Solar #hijri #year 1328

Many different #calendars are in use. We are approaching the year 2014 of the "common era". This year is however not in use everywhere. This is for instance reflected in the "concept cloud" for Jordan. You will find a reference to ۱۳۲۸ or 1328 HS. When you see a date with the addition of HS, it is a date in a solar calendar that starts with the hijri or Muhammad's migration to Medina (622 CE).

This solar hijiri calendar is quite different from the "common era calendar". The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30 days, and the last month has 29 days in usual years but 30 days in leap years. It begins on the vernal equinox as determined by astronomical calculations for the Iran Standard Time meridian (52.5°E or GMT+3.5h). This determination of starting moment is more accurate than the Gregorian calendar for predicting the date of the vernal equinox, because it uses astronomical calculation rather than mathematical rules.

At this time you can only enter "common era" based dates in Wikidata. This is sad because we do lose precision as a result. When something occurred in a the year 1328 HS for instance, three months are in another "common era" year. When you look for illustrations in Commons for the solar hijri calendar, you find them in the same category as the moon based or common hijiri calendar.

In Wikidata, a bot has run to add Latin labels for Dutch and English for the items for the years of this calendar. When you then check "2013 CE", you find its labels are problematic. Check out the statements for "year", it presumes that a year is a "common era" year. It does not define itself as being a year in what calendar. Obviously a year like "1328" is not well defined, as it could be in several calendars.
Thanks,
        GerardM

Amara Dungas, a sultan of #Sennar

Sennar is geographically part of what is now #Sudan. The history of the Sudan seems to be one of conflict with the sultanate of Sennar providing some continuity for over three centuries.

When you read about it, Sennar was a backwater and this allowed it to develop its own culture which was distinct. As so few people are interested in this culture, these people you will not find much information in Wikipedia.

The information you do find of the Sennar sultans in the English Wikipedia is problematic when you want to enter the data in Wikidata. The problem is not only that there is no article for many sultans, the biggest problem is with the dates.



The date when the reign of Amara Dungas ended is given as AH 940. This date is provided in the Arabic calendar and as the illustration indicates, this is either 1533 or 1534 AC.

Technically an acceptable solution is not that hard; when it is possible to say 1533s, meaning it can be up to one year earlier or later it would already be a big improvement. A proper solution means that dates can be entered in the original calendar. This is a lot more complicated but it will allow people to enter more accurate information.
Thanks,
       GerardM

Ata'ollah Mohajerani, a #politician from #Iran

According to the English #Wikipedia, Mr Mohajerani was born in 1954 in Arak, Iran. According to the Farsi Wikipedia he was born 2 Mordad 1333  in Arak, Iran. The Esperanto Wikipedia has it that he was born in 1953.

Dates of birth of people from Iran are often incorrectly stated. Typically the exact date is known, it is just that it is in a format we are not comfortable with. It would be good when the software used by Wikidata enables the use of Persian dates.

There are two parts to this; dates are used in the Persian date format on the fa.wikipedia.org. Other Wikipedias use different date formats as well. When Wikidata information is to be used in these languages, it has to be able to show dates according to these different calendars. The information made available in these date formats is important in every project and therefore it should be possible to enter dates in the different calendar systems.
Thanks,
      GerardM