population without transgressing planetary boundaries. It is thought possible to provide all basic physical needs globally within sustainable levels of resource use.[272]
Cultural and historical viewpoint
Main articles: Earth in culture and Earth symbol
Woman seeing the Earth from space through a window
Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the Cupola module of the International Space Station observing the Earth below
Human cultures have developed many views of the planet.[273] The standard astronomical symbols of Earth are a quartered circle, 🜨,[274] representing the four corners of the world, and a globus cruciger, ♁. Earth is sometimes personified as a deity. In many cultures it is a mother goddess that is also the primary fertility deity.[275] Creation myths in many religions involve the creation of Earth by a supernatural deity or deities.[275] The Gaia hypothesis, developed in the mid-20th century, compared Earth's environments and life as a single self-regulating organism leading to broad stabilization of the conditions of habitability.[276][277][278]
Images of Earth taken from space, particularly during the Apollo program, have been credited with altering the way that people viewed the planet that they lived on, called the overview effect, emphasizing its beauty, uniqueness and apparent fragility.[279][280] In particular, this caused a realization of the scope of effects from human activity on Earth's environment. Enabled by science, particularly Earth observation,[281] humans have started to take action on environmental issues globally,[282] acknowledging the impact of humans and the interconnectedness of Earth's environments.
Scientific investigation has resulted in several culturally transformative shifts in people's view of the planet. Initial belief in a flat Earth was gradually displaced in Ancient Greece by the idea of a spherical Earth, which was attributed to both the philosophers Pythagoras and Parmenides.[283][284] Earth was generally believed to be the center of the universe until the 16th century, when scientists first concluded that it was a moving object, one of the planets of the Solar System.[285]
It was only during the 19th century that geologists realized Earth's age was at least many millions of years.[286] Lord Kelvin used thermodynamics to estimate the age of Earth to be between 20 million and 400 million years in 1864, sparking a vigorous debate on the subject; it was only when radioactivity and radioactive dating were discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a reliable mechanism for determining Earth's age was established, proving the planet to be billions of years old." (wikipedia.org)
"A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers have temperature, spray pressure and adjustable showerhead nozzle. The simplest showers have a swivelling nozzle aiming down on the user, while more complex showers have a showerhead connected to a hose that has a mounting bracket. This allows the showerer to hold the showerhead by hand to spray the water onto different parts of their body. A shower can be installed in a small shower stall or bathtub with a plastic shower curtain or door. Showering is common due to the efficiency of using it compared with a bathtub. Its use in hygiene is, therefore, common practice.[1][page needed]
History
The original showers were neither indoor structures nor human-made but were common natural formations: waterfalls.[2] The falling water rinsed the bathers completely clean and was more efficient than bathing in a traditional basin, which required manual transport of both fresh and waste water. Ancient people began to reproduce these natural phenomena by pouring jugs of water, often very cold, over themselves after washing. There has been evidence of early upper class Egyptian and Mesopotamians having indoor shower rooms where servants would bathe them in the privacy of their own homes.[3] However, these were rudimentary by modern standards, having rudimentary drainage systems and water was carried, not pumped, into the room.
The ancient Greeks were the first people to have showers. Their aqueducts and sewage systems made of lead pipes allowed water to be pumped both into and out of large communal shower rooms used by elites and common citizens alike.[4] These rooms have been discovered at the site of the city Pergamum and can also be found represented in pottery of the era. The depictions are very similar to modern locker room showers, and even included bars to hang up clothing.[5][page needed]
The ancient Romans also followed this convention; their famous bathhouses (Thermae) can be found all around the Mediterranean and as far out as modern-day England. The Romans not only had these showers but also believed in bathing multiple times a week, if not every day. The water and sewage systems developed by the Greeks and Romans broke down and fell out of use after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Modern showers
Illustration of showers from Traité sur l'aliénation mentale et sur les hospices des aliénés (Treatise on insanity and on the hospices of the insane) by Joseph Guislain (1826). At the time it was thought cold water showers could alleviate mental illness[6]
The first mechanical shower, operated by a hand pump, was patented in England in 1767 by William Feetham,[citation needed] a stove maker from Ludgate Hill in London. His shower contraption used a pump to force the water into a vessel above the user's head and a chain would then be pulled to release the water from the vessel. Although the system dispensed with the servant labour of filling up and pouring out buckets of water, the showers failed to catch on with the rich as a method for piping hot water through the system was not available. The system would also recycle the same dirty water through every cycle.
This early start was greatly improved in the anonymously invented English Regency shower design of circa 1810 (there is some ambiguity among the sources).[2] The original design was over 10 feet (3 m) tall, and was made of several metal pipes painted to look like bamboo. A basin suspended above the pipes fed water into a nozzle that distributed the water over the user's shoulders. The water on the ground was drained and pumped back through the pipes into the basin, where the cycle would repeat itself.[citation needed] The original prototype was steadily improved upon in the following decades until it began to approximate the shower of today in its mode of operation. Hand-pumped models became fashionable at one point as well as the use of adjustable sprayers for different water flow. The reinvention of reliable indoor plumbing around 1850[7] allowed free-standing showers to be connected to a running water source, supplying a renewable flow of water.[citation needed]
Modern showers were installed in the barracks of the French army in the 1870s as an economic hygiene measure, under the guidance of François Merry Delabost, a French doctor and inventor.[8] As surgeon-general at Bonne Nouvelle prison in Rouen, Delabost had previously replaced individual baths with mandatory communal showers for use by prisoners, arguing that they were more economical and hygienic.[9] First six, then eight shower stalls were installed. The water was heated by a steam engine and in less than five minutes, up to eight prisoners could wash simultaneously with only twenty litres of water. The French system of communal showers was adopted by other armies, the first being that of Prussia in 1879, and by prisons in other jurisdictions. They were also adopted by boarding schools, before being installed in public bathhouses. The first shower in a public bathhouse was in 1887 in Vienna. In France, public bathhouses and showers were established by Charles Cazalet, firstly in Bordeaux in 1893 and then in Paris in 1899.[10]
Types
Domestic
Domestic showers are most commonly stall showers or showers combined with a bathtub. A stall shower is a dedicated shower area which uses a door or curtain to contain water spray. The shower/tub format saves bathroom space and enables the area to be used for either a bath or a shower and commonly uses a sliding shower curtain or door to contain the water spray. Showers may also be in a wet room, in which there is no contained shower area, or in a dedicated shower room, which does not require containment of water spray. Domestic showers can have a single shower head, multiple shower heads, handheld shower head(s) or other variations, all which may be adjustable as needed to varying degrees....Use and ecology
Hydro-massage on Lake Moynaki, Yevpatoria, Crimea
Shower usage in the latter half of the 20th century skyrocketed. Personal hygiene became a primary concern, and bathing every day or multiple times a day is common among Western cultures.[1][page needed] Showering is generally faster than bathing and can use less water. In an average home, showers are typically the third largest water use after toilets and clothes washers. The average American shower uses 17.2 US gallons (65 L; 14.3 imp gal) and lasts for 8.2 minutes at an average flow rate of 2.1 US gallons (7.9 L; 1.7 imp gal) per minute.[18]
Showering is one of the leading ways people use water in the home, accounting for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use, which roughly equals to 1,200,000,000 US gallons (4.5×109 L; 1.00×109 imp gal) of water annually just for showering.[19] The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends to retrofit home showers with a shower head that uses less than 2 US gallons (7.6 L; 1.7 imp gal) to conserve water. However, many have hypothesized reducing flow rates of showerheads might cause users to take much longer showers.[20] Other options to save water include using extra high pressure mist flow or design in sensors and valves to shut off or reduce water flow while people are not actively using the shower water.
Various measures can be taken to increase safety for those, especially elderly people, taking showers or baths.[21] Some people take more than one shower each day, normally at their normal shower time, and after exercising. People also shower to cool off in hot weather, especially those unaccustomed to the climate.[22][better source needed] Used shower water can be employed as greywater.
Cultural significance
Showering is mostly part of a daily routine primarily to promote cleanliness and prevent odor, disease and infection. Advances in science and medicine in the 19th century began to realize the benefit of regular bathing to an individual's health. As a result, most modern cultures encourage a daily personal hygiene regimen. Showering has also developed the reputation as a relaxing and generally therapeutic activity.[1][page needed]
Structure and design
Designs for shower facilities vary by location and purpose. There are free-standing showers, but also showers which are integrated into a bathtub. Showers are separated from the surrounding area through watertight curtains (shower curtain), sliding doors, or folding doors, or shower blinds, in order to protect the space from spraying water. Showers with a level entry wet room are becoming very popular, especially due to improvements in waterproofing systems and prefabricated components.
Places such as a swimming pool, a locker room, or a military facility have multiple showers. There may be communal shower rooms without divisions, or shower stalls (typically open at the top). Many types of showers are available, including complete shower units which are all encompassing showers that include the pan, walls, and often the shower head, as well as pieced together units in which the pan, shower head, and doors are purchased separately. Each type of shower poses different installation issues....Shower and bathtub curtains
"Shower curtain" redirects here. For the physical phenomenon, see shower-curtain effect.
Curtains can be used in shower or bathtub enclosures with two main purposes: to provide privacy and to prevent water from flooding or spraying outside the shower or bathtub area. Shower and bathtub curtains usually surround the bath inside the tub or shower area and are held up with railings or curtain rods high on the wall or ceiling. To accommodate the different types of bathtub shapes, railings can come in different sizes and are flexible in their design. The curtains are usually made from vinyl, cloth, or plastic.
Some people use two shower curtains: one that is inside the tub, which is mainly functional or decorative as well, and an outer shower curtain, which is purely decorative. The bottom portion of the inner curtain often comes with magnetic discs or suction cups which adhere to the bathtub itself.
Shower and bathtub doors
Shower or bathtub doors are doors (also called screens) used in bathrooms that help keep water inside a shower or bathtub and are alternatives to shower curtains. They are available in many different styles such as framed or frameless, sliding or swing. They are usually constructed of aluminium, clear glass, plexiglass or tempered glass. Shower doors can come in many different hardware finishes and glass patterns that can match other bathroom hardware such as faucets and shower heads. There are also shower doors that are in a neo angle design for use on shower pans that have the neo design as well. The design of the shower pan is extremely important as the shower door must be the type required for the pan in order to work. A shower door requires plastic lining along the edges of the door to protect against water leaking out." (wikipedia.org)
"A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain), water.[1] A curtain is also the movable screen or drape in a theatre that separates the stage from the auditorium or that serves as a backdrop/background.[1]
Curtains are often hung on the inside of a building's windows to block the passage of light. For instance, at night to aid sleeping, or to stop light from escaping outside the building (stopping people outside from being able to see inside, often for privacy reasons). In this application, they are also known as "draperies". Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières.[2] Curtains come in a variety of shapes, materials, sizes, colours, and patterns. They often have their own sections within department stores, while some shops are completely dedicated to selling curtains.
Curtains vary according to cleanability, ultraviolet light deterioration, oil and dust retention, noise absorption, fire resistance, and life span. Curtains may be operated by hand, with cords, by press-button pads or remote-controlled computers. They are held out of the way of the window by means of curtain tie-backs. Measuring curtain sizes needed for each window varies greatly according to the type of curtain needed, window size, and type and weight of curtain.
Curtains are a form of window decor and complete the overall appearance of the interior of the house. Curtains help control the ambiance and flow of natural light into the room. The effect of drapery or curtains is best seen in daylight, and with proper indoor light positioning, can look attractive even at night.[3]
History
From evidence found in excavation sites at Olynthus, Pompeii and Herculaneum, portieres, a curtain hung over a doorway, appear to have been used as room dividers in classic antiquity. Mosaics from the 2nd to 6th century show curtains suspended from rods spanning arches....Styles
Curtains can be used to give a room a focal point. There are at least twenty different styles of curtains[12] and draperies which can be used in window treatment.
Flat panel curtains are simple and versatile: to make them, pieces of fabric are hemmed on all four edges and the final rectangular or square piece is hung from curtains poles with clip-on rings or something similar.[12] If pleated, the look is strongly influenced by the fullness of the pleats.
Panel Pair Curtains are also known as double panel curtains. They refer to two curtain panels hanging on either side of the window. This is the most common style.
Tab top curtains are made with narrow straps, that loop or tie at the top edge and hung from the curtain pole.[13] This curtain style is often designed as two stationary panels at the sides of a window.
Grommet curtains are hung by threading the curtain pole through a hole in the top of the fabric. This could be either a cut-out hole with the edges finished by a row of stitching or it could use a grommet to prevent fraying.
Sash curtains are used to cover the lower sash of the windows.
Rod pocket curtains have a channel sewn into the top of the fabric. A curtain rod is passed through the channel to hang.[14]
Thermal or blackout curtains use very tightly woven fabric, usually in multiple layers. They not only block out the light, but can also serve as an acoustic or thermal dampener.
Curtain liners are used to protect actual curtains from getting wet.
Eyelet Curtains are attached to a pole (usually metal). A number of circular holes are cut into near the top of the curtain and edged with a metal ring (eyelet). The pole is then threaded through these holes, with approx. 4cm of fabric showing above the pole.
Pencil Pleat Curtains are formed by pulling cords attached to "rufflette tape" to gather the fabric into pleats that look like a row of pencils. These curtains are then hung under a pole or attached to a curtain track with plastic hooks fitted in every 4th "pocket" along the rufflette heading. Typically a 1.5 m width of fabric will be gathered to 750mm width. Rufflette Tape was originally developed from tape which held ammunition (bullets) for semi automatic machine guns.
Pinch Pleat Curtains are usually formed by machine stitching together either 2 or 3 pleats, then leaving a gap of typically 10cm before repeating the pleating process. These curtains are then hung under a curtain pole using either metal pinch pleat hooks or vertical sliding plastic hooks sewn into the reverse of the pleats." (wikipedia.org)