Can you call an entire country cool? Is it fair to say that one nation is cooler than another? asks CNN. Given that most countries have killers, tyrants, and reality TV stars, the answer is a resounding yes, and CNN has taken it upon itself to answer its own question.
To sort the cool from the less fortunate, we've put together this list of the most stylish people on the planet. Not an easy task when dealing with almost 250 candidates. The main problem, of course, is that every nationality in the world thinks they are the coolest - with the exception of Canadians, who are too self-deprecating for this kind of thing.
Ask a man from Kyrgyzstan what kind of people are the coolest in the world, and he will say “Kyrgyz”. Who knows (seriously, who would know?), he might be right. Ask a Norwegian and he will finish chewing a piece of Thai green curry thoroughly, take a sip of Thai Singha beer, look thoughtfully at the Thai resort of Phuket and the sun that escapes his country for 10 months a year, and then mutter softly with some suicidal lack of conviction: "Norwegians".
It is not an easy task to determine who is cooler. Italians because some of them wear tight-fitting designer suits? Are Russians not cool because some wear outdated tracksuits and wrestling hairstyles?
Are the Swiss too neutral to be cool?
So, let's take a look at which nations are recognized as cool by CNN.
10. Chinese
Not the most obvious choice, but with a population of over one billion, statistically China should have its fair share of tough people. Also, it's smart to include the Chinese in any list, for example, because if we didn't, China's resourceful hackers would just break into the site and add themselves anyway.
Not to mention the fact that they managed to accumulate most of the world's currency.
Cool Icon: Brother Sharp is a homeless man whose appearance unwittingly made him feel internet fashion.
Not so cool: the concept of personal integrity is still largely unknown in the Middle Kingdom.
9. Botswana
Despite tax evader Wesley Snipes and Angelina Jolie's exciting adventures in Namibia, neighboring Botswana takes the crown of the cool from this country.
Even animals are relaxed in Botswana. The country, which has the highest population in Africa, prefers not to care about wild animals like some other safari countries.
Cool Icon: Mpul Quelagobe. Crowned Miss Universe 1999, Quelagobe is truly committed to "making the world a better place" and is a relentless campaigner for HIV/AIDS awareness.
Not so great: Botswana is the leader in the spread of HIV/AIDS in the world.
8. Japanese
We obviously will not talk about the salaries of the Japanese, their jobs and karaoke, where each of them introduces himself as Elvis. The Japanese torch of cool is brazenly held in their hands by Japanese teenagers, whose whims and twisted modern consumerism, fashion and technology often dictate what the rest of the world (we mean you, Lady Gaga) will wear.
Cool icon: Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may have been the coolest world leader, but former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is our choice. Forget teenagers, this man knows style, especially when it comes to shirts.
Not so great: Japan's population is rapidly aging. The future is very grey.
7. Spaniards
What for? Thanks to the sun, sea, sand, siesta and sangria, Spain is cool. Spaniards don't even start the party until most other countries are in bed.
Too bad it's time for everyone to go home.
Cool icon: Javier Bardem. Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.
Not so great: we still remember the failure of the Spanish basketball team in China in 2008.
6. Koreans
Always ready to drink, refusing to participate in endless rounds of soju drinking is a personal affront in Seoul. By saying “one shot!”, you can make friends with Koreans and become the best buddies in the world. Koreans are the leaders of almost all current trends in music, fashion, cinema. They dominate and have earned the right to show off a bit when that “one shot!” turns into 10 or 20.
Cool Icon: Park Chan-wook has achieved cult status among emo film actors around the world.
Not so great: Kimchi flavor.
5. Americans
What? Americans? Intimidating wars, polluting the planet, arrogant, armed Americans?
Let's leave global politics aside. Where would today's hipsters be without rock 'n' roll, classic Hollywood movies, great American novels, blue jeans, jazz, hip hop, The Sopranos and cool surfing?
Well, someone else could come up with all the same things, but the fact is that it was America who came up with it.
Cool Icon: Matthew McConaughey: Whether he's playing rom-com, stuck in astronauts and cowboys, he's still cool.
Not so cool: pre-emptive military strikes, random incursions, predatory consumption, poor math estimates, and fat Walmart fruits automatically place Americans on any "most depraved" list.
4. Mongols
Here the air is filled with some mystery. These unperturbed freedom-loving souls lead a nomadic lifestyle, preferring throat singing and a yurt. Everything is fur - boots, coats, hats. It adds its splendor to the historical mysticism. Who else keeps eagles as pets?
Cool Icon: Actress Khulan Chuluun, who played the wife of Genghis Khan in the very cool movie "Mongol".
Not so cool: Yaks and dairy products at every meal.
Jamaicans are the envy of the English speaking world and have the most distinctive and recognizable hairstyle on the planet. Tourist Note: Dreadlocks only look cool on Jamaicans.
Cool Icon: Usain Bolt. The fastest man and nine-time Olympic champion.
Not so great: a high homicide rate and widespread homophobia.
2. Singaporeans
Just think: in this digital age, where blogging and updating Facebook are almost everything that interests today's youth, old school concepts have been rebooted. Geeks now inherit the Earth.
With its absurdly computer-literate population, Singapore is a geek hub and its residents can claim their rightful place as avatars of modern cool. Now they're probably all tweeting about it.
Cool Icon: Lim Ding Wen. This child prodigy could program in six computer languages at the age of nine. A glorious future awaits him.
Not so great: with everyone addicted to computers, the local government is actually encouraging Singaporeans to have sex.
1. Brazilians
Without Brazilians, we wouldn't have samba and Rio carnival. We wouldn't have Pele and Ronaldo, we wouldn't have tiny swimsuits and tanned bodies on Copacabana beach.
They don't use their sexy reputation as a cover to exterminate dolphins or invade Poland, so we have no choice but to call Brazilians the coolest people on the planet.
So, if you're Brazilian and you're reading this, congratulations! Although, since you're sitting at your computer and not showing off your abs on the beach, you probably don't feel cool.
Cool Icon: Seu Jorge. Thanks to Bowie's Portuguese, you want Ziggy Stardust to be from Brazil, not from outer space.
Not so cool: Mmmmm, Brazilian meat and cocoa are delicious, but the destruction of vast tracts of rainforest by agriculture leaves a bitter aftertaste.
Karachays are a Turkic-speaking people of the North Caucasus, inhabiting the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Preferred areas of residence: Cherkessk city, Ust-Dzhegutinsky district, Karachaevsky urban district, Karachaevsky district, Malokarachaevsky district, Prikubansky district, Zelenchuksky district, Urupsky district. The original place of residence is mountainous regions: the Dombai and Teberda valleys, the Elbrus region, and partly Arkhyz. The oldest settlements are Kart-Jurt, Uchkulan, Khurzuk, Duut, Jazlyk. Karachays are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The number according to the All-Russian census of 2002 is 192,182 people.
There is no peremptory version of the origin of the Karachais. According to anthropology, like the Balkars, Ossetians, Ingush, Chechens, Batsbi, Avaro-Ando-Tsez peoples, part of the Mountain Jews, belong to the central cluster of the Caucasian type of the Caucasian race. However, genetic data are still scarce. From what we have at the moment, we can conclude that the following haplogroups dominate: R1A1 ((23.2%) Aryan) and G2 ((27.5%) Caucasian). The percentage of other haplogroups is insignificant. However, as far as is known, the samples are not large.
The Karachays speak the Karachay-Balkarian language, which belongs to the northwestern (Polovtsian-Kypchak) group of Turkic languages. Researchers suggest that the following could take part in the ethnogenesis of the Karachays:
1. autochthonous Caucasian tribes;
2. Alans;
3. Bulgars;
4. Khazars;
5. Kipchaks.
Such a version, in particular, was approved on June 22-26, 1959 at a scientific session on the origin of the Balkars and Karachays, held in the city of Nalchik.
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Karachays and Balkars
If we describe the Balkars, then we can say that they are one to one with the Karachais according to anthropology, genetics, and language (not to mention culture). That is, all classifications and definitions given regarding the Karachays can be attributed, without a doubt, to the Balkars. They consider themselves to be one people. To be absolutely precise, the people who are now called the Balkars acquired such a common name already with the inclusion in Russia. These were five mountain communities: Cherek, Kholam, Bezengi, Chegem, Baksan (Urusbiev), which were each ruled by their own aristocratic families (taubii).
The most famous of them: the Abaevs, Aidebulovs, Zhankhotovs and Misakovs - in the Malkar society, the Balkarukovs and Kelemetovs - in the Chegemsky, the Shakmanovs - in the Kholamsky, the Syuyunchevs - in the Bezengievsky, the Urusbievs (a branch of the Syuyunchevs) - in the Baksansky.
There were some differences in the language of these mountain communities. Based on these differences, the corresponding dialects were later identified. The inhabitants of the largest Cherek society were called directly Balkars (malkarlyla). They speak a clattering dialect of the Karachay-Balkarian language ((chach (kar.) - tsats (black dial.) - hair), there are some other phonetic differences).
The Chegemians and Baksantsy (Urusbiytsy by the name of the princes Urusbievs) speak a language that does not differ from Karachai (with the possible exception of the transition j / j jash / jash - guy). There is also a Holamo-Bezengievsky mixed dialect. But there are no lexical differences between these dialects. On the basis of the language of the Karachays, Chegems and Urusbievs, today's literary Karachay-Balkarian language was formed. Initially, the inhabitants of the Cherek society called themselves malkarlyla (Balkarians), the rest called themselves taulula (highlanders). That is, the ethnonym Balkar is not historically applicable to the entire Balkar people, although this is no longer a matter of today's self-identification, but rather of the past.
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Balkars- the indigenous population of Kabardino-Balkaria, inhabiting mainly its mountainous and foothill regions in the upper reaches of the rivers Khaznidon, Cherek-Balkarsky (Malkars), Cherek-Bezengievsky (Bezengi, Kholamtsy), Chegem (Chegems), Baksan (Baksans or in the past - Urusbievs) and Malka. They speak the Karachay-Balkarian language of the Polovtsian-Kypchak group of the Turkic family. They belong to the Caucasian anthropological type of a large Caucasian race. Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The number in Russia is 108 thousand people (2002), of which 105 thousand live in Kabardino-Balkaria, which is 11.6% of the population of the republic.
The Balkars are one of the highest mountain peoples in the region. They occupy the gorges and foothills of the Central Caucasus along the valleys of the rivers Malka, Baksan, Chegem, Cherek and their tributaries. In fact, the Balkars constitute a single people with the Karachais, divided administratively into two parts. The material culture is also identical. The only thing is that, due to the specifics of the gorges, the Karachays built dwellings from wood, while the Balkars used stone construction, and the family princely towers and crypts made of stone have been preserved. If we talk about mentality, then the Karachais consider the Balkars to be more cheerful, gentle, prone to jokes people. The Balkarian poet Kaisyn Kuliev said that songs are written in Karachay, but sung in Balkaria.
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If we talk about the self-name Balkar, then it is difficult to correlate it with the ethnonym Bulgar, because in the original it sounds - malkarly. It can also be correlated with the name of the Malka River in Kabardino-Balkaria. At the same time, it is probably possible to argue that the Balkars are the descendants of the Bulgars. If we follow the legend according to which the Great Bulgaria of Kubrat, which also geographically covered part of the northwestern Caucasus, collapsed and the people were divided between his sons, then it can be stated with a greater or lesser degree of certainty that part of the Bulgars could remain in the North Caucasus (Bulgars of Batbayan ) and contribute to the ethnogenesis of local peoples, including Karachays and Balkars.
The existence of the Bulgars in the foothills and partly in the mountains of Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria has some archaeological evidence.
In this regard, it is possible to draw a certain symbolic line from the Danube Bulgaria through the Caucasus to the Volga Bulgaria and Kazan. However, given the versatility of the ethnogenesis of the majority of the peoples of the North Caucasus, and even more so of the Karachay-Balkarians (a conditional term that has long been used), the possibility of participation in the ethnogenesis of the people of several ethnic groups, to assert today that the Balkars are the Bulgars of our days, we would not become. But there are no arguments to exclude the participation of the Bulgars in the specified formation of the people either.
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By the way, modern Bulgarians, as well as Kazan Tatars, are constantly interested in this issue. We think that this topic is subject to a separate scientific development, which can, if not confirm this version, then provide additional knowledge in the relevant context, which should be welcomed.
The Balkars are a Turkic people living in Russia. The Balkars themselves call themselves "taulula", which translates as "highlander". According to the 2002 Population Census, 108,000 Balkars live in the Russian Federation. They speak the Karachay-Balkarian language.
The Balkars as a nationality were formed mainly from three tribes: Caucasian-speaking tribes, Iranian-speaking Alans and Turkic-speaking tribes (Kuban, Kipchaks). The inhabitants of all Balkar villages had close ties with neighboring peoples:, Svans,. The close contact of the Balkars with the Russians began around the seventeenth century, as evidenced by chronicle sources, where the Balkars are called "Balkharian taverns."
At the very beginning of the 19th century, Balkar societies became part of the Russian Empire. In 1922, the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region was formed, which in 1936 was transformed into the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1944, the Balkars were forcibly deported to the regions of Central Asia and. In 1957 the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was restored and the Balkars returned to their homeland. In 1991, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic was proclaimed.
For many years, the Balkars were engaged in cattle breeding, mainly raising sheep, goats, horses, cows and the like. They were also engaged in mountain terrace plow farming (barley, wheat, oats). Home trades and crafts - dressing of felts, cloaks, cloths, leather and wood processing, salt production. Some villages were engaged in beekeeping, others hunted fur-bearing animals.
Until the nineteenth century, the Balkars professed a religion that was a combination of Orthodoxy, Islam and paganism. As early as the end of the seventeenth century, the process of a complete transition to Islam began, but it ended only in the nineteenth century. Until that moment, the Balkars believed in magical powers, endowed stones and trees with magical properties. The patron deities were also present.
The settlements of the Balkars, as a rule, are large, consisting of several genera. They were located in ledges on the slopes of the mountains. For defense purposes, towers were erected. Sometimes the Balkars settled on the plains, standing their houses in the Russian, "street" manner with estates.
In the mountain settlements, the Balkars built their dwellings of stone, one-story, rectangular, in the Baksan and Chegem gorges also wooden log houses with earthen roofs. According to the family charter, which was in force until the end of the 19th century, the sleeping honor of the Balkar house should be divided into two halves: female and male. In addition, there were utility rooms, sometimes a guest room. Houses in 2-3 rooms with a guest room (kunatskaya) appeared in wealthy families at the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, two-story multi-room houses with wooden floors and ceilings proliferated. In the old days, the house of the Balkars was heated and lit by an open hearth.
The traditional clothes of the Balkars of the North Caucasian type: for men - undershirt, pants, sheepskin shirts, beshmet, belted with a narrow belt belt. From winter clothes: fur coats, cloaks, papakhas, hoods, felt hats, leather, felt, morocco shoes, leggings. Women wore shirts, wide trousers, a caftan, a long swinging dress, a belt, sheepskin coats, shawls, scarves, and hats. Balkar women pay great attention to jewelry: bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, and so on. The festive dress was decorated with galloon, gold or silver embroidery, braid, and patterned braid.
The traditional cuisine of the Balkars mainly consists of food prepared from cereals (barley, oats, wheat, corn…). Meat and dairy food was consumed quite rarely, mainly on holidays. On weekdays, they ate honey, cakes, bread and stews. They brewed beer from barley.
